10 HUGE NJPW Wrestle Kingdom 13 Predictions You Need To Know
Back To The Future.
As the years tick by and the New Japan World user count ticks up, NJPW can continue to toast the delicate success of their global expansion, but increased worldwide anticipation for events such as Wrestle Kingdom 13 are perhaps even greater metrics than those used to tout the incredible success of the last few years.
Kenny Omega's war with Chris Jericho was a headline-grabbing attraction in 2018 - bolstering a Kazuchika Okada/Tetsuya Naito main event - but Wrestle Kingdom 12 was always likely to be an exhilarating card even without the Canadians' superlative street fight. In many ways, it marked the quiet heralding in of a new era for the company though - an era solidified at Dominion when Omega finally replaced Okada atop the pile.
Notable cracks that formed in January began to widen in the aftermath. Divisions astutely played up by the booking no less - Bullet Club's fatal fracture (partially) spoke to many sections of the audience sick of The Elite as much as it alienated those that had gotten on board for Kenny, The Young Bucks and others in the first place. Meanwhile, Gedo's own story was more Chaos by nature than name, particularly when he left the group entirely to side with pet project Jay White.
Fierce division defines the main event of this years show. A mirror is being held to the audience by two NJPW icons - one classic, one contemporary - but the glare reflecting from it threatens to blind them both...
10. NEVER Openweight 6-Man Tag Team Championship Gauntlet
RIP first of all to the New Japan Rumble. A grand spectacle played almost entirely for laughs and occasional mid-range boy-pops, the "Rambo" will me a much-missed element of the Wrestle Kingdom 13 pre-show, but NJPW have at least furnished this curtain-raiser with numerous high profile names all the same.
The NEVER Openweight 6-Man Tag Team Championships are the least prestigious prizes available to the roster, but a Number One Contender spot for them here has at least opened up the Tokyo Dome for most of the remaining roster members without the Royal Rumble-lite. Hirooki Goto, Chuckie T, Beretta, Ryuske Taguchi, Toru Yano, Togi Makabe, David Finlay, Jeff Cob, Yuji Nagata, Marty Scurll, Yujiro Takahashi, Hangman Page, Davey Boy Smith Jr, Lance Archer and Minoru Suzuki will all form three-man groups in the contest, and it's the latter pairs that probably warrant the most mention.
The Elite will still be riding high from a memorable 2018, but Wrestle Kingdom 13 may not be their night with their own company's potential formation perhaps taking precedence on NJPW's biggest night. That frees up a path to victory for Suzuki-gun, as if they even needed anybody to step aside.
The unit have a not-so-secret weapon in the form of leader Suzuki, and he's a weapon that can f*cking kill men as soon as he'd look at them - assuming they didn't die of fright from his terrifying stare.
Winners - Suzuki-gun