10 Things That Must Happen At NJPW Wrestle Kingdom 11
January 4 at the Dome promises to be another spectacular show.
2016 has been yet another thrilling year in New Japan Pro Wrestling. A year of transition has seen new stars replace the big names who jumped ship at the beginning of the year, and yet again the annual January 4 Tokyo Dome show looks like it is going to be a blinder.
The card is stacked from top to bottom. Such is the depth of NJPW's roster that long established talent like Yuji Nagata, Hiroyoshi Tenzan and Ryusuke Taguchi can only find a spot in the annual multi-man New Japan Rumble, and top level performers like SANADA, Satoshi Kojima, Will Ospreay and Ricochet are in the multi-team NEVER Openweight 6-Man tag match.
Cody Rhodes will make his New Japan debut by taking on Juice Robinson, and Kyle O'Reilly will defend his newly-won ROH World Championship against adversary Adam Cole. Katsuyori Shibata defends the NEVER Openweight Championship against Hirooki Goto, and KUSHIDA's Junior Heavyweight Championship is on the line against Hiromu Takahashi.
But in truth, Wrestle Kingdom 11 is all about the two headlining matches. Can Tetsuya Naito hand Hiroshi Tanahashi his second WK loss in a row and cement himself as the man to spearhead New Japan in 2017? Can Kenny Omega become the first gaijin to win a Wrestle Kingdom main event?
Here are 10 things that must happen on January 4.