Wrestle Kingdom 16 NJPW vs NOAH Card Set

[cero2k]

WRESTLE KINGDOM 16 NJPW VS. NOAH CARD SET
src: https://www.f4wonline.com/new-japan-new ... set-362951

The card for NJPW vs. NOAH at night three of Wrestle Kingdom 16 has been set.

NJPW and NOAH held a press conference today and announced eleven matches for the card. All of the matches will have NJPW vs. NOAH talent. The match order has yet to be announced, but two matches were designated pre-show bouts.

Most notably, NJPW's Hiroshi Tanahashi and Kazuchika Okada will face Keiji Muto and Kaito Kiyomiya. Muto is no stranger to NJPW, having held the company's IWGP Heavyweight Championship four times. Kiyomiya is a former GHC Heavyweight Champion and a two-time GHC Tag Team Champion.

In an all-star 10-man tag, Los Ingobernables de Japon takes on Kongo (Diamonds), as Shingo Takagi, Tetsuya Naito, SANADA, Hiromu Takahashi and BUSHI of NJPW face NOAH's Katsuhiko Nakajima, Kenoh, Manabu Soya, Tadasuke and Aleja.

Just two singles bouts have been announced, as NJPW's SHO faces NOAH's Atsushi Kotoge, and NOAH's Yasutaka Yano takes on NJPW Young Lion Kosei Fujita.

In an interesting twist, NJPW's KENTA will team with NOAH talent on the show, as Taichi, Minoru Suzuki and TAKA Michinoku face Takashi Sugiura, Kazushi Sakuraba and KENTA.

NJPW's IWGP World Heavyweight Champion Shingo Takagi and NOAH's GHC Heavyweight Champion Katsuhiko Nakajima were on hand for today's presser, which can be seen below.

All told, nine tag bouts and the two singles contests were announced for the event.

Here is the full lineup:

Wrestle Kingdom 16 night three, NJPW vs. NOAH, Saturday, January 8, 3 a.m. Eastern time on Abema pay-per-view --

Kazuchika Okada & Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. Keiji Muto & Kaito Kiyomiya

Shingo Takagi, Tetsuya Naito, SANADA, Hiromu Takahashi & BUSHI vs. Katsuhiko Nakajima, Kenoh, Manabu Soya, Tadasuke and Aleja

SHO vs. Atsushi Kotoge

EVIL & Dick Togo vs. Go Shiozaki & Masa Kitamiya

Taichi, Minoru Suzuki & TAKA Michinoku vs. Takashi Sugiura, Kazushi Sakuraba & KENTA

Zack Sabre Jr. & Yoshinobu Kanemaru vs. Naomichi Marufuji & Ogawa Yoshinari

Tomohiro Ishii, Hirooki Goto, YOSHI-HASHI, Ryusuke Taguchi & Master Wato vs. Daisuke Harada, Hajime Ohara, Daiki Inabe, Yoshiki Inamura & Kinya Okada

El Desperado & DOUKI vs. YO-HEY & NOSAWA RONGAI

Taiji Ishimori & Gedo vs. HAYATA & Seiki Yoshioka

Pre-show match: Kosei Fujita vs. Yasutaka Yano

Pre-show match: Hiroyoshi Tenzan, Satoshi Kojima & Yuji Nagata vs. Muhammad Yone, King Tany & Saito Akitoshi

[Big Red Machine]

If they're already resorting to gimmicks like this, it's time to scrap that second night of WK.

[cero2k]

If they're already resorting to gimmicks like this, it's time to scrap that second night of WK.

It's the 50th anniversary of NJPW, they're going to do co-promoted shows all year. it's not a gimmick

[Big Red Machine]

If they're already resorting to gimmicks like this, it's time to scrap that second night of WK.

It's the 50th anniversary of NJPW, they're going to do co-promoted shows all year. it's not a gimmick

It's absolutely a gimmick! Anything that makes a show different from a normal show in a way designed to draw interest is a gimmick.

How does celebrating your fiftieth year in business by co-promoting a bunch of shows with other people make any sense?

[cero2k]

It's absolutely a gimmick! Anything that makes a show different from a normal show in a way designed to draw interest is a gimmick.

How does celebrating your fiftieth year in business by co-promoting a bunch of shows with other people make any sense?

because it's a celebration of wrestling. do you not invite friends to your birthday parties?

[Big Red Machine]

It's absolutely a gimmick! Anything that makes a show different from a normal show in a way designed to draw interest is a gimmick.

How does celebrating your fiftieth year in business by co-promoting a bunch of shows with other people make any sense?

because it's a celebration of wrestling. do you not invite friends to your birthday parties?

Of course. But the invitations don't say "come to BRM's birthday party, featuring Steve, Brad, Jon , Alyssa, and Joel!"

[cero2k]

Of course. But the invitations don't say "come to BRM's birthday party, featuring Steve, Brad, Jon , Alyssa, and Joel!"

Well if Joel is not featured I ain't going.

I think it's a big positive thing that the biggest promotion in the country uses their big year to promote and elevate the sport and other companies.

Promotions working together is a plus to the industry, especially these years and in country like Japan.

The only mistake was calling this a Wrestle Kingdom, it should had been called anything else, but that's a nitpick

[Big Red Machine]

Promotions working together is a plus to the industry, especially these years and in country like Japan.

The only mistake was calling this a Wrestle Kingdom, it should had been called anything else, but that's a nitpick

I don't disagree with this, but my idea of "celebrating" a promotion isn't putting a chunk of the focus of the show on some other promotion.


Also, if you want to elevate other promotions, you need to have some of your guys (and maybe even top guys) lose to their top guys, which NJPW has been very reluctant to allow to happen, even when it wouldn't hurt the guy in question and the match was on another continent. But if you're celebrating NJPW, seeing some of their guys lose don't really do that too much.