J Sports to no longer carry WWE programming in Japan

J Sports and WWE’s 24-year partnership will be coming to an end, possibly leaving WWE without a major television partner in Japan. 

J Sports issued a statement today announcing the end of their partnership with WWE effective December 31, 2021 for new programming and January 31, 2022 for on demand shows. 

J Sports had been airing Raw and SmackDown live in English, plus one-hour highlights versions of the shows. Additionally, versions of the shows with Japanese subtitles have aired on J Sports. 

WWE’s pay-per-view events have been available on the J Sports On Demand platform.

Brandon Thurston of Wrestlenomics tweeted:

“Other than 30-minute “This Week in WWE” updates on SamuraiTV and maybe syndicated regionally in some areas, I think WWE may be without a TV distributor in Japan in 2022.” 

Subscribers to the J Sports WWE pack have until December 31 to cancel their subscriptions, or else they will be charged for January’s on demand content.