The wrestling landscape is going to change in a big way in the next few years. New Japan Pro Wrestling is expanding into the United States and NJPW World subscriptions are at an all-time high after Wrestle Kingdom 11. NJPW’s long-term goal is to eventually get a stronger TV deal in the United States. FloSlam is also making waves by making deals with different promotions to air live streams from different shows. WWE has taken notice and they are looking at making big moves this year.
Last week’s United Kingdom Championship Tournament was supposed to be the launching pad for a weekly UK-produced show. The idea is to get the show picked up on traditional TV instead of the WWE Network. WWE has plans to do the same in other countries and this week, they sent out a survey to fans in Mexico asking if they would be interested in a Lucha Libre tournament on the WWE Network. They also asked if they would be interested in seeing WWE Lucha Libre shows. There is also talk of doing similar tournaments in Asia.
This sounds a lot like what happened in the mid-1980s when WWE bought out timeslots around the country and essentially put out most of the territories out of business.
As previously noted, ICW programming will be airing on the WWE Network soon. The deal is for 3 years and the money is a low amount being paid by WWE. There are some interesting clauses in the deal that may eventually come out. Dave Meltzer noted that PROGRESS Wrestling is believed to be close to making a deal with WWE to air their shows on the network. RevPro is not likely to make a deal with WWE because they have a relationship with New Japan Pro Wrestling. What Culture Pro Wrestling is another promotion not expected to make a deal with WWE.
