10 Early Predictions For NJPW Wrestle Kingdom 13

by John Bills

1. IWGP Heavyweight Championship — Kenny Omega (C) Vs. Hiroshi Tanahashi

Hiroshi Tanahashi
NJPW

Once again, Gedo has managed to put together a big match that few saw coming but everyone is looking forward to. Some may have been hoping for a main event match between the Golden Lovers, but only the most contrarian of cynics can debate that Hiroshi Tanahashi deserves one last dance in the sun.

Before he gets to the Dome, Tanahashi must defend his title shot against Kazuchika Okada and Jay White. The two CHAOS members offer very different challenges, but it would be a big surprise if either was victorious. This is Tanahashi’s time, one last throw of the dice for arguably the greatest performer in company history.

Kenny Omega also represents a truly fresh opponent for Tanahashi. Injury robbed us (and them) of a full Omega/Tanahashi feud in 2016, and it is clear that the current champ is a much better performer now than he was then. Okada, Naito, Ibushi and others can count themselves unlucky to miss out on this match, but nobody deserves the Tokyo Dome main event more than Tanahashi.

He will be unsuccessful, but it is debatable whether that matters or not. This will be a celebration of one of the all-time greats. Wrestle Kingdom 13 is five months away, but 4 January can’t come soon enough.

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What do you think will go down at next year's 4 January show? Let us know down in the comments below!

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Born in the middle of Wales in the middle of the 1980's, John can't quite remember when he started watching wrestling but he has a terrible feeling that Dino Bravo was involved. Now living in Prague, John spends most of his time trying to work out how Tomohiro Ishii still stands upright. His favourite wrestler of all time is Dean Malenko, but really it is Repo Man. He is the author of 'An Illustrated History of Slavic Misery', the best book about the Slavic people that you haven't yet read. You can get that and others from www.poshlostbooks.com.