Best friends turn into enemies. At least on January 4th.
In an interesting twist, former IWGP Heavyweight Champion Tetsuya Naito will fight his protege Hiromu Takahashi. This came about after the duo had won NJPW’s World Tag League. The World Tag League had boiled down to SANADA & Gabe Kidd vs. Natio and Takahashi and it was one hell of a battle.
In the end, Naito & Takahashi were able to put down the former IWGP Heavyweight Champion for the three count. However, the situation regarding the NJPW World Tag Team titles is pretty sticky at the moment. That’s because HENARE - ½ of the world tag team champions- is currently dealing with an injury.
New Japan Pro Wrestling officials have stripped the duo of the belts, but these won't be getting a crack at them. Following Naito and Takahashi’s big win, the former got on the mic and challenged Hiromu to a match at Wrestle Kingdom 19 instead.
The match between Naito and Takahashi has been in the making for years as the duo was originally scheduled to face one another in March 2020, but the bout was ultimately scrapped due to COVID-19. The next few weeks should be interesting as the match was made out of respect between the two competitors, but that can always change.
This has the potential to be a real show stealer. The Wrestle kingdom card is nicely taking shape with Zack Sabre Jr. vs. Shota Umino headlining the entire show. Wrestle Kingdom is less than a month away as the two night event is scheduled for January 4 & 5th. Check out the confirmed line-up thus far:
- IWGP World Heavyweight Championship: Zack Sabre Jr. vs Shota Umino
- Tetsuya Naito vs Hiromu Takahashi
- IWGP Global Heavyweight Championship: David Finlay vs Yota Tsuji
- IWGP Junior Heavyweight Championship: DOUKI vs El Desperado
- NEVER Openweight Championship: Shingo Takagi vs Konosuke Takeshita
- Lumberjack Match: Hiroshi Tanahashi vs EVIL
- NJPW World TV Championship: Ren Narita vs Jeff Cobb vs Ryohei Oiwa
- IWGP Women’s Championship: Mayu Iwatani vs AZM
- IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Championships: Intergalactic Jet Setters (Kevin Knight & KUSHIDA) vs Ichiban Sweet Boys (Kosei Fujita & Robbie Eagles) vs BULLET CLUB War Dogs (Drilla Moloney & Clark Connors) vs Catch 2/2 (TJP & Francesco Akira)