Bushiroad Terminates STARDOM Co-Founder's Contract, AEW's Tony Khan Reacts

STARDOM held its first major pay-per-view of the year, Supreme Fight 2024, which celebrated the thirteenth anniversary of the promotion. Following the historic event STARDOM and Bushiroad revealed that effective immediately, Rossy Ogawa, a founding force of STARDOM, is being terminated from his contract. The company was founded in 2010 by Ogawa, Fuka Kakimoto, and former AJW veteran professional wrestler Nanae Takahashi. 

In 2019, the promotion entered an agreement with Bushiroad, making them the sister promotion of NJPW. In recent months, the promotion has been plagued with injuries and some reports stating their biggest talent are heading elsewhere. One of those talents is current NJPW STRONG Women's Champion Giulia who has been rumored to be WWE bound for a number of months where she would be expected to sign with NXT.

"Since 2019, the Company has entered into the agreement with Rossy Ogawa, the founder of Stardom, and has invited him to serve as Executive Producer and has entrusted him with Stardom-related tasks," the statement reads. "However, we have recently become aware that Mr. Rossy Ogawa has been poaching a number of Stardom athletes and staff members, and we have decided to terminate this agreement. We sincerely apologize for any concern this may have caused. We, the players and staff of Stardom, will continue to make concerted efforts to further develop Stardom and to deliver excitement to our fans."

Rossy took to X (formerly Twitter) after the announcement was made, noting that he was notified yesterday that his contract would be terminated and that the truth may be told someday. "Suddenly, after yesterday's game, I was informed that my contract was terminated," Rossy wrote. "The truth of the matter will be told in due course. For now, I am worried about the players. Thank you for supporting Stardom for the past 13 years. From now on, Stardom will be the company that Bushiroad creates."

Not long after the news dropped on social media, AEW President Tony Khan made his feelings known, first posting "Bye Rossy!" accompanied by a gif from Curb Your Enthusiasm that reads, "The Big Goodbye." He followed that up with a gif from the Batman television series: "It's a clear case of industrial espionage" and a Sopranos gif, "The feds had an undercover agent in Dr. Schreck's office," possibly hinting at a post from Fightful's Sean Ross Sapp who revealed there have been rumors within AEW as well as other major companies that Ogawa is on his way to WWE.

Comicbook.com will continue to monitor the situation and provide updates.