Wrestle Kingdom 12
Behind the scenes, Jericho became part of a group of people that started pushing for the show to air on American pay-per-view (PPV) for the first time since Wrestle Kingdom 9 in 2015. Some in NJPW felt that airing the show through NJPW World would be enough, hoping that the Jericho signing would increase subscriber numbers. While NJPW was now considered more popular than in 2015, when Wrestle Kingdom 9 did 14,000 buys on American PPV, it was noted that the 2018 show would take place early Thursday morning in the United States as opposed to a weekend like it did in 2015, which was seen as a major negative in terms of getting buys from the country. In late November, it was reported that NJPW had turned down Fite TV's offer for PPV rights outside of Japan and would not be allowing the event to air on American PPV, wanting their streaming service to be the only way to see the event live. On December 3, it was announced that the top matches from the show would air on AXS TV on January 6, 2018, as part of an 11-hour block of NJPW programming with additional matches airing between January 12 and February 9. Five matches, including the top three matches, will air on TV Asahi as part of a special episode of "World Pro Wrestling" on the night of January 4.
King of the Ring (2010)
The 2010 King of the Ring was a special edition of "Raw". that aired on November 29, 2010, at the Wells Fargo Center in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The program featured the nineteenth King of the Ring tournament and first since 2008. Sheamus defeated John Morrison in the finals of the tournament to become King of the Ring. Unlike the previous tournament that featured wrestlers from the "Raw," "SmackDown" and "ECW" brands, the 2010 version of the tournament only featured wrestlers from "Raw" and "SmackDown" (following the closure of the ECW brand in February 2010). The last King of the Ring tournament which only featured wrestlers from both "Raw" and "SmackDown" was held in 2002 (following the WWE Brand Extension the previous month, but before the ECW brand was introduced as a third brand in 2006). Despite the event being mainly focused on the King of the Ring concept, the main event featured Jerry Lawler (who was celebrating his birthday that day) facing the new WWE Champion The Miz for the WWE Championship in a Tables, Ladders and Chairs match which marked Lawler's first WWE Championship match. Lawler lost due to distractions from Alex Riley and Michael Cole. CM Punk was joined in commentary on the show.