The full card has been revealed for night two of Wrestle Kingdom 17.
NJPW will present a second night of Wrestle Kingdom on Saturday, January 21, with the show being held at the Yokohama Arena. The card will have an NJPW vs. Pro Wrestling NOAH theme. That was set up by an angle where NOAH’s KONGO stable confronted Los Ingobernables de Japon backstage at night one of Wrestle Kingdom.
Five Los Ingobernables de Japon vs. KONGO singles matches will be part of the card for Wrestle Kingdom 17 at Yokohama Arena. Those matches are: Tetsuya Naito vs. Kenoh, Shingo Takagi vs. Katsuhiko Nakajima, SANADA vs. Manabu Soya, Hiromu Takahashi vs. Hajime Ohara, and BUSHI vs. Tadasuke.
This will be the second straight year that an NJPW vs. NOAH Wrestle Kingdom show has taken place. The full card for this year’s event is listed below:
NJPW announced Thursday night that Wrestle Kingdom 17 pulled in record numbers for their NJPW World streaming service.
The company stated that 92,409 unique worldwide users watched the Wednesday event live with 30% of the viewership (nearly 28,000) coming from outside the country and watching the English feed.
They stated that the overall number is a record for the service which has been in operation since 2014. While they thanked their existing and new users, they did not announce how many new signups they received.
Held at the Tokyo Dome, the annual event drew an announced 26,085. It was co-headlined by IWGP World Champion Jay White defending against Kazuchika Okada and IWGP U.S. Champion Will Ospreay defending against the returning Kenny Omega in addition to the anticipated debut appearance of Mercedes Mone (the former Sasha Banks).
Those without NJPW World can watch matches from Wrestle Kingdom 17 via NJPW’s weekly TV show on AXS TV starting Thursday, January 12th.
A film on Antonio Inoki is in development and an inter-promotional angle took place following Wrestle Kingdom 17.
A short video played after the Inoki tribute match on Wednesday that announced a movie based on the NJPW founder is being developed. A potential release date or other details on the film have not been revealed, however.
Inoki passed away on October 1, 2022, at the age of 79.
An inter-promotional angle also took place at the post-event press conference following Wrestle Kingdom 17.
Los Ingobernables De Japon’s Shingo Takagi, BUSHI, SANADA, and Tetsuya Naito were being interviewed backstage when Pro Wrestling NOAH’s Kongo faction interrupted. LIJ defeated Kongo in an eight-man tag match at the NJPW vs. NOAH show from Yokohama Arena on January 8, 2022.
Kongo’s Kenoh, Katsuhiko Nakajima, Manabu Soya, Hi69, Tadasuke, and Hajime Ohara walked into the press area and Takagi expressed that perhaps the group had confused the Tokyo Dome with Korakuen Hall.
Kenoh said:
‘I came here to give a new year’s greeting. Happy New Year- as if! Do you really think that things are settled between KONGO and LIJ?’
Naito responded:
‘Yep. I definitely remember seeing and hearing the three count. I think people there and watching on NJPW World saw it too.’
Kenoh would later say:
‘We came here to settle this, and we can either find a time and place or do it right now. We want closure on this.’ Shingo would reply that ‘You can have whatever you want, a ten man tag, 8 man, six man. Singles, it doesn’t matter’.
Kenoh would also say “let’s figure out who’s better one-on-one” directly to Naito, setting up a potential singles match between the two in the future.
'Let's figure out who's best, one on one!'
Tetsuya Naito was not done after Keiji Muto's last NJPW match tonight, as he and LIJ were confronted by Kenoh and KONGO of @noahglobal!
The former Sasha Banks debuted for NJPW at WrestleKingdom 17 on Wednesday and confronted IWGP Women’s Champion KAIRI on the show. Shortly after, a ProWrestlingTees store with t-shirts and other merchandise was launched online.
The store is available here. It features four new t-shirt designs, two hats, a mug, stickers, and a micro-brawler.
Mone challenged KAIRI for NJPW Battle in the Valley on February 18. During the post-Wrestle Kingdom press conference, she stated that she and the champion “have a past” together.
“I’m interested in many wrestlers, but the reason I decided to fight KAIRI-san in the first place is because we have a ‘past.’ February 18th, San Jose, New Japan I think it will be the best match in Stardom history, so please look forward to it.” (transcriptions via Fightful)
Mone and KAIRI have wrestled each other once in singles competition. KAIRI defeated Sasha Banks via DQ on the July 3, 2020, edition of WWE Raw. Bayley and Banks also had multiple tag matches against KAIRI and Asuka in 2019 and 2020 as well.
Tama Tonga is the new NEVER Openweight Champion, defeating WWE’s Karl Anderson at Wrestle Kingdom 17 Wednesday morning.
Anderson cheap shotted Tonga at the start of the match, hitting him with the NEVER title. The finish of the match had Tama Tonga hit Anderson with a gun stun off the middle rope, then connected with a second gun stun to win the title for the second time. It was Anderson who defeated Tonga back on June 12 at Dominion.
Anderson, along with Luke Gallows, returned to WWE in October despite Anderson being NEVER Openweight Champion. A scheduled match against Hikuleo on November 5 was postponed, with the storyline reason being Anderson claiming he wasn’t booked through the proper channels, instead working WWE’s Crown Jewel event in Saudi Arabia. The match instead took place at the World Tag League/Super Junior Tag League finals, where Anderson defeated Hikuelo.
After the match, Tama Tonga came out and challenged Anderson. The two brawled, with Anderson laying out Tonga.
Mercedes Varnado (Sasha Banks) will have some support as she makes her NJPW debut.
PWInsider reports that WWE star Bayley will be in Tokyo on Wednesday to support Varnado, who is expected to appear at NJPW Wrestle Kingdom 17. If Varnado does show up at Wrestle Kingdom, it will be her first pro wrestling appearance since walking out of WWE Raw this May.
Bayley traveling to Japan comes after she appeared on Raw last night. She’s currently involved in a feud with Becky Lynch.
“Obviously, Bayley is under contract to WWE and likely shouldn’t be expected to be seen on camera, but we are told she will be there,” PWInsider wrote. “In asking around, we could not confirm that WWE sent Bayley to the show, but it’s entirely possible (and probably likely) she headed to Japan herself to be there for Varnado given their long standing friendship.”
Trinity Fatu (Naomi), who walked out of WWE with Varnado last May, is also in Japan ahead of Wrestle Kingdom 17. PWInsider noted that NJPW sources intimated that Fatu was coming to Japan “on her own accord.”
Dave Meltzer reported that he hasn’t heard of anything scheduled for Fatu as far as pro wrestling is concerned: “Regarding Trinity Fatu (Naomi) being in Japan as reported by Mike Johnson, we haven’t heard of anything scheduled for her as far as pro wrestling is concerned. There has been at this point nothing talked about on the Stardom side of things.”
Wrestle Kingdom 17 is taking place at the Tokyo Dome. The pre-show will begin airing on NJPW World at 1:20 a.m. Eastern time on Wednesday morning.
Sasha Banks’ tag team partner is reportedly headed to Tokyo as well.
According to a report from PWInsider, Naomi is “currently slated to be in Japan” but it is not clear if she will be taking part in Wrestle Kingdom 17 on Wednesday, January 4, 2023.
New Japan sources would not confirm that Naomi will be at the event and “intimated she was coming of her own accord.” Naomi may be traveling to the event to support Banks rather than to appear on the show herself.
Banks will not be wrestling at Wrestle Kingdom but is expected to appear at the event in some capacity.
Our own Dave Meltzer addressed Banks’ situation in the December 16 edition of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter. He noted that in addition to dates with NJPW, Banks is expected to wrestle a match for Stardom in the spring as well.
Meltzer wrote:
“[Banks’] deal is with New Japan but would include one date for Stardom. That would be for a show that is expected in April, but the company had planned for the biggest show in its history, which will tentatively be announced on 12/29 at the Stardom Sumo Hall show.”
Stardom has since announced All Star Grand Queendom 2023 for April 23, 2023 in the Yokohama Arena.
Banks and Naomi won the WWE Women’s Tag Team Championships on night two of WrestleMania 38. The titles were vacated after both Banks and Naomi walked out of the May 16, 2022 edition of WWE Raw.
*Wrestler of the Week and Match of the week *John Cena’s early career and his return, as well as an update on his WrestleMania prospects *In depth on why television and streaming are cutting back on new programming and how this impacts the pro wrestling business. *If you asked people to name a pro wrestler, how many could name one and who would be the first person they’d name, and the reality of “mainstream” knowledge of today’s pro wrestlers. *Complete coverage of UFC’s last show of the year as well as a sad lesson about getting injured the week of your fight. *A look at one of the best shows of 2022, the TakaTaichi promoted show at Yoyogi Gym in Tokyo *The most detailed look at TV viewership for every major show over the past week *New weekly streaming live show debuts *Promotion doing rematches of its best matches of 2022 *The story behind the voting for tag team of the year in Japan *Stardom has one of its biggest shows in its history this week *Notes on the upcoming show at the Tokyo Dome *A week of incredible matches *Ospreay vs. Ishii *El Hijo del Vikingo in the U.S. working dates *Impact next PPV *AEW makes major new broadcast deal that will be announced in a few weeks *The mystery man on Dynamite this week *Tickets sales for upcoming AEW & WWE shows *WWE & AEW streaming numbers *International TV ratings *Ticket sales for upcoming AEW & WWE shows *UFC PPV numbers for this past year *A bill expected to be introduced in the U.S. Senate that would greatly change the MMA world *Dana White talks about luck and timing *Judging controversies *Two fighters feud on Twitter and got into it at the UFC gym *Sports business analyst predicts NBCU buying WWE and we talks about what is and isn’t valid about that *Post-Christmas WWE touring *Most popular WWE names in social media *Current WWE market value
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Tuesday Update
WWE
The company filed several trademarks on December 23, including “All Heart All In”, “Inspire the Impossible”, “From Dreams to Destiny”, “Desire. Determination. Destiny.”, and “Where The Stars Align”. The trademarks were filed for entertainment services as well as for merchandise, metaverse, crypto, and e-sports competition purposes.
WWE posted a video celebrating Shelton Benjamin’s 20 year anniversary in WWE.
When Jade Cargill on Twitter mentioned that she would like to face Charlotte Flair, Flair responded writing “Keep killing it, queen. #undefeated”.
Gunther posted a picture of he & Jinny having dinner with Ludwig Kaiser and Tiffany Stratton following Gunther & Kaiser’s MSG debut on Monday night.
A new trailer has been released for Dave Bautista’s next film, Knock at the Cabin.
When asked about a return to AEW, Shawn Spears wrote on Twitter: “Don’t hold your breath…Not going there anytime soon.”
Tony Khan wrote on Twitter Monday: 2 years ago today 12/26/20, the world lost Jon Huber. In wrestling he was formerly called Luke Harper, and for us he was Mr. Brodie Lee. He loved his family so much, his amazing wife Amanda and their great sons Brodie & Nolan, and he loved wrestling. Please keep him in your heart”
Nyla Rose spoke to Fightful on the upcoming AEW video game and cutting more promos.
Claudio Castagnoli and Yuka Sakazaki are celebrating birthdays today.
Tama Tonga has won NJPW’s bodybuilding competition, Concurso, which was judged by fan voting. Tama Tonga placed first with 1,487 votes, followed by DOUKI in second place with 1,183 votes. YOH finished third with 944 votes. Full results can be seen here.
NJPW’s website published an interview with the Super Junior Tag League winners YOH and Lio Rush ahead of their title match on January 4.
NJPW World recently documented Kazuchika Okada returning to his hometown of Anjo.
Impact’s show on Thursday will be a ‘Best of’ episode.
Lita will appear for West Coast Pro on March 4, where she will present the first ever West Coast Pro Women’s Championship.
El Hijo del Vikingo vs. Joey Janela has been added to GCW’s New Year’s Eve event on December 31.
NJPW holds their final event of the year today, Road to Tokyo Dome.
The show is also the last event before January 4th’s Wrestle Kingdom 17, so any last-minute angles or build will take place today as well.
In the show’s main event, Suzuki-gun will have their final match as a stable before disbanding, with Minoru Suzuki, Lance Archer, El Desperado, and TAKA Michinoku facing off with Zack Sabre Jr., Taichi, Yoshinobu Kanemaru, and DOUKI in an intragroup battle.
A change to the card has been announced, as Oskar Leube will miss his second consecutive event after coming down with a fever. Jado will substitute for Leube in the opener.
The full card:
Minoru Suzuki, Lance Archer, El Desperado & TAKA Michinoku vs. Zack Sabre Jr., Taichi, Yoshinobu Kanemaru & DOUKI
Kazuchika Okada, YOH & Master Wato vs. El Phantasmo, Taiji Ishimori & Gedo
Hiroshi Tanahashi, Shota Umino & Ryusuke Taguchi vs. Tetsuya Naito, SANADA & BUSHI
Hiroyoshi Tenzan & Satoshi Kojima vs. Hirooki Goto & YOSHI-HASHI
Shingo Takagi & Hiromu Takahashi vs. EVIL & Dick Togo
Togi Makabe, Tomoaki Honma, Tiger Mask & Ren Narita vs. Jeff Cobb, Great-O-Khan, Aaron Henare & Francesco Akira
This was a ton of fun and a very good match. Ishii managed to end the match with a Boston crab, only after surviving a handful of believable near falls from the young lion pair.
Jeff Cobb, Great-O-Khan, Aaron Henare & Francesco Akira defeated Togi Makabe, Tomoaki Honma, Tiger Mask & Ren Narita
After everyone got their stuff in, Akira pinned TMIV with a running knee to the back of the head.
After the match, Narita and O-Khan had a brief staredown.
Shingo Takagi & Hiromu Takahashi defeated EVIL & Dick Togo
This was an HoT match, that’s for sure. After withstanding a match full of rule-breaking, Shingo hit Togo with a pumping bomber to score an LIJ victory.
Hirooki Goto & YOSHI-HASHI defeated Hiroyoshi Tenzan & Satoshi Kojima
They worked hard in this one, that’s for sure. After a bomb-heavy match, Goto and YH hit Tenzan with shoto to bring home the win ahead of their 1.4 title challenge.
This was a match packed full of action, especially in the closing act. Shota had a fantastic showing.
Naito won the match for LIJ with a Destino to Taguchi. After winning, Naito had a brief staredown with Shota. BUSHI and Naito then dropped the referee with a dropkick.
This was a fairly standard affair — a lot of babyface isolation, leading to hot tags and shine segments.
YOH won the match for his team with a Direct Drive to Gedo.
After the match, Fransico Akira hit the ring and dropped YOH with a suplex.
Zack Sabre Jr., Taichi, Yoshinobu Kanemaru & DOUKI defeated Minoru Suzuki, Lance Archer, El Desperado & TAKA Michinoku
This was a fantastic sendoff for the best faction in New Japan. The match’s story mirrored the faction’s breakdown in more ways than one. An emotional, riveting, and beautiful affair—this was the best New Japan match in a long time.
The match came to an end as every faction mate attacked their leader, Minoru Suzuki. ZSJ delivered the final blow, a Zack driver, before pinning Suzuki to mark the faction’s end.
Once the match was over, there wasn’t a dry eye in the ring. In case this wasn’t emotional enough, everyone said a short, individual farewell. Takashi Iizuka fought his way through the crowd like a rabid animal to make his presence felt. In a closing demonstration of sorts, everyone hoisted the Suzuki-gun banner and shouted “Suzuki-gun Ichiban” one last time while being showered in confetti. The closing shot left Suzuki alone in the ring, where he folded the Suzuki-gun flag to his music.
Night one of NJPW Road to Tokyo Dome takes place today at Korakuen Hall in Tokyo.
The build to January 4th’s Wrestle Kingdom show is set to intensify today on the first of two consecutive nights at Korakuen.
In the main event, Suzuki-gun will team on their next-to-last night as a stable, with Minoru Suzuki, Lance Archer, and DOUKI facing Kazuchika Okada, Hiroshi Tanahashi, and YOH in a trios bout.
Hiromu Takahashi & BUSHI vs. Taiji Ishimori & Gedo vs. El Desperado & Yoshinobu Kanemaru vs. Master Wato & Ryusuke Taguchi
Zack Sabre Jr. & Taichi vs. Tomoaki Honma & Ren Narita
Tetsuya Naito, Shingo Takagi & SANADA vs. Togi Makabe, Satoshi Kojima & Shota Umino
Jeff Cobb vs. Oskar Leube
Great-O-Khan vs. Ryohei Oiwa
Aaron Henare vs. Yuto Nakashima
Francesco Akira vs. Kosei Fujita
Our live coverage begins at 4:30 a.m. Eastern time.
**********
Francesco Akira defeated Kosei Fujita
This was a typical match for this type of pairing. After trying to gain substantial control for most of the match, Fujita led a handful of fiery sequences to no avail. Akira ended the match with Speedfire, his corkscrew cutter variation.
Aaron Henare defeated Yuto Nakashima
The story of this match was Nakashima stepping up to Henare and challenging his strength. After fighting through all of Nakashima’s attacks, Henare locked in his full nelson, dubbed Ultima, to close the match.
Great-O-Khan defeated Ryohei Oiwa
This was a wrestling match. The majority of this was built on grappling sequences that eventually led to a sprinkling of more impactful moves. O-Khan closed the wrestling-heavy affair with a choke.
Jeff Cobb defeated Tomoaki Honma
To my knowledge, this was the first singles match between the pair. This looked exactly like you would expect a match between these two — a bunch of power moves culminating in Tour of the Islands and a Jeff Cobb win.
KOPW Championship
A video package played announcing the KOPW 2022 championship trophy would be replaced with a belt in the coming year. The winner of the Jan 4 ranbo will be the first holder. Whoopee.
Sanada, Shingo Takagi, and Tetsuya Naito (Los Ingobernables de Japon) defeated Togi Makabe, Satoshi Kojima, and Shota Umino
This was a pretty by-the-numbers multi-man. Umino was definitely the match stand-out, making what would otherwise be totally forgettable slightly interesting. Shingo won the match for LIJ by hitting Makabe with Last of the Dragon.
Sanada, Shingo Takagi, and Tetsuya Naito (Los Ingobernables de Japon) defeated Togi Makabe, Satoshi Kojima, and Shota Umino
This was a pretty by-the-numbers multi-man. Umino was definitely the match stand-out, making what would otherwise be totally forgettable slightly interesting. Shingo won the match for LIJ by hitting Makabe with Last of the Dragon.
Zack Sabre Jr. and Taichi defeated Ren Narita and Jado
Ren and ZSJ are an electric pairing. Everything they did, inside and out of the ring, left me wanting more. Of course, you couldn’t have the finish of the Jan 4 match here, so Taichi hit Jado with the Yokozuna elbow to win the match.
After the match, the Suzuki-gun pair shared a moment in the ring, as the end of the faction looms near.
This was a messy, uninteresting four-way tag that I wouldn’t recommend going out of your way to see. Desperado won the match for his team with a Pinche Loco.
YOH cut the show-ending promo to wrap things up for the night.
AXS announced on Wednesday that matches from January’s NJPW Wrestle Kingdom 17 will be coming to their airwaves in tape delay fashion to kick off a new 45-episode order for the coming year.
For five weeks starting on Thursday, January 12th at 10 PM Eastern after Impact Wrestling, NJPW will present hour-long episodes featuring matches from its biggest show of the year with both Kevin Kelley and Chris Charlton on commentary.
The first two episodes are already set as the January 12th kickoff will feature Will Ospreay defending the IWGP U.S. title against Kenny Omega while the January 19th episode will see IWGP World Champion Jay White defend against Kazuchika Okada.
Matches for the January 26th, February 2nd and February 9th shows will be announced at a later date.
They also announced a re-air of the 2017 Wrestle Kingdom 11 main event between Okada and Omega for Thursday, January 5th at 10 PM Eastern.
NJPW has announced the full card for Wrestle Kingdom 17 on January 4.
As a result of their tournament wins on Wednesday, Lio Rush and YOH will face Francesco Akira and TJP for the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team titles and YOSHI-HASHI & Hirooki Goto will face FTR for the IWGP Tag Team titles.
Following last night’s events that saw Karl Anderson lay out Tama Tonga, a NEVER title match between Anderson and Tonga has been added to the card as well.
The final match of Keiji Mutoh in NJPW will take place at Wrestle Kingdom 17, where he will team with Hiroshi Tanahashi and Shota Umino against Tetsuya Naito, SANADA, and BUSHI. An Antonio Inoki memorial match will also take place featuring Togi Makabe teaming with Satoshi Kojima and Yuji Nagata to take on Tatsumi Fujinami, Minoru Suzuki, and Tiger Mask.
Opening matches include the annual New Japan Ranbo battle royal and an exhibition match between NJPW young lions Ryohei Oiwa and Boltin Oleg. The final four in the battle royal will face each other in a match to determine the first KOPW champion of 2023 at New Year’s Dash on January 5.
Here is the full card for January 4:
IWGP World Heavyweight title: Jay White defends against Kazuchika Okada
IWGP United States title: Will Ospreay defends against Kenny Omega
IWGP Junior Heavyweight title match: Taiji Ishimori defends against Hiromu Takahashi, El Desperado, and Master Wato in a four-way match
Keiji Mutoh, Hiroshi Tanahashi, and Shota Umino vs. Tetsuya Naito, SANADA, and BUSHI
NEVER Openweight title: Karl Anderson defends against Tama Tonga
NJPW World TV title: Ren Narita vs. Zack Sabre Jr. to determine first champion
IWGP Tag Team titles: FTR defend against YOSHI-HASHI and Hirooki Goto
IWGP Women’s title: KAIRI defends against Tam Nakano
IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team titles: Francesco Akira and TJP defend against Lio Rush and YOH
Antonio Inoki Memorial Six-Man Tag: Togi Makabe, Satoshi Kojima, and Yuji Nagata vs. Tatsumi Fujinami, Minoru Suzuki, and Tiger Mask
Opening match: KOPW 2023/New Japan Rambo
Opening match: Ryohei Oiwa vs. Boltin Oleg in an exhibition match
As of right now, Sasha Banks has agreed to terms for multiple dates with New Japan Pro Wrestling but re-signing with WWE is still a possibility.
On Saturday, our own Dave Meltzer confirmed PWInsider’s report that Banks is scheduled to attend Wrestle Kingdom 17 on January 4, 2023. He also noted that the booking with NJPW did not go through WWE.
On the latest edition of Wrestling Observer Radio released early Sunday, Meltzer reported that Banks’ WWE contract is set to expire at the end of the year, and the last he had heard, the two sides were far apart on money. While a deal with NJPW has not been officially signed, Banks has agreed to terms for multiple dates in 2023 with the promotion.
“I asked WWE about it and they had basically nothing to say as far as the situation,” Meltzer said.
“[WWE] were talking to her about a return and they were very far apart on money. That was the last that I had heard. Again, could AEW afford her? She wanted a lot. What she was asking for was a very high number for a WWE woman wrestler but again, if you look at the amount of money WWE takes in, she still would have been underpaid.”
Meltzer also addressed the possibility that WWE could freeze Banks’ contract as a result of her walking out on an episode of Raw in May and having not returned since.
“Her contract was to expire at the end of the year. However, as we’ve seen with so many people in that company, I mean, she hasn’t worked there so they can freeze the deal and they’ve frozen deals for people who have walked out, they’ve frozen deals for people who have been hurt, and we’ve heard over and over again so many people who wanted to be free agents had to wait, and wait and wait,” Meltzer continued.
“Perhaps they just figured we don’t want to freeze you and you can go or perhaps her lawyer said ‘we’re going to challenge it’ and whatever, I don’t know what’s happened.”
Meltzer also noted that Banks will appear at Wrestle Kingdom 17 but is not scheduled to wrestle on the show.
“I do know this, she will be going to the show. She will appear on the show, she will not wrestle on the show. She has dates with New Japan Pro Wrestling in her deal, I do not believe it is signed. She could still sign with WWE and this could all fall apart but she has pretty much agreed to their terms. So as far as they are concerned, they have a deal.”
How AEW fits into the situation is not clear.
“I do not know how AEW fits in. Obviously, everybody is going to jump to the speculation that she is the mystery partner of Saraya against Jamie Hayter and Britt Baker on the Forum show January 11 and now if it’s not her, it’s probably going to be a terrible disappointment.”
“New Japan Pro Wrestling cannot afford to pay the numbers that WWE was willing to pay her, I can say that. AEW could, obviously, afford that. So, is it a deal where she does both? Perhaps, that I cannot confirm at all. I know when I asked AEW about it, I got a non-answer.”
“As of right now, she’s done with WWE. Like I said, it could change at any moment but that’s the situation right now.”
Dave Meltzer confirmed on Saturday a report from Mike Johnson of PWInsider that Banks would be appearing at NJPW’s Wrestle Kingdom 17 event on January 4. Additionally, he said that while WWE could still sign Banks, New Japan believes she will be a free and clear to appear on the show by January 4.
“This deal is not through WWE, so if the appearance isn’t blocked legally by WWE, it means she will be a free agent by that date,” Meltzer wrote. “WWE can still sign her but NJPW believes she is free and clear by 1/4.”
Banks has not been seen on WWE television since she and Naomi walked out of a Raw event back in May due to creative differences. WWE responded by stripping Banks and Naomi of the Women’s Tag Team championships, and their status with WWE remains unclear. Both Banks and Naomi are still listed on the active roster on WWE.com.
NJPW crowned their first IWGP Women’s Champion last month, when KAIRI defeated Mayu Iwatani to become the first champion at NJPW x Stardom Historic X-Over.
Sasha Banks (Mercedes Varnado) is reportedly going to be at Wrestle Kingdom 17 on January 4, 2023.
According to a report from PWInsider, it is not clear if Banks will be wrestling or even appearing before the live crowd on the show but NJPW is bringing her to the event.
Back in October, Banks teased a potential match with IWGP Women’s Champion Kairi. She posted a match graphic to her Instagram stories that Kairi later shared on Twitter.
One month after sharing the above match graphic, Kairi became the first-ever IWGP Women’s Champion at Historic X-Over on November 20. She defeated Mayu Iwatani in the finals of a tournament to win the title.
Banks hasn’t wrestled since a WWE house show on May 15, 2022. Along with Naomi, she would walk out on WWE Raw the following night after a disagreement with management about the treatment of the women’s tag team division.
Paul “Triple H” Levesque was asked about Banks’ WWE status during an interview with Ariel Helwani in September.
“Time will tell,” Levesque responded. “I think in a lot of ways communication breakdowns are terrible. There was a communication breakdown there, for whatever reason. Starting back up that communication is not a difficult process but it can be a process and you have to go through the process. But she’s an unbelievably talented woman who can do just about anything she wants, it just comes down to what does she want to do now.”
“She’s an unbelievable performer that I believe in with everything I have,” he continued.
