Jeff Jarrett’s Global Force Wrestling issued the following today:
GLOBAL FORCE WRESTLING TO PRESENT NEW JAPAN PRO WRESTLING’S “WRESTLE KINGDOM 9” ON PPV IN NORTH AMERICA
NASHVILLE — 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.
“Wrestle Kingdom 9” will be the 24th consecutive year for the Jan. 4 dome event, which kicks off the year in Japan and annually is the largest wrestling show in the world outside of the United States, drawing in excess of 40,000 fans.
“This is one of the great events on the wrestling calendar every year, and for GFW to have the opportunity to bring it to the American audience is an honor and a privilege,” GFW founder and CEO Jeff Jarrett said. “This event has a history that involves not only the greatest names in Japanese wrestling history but some of the greatest names in U.S. wrestling history.”
NJPW founder and wrestling icon Antonio Inoki has appeared on the Jan. 4 dome show five times. Other legends to appear include Hulk Hogan, Dusty Rhodes, Sting, the Steiner Brothers, Big Van Vader, Randy Savage, Brock Lesnar, the Great Muta, the Great Kabuki, Masahiro Chono and Riki Choshu.
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.
