We are just a few weeks away from the biggest shows of 2022 for New Japan Pro Wrestling. Like always, they are running a supershow on January 4th – with two more nights of Wrestle Kingdom following it on January 5th, and January 8th. We now have the full cards announced for all these shows!
Katsuyori Shibata Opponent Remains The Big Surprise For January 4th
Starting off, we already knew the main event of their January 4th show. G1 Climax winner Kazuchika Okada will face IWGP World Heavyweight Championship, and it’s expected to be a classic. Hiromu Takahashi won Best of The Super Juniors, and will face El Desperado for the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Champion in the semi-main event.
Similarly, YOSHI-HASHI & Hirooki Goto won World Tag League, and will challenge Dangerous Tekkers for the IWGP Heavyweight tag team championships. After coming to the aid of Goto & YOSHI-HASHI, Tomohiro Ishii has a title defense of the NEVER Openweight Championship against House of Torture leader EVIL.
Perhaps the biggest match of the night is the return match of Katsuyori Shibata, but his opponent remains a secret. The leading theory is he will face Minoru Suzuki, who is absent from the card for January 4th.
Two undercard tag team matches are also set, with those being SANADA, BUSHI & Tetsuya Naito) vs. Jeff Cobb, Will Ospreay & Great-O-Khan, and Rocky Romero, Ryusuke Taguchi & Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. KENTA, Taiji Ishimori & El Phantasmo. Finally, YOH vs. SHO is set to open the show.
Stardom Makes Main Card On January 5th
The next night, Will Ospreay will main event as he takes on the winner of Shingo vs. Okada. KENTA defends the IWGP United States Championship against Hiroshi Tanahashi in a No DQ match. Tetsuya Naito meets Jeff Cobb in singles action, with SANADA matching up with Great-O-Khan.
HOUSE OF TORTURE members EVIL, Yujiro Takahashi & SHO will defend the NEVER Openweight Six Man Championships against Hirooki Goto, YOSHI-HASHI & YOH. We will get a fatal four way to crown the KOPW 2022, with the participants being the last four men standing in the New Japan Rumble.
Most interesting match on the card comes with the Stardom showcase match, which is no longer on the pre-show – instead taking place on the main card. Starlight Kid & Mayu Iwatani will face Tam Nakano & Saya Kamitani. Finally, Robbie Eagles & Tiger Mask IV defend the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Championships against both Mega Coaches & BULLET CLUB’s Cutest Tag Team.
NJPW vs. Pro Wrestling NOAH Card Announced
On January 8th, we have NJPW & Pro Wrestling NOAH in Yokohama arena, still taking the Wrestle Kingdom name. The card is packed full of interpromotional tag team matches, with the announced set of matches as follows.
Yasutaka Yano vs. Kosei Fujita
TenKoji (Hiroyoshi Tenzan & Satoshi Kojima) & Yuji Nagata vs. Funky Express (Akitoshi Saito, King Tany & Mohammed Yone)
Atsushi Kotoge vs. SHO
BULLET CLUB (Gedo & Taiji Ishimori) vs. Stinger (HAYATA & Seiki Yoshioka)
Suzuki-gun (DOUKI & El Desperado) vs. Los Perros del Mal de Japon (NOSAWA Rongai & YO-HEY)
Daiki Inaba, Daisuke Harada, Hajime Ohara, Kinya Okada & Yoshiki Inamura vs. CHAOS (Hirooki Goto, Tomohiro Ishii & YOSHI-HASHI), Master Wato & Ryusuke Taguchi
WAVE (Naomichi Marufuji & Yoshinari Ogawa) vs. Suzuki-gun (Yoshinobu Kanemaru & Zack Sabre Jr.)
Suzuki-gun (Minoru Suzuki, Taichi & TAKA Michinoku) vs. Sugiura-gun (Kazushi Sakuraba & Takashi Sugiura) & KENTA
Go Shiozaki & Masa Kitamiya vs. House Of Torture (Dick Togo & EVIL)
Hiroshi Tanahashi & Kazuchika Okada vs. Kaito Kiyomiya & Keiji Muto
Los Ingobernables de Japon (BUSHI, Hiromu Takahashi, SANADA, Shingo Takagi & Tetsuya Naito) vs. Kongo (Aleja, Katsuhiko Nakajima, Kenou, Manabu Soya & Tadasuke)
What matches are you most excited for from Wrestle Kingdom 16? Let us know what you think in the comment section down below.
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