New Japan Pro-Wrestling announces NFT collection

New Japan Pro-Wrestling, a Japanese organization which promotes wrestling, has announced an NFT collection that will be linked with its digital trading card app for fans.

A free-of-charge logo NFT commemorating the organization’s 50th anniversary is being distributed to the first 10,000 customers starting December 12, as the first leg of the New Japan Collection NFT’s release.

The logo NFTs will be drawn by lottery, and 10 users will receive a special “Atari Design.” The winning users will also receive a “WRESTLE KINGDOM 17 in Tokyo Dome poster with autograph” as a gift.

The NFTs are linked to the New Japan Collection app for smartphones that allows users to collect cards of New Japan Pro-Wrestling players and information about the organization.  The app also allows users to obtain an attendance certificate NFT for wrestling events. 

The NFTs will be issued through “Adam by GMO,” an NFT marketplace operated by GMO Internet Group’s GMO Adam. Users have to have an account on that platform to receive the NFTs.

New Japan Pro-Wrestling was founded in 1972 by professional wrestler Antonio Inoki, who died in October. To commemorate its 50th anniversary, the company released NFT cards of popular New Japan Pro-Wrestling wrestlers, including Okada Kazuchika, in September.

In the pro wrestling field, Bushiroad, the parent company of New Japan Pro-Wrestling and a digital game and animation planning and development company, announced in March that it was working on NFTs using the video archives of “Stardom,” a women’s pro wrestling organization operated by its subsidiary Bushiroad Fight. In August, DDT Pro-Wrestling, a popular pro-wrestling organization, converted its right to challenge champions to NFT art, which will be a proof of holding the “Anytime, Anywhere Challenge Right,” a unique system that enables challengers to DDT’s highest-ranking title, the KO-D Undisputed Championship, anytime, anywhere.