As announced on Lance Storm and Don Callis’ “Killing The Town” podcast, Callis will be joining Kevin Kelly on the English language broadcast team for New Japan Pro Wrestling.
Callis was hired because they had a spot to fill after Steve Corino took a job as a coach at the WWE Performance Center. Callis and Kenny Omega are friends (they’re both from Winnipeg) and Omega likely helped get him the job so that could be an indication that Omega is staying with NJPW. As noted before, people in NJPW were under the impression that he was staying with them even though, publicly, he was giving the impression that he might jump to WWE
Here are the upcoming NJPW events for this year that will have English-language commentary:
2/4 – New Beginning in Sapporo
2/11 – New Beginning in Osaka
3/6- 45th Anniversary
3/20 – New Japan Cup 2017
4/9 – Sakura Genesis 2017
5/3 – Wrestling Dontaku
6/3 – Best of Super Junior 24 Finals
6/11 – Dominion 2017
7/1 – G1 Climax Special in USA
7/2 – G1 Climax Special in USA
7/17- G1 Climax Opening
8/11 -G1 Climax Finals
8/12 -G1 Climax Finals
8/13 – G1 Climax Finals
You can check out the live airings of these shows on NJPWWorld.com. They will also be added to their “on demand” library after the initial broadcast.
Looking forward to working with my old friend @realkevinkelly on @njpwworld shows! Feels great 2 work for the hottest promotion in the world
— The Invisible Hand (@TheDonCallis) January 17, 2017
Callis worked in WWE from 1997 – 1998 as a manager and then joined ECW as Cyrus the Virus in 1999. There’s no official word yet regarding Corino’s replacement as the Ring of Honor color commentator.
