AXS TV Re-Signs NJPW For A Multi-Year Deal – Details

Jul 23, 2015

UPDATED: AXS TV sent out the following press release, confirming the below report…

AXS TV FIGHTS SIGNS MULTI-YEAR AGREEMENT WITH TV ASAHI FOR HIT SERIES ‘NEW JAPAN PRO WRESTLING’

LOS ANGELES – July 23, 2015 – AXS TV FIGHTS today announced a multi-year agreement with TV Asahi to continue to air the hit series NEW JAPAN PRO WRESTLING (NJPW), which first premiered on the network in January. As a part of the agreement, AXS TV adds 17 additional episodes to its current season, bringing the total number aired in 2015 to 42.

Starting Aug. 14 through the end of the year, NJPW episodes feature matches from Destruction in Kobe, King of Pro-Wrestling 2014, Power Struggle 2014, World Tag League 2014, Wrestle Kingdom 9, Fantasticamania 2015, The New Beginning in Osaka 2015 and The New Beginning in Sendai. Former UFC heavyweight champion and NJPW veteran Josh Barnett and renowned combat sports commentator Mauro Ranallo, will continue to provide their critically acclaimed commentary for the series.

In the past 12 months, AXS TV expanded its Friday night combat sports and professional wrestling programming line-up, adding the hour-long NJPW series at 9 p.m. ET along with two new promotions, CES MMA and Legacy Kickboxing, to its weekly, live AXS TV FIGHTS broadcasts at 10 p.m. ET. The network is on pace to broadcast 41 live MMA, Muay Thai and Kickboxing events this year, the most in its history and more than any other U.S. television network in 2015.

Additionally, in the past year AXS TV FIGHTS has increased its global presence with agreements to broadcast its combat sports events in over 15 countries, including live broadcasts of Resurrection Fighting Alliance to the Fight Network in Canada and Legacy Fighting Championship to Esporte Interativo in Brazil.

“With this multi-year agreement, AXS TV is poised to offer a more diverse combat sports and professional wrestling programming line-up than any other TV network, offering an exciting mix of exclusive live events, New Japan Pro Wrestling and MMA news coverage,” said Andrew Simon, CEO of AXS TV FIGHTS. “We are humbled by the viewer’s and media’s response to Mauro Ranallo and Josh Barnett’s commentary and presentation of the series and are excited to continue to work with our great partners at TV Asahi and NJPW for years to come.”

AXS TV’s NJPW episodes are produced by and acquired from TV ASAHI CORPORATION.

ORIGINAL: AXS TV and TV-Asahi have announced the signing of a multi-year contract to continue Friday night broadcasts of New Japan’s World Pro Wrestling. The show is averaging 200,000 viewers for AXS TV, which is said to be a pleasant surprise for the channel. The show’s third season will run from August 14th through December 11th. And they will be catching up the show time wise, but it will not run current due to the way the deal is structured (the show runs first in Japan, then comes to the US to get new commentary). By 2016, the goal is to run 52 weeks a year with no weeks off. Mauro Ranallo and Josh Barnett will continue to call the action. Here is the schedule of matches, which start on August 14th…

* August 14 (8 p.m. Show): From 9/21/14 in Kobe: Toru Yano & Kazushi Sakuraba vs. Minoru Suzuki & Takashi Iizuka; Tetsuya Naito & Kota Ibushi vs. A.J. Styles & Tama Tonga; Ryusuke Taguchi vs. Kushida for IWGP jr. title.

* August 21: From 9/21/14 in Kobe: Togi Makabe vs. Hirooki Goto, Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. Katsuyori Shibata (which placed third in the 2014 mach of the year balloting).

* August 28: From 9/21/14 in Kobe: Karl Anderson & Doc Gallows vs. Kazuchika Okada & Yoshi-Hashi for IWGP tag titles; Bad Luck Fale vs. Shinsuke Nakamura for IC title.

* September 4: From 10/13/14 at Sumo Hall: Taguchi vs. Desperado for IWGP jr. title; Nakamura & Yoshi-Hashi vs. Shibata & Goto; Okada vs. Naito for Tokyo Dome title shot.

* September 11: From 10/13/14 at Sumo Hall: A.J. Styles vs. Hiroshi Tanahashi for IWGP heavyweight title.

* September 18: From 11/18/14 in Osaka: Alex Shelley & Kushida vs. Kyle O’Reilly & Bobby Fish for IWGP jr. tag title; Ryusuke Taguchi vs. Taichi for IWGP jr. title; Chase Owens vs. Jushin Liger for NWA jr. title.

* September 25 (8 p.m. Show): From 11/8/14 in Osaka: Tomohiro Ishii vs. Goto for Never Open weight title; Tanahashi & Ibushi vs. Okada & Yoshi-Hashi; Nakamura vs. Shibata for IC title.

* October 2: From 12/7/14 in Nagoya: Tanahashi & Ibushi & Makabe & La Sombra vs. Okada & Nakamura & Ishii & Yoshi-Hashi; Goto & Shibata vs. Anderson & Gallows in the finals of the tag team tournament.

* October 9: From 1/4/15 at the Tokyo Dome: O’Reilly & Fish vs. Kushida & Shelley vs. Rocky Romero & Alex Koslov vs. Young Bucks for IWGP jr. tag titles; Taguchi vs. Kenny Omega for IWGP jr. title.

* October 16: From 1/4/15 at the Tokyo Dome: Ishii vs. Makabe for Never Open weight title; Sakuraba vs. Suzuki

* October 23: From 1/4/15 at the Tokyo Dome: Anderson & Gallows vs. Goto & Shibata for IWGP tag title; Styles vs. Naito; Hiroyoshi Tenzan & Satoshi Kojima & Honma vs. Jeff Jarrett & Fale & Yujiro Takahashi

* October 30: From 1/4/15 at the Tokyo Dome: Yano & Naomichi Marufuji & Mikey Nicholls & Shane Haste vs. Takashi Iizuka & Shelton Benjamin & Lance Archer & Davey Boy Smith Jr.; Nakamura vs. Ibushi for IC title (this will actually be listed in the cable guides as “a five-star classic bout”).

* November 6: From 1/4/15 at the Tokyo Dome: Tanahashi vs. Okada for IWGP heavyweight title

* November 13: From 1/19/15 at Korakuen Hall: Triton & Captain New Japan vs. Naito & Taguchi; Atlantis & Volador Jr. & Tanahashi & Ibushi vs. Ultimo Guerrero & Gran Guerrero & Nakamura & Okada; La Sombra vs. Mascara Dorada.

* November 20 (8 p.m. show) : From 2/11/15 in Osaka: Omega vs. Taguchi for IWGP jr. title; Anderson & Gallows vs. Goto & Shibata for IWGP tag titles.

* December 4: From 2/11/15 in Osaka: Tanahashi vs. Styles for IWGP heavyweight title.

* December 11: From 2/14/15 from Sendai: Ishii vs. Honma for Never Open weight title

100% DIRECT LINK (PHOTOS): A Sneak Peak: Kelly Kelly 2016 Calendar! HOLY SH#**$!!!