WWE Announces New Broadcast Rights Deal In Japan

WWE announced this morning that the company has entered into a new broadcasting rights agreement with ABEMA, a free ad-supported streaming platform in Japan. The agreement will see both "WWE Raw" and "WWE SmackDown" broadcast for free in the country, with Japanese commentary available on the shows for the first time. Additionally, WWE PLEs will be available to watch on the platform, and "WWE NXT" will become available to watch on-demand as part of the agreement. The company revealed that the deal will begin starting with "Raw" next week.

Former WWE Cruiserweight Champion Akira Tozawa celebrated the news on X, letting fans know in Japanese that ABEMA will be the place to watch WWE programming moving forward. The Japanese broadcasts of "Raw" and "SmackDown" will be available one day after the US broadcasts, complete with Japanese commentary. That means "Raw" will be made available at 8 p.m. on Tuesday nights while "SmackDown" goes up at 8 p.m. on Saturdays.

Previously, WWE received distribution in Japan from a company called J Sports. However, that deal ended in early 2022 after more than 20 years as partners. Japanese fans were required to pay for a subscription to gain access to all WWE programming under the deal with J Sports, while it seems everything will be made available at no cost when watching on ABEMA moving forward.

Along with North America and the United Kingdom, Japan is a hotbed for professional wrestling, home to promotions such as New Japan Pro-Wrestling, All Japan Pro Wrestling, DDT, Pro Wrestling NOAH, Dragon Gate, and more. While there were previously rumors that WWE had an interest in starting an NXT branch in Japan, there doesn't seem to have been any significant movement on that front in the last several years, though that could always change.