MVP Says He Pitched The Concept Of NJPW World Before It Became A Reality, ‘You Guys Are Missing Out On A Lot Of F*cking Money’

MVP had big ideas in NJPW.

From February 2011 to January 2023, MVP had a great run with New Japan Pro Wrestling, winning the IWGP Intercontinental Championship and facing off against names like Karl Anderson, Tomohiro Ishii, Shinsuke Nakamura, and Minoru Suzuki.

Speaking with Dwayne Swayze on the latest episode of their Marking Out podcast, MVP revealed that he pitched the concept of NJPW World to the company’s president at the time, Naoki Sugabayashi.

“The idea for New Japan World, I pitched to President Sugabayashi long before it became a reality. I had a meeting with Sugabayashi, he was the president back then. Jado, Red Shoes, and Tiger Hattori. I was telling them, ‘You guys are missing out on a lot of fucking money. You have a huge English-speaking audience in the United States, in England, in Australia. You’re not marketing to them.’ I said, ‘You guys need a website that has English translation.’ They’re not thinking about your audience outside of Japan. I said, ‘You need to make your product accessible to English-speaking fans outside the country.’ I said, ‘What you can do is setup a YouTube page, but in English, aimed at American fans.’ I said, ‘Pick three matches a week that you want to highlight, put it on the YouTube channel. I’ll help you get two Americans to do the voiceover for that match. Start feeding your English audience, give the American audience access to the merch.’ I would’ve gone crazy to buy a Chono shirt at one point.”

MVP also recalled getting some buzz going about the concept on social media.

“Just to make a point — at the time, there was no Instagram yet but there was Twitter. I said, if you want New Japan to start promotion products in English or making matches available in English or make their match available, hit up Sugabayashi. I tagged him. We’re in the meeting, I said, ‘Yeah, did you see how many people?’ He didn’t have a very good sense of humor, but with a stoic face he was like [scrolling] almost mad. I’m like, ‘That’s money. All of those people are money.’ So yes, true story, I invented New Japan World. I pitched that idea to them before it existed.”

Earlier this month, MVP reiterated that he has no respect for Triple H. Fans can check out his full comments by clicking here.

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