Yesterday, both Jeff Jarrett and Global Force Wrestling took to Twitter to tease a Very Important Major Announcement at 10am this morning. What could it be? A new major partnership? Vince Russo? A major push for everybody’s favourite New Zealand wrestler Evie?? Sadly it was not the latter, though Russo not being involved in wrestling is always a relief. No, this announcement was that Global Force Wrestling would be producing New Japan Pro Wrestling’s WrestleKingdom in January. You know…that thing we kind of already knew.
To be fair, scheduling a pay-per-view on the same day the company you just announced a partnership with holds their show every single year isn’t a direct confirmation, so here are the details of this GFW-NJPW-PPV that is a Very Big Surprise™ for all of us:
Global Force Wrestling is proud to announce that the first event under its banner will be in conjunction with New Japan Pro Wrestling and its Jan. 4 show from the Tokyo Dome. “GFW Presents New Japan Pro Wrestling’s Wrestle Kingdom 9” will air live in North America at 2 a.m. ET on Jan. 4, which is 4 p.m. in Tokyo. The four-hour telecast also will air in primetime in North America at 7 p.m. ET on your pay-per-view provider, including DirecTV, Dish, AT&T U-verse, Comcast, Verizon Fios and all cable systems in the United States, and in Canada on Bell ExpressVu TV, Rogers, Shaw, Sasktel and Telus. Check your local listings for availability. The show also will be available on the “Flipps” app on iTunes or Android.
Much like the WWE Network, this leaves me out of the loop due to the rigidly divided cable regions of Canada. But it’s cool, y’know, I don’t really like wrestling or staying up late or watching Okada throw the most beautiful dropkicks in the world. Whatevs.
This year’s card is headlined by an IGWP heavyweight title match between Hiroshi Tanahashi and Kazuchika Okada. The Bullet Club, of which Jarrett is a member along with A.J. Styles and IWGP tag team champions Karl Anderson and Doc Gallows, is expected to appear on the show as well. The show will be available in English and in Japanese via the second audio program (SAP) button on your TV. GFW will reveal the North American announcers for the event in the near future. – Global Force Wrestling
Oh no, it’s cool, who wants to see Tanahashi vs. Okada again? Pft. Those guys aren’t even very good. I wasn’t even planning on watching anyways. *weeps silently while clutching her Okada shirt*
