NJPW President Takami Ohbari held a press conference Thursday to verify the final card for Wrestle Kingdom’s 17th annual pay-per-view.
The Fourth of January show, billed as Antonio Inoki’s memorial event, will be co-directed by G1 Climax winner Kazuchika Okada and IWGP World Heavyweight Champion Jay White for the promotion’s richest prize.
The other important occasion will see the U. S. heavyweight champion take advantage of the U. S. UU. de IWGP, Will Ospreay, against AEW star Kenny Omega. The two former IWGP world champions faced off in a war of words at several AEW exhibitions earlier this year, and also competed in the AEW World Trios tournament.
In a name fight, IWGP junior heavyweight champion Taiji Ishimori will face Master Wato, Hiromu Takahashi and El Desperado in a four-way fight.
Wrestle Kingdom 17 will also witness the farewell of NJPW legend Keiji Muto, who will join Hiroshi Tanahashi and Shota Umino in a trio opposite to Tetsuya Naito, SANADA and BUSHI of The Ungovernable of Japan.
Meanwhile, WWE Superstar Karl Anderson will protect his NEVER Openweight Championship against Tama Tonga. Anderson had in the past pulled out of a planned name defense against Hikuleo at NJPW’s Battle Autumn event on November 5, angering NJPW management. However, he would later protect his name against Hikuleo on 14 December, after which his WK 17 match against Tonga was established.
In addition, to commemorate the legacy of Antonio Inoki, there will be a commemorative duel between Yuji Nagata, Satoshi Kojima and Togi Makabe and Tatsumi Fujinami, Tiger Mask and Minoru Suzuki.
Other matches shown for the screen come with Ren Narita vs. Zack Sabre Jr. to crown the first NJPW World Television Champion, IWGP FTR Tag Team Champions protecting Bishamon (Hirooki Goto and YOSHI-HASHI), IWGP KAIRI vs. Female Champion. Tam Nakano and IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Champions Capture 2/2 (Francesco Akira)