With Wrestle Kingdom marking the end of one year, and the start of another, there can be a lot of fans jumping in for the first time, or coming back after a long absence. Here’s everything you need to know about the matches on night one of Wrestle Kingdom 16:
NEW JAPAN RUMBLE
A complete mystery, as the lineup is never announced ahead of time. General timed Battle Royal rules. Two men start the match, with a new competitor enters at designated intervals. Pinfalls, submission, and being thrown over the top rope are all methods of elimination. The final four competitors will advance to a Four Way Match on January 5th to determine the KOPW 2022 Provisional Trophy Holder.
What Is The KOPW 2022 Provisional Trophy?
The KOPW 2022 Provisional Trophy is a trophy that is held and defended by a wrestler for the duration of 2022. Every match for the trophy involved both the trophy holder and challenger coming up with a stipulation, and the fans then vote on which stipulation the match under which the match will be held. Whoever is holding the provisional trophy at the end of 2022 will be declared the official KOPW 2022 Winner. Both the 2020 & 2021 trophies were won by Toru Yano.
SHO vs. YOH
A tale as old as time, former tag partners, shattered by betrayal, poisoned by selfishness. With five reigns as IWGP Jr. Heavyweight Tag Team Champions, SHO & YOH looked poised to break the record set by The Young Bucks for most title reigns as a team, but an injury to YOH infected SHO with ambition.
SHO attacked YOH after they were eliminated from the 2021 Super Junior Tag League in August, a tournament they have never lost as a tag team. The two met in a singles match at Wrestle Grand Slam in Met Life Dome, and after the match SHO joined EVIL’s new Bullet Club sub-group House of Torture.
Despite much different starts to the tournament, YOH got revenge on SHO, beating him on the final night of Best of Super Juniors block competition to not only eliminate SHO from the tournament, but also punch YOH’s own ticket to the BOSJ finals. Not to be outdone, SHO crashed the Super Juniors final to attack YOH and his opponent Hiromu Takahashi. While he attacked both men, the argument can be made that SHO’s attack cost YOH the tournament.
These two will clash on both nights of Wrestle Kingdom 16, with this singles match being followed by a NEVER 6-Man Tag Title Match on the 5th. With animosity this thick, do not write Wrestle Kingdom 16 off as the end of SHO & YOH’s story.
BULLET CLUB vs. TANAHASHI, ROMERO & TAGUCHI
The first of two preview matches for night 2 sees Hiroshi Tanahashi team with Rocky Romero & Ryusuke Taguchi to take on IWGP United States Heavyweight Champion KENTA, El Phantasmo & Taiji Ishimori. Romero & Taguchi will face Ishimori & Phantasmo, as well as IWGP Jr. Heavyweight Tag Team Champions Robbie Eagles & Tiger Mask on the 5th, while Tanahashi will be battling KENTA in NO DQ Match for KENTA’s US Title.
UNITED EMPIRE vs. LOS INGOBERNABLES DE JAPON
The second January 5th preview match sees Tetsuya Naito, SANADA & BUSHI facing The United Empire’s Jeff Cobb, Great-O-Khan & Will Ospreay. United Empire are set for a big showcase on January 5th, as a pair of singles matches will see Cobb and O-Khan face Naito and SANADA respectively. As mentioned in the introduction, Ospreay will be main eventing the Tokyo Dome on Night 2.
KATSUYORI SHIBATA RETURN MATCH
The emotional center of January 4th is the return on “The Wrestler” Katsuyori Shibata, who will wrestle his first announced match since 2017. Injured in the main event of Sakura Genesis in 2017, many assumed Shibata’s days of wrestling were behind him.
Shibata continuously updated fans on his condition, culminating in a surprise grappling exhibition with Zack Sabre Jr. back in October. On December 15th, Shibata showed up to the Best of Super Juniors/World Tag League Finals to announce that he would have a match at Wrestle Kingdom 16. The match, contested under similar Catch Wrestling Rules as the exhibition against Sabre, has no announced opponent.
NEXT PAGE: The Title Matches
