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Wrestle Kingdom 15

cobainwasmurdered

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Wrestle Kingdom 15 Night 1:

* Tetsuya Naito (c) vs. Kota Ibushi (IWGP Heavyweight and Intercontinental Championship Match)

* Kazuchika Okada vs. Will Ospreay

* Hiroshi Tanahashi vs Great-O-Khan (Special Single Match)

* Zack Sabre Jr & Taichi (c) vs. The Guerrillas of Destiny (IWGP Tag Team Championship Match)

* Hiromu Takahashi vs. El Phantasmo

Wrestle Kingdom 15 Night 2:

* Jay White vs. the winner of Kota Ibushi and Tetsuya Naito (IWGP Heavyweight and Intercontinental Championship Match)

* SANADA vs. EVIL

* Shingo Takagi(c) vs. Jeff Cobb (NEVER Openweight)

* Taiji Ishimori (c) vs. winner of El Phantasmo and Hiromu Takahashi (IWGP Jr. Heavyweight Championship Match)

Wrestle Kingdom 15 is January 4 & 5 2021.



Those are the matches announced right now.
 

cobainwasmurdered

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there's a few matches on here that look like they could be MOTYC's. Minoru Suzuki not having anything to do yet is interesting as he usually has something. Nothing set for KENTA either. SANADA Vs EVIL is something we have seen a few times and hasn't been a blow away but I saw the clips of the angle that set this latest one up and it was very good and I'm hoping this will sort of blow things off and hopefully SANADA gets the win here, and he is still "owed" a title shot from the G1.
 

King Kamala

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I think KENTA is unoccupied cause they have no idea who the hell he'll defend the title again. At this point, I don't think travel restrictions are going to ease up anymore so they should probably just have him defend the title against Juice.

I'm kind of lukewarm on this card even though there are definitely a couple heaters on each night. I'm oddly bummed by Tanahashi getting stuck working with that big lug O-Khan but it was looking like he might not make the card (at least in a significant role) for most of the year at all so I guess it's better than nothing?
 

King Kamala

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Idk if match orders are final at all but as of now, on NJPW's website, Okada Vs Will Ospreay is listed as final match on Night 1. Probably means absolutely nothing. It's gonna be a heater but I think Kota Ibushi and Naito are last people to worry about being unable to follow something.
 

Big Beard Booty Daddy

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For the dumb gaijin who like the English language commentary versions...Kevin Kelly and Rocky Romero will be in the Tokyo Dome for the show.

Kevin announced that during the WTL/BOSJ final, and I loved it. I checked out the schedule on NJPW World, and since they'll be there for WK, they'll be there going forward so we're going to get English commentary, live, going forward!
 

King Kamala

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KENTA Vs Juice Robinson for the NJPW US Title shot briefcase is added to the card.

Obviously, in a normal year, a bigger name would challenge for title but can't say Juice doesn't deserve it kayfabe wise.

Also they heavily implied that we'd get El Desperado and Yoshinobu Kanemaru defending the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Titles and Rysuke Taguchi & Master Wato on the card (cc @Big Beard Booty Daddy ). It's weird after such an epic match at BOSJ Finals that Despy is back to farting around in comedy undercard matches but that's the NJPW undercard for ya.
 
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Baby Shoes

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I’m trying to remember if Juice and KENTA ever faced off in NXT since CJ Parker was the token heel to beat up. Regardless, Juice is an entirely different worker now and even if there was a match back then, the dynamo has totally shifted.
 

King Kamala

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I was about to say about their runs didn't overlap but looking it up, KENTA started his NXT run earlier than I remembered. And in fact, Juice/CJ jobbed to KENTA in CJ's final NXT match in April 2015. #TheMoreYouKnow
 

Baby Shoes

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Yeah, the timeline on KENTA is blurry to me because of all his injury troubles there, so thanks for looking that up. Watching NXT since 2013, he was such a big deal when he came in and I still think Finn got some of the early accolades intended for him after his first injury.
 

Big Beard Booty Daddy

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Juice has a broken orbital bone and now out of WK. That fucking sucks. Do they put Finlay in place of his partner now? Just throw some random person in the match? I feel so bad for Juice.
 

Big Beard Booty Daddy

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Card for Night 1 (minus Juice vs KENTA) has been announced! The return of the NJPW Rumble is back, but with a twist.


One hour before the main card starts on January 4, the first match of 2021 in NJPW will be the return of a Tokyo Dome tradition of sorts; the New Japan Ranbo!

With familiar rules given a new twist, the New Japan Ranbo will see 22 entrants coming to the ring at timed intervals, with elimination occuring as a result of pinfall, submission or being thrown over the top rope. It’s a chaotic affair (the Japanese word ‘ranbo’ means to ‘run riot’) and one that has seen its fair share of surprises in the past.

Here the match will continue until four participants remain. Those four will advance to a special four way match to kick off night two on January 5 with the winner being the first holder of the KOPW 2021 trophy!
 

King Kamala

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Awesome. I am glad Kojima is getting at least one last big Tokyo Dome match. As much as we claim that North American over push the oldsters, I think NJPW May veer on doing the opposite. I think some of the Dads (Nagata and Kojima in particular) have more to offer than opening match comedy tags.
 

Big Beard Booty Daddy

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On man, I'd love to see Yuji Nagata get another run, not with a title, but in a big feud (besides his great one with Suzuki this year). He can still go. And Kojima has been a joy to watch recently, too.
 

King Kamala

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I am not saying that Yuji and Kojima should be in big show main events but regularly giving rub to promising mid carders (with occasional Korakuen main event) instead of mostly pummeling Young Lions? Hell yeah.
 

King Kamala

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If that's the case, I wonder if they could move to a smaller venue? I don't think there's a way to make 5,000 people look like a decent crowd in the Dome.
 

Epic Springs

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Yeah, the dome allows for proper social distancing so moving it to a smaller venue runs a bigger risk of infection.
 

King Kamala

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I'm glad I was able to get that day off too so I can watch all three nights. I was listening to Tama's podcast last night and he said more wrestlers flew out to Tokyo for the show and I don't think there's anyone on the card that wasn't already in the country for WTL/BOSJ so I wouldn't be surprised if we got some surprises.
 

Baby Shoes

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I got Sunday the 3rd through Wednesday the 6th off at work so LFG 2:30 AM Twitter (and 2:30 AM TRTSM). I am ready for WrestleKingdom!
I like to think Kamala formally filed a time off request with work and in the explanation field he wrote WRESTLEKINGDOM just like that in all caps glory
 

King Kamala

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I’m now kind of on fence about messing up my sleep cycle for a week for these shows. Like cards are fine but maybe not worth messing up my sleep cycle for a week to watch them. Like they will be just as exciting if I watch them when I would normally wake up.

(Washed thread cross post)
 
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