WWE wants to do to Japan what they did to the UK Wrestling scene…
https://bloodyelbow.substack.com/p/wwe-and-ufc-looking-to-tko-japan>WWE & UFC looking to TKO Japan with new ABEMA & U-NEXT TV deals>A path is clearing for Vince McMahon to accomplish the last major item on his bucket list.>Ari Emanuel knows how to pick the side of any business deal with the biggest margins by playing multiple partners against each other.>This particular strategy produced last week’s announcement of a cunningly brilliant multi-year partnership between WWE and ABEMA, one of the largest digital media players in Japan.>The deal comes six months after UFC signed a multi-year deal with ABEMA’s digital rival, U-NEXT.>U-NEXT is a dominant general programming platform. It has ownership from Tokyo Broadcasting System. ABEMA is more of a sports-oriented platform with significant investment from CyberAgent and TV-Asahi, a network that’s been involved with New Japan Pro-Wrestling since 1972.>The arms race between U-NEXT and ABEMA to acquire fight content has been escalating. TKO has managed to position itself as a prime leader for content on both platforms. The consequences for the domestic Japanese fight companies are serious. 