>>18452755Their business model was always based more on live attendance than TV deals so COVID hit them harder than other companies, and then AEW started raping their roster left and right. It was manageable when it was just WWE taking a couple of their guys every year but now not only do you have two companies buying out their talent you also have a combination of those left getting old plus the new generation of guys not living up to their predecessors. Bushiroad was also in dire financial straits for a good while too, even before covid, so they had no money to put into New Japan so that they would have the budget to compete with WWE/AEW when it comes to salaries, and what budget they did have they spent on a big attempt to get into the US market shortly before covid started, oops.
tl/dr: they're broke and their roster is a shadow of what it used to be
