WWE’s Expansion to Japan Could Jeopardize Seth Rollins’ World Title Reign; Here’s Why

WWE is ever-expanding its viewership around the globe. One way to grow as a promotion is to expand as much as you can among the audience. So, the Stamford-based promotion has once again sailed its ship to a new country. This time around, WWE has landed on the shores of the Land of the Rising Run. After more than a year, WWE is back again in Japan with another streaming partner.

This time around, they have partnered with Abema so that fans in Japan can enjoy watching Raw and SmackDown live. Although this deal sounds promising for Japanese wrestlers, it might jeopardize Seth Rollins‘ title.

Should Seth Rollins be on his guard at Fastlane?

So far, The Aerialist has defended his World Heavyweight Championship well enough. He has even faced Shinsuke Nakamura a number of times before. However, the Japanese wrestler is not done with the feud as he is going to face the champion yet again for his title. In light of WWE’s recent deal with the Japanese streaming partner, things may play out in Nakamura’s favor.

As WWE Fastlane draws closer, so does Rollins’ title defense against Nakamura. WWE’s deal with Abema to stream Raw and SmackDown for Japanese fans could result in the American wrestler losing his title belt during the match. The reason could be as simple as WWE trying to win over the Japanese audience and make them interested in their weekly shows and PLEs.

The promotion played a similar move for the Indian market when, back in May 2017, they had Jinder Mahal win the WWE Championship from Randy Orton at WWE Backlash. Their house show later that year saw a good response from Indian fans. So, it can be argued that they might be looking forward to playing similar cards here.

We’ve done plenty of speculation about how this deal between WWE and ABEMA can affect Rollins’ title reign. But for those of you who are curious about the details, let’s dive in to see what this deal is about.

What is the deal that could affect Seth Rollins’ title reign?

WWE was out of the streaming game in Japan for around a year and ten months. Although the wrestling company’s website was presumably available in the region to access, the shows weren’t officially available to the masses easily for a long while. To change this, they locked a deal with Abema to stream Raw and SmackDown in Japan starting this October.

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Raw will be available every Tuesday at 8:00 PM in the country starting October 3, whereas SmackDown will air on Saturdays at the same time from October 7 onwards. In addition to this, these weekly shows and the PLEs will all be available for no extra price.

In fact, according to Tokyo Sports, Shinsuke Nakamura has also pleaded with the Japanese audience to support him and other wrestlers from the company who work in the promotion.

Do you believe this is the end of Seth Rollins’ title reign? Could this deal mark the start of something bigger for Shinsuke Nakamura?

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