Background and early format On November 24, 2014,
AXS TV, under the
AXS TV Fights banner, announced that it had acquired a thirteen-episode series produced by
TV Asahi featuring matches from
New Japan Pro Wrestling. The series premiered on January 16, 2015, airing on Friday evenings. This was the first time NJPW had been aired on an American television network since its formation in 1972. NJPW content would continue to air on AXS until December 2019. On October 21, 2019, NJPW announced the formation of an American subsidiary called "New Japan Pro-Wrestling of America" (NJoA). On July 31, 2020, NJPW announced a new weekly series titled
NJPW Strong, with its initial episodes to feature matches from the inaugural
New Japan Cup USA tournament. As part of NJPW's expansion into the United States, the series would be produced by NJoA. The premiere episode of
Strong aired on August 7, 2020, broadcast live from NJPW's training
dojo in
Los Angeles, and streaming on NJPW's service
NJPW World. The event was held with no spectators due to the
COVID-19 pandemic. On August 19, NJPW announced that
Strong would be streaming on
FITE TV in conjunction with NJPW World.
Change in format On January 6, 2023,
Hiroshi Tanahashi announced on his blog that the January
Strong tapings would be the last, and that "overseas tournaments" would be held in a different format in the future. On January 30, NJPW announced that all of the promotion's future American events would be branded under the NJPW Strong name, and be available for purchase via
pay-per-view (PPV) providers. Beginning with
Battle in the Valley on February 18, the NJoA PPVs began airing as
NJPW Strong Live. These PPV events will later air on NJPW World in hour-long installments known as
NJPW Strong on Demand. ==Events==