NJPW introduces Harold Meij as President and COO at Dominion, Meij’s background as an executive in Japan

NJPW introduced Harold Meij to the live and PPV audience by opening the “Dominion” PPV with a video package featuring NJPW owner Takaaki Kidani in Tokyo calling new NJPW President & CEO Harold George Meij in his penthouse in New York. Kidani summoned him to Osaka. Meij then spoke in the video package about how he has been a long time fan of NJPW , but he really got into it 10 years ago. Meij referenced Shinsuke Nakamura and Hiroshi Tanahashi as the two wrestlers that really got him into the NJPW product. He said in the video he believes NJPW has something to offer everyone. A caption said NJPW “Go To Next Stage” to conclude the video.

You can watch the video package introducing Meij at “Dominion” this past weekend below:

Meij was shown live in the arena and he ran into the ring. He was introduced to the live audience. He cut a promo in Japanese and then English. It appears Meij is going to be key in NJPW’s expansion worldwide. Meij moved to Japan from Holland when he was 10 years old.He speaks six languages including English and Japanese, which should help him in his quest to build up NJPW worldwide. It was clear between the video package and the promo that Meij is ready to help take NJPW to the next level, as “Dominion” felt very much like the beginning of a new chapter for NJPW with Kenny Omega beating Kazuchika Okada to capture the IWGP Hvt. Champion and become the new face of the company, which has made no secret of its desire to expand into western territories.

Meij also commented about his desire to make NJPW the “strongest global company’ in a backstage segment at “Dominion.” You can watch Meij’s backstage comments below:

Meij most recently served as executive vice president and COO of Tomy, a Japanese toy company. An article in the Nikkei Asian Review in 2014 spotlighted Meij and discussed how he was bringing management reform to Tomy, which was struggling at the time.

Meij was interviewed for the article and mentioned that most Japanese executives don’t take risks, but he is comfortable doing just that. “My mission is to reform this company,” said Meij. “I can take risks in decision making, which Japanese executives are prone to shun.”

The article mentioned that Meij had worked for Heineken Japan, Unilever Japan where he sold tea products. Meij then worked at Sunstar, a Japanese oral care product, and Coca-Cola (Japan). As a senior vice president overseeing marketing at Coca-Cola (Japan), he came up with a Samurai-like character as a marketing tactic for promoting the signature drink. Given his previous work experience, Meij definitely will be able to come up with outside the box ideas to help NJPW expand into western territories.

Meij resigned from Tomy and left the company at the end of December 2017. In a press release announcing Meij’s resignation, the company stated that they expected to announce record profits for the fiscal year ending on March 18, 2018.