Wrestle Kingdom 13: Predicting the rest of the card
With its January 4th Tokyo Dome show fast approaching, New Japan is pulling out all the stops to set the table for the exhilarating Wrestle Kingdom. The thirteenth edition is already set to feature a blockbuster main event alongside some high-profile bouts with the return of Y2J a huge deal for the promotion once again.
Between that, some announcements have called to speculation, what the rest of New Japan's contingent might be doing come January 4th. Will Ospreay is out with an injury, calling into question if he can make it in time for his heavyweight coronation. NJPW once more proved it gives little about the Juniors division, placing all the finalists of its Super Jr. Tag tournament into the Jr. Tag title match despite a Roppongi 3K win.
So then there's a lot to ask of an already half full card, especially with the growing ranks of the New Japan roster that needs representation on the big stage. This is a promotion that hesitates to place multi-man matches or matches without titles/any real consequence.
As such it's interesting to speculate what might fuel the rest of the Wrestle Kingdom 13 card.
The Main Players
As of now, this is what the Wrestle Kingdom 13 card looks like;
for the IWGP World Heavyweight Championship: Kenny Omega (c) vs. Hiroshi Tanahashi
for the IWGP Intercontinental Championship: Chris Jericho (c) vs. Tetsuya Naito
Special Singles Match: Kazuchika Okada vs. Jay White/w Gedo
for the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Championship: KUSHIDA (c) vs. Taiji Ishimori
for the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Championship: Suzuki Gun [Yoshinobu Kanemaru and El Desperado] (c) vs. Roppongi 3K [Sho and Yoh] vs. LiJ [Bushi and Shingo Takagi]
for the RPW British Heavyweight Championship: Tomohiro Ishii (c) vs. Zack Sabre Jr.
That's a lot of talent already on the card, however, sitting out of this card currently are four major titles and a dozen or so wrestlers with nothing to do . If that is the case then the question comes to fore, as to whom and how many can feature on the main card.
If he gets well on time Cody will defend his IWGP US Heavyweight championship. Alongside him will be the current NEVER Openweight champion, Hirooki Goto, the IWGP Heavyweight tag team champions GOD and their World Tag League winners.
This also puts out the NEVER Openweight Six-Man titles in the cold as they're currently held by GOD and Taiji Ishimori, already on the Wrestle Kingdom card. Someone else will have to win them beforehand to defend them at the Tokyo Dome.
As such let this rampant speculation begin.