NJPW-AXS TV Contract Update, More NJPW PPV's In U.S., Wrestle Kingdom 9 Buyrate Update

- UFC fighter and NJPW on AXS color commentator Josh Barnett appeared on The MMA Hour this week, and had some optimistic news for fans of New Japan Pro Wrestling.

Barnett said that AXS TV will likely be announcing a renewal of the New Japan Pro Wrestling program, which is in it's first season on the network. The company has been airing matches from 2013 and 2014 to warm their fans up for more current matches.

It was also said that AXS is looking to bring at least two more seasons of the program. The current season, met with almost universal acclaim, runs through April 10.

- In addition to NJPW's excellent outlook on AXS, Barnett also mentioned that the company may be bringing pay-per-view back in July. NJPW is scheduled to run their "Dominion" show that month.

As of now, it's unclear which announce team NJPW would opt to go with. Mauro Ranallo and Josh Barnett have been handling the taped NJPW on AXS program, while Jim Ross and Matt Striker worked the Wrestle Kingdom 9 show last month.

- The numbers for Wrestle Kingdom 9 on U.S. PPV are still really vague, with Dave Meltzer of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter stating that is could be anywhere between 5,000 and 25,000. The numbers are still preliminary, and hard to determine at this point. The show crashed the Flipps app in which it was broadcast on, doing 2,500 buys alone.

It's worth noting that several Japanese websites had NJPW World's subscriber count between 10,000 and 20,000 at the time of the show.