10 Early Predictions For NJPW Wrestle Kingdom 13

by John Bills

1. IWGP Heavyweight Championship - Kenny Omega (C) Vs. Kazuchika Okada

Okada Omega Dominion
NJPW1972.com

The Wrestle Kingdom 13 main event should be a rematch of the Tokyo Dome’s greatest match. An argument can be made for Kenny Omega and Tetsuya Naito wrestling in the 2019 main event, but this overlooks the fact that Kazuchika Okada is clearly the number one star in the company right now. That will be the case for the foreseeable future too, and rightly so.

Okada and Omega need to be kept apart throughout 2017. Will Okada hold the IWGP Heavyweight Championship for yet another calendar year? It isn’t entirely unthinkable, but I’d expect him to drop it around Sakura Genesis or Dominion. Naito is a good option to take the belt, but he could do without another short reign.

Whoever wins the belt, expect them to drop it to Omega at King of Pro Wrestling. Kazuchika Okada will win this year’s G1 Climax, and Omega/Okada IV will be set for the Dome. The story writes itself, although there will be plenty of twists and turns along the way. Whatever those twists may be, a Wrestle Kingdom 11 rematch is absolutely the way to go.

Will this card happen? I can almost categorically say it won’t. Tanahashi (the injuries are piling up) and Ibushi are missing, and stars like CODY, Scurll and Danielson might not even be contracted to NJPW by the time January 2019 comes around. A year is a long time in any world, let alone professional wrestling (just ask Ibushi experiencing a 667 day one on Mars). But if Gedo & co want to top Wrestle Kingdom 12, this card is the best way to go.

Advertisement
Contributor
Contributor

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.