It's almost the end of the year and that means one very important thing: WrestleKingdom is upon us!
We're just five days away from NJPW's WrestleKingdom 15 folks, and as always it looks like a tremendous lineup. Beginning last year, this annual Tokyo Dome tradition was expanded to two nights, and that's the case once again. Last year the story was about the IWGP Champion facing the IWGP Intercontinental Champion on Night Two, this year the G1 winner Kota Ibushi lost the briefcase to Jay White but Champion Tetsuya Naito granted Ibushi a title shot anyway. Thus we'll see the double title defended on two consecutive nights (Alright, it's been a year, can we split these belts up again?). As with last year's Dome shows, Night One seems on paper to have more MOTY candidates, but we'll see. Strangely the proper PPV lineups on each night only consist of six bouts. But of course the benefit of that is that we won't get any filler matches and everything will get adequate time. Let's get into it.
Night One
IWGP Jr. Heavyweight #1 Contender: Hiromu Takahashi vs. El Phantasmo
This should be an incredible opener, pitting the former IWGP Jr. Heavyweight Champion and 2020 Best of the Super Juniors winner against the winner of the 2020 Super J Cup. Hiromu returned in spectacular fashion a year ago to take the title from Will Ospreay, delivering the second-best match of the year in my opinion. I'm sure these two will do their best to equal or surpass that match. I think Takahashi is a lock to win here and challenge his nemesis Taiji Ishimori on Night Two.
Pick: Takahashi
IWGP Tag Team Championship: Dangerous Tekkers vs. Guerrillas of Destiny
Tama and Tanga returned to Japan after a months-long COVID-necessitated absence, and climbed right back to the top of the ranks, winning the World Tag League and writing their ticket to the Dome. One team they didn't beat though, the champions Zack Sabre and Taichi. This should be a pretty excellent tag title match that sees GOD win back the straps.
Pick: Guerrillas of Destiny