It’s a special Sunday edition of Speak Now Pro Wrestling as I review not one but two shows in a super fun, lively and opinionated podcast.
At the top of the show, I recap Saturday’s AEW Battle of the Belts followed by a review of Wrestle Kingdom 16 night three which featured matches between New Japan Pro Wrestling vs. Pro Wrestling NOAH.
I will return for my normal slate of shows this week which includes NXT 2.0 on Tuesday, AEW Dynamite on Wednesday and joint AEW Rampage/WWE SmackDown coverage on Friday.
NJPW has announced three pre-show matches for night two of Wrestle Kingdom 16 on Wednesday.
Headlining the pre-show, Los Ingobernables de Japon’s Shingo Takagi, Hiromu Takahashi, and BUSHI will face Suzuki-gun’s Taichi, Zack Sabre Jr., and DOUKI.
In the second match, Hiroyoshi Tenzan, Satoshi Kojima, and Master Wato will take on Suzuki-gun’s El Desperado, Yoshinobu Kanemaru, and TAKA Michinoku.
In the opener, Togi Makabe, Yuji Nagata, and Tomoaki Honma will face Bullet Club’s Bad Luck Fale, Gedo, and Jado.
The pre-show will begin at 2 a.m. Eastern time, with the main card set to begin at 3.
Here is the updated lineup:
NJPW Wrestle Kingdom 16 night two, Wednesday, January 5, 2 a.m. Eastern time pre-show, 3 a.m. Eastern time main card on NJPW World —
IWGP World Heavyweight Championship: Kazuchika Okada (c) vs. Will Ospreay
No DQ match for the IWGP United States Heavyweight Championship: KENTA (c) vs. Hiroshi Tanahashi
Tetsuya Naito vs. Jeff Cobb
SANADA vs. Great-O-Khan
NEVER Openweight Six-Man Tag Team Championship: EVIL, Yujiro Takahashi & SHO (c) vs. Hirooki Goto, YOSHI-HASHI & YOH
Provisional KOPW 2022: Toru Yano vs. CIMA vs. Minoru Suzuki vs. Chase Owens
Stardom special: Mayu Iwatani & Starlight Kid vs. Tam Nakano & Saya Kamitani
IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Championship: Robbie Eagles & Tiger Mask (c) vs. Taiji Ishimori & El Phantasmo vs. Ryusuke Taguchi & Rocky Romero
Pre-show match: Shingo Takagi, Hiromu Takahashi & BUSHI vs. Taichi, Zack Sabre Jr. & DOUKI
Pre-show match: Hiroyoshi Tenzan, Satoshi Kojima & Master Wato vs. El Desperado, Yoshinobu Kanemaru & TAKA Michinoku
Pre-show match: Togi Makabe, Yuji Nagata & Tomoaki Honma vs. Bad Luck Fale, Gedo & Jado
On a new Pacific Rim, Fumi Saito and I review night one of New Japan Wrestle Kingdom 16.
While it wasn’t the best WK card of all time, it did have its moments from a great main event between IWGP Champion Shingo Takagi and Kazuchika Okada to the inspirational return of Katsuyori Shibata.
We also saw the crowning of some new champions and perhaps a new leader of the junior heavyweight division.
Fumi also talks about some of the subtle, cultural references you may have missed from night one before we do a preview of night two.
The main event of night two of NJPW Wrestle Kingdom 16 is official.
New IWGP World Heavyweight Champion Kazuchika Okada will defend the title against former champ Will Ospreay in the main event of Wednesday’s show.
Okada defeated Shingo Takagi in the main event of night one of Wrestle Kingdom 16 today to win the title and set the match for night two. Ospreay came to the ring and cut a promo taunting Okada, while Okada responded in kind with his own promo.
Ospreay was the second-ever IWGP World Heavyweight Champion, defeating Kota Ibushi for the title last May. Ospreay then vacated the belt, citing a neck injury. Shingo went on to defeat Okada for the vacant title at Dominion in June, then held the belt until today. Ospreay returned at NJPW Resurgence in Los Angeles in August claiming to be the real IWGP World Heavyweight Champion, and has since been wrestling on NJPW Strong events in the United States.
The full main card for night two of Wrestle Kingdom is now set, with just a pre-show match still to be announced.
Here is the lineup:
NJPW Wrestle Kingdom 16 night two, Wednesday, January 5, 2 a.m. Eastern time pre-show, 3 a.m. Eastern time main card on NJPW World —
IWGP World Heavyweight Championship: Kazuchika Okada (c) vs. Will Ospreay
No DQ match for the IWGP United States Heavyweight Championship: KENTA (c) vs. Hiroshi Tanahashi
Tetsuya Naito vs. Jeff Cobb
SANADA vs. Great-O-Khan
NEVER Openweight Six-Man Tag Team Championship: EVIL, Yujiro Takahashi & SHO (c) vs. Hirooki Goto, YOSHI-HASHI & YOH
Provisional KOPW 2022: Toru Yano vs. CIMA vs. Minoru Suzuki vs. Chase Owens
Stardom special: Mayu Iwatani & Starlight Kid vs. Tam Nakano & Saya Kamitani
IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Championship: Robbie Eagles & Tiger Mask (c) vs. Taiji Ishimori & El Phantasmo vs. Ryusuke Taguchi & Rocky Romero
Three titles changed hands on night one of NJPW Wrestle Kingdom 16.
In the main event of today’s show, Kazuchika Okada defeated Shingo Takagi to win the IWGP World Heavyweight Championship for the first time. After his win, Okada symbolically retired the v4 IWGP Heavyweight title belt that he had used to symbolize his G1 Climax 31 victory.
Okada will now face Will Ospreay in the main event of night two of Wrestle Kingdom 16 on Wednesday. Ospreay was the second IWGP World Heavyweight Champion, but did not lose the title in the ring, vacating it in May after suffering a neck injury.
Shingo’s first IWGP World Heavyweight title reign ends at 211 days and three successful defenses. He originally won the title at Dominion in June 2021, defeating Okada for the title that Ospreay vacated.
World Tag League 2021 winners Hirooki Goto and YOSHI-HASHI defeated Dangerous Tekkers (Taichi & Zack Sabre Jr.) to win the IWGP Heavyweight Tag Team Championship. With the win, YOSHI-HASHI claims his second career NJPW title, having previously only held the NEVER Openweight Six-Man Tag Team Championship.
This will mark Goto’s second reign as IWGP Heavyweight Tag title holder, having previously held the titles with Katsuyori Shibata. Taichi and Sabre’s third reign with the Heavyweight Tag belts ends at 163 days and one successful defense.
In the night’s first title change, EVIL defeated Tomohiro Ishii to win the NEVER Openweight Championship in a match that included interference from EVIL’s Bullet Club House of Torture stablemates Dick Togo, Yujiro Takahashi and SHO, a YOH run-in, two referees, chair shots, and a belt shot.
EVIL ends Ishii’s sixth reign with the NEVER title at 52 days and zero successful defenses. This is the second NEVER title reign for EVIL.
The four participants for the KOPW 2022 match at night two of Wrestle Kingdom 16 were decided today in a pre-show New Japan Ranbo on night one of the event.
Surprise entrant CIMA, KOPW 2021 winner Toru Yano, Minoru Suzuki and Chase Owens were the final four of the Ranbo, advancing to tomorrow’s four-way to determine the first provisional KOPW 2022.
CIMA and 68 year-old Tatsumi Fujinami were the two surprise entrants in the 19-man Ranbo. CIMA entered eleventh, while Fujinami entered eighteenth.
Fujinami maintains a semi-active schedule in various Japanese promotions, but this was his first NJPW match since night one of Wrestle Kingdom 14 in 2020.
Katsuyori Shibata announced his imminent in-ring return for night one of Wrestle Kingdom 16 on January 4 in the Tokyo Dome. Shibata made the announcement just before intermission at today’s Best of the Super Juniors and World Tag League finals show in Sumo Hall. No opponent has been announced.
Shibata’s announcement was one of the selling points of today’s event, but The Wrestler kept it short and sweet. While fighting back tears, he simply stated that he will have a match on January 4.
The announcement coming at Sumo Hall was symbolic. Shibata’s last official match came in the same building against Kazuchika Okada in April 2017. Shibata suffered a subdural hematoma in the match and was forced to retire as a result. Shibata appeared at the G1 finals that same year in the same building, walked to the ring, took a flat-back bump and declared “I am still alive!”
Shibata returned to the ring at this year’s G1 Climax finals in October, facing Zack Sabre Jr. in a five-minute UWF rules exhibition match. The exhibition was mostly an exchange of holds and grappling, with Shibata not taking bumps.
In an interview with Tokyo Sports, company president and CEO Takami Obari said that to kick off NJPW’s 50th anniversary year, he would like big cards.
“I want to make the content and amount suitable for the beginning of the 50th anniversary. I want to build it,” Obari said (translation via Google Translate). Wrestle Kingdom 16 takes place on January 4, 5 and 8, 2022. Night three will feature NJPW vs. Pro Wrestling NOAH matches.
In the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic, the 2021 Wrestle Kingdom cards were limited to six matches on the main card. A single pre-show match took place on night one of the event, while a pair of Stardom pre-show matches were held on night two. Stardom will again be included on on night two this year, as a Mayu Iwatani & Starlight Kid vs. Tam Nakano & Saya Kamitani match was made official today.
After a year of limited capacity, socially-distanced shows with fewer matches, NJPW returned to its standard seven to nine matches beginning with Power Struggle in November. They will begin easing capacity limits at their Korakuen Hall home base venue beginning with the New Year’s Golden Series tour in January.
Last month, NJPW announced a 50th anniversary tour for February and March 2022, a line of 50th anniversary merchandise, plus an NJPW museum exhibit.
A drawing was held at today’s Stardom event to determine which competitors will take part in the company’s match at night two of NJPW Wrestle Kingdom 16.
After drawing straws, it was announced that Mayu Iwatani and Starlight Kid will team against Tam Nakano & Saya Kamitani on January 5, 2022.
This will be the third consecutive Wrestle Kingdom appearance for Iwatani, and the second consecutive for Kamitani. While not yet announced, the assumption is that this year’s match will also be a pre-show match.
NJPW Wrestle Kingdom 16 will be held over three nights, with nights one and two being held in the Tokyo Dome on January 4 and January 5. Night three will feature NJPW vs. Pro Wrestling NOAH at the Yokohama Arena. Nights one and two will air live on NJPW World, while night three will be a live Abema pay-per-view. That show will also air on NJPW and NOAH’s streaming services on a one-week delay.
The full cards have yet to be announced for all three events.
The main event of night two of NJPW Wrestle Kingdom 16 in Tokyo Dome has been announced.
Will Ospreay will face the winner of the night one Shingo Takagi vs. Kazuchika Okada IWGP World Heavyweight Championship on night two on January 5, 2022. Okada earned the right to challenge Shingo for the title by winning the G1 Climax 31 tournament last month. Since his win, Okada has been carrying around the retired IWGP Heavyweight Championship belt to symbolize his victory.
Ospreay laid out the challenge at Saturday’s Battle in the Valley event, but NJPW did not make the match official until Sunday. Shingo has held the IWGP World title since defeating Okada for the vacant Championship at Dominion in June. Ospreay originally vacated the same title in May due to a neck injury after defeating Kota Ibushi for the belt at Sakura Genesis in April.
NJPW Wrestle Kingdom 16 night one, Tuesday, January 4, 2022 —
IWGP World Heavyweight Championship: Shingo Takagi (c) vs. Kazuchika Okada
NJPW Wrestle Kingdom 16 night two, Wednesday, January 5, 2022 —
IWGP World Heavyweight Championship: Shingo Takagi or Kazuchika Okada vs. Will Ospreay
NJPW Wrestle Kingdom night three, Saturday, January 8, 2022 —
