NJPW has officially confirmed two new additions to the Wrestle Kingdom 18 card.
Shingo Takagi will put his NEVER Openweight Championship on the line against Tama Tonga at Wrestle Kingdom. Zack Sabre Jr. vs. Hiroshi Tanahashi is also now official for the January 4 Tokyo Dome event. If Sabre is still champion, his NJPW World Television title will be on the line.
Takagi won the NEVER title by defeating Tonga at Fighting Spirit Unleashed this October. Their rematch was set up for Wrestle Kingdom when Tonga confronted Takagi at Lonestar Shootout last Friday.
Sabre is approaching one year as NJPW World Television Champion. He became the inaugural champion at Wrestle Kingdom 17. During his reign, Sabre has made 16 successful title defenses. The most recent of those was against Mike Bailey at Lonestar Shootout.
Tanahashi pinned Sabre during a trios match at Power Struggle earlier this month, setting up that he would be a future challenger for Sabre's title.
Wrestle Kingdom 18 streams live on NJPW World starting at 2:30 a.m. Eastern time on January 4, 2024. Here's the updated card for the event:
- IWGP World Heavyweight Champion SANADA defends against Tetsuya Naito
- Kazuchika Okada vs. Bryan Danielson
- Three-way match: IWGP United States/United Kingdom Heavyweight Champion Will Ospreay defends against Jon Moxley and David Finlay
- IWGP Junior Heavyweight Champion Hiromu Takahashi defends against El Desperado
- IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Champions Clark Connors & Drilla Moloney defend against TJP & Francesco Akira
- NJPW World Television Champion Zack Sabre Jr. defends against Hiroshi Tanahashi
- NEVER Openweight Champion Shingo Takagi defends against Tama Tonga
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