PWJ Fight Night

**No. of episodes** | 1,448 (as of July 29, 2023)

***PWJ Fight Night*** (Japanese: プロレスジャパン, Hepburn: *Puroresujapan*, lit. *Pro Wrestling Japan*) is a Japanese professional wrestling television program produced by Pro Wrestling Japan that currently airs on the IWF Network which is available as a content hub within the Disney+ streaming service. The Japanese version of the program airs live every Saturday at 5 p.m. JST while an Americanized broadcast airs in the United States on tape-delay every Monday at 8 p.m. ET. The show is currently considered to be one of two flagship shows, along with *PWJ: Joshi Japan*.

The show debuted in Japan in September 2008 and originally aired on Nippon TV from its debut until its move to the IWF Network on August 13, 2022. Meanwhile, the program made its United States debut in June 2018, airing edited versions of *Pro Wrestling Japan* on YouTube. Ten months later, the program was renamed to *PWJ Fight Night* for the US market and began airing exclusively on the IWF Network.

## History

### Nippon TV era (2008–2023)

*PWJ Fight Night* first debuted in Japan on Friday, September 12, 2008 under the title of *Pro Wrestling Japan* (プロレスジャパン) and sometimes referred to as PWJ TV. The two-hour program was originally filmed on Wednesdays at the KBS Hall in Kyoto but moved to airing live on Fridays by 2010. The program proved extremely popular, even beating out the ratings for New Japan Pro Wrestling on four different occasions.

#### US debut (2018)

After Pro Wrestling Japan announced they were joining the Indie Wrestling Federation as of March 2017, plans were made for the program to make its US debut. There was a lack of interest among major cable companies for the rights to the series, forcing *Pro Wrestling Japan* to debut on YouTube in June 2018.

#### COVID-19 pandemic (2020–2021)

Amidst from the Japanese onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, in accordance with recommendations from the Japanese Ministry of Health, PWJ decided to cancel all scheduled shows from March 1 through March 15. On March 10, PWJ announced that they were cancelling all shows through March 22, which meant that they cancelled the *PWJ 138* PPV.

On April 8, PWJ would cancel more events from April 11 through May 4, which mean the *PWJ 139* PPV was cancelled as well. On May 6, PWJ cancelled the *PWJ 140* PPV. On June 9, PWJ announced their return with a special show called *Together Forever* on June 15 and the return of their PPV schedule, with the previously cancelled *PWJ 138* now taking place on July 12. With the return of tapings of *Pro Wrestling Japan*, matches were held at the Kyoto City Gymnasium without fans in attendance. The pay-per-view events would feature a small crowd of vaccinated guests in socially distanced seating sections. This practice would continue throughout the end of the year, with a limited crowd of 250 fans were permitted to television tapings as of March 2021.

## Broadcast

In Japan, the show airs live every Saturday at 5 p.m. JST while an Americanized broadcast airs in the United States on tape-delay every Monday at 8 p.m. ET. Both versions of the program air on their country's respective version of the IWF Network which is available as a content hub within Disney+ streaming service.

## Broadcast history

The show debuted in Japan in September 2008 and originally aired on Nippon TV from its debut until its move to the IWF Network on August 13, 2023. Meanwhile, the program made its United States debut in June 2018, airing edited versions of *Pro Wrestling Japan* on YouTube. Ten months later, the program was renamed to *PWJ Fight Night* for the US market and began airing exclusively on the IWF Network.