NJPW Announce US TV Deal

AEW Dynamite on TNT isn't the only place for North American fans to watch NJPW...

by Michael Sidgwick
Kazuchika Okada Will Ospreay
NJPW

New Japan Pro Wrestling has at last announced its heavily rumoured US TV deal: starting from February 11, at 5PM, the one-hour show will incorporate "weekly footage from major arenas in Japan," per F4WOnline.

The show, which will also be accessible in the UK and Canada, will debut on the Roku Channel, which is available to almost 62 million homes across the service's app, Roku TVs and Roku streaming services. That number isn't too dissimilar to USA (90.4) nor TNT (89.5), the respective homes of WWE and AEW, but it's a more niche service hosting what is niche content, despite the pre-pandemic gains made in the market.

The nature of the platform also allows for select archived content, including, per F4W's report, "some of the major matches from 2020". It is a respectable deal that can best be described as a small gain. Of course, the working relationship formed between NJPW and AEW recently will also, in theory, allow the critically-acclaimed Japanese powerhouse to further establish its presence stateside.

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Michael Sidgwick is an editor, writer and podcaster for WhatCulture Wrestling. With over seven years of experience in wrestling analysis, Michael was published in the influential institution that was Power Slam magazine, and specialises in providing insights into All Elite Wrestling - so much so that he wrote a book about the subject. You can order Becoming All Elite: The Rise Of AEW on Amazon. Possessing a deep knowledge also of WWE, WCW, ECW and New Japan Pro Wrestling, Michael’s work has been publicly praised by former AEW World Champions Kenny Omega and MJF, and current Undisputed WWE Champion Cody Rhodes. When he isn’t putting your finger on why things are the way they are in the endlessly fascinating world of professional wrestling, Michael wraps his own around a hand grinder to explore the world of specialty coffee. Follow Michael on X (formerly known as Twitter) @MSidgwick for more!