– The Wrestling Observer Newsletter (via WrestlingInc.com) has a report on tickets sales for the NJPW The New Beginnings USA tour. Per the report, the tour drew a total of 2,118 people over three shows. By comparison, ROH drew 3,900 fans over five shows in January 2019. Here’s a breakdown of the attendance totals for NJPW:

* 1/30: Los Angeles, California at the Globe Theater – 531

* 2/1: Charlotte, North Carolina at the Grady Cole Center – 969 (sellout)

* 2/2: Nashville, Tennessee at the War Memorial Auditorium – 618

According to the report, ticket sales initially moved quickly in Los Angeles, California and Charlotte, North Carolina. However, it became a major problem that none of the international or Japanese stars were able to be booked on the tour due to visa issues.

The lack of the native New Japan Pro Wrestling stars was likely a major blow to the cards for fans who wanted a “genuine” NJPW product. Instead, a lot of the cards featured ROH talents, independent regulars and NJPW dojo wrestlers.

Additionally, New Japan ended up going with an event configuration of about 969 for the Charlotte, North Carolina event. Had the promotion been able to deliver with a more loaded lineup, the Charlotte card possibly could’ve gone for a bigger configuration since the building could hold about 3,000 seats. The Observer sees this as a big “missed opportunity.”

The Observer also pointed that without ROH and access to US-exclusive ROH talent, NJPW wouldn’t have been able to fill up the cards for tour. That’s representative of the significance of ROH’s relationship with NJPW.

New Japan Pro Wrestling will later be co-promoting the G1 Supercard event with ROH at the Madison Square Garden later this April. They are also set to co-promote the War of the Worlds tour later this May.