10 HUGE NJPW Wrestle Kingdom 13 Predictions You Need To Know
7. Tomohiro Ishii Vs. Zack Sabre Jr
Though the opening battle threatens to destroy any chance the Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Championship outing has of shining at Wrestle Kingdom, this possible belter over Revolution Pro's British Heavyweight Championship could well stake a claim for stealing the show instead.
Ignoring the prestige of the Championship for a second, it's worth considering how and why these were two of the very best wrestlers in the world in 2018. Champion Ishii's selling entered the rarified air he often desperately grasped for whilst looking as though he was taking his very last breath. The 'Stone Pitbull's brave rebuttal of pain itself allowed for some of the most dramatic moments of the entire year. In contrast, 'ZSJ's increased expertise in finding new ways to inflict it has seen him take limbs from some of the regulars at NJPW's top table. It is his job here - as it was when he tapped Ishii in an absorbing G1 Climax war in July - to bend and then break the spirit and bones of a man stronger than mere mortals.
Doing it on the company's grandest stage, particularly to bring a title back to Suzuki-gun following Minoru Suzuki's losing of it to Ishii in one of 2018's finest feuds, will further Zack's case for even greater supremacy as the year progresses.
Winner - Zack Sabre Jr