The WWE Network is sort of defined by its ups and downs right now. If you’re an American with reliable internet, you have an embarrassment of wrestling riches at your disposal. Other international customers (the United Kingdom in particular)… well, not so much. But if you’re looking for an over-the-top streaming wrestling service, it’s your only option, right? NOT ANYMORE.
This week, New Japan Pro Wrestling announced the launch of their own streaming platform, NJPW World. Here’s the statement from the NJPW website – I’ve taken the liberty of slightly improving upon their official translation.
NJPW and TV Asahi jointly started the VIDEO Streaming Service, named NJPW World, as of Dec. 1 !
Many Exciting Matches from the old time, like Inoki vs. Hogan, Inoki vs. Andre The Giant… Stan Hansen, Big Van Vader, [Tatsumi] Fujinami, [Riki] Choshu… to the recent ones are available, with the price 999 Yen/month!
That’s right, NJPW is taking a (good-natured?) swipe at WWE and setting the monthly price at 999 yen, or roughly $8.40 American Bucks. New Japan’s initial goal is to hit 100,000 subscribers, with most of those subscribers obviously being Japanese. But, according to 411Mania via the Wrestling Observer Newsletter, NJPW president Takaaki Kidani is “blown away” by how many non-Japanese subscribers have signed up in just a few short days. Due to this development, an English version of the site may be coming in the near future.
So, what all can you find on NJPW World? Much like the WWE Network, you’ll be able to watch major live events like Wrestle Kingdom as they happen, as well as older shows from NJPW’s extensive, four-decade library of content. There are over 1,000 archived matches right now, dating back to 1973. I’ll more than likely be in on this once we get an English version. However, if you don’t think you can wait that long, GIF-maker extraordinaire SenorLARIATO has a five-step translation/cheat-sheet (1, 2, 3, 4, 5) to walk you through the subscription process. Best of luck!
