NJPW reportedly had the opportunity to return to AXS, but decided to go elsewhere.
On February 4, NJPW announced a new deal with Roku that would bring the promotion to the Roku Channel every Thursday, plus content on-demand. NJPW had been without a television deal in the United States since 2019 when their relationship with AXS TV ended. NJPW had been on AXS since 2014, but the partnership ended when Anthem Sports and Entertainment, IMPACT Wrestling's parent company, bought the network.
According to Dave Meltzer of the Wrestling Observer, NJPW turned down a return to AXS in the latest round of negotiations as they didn't want to be locked into an exclusive contract.
Meltzer previously reported NJPW was also in talks with ESPN, VICE, and CBS Sports among others during negotiations, but lack of viewership numbers from the AXS run cause the deals with ESPN and VICE to not happen while no money offered, just a split of advertising availability was the issue with CBS Sports.
NJPW's deal with Roku is not exclusive, which allows the company to continue to seek a bigger platform. NJPW debuted on the Roku Channel on February 11.
IMPACT Wrestling and NJPW are on better terms now as the two companies have entered a working relationship with David Finlay & Juice Robinson appearing on Tuesday's IMPACT.
You can find Fightful's full report on IMPACT by clicking here.
