When Impact’s parent company Anthem bought AXS earlier this year, one of the big questions was what would happen with the network’s relationship with New Japan.
AXS was NJPW’s television partner in the United States, airing occasional live events and a weekly show replaying recent matches from big shows. There was a lot of doubt about whether they could co-exist with Impact - a promotion which has a rocky relationship with New Japan, allegedly due to how TNA booked Kazuchika Okada while he was on loan to Impact.
Well, we don’t specifically know why, but we do have an answer:
In response to US fan queries
— NJPW Global (@njpwglobal) December 27, 2019
There are currently no plans for TV broadcast of NJPW events in 2020 (WK14 included) in the US.
Thank you for joining us on TV so far. We invite you to join @njpwworld for all the action in 2020, LIVE and in English!https://t.co/ldAvP7y3CH#njpw pic.twitter.com/C0gV2JuJ37
So at least as it stands now, if you want to see next week’s big Tokyo Dome shows or anything else New Japan puts on in 2020, you’ll need to subscribe to their NJPWWorld streaming service.
There’s no word at this time if WOW will return for a third season on AXS. But this does make it seem like the network’s focus will be on its corporate partner, Impact.
UPDATE: AXS has confirmed to Fightful that NJPW will no longer air on the network.