Pro-Wrestling News: New Japan Pro-Wrestling Finally Gets American TV Deal


In a piece of excellent news, it appears that New Japan Pro Wrestling will finally be making its way to American television. It comes at a perfect time as they are set to make their American PPV debut in January, which will first introduce us to what this place can really do if you are not familiar. The deal is with AXS TV, who will begin showing weekly episodes starting on January 16th at 9/8c.

There are not a ton of details on the deal just yet but we do know a few things. None of the shows will be live, as they couldn’t be with the Japanese timezone, first off. Second, according to the Wrestling Observer, NJPW wants to air their wrestling events from 2013 through 2014. Apparently, newer shows will come potentially later in 2015, so they will be old, but this will include content from people such as WWE’s Finn Balor, known as Prince Devitt in NJPW.

They are set to air on Fridays, which is a big deal. WWE moved SmackDown to Thursday once again, which left the Friday slot open.

As previously mentioned, NJPW will be jumping into the American PPV industry for the first time in January. They will co-promote the event with Jeff Jarrett’s Global Force Wrestling. This could be quite the interesting PPV, so it is considered a must watch for pro wrestling fanatics.

With NJPW getting an American TV deal, that will give us Lucha Underground, WWE, TNA, NJPW, ROH, and potentially GFW in 2015. That is 6 different pro wrestling products all with television contracts. Unlike the WWE, none will be on major networks, but the fact that they have a TV deal at all is a big deal. NJPW being involved is huge, because various wrestling fans believe they have an excellent product.

NJPW is said to be the best pro wrestling company in Japan and several top wrestlers have worked there.

Former UFC Heavyweight champion Josh Barnett and Mauro Ranallo will be doing commentary the new NJPW program. Barnett has performed as a pro wrestler for both IGF and NJPW in the past. They are set to record audio for the series at some point next week.

You may have heard that AXS TV previously worked with wrestling. They once did under their former banner of HDNet. The Mark Cuban-owned station aired Ring of Honor for a while before cutting ties with them. The station then went through a bit of a transformation. Cuban is still a big wrestling fan and sees the potential in NJPW, apparently, which is what leads us to now.

Wrestling fans will rejoice with a good portion of wrestling products on the air next year. This is the first time that I can remember potentially 6 different wrestling companies will be on the air all at the same time in America with weekly shows. Looks like a good year is coming.

[Image Credit: prowrestlingpowerhouse.com]

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