FITE TV, the largest digital combat sports streaming platform, announced today it has partnered with New Japan Pro Wrestling Co., Ltd. (NJPW) to bring fans several high-profile events New Japan will offer this summer, two of which will air live on FITE. This announcement comes on the heels of FITE’s recent success partnering with All Elite Wrestling to broadcast the premiere Double or Nothing event to international viewers.
New Japan Pro Wrestling has seldom partnered with a digital platform before, making this partnership with FITE one of the first for the company, and a continuation of the two companies partnering in January 2019 to air Wrestle Kingdom. NJPW Dominion will air live on FITE from Osaka, Japan, airing Sunday, June 9 at 3 AM EST (8 AM BST). FITE will also air exclusively live NJPW Southern Showdown from Melbourne, Australia, set to air on Saturday, June 29 at 5 a.m. EST (10 PM BST).
On Sunday, June 9, Dominion will emanate from a sold-out Osaka Jo Hall. Chris Jericho will challenge IWGP Heavyweight Champion Kazuchika Okada, Intercontinental Champion Kota Ibushi will face Tetsuya Naito and Taichi will take on Tomohiro Ishii in the three matches already announced for an unmissable event.
“We are excited to work with New Japan Pro Wrestling, the second largest professional wrestling company in the world,” said Michael Weber, COO of FITE. “We launched our company with NJPW’s Wrestle Kingdom and it only makes sense to start a bigger relationship with them. At FITE, we’re always striving to offer bigger and better options for our viewers, so this partnership will really expand our offerings and allow subscribers to branch out into new content. We’re excited for the start of this long-term deal with such a high calibre wrestling organization.”
New Japan Pro Wrestling experienced a surge in growth over the last decade, and in 2018 gained global attention with a series of events in the United States and through the leadership of New Japan’s CEO, H.G. Meij. In April 2019, New Japan and Ring of Honor Wrestling hosted their first event at a sold-out Madison Square Garden in New York City during WrestleMania weekend with the G1 Supercard, solidifying New Japan as a major player in the US wrestling world.
“We’ve been fortunate to grow awareness of New Japan throughout the United States and have been looking for the right digital platform to partner with to allow more viewers to tune into our events, so working with FITE TV was a natural choice,” said H.G. Meij, CEO of New Japan Pro Wrestling. “At New Japan, we’re looking to bring forth the newest generation of wrestling fans and want the entire world to be given the opportunity to see what we have to offer.”
FITE TV is the destination combat sports streaming platform for 1.4 million viewers to watch novel and unique pro wrestling shows – which include All Elite Wrestling, Ring of Honor Wrestling, Impact Wrestling, Game Changer Wrestling, New Japan Pro Wrestling and hundreds of other organizations.
FITE will share additional details surrounding the upcoming New Japan events on its website and mobile app. The FITE Digital Television Network is a free app download and is available on all major digital platforms including its website www.FITE.tv, Apple and Android mobile apps, Roku, Apple TV, Android TV, and Amazon Fire. The FITE mobile app features the patented technology to cast the program to any connected television set and is available worldwide. Buy NJPW Dominion on FITE here.
All pics courtesy of FITE and NJPW.