KENTA vs. HIROSHI TANAHASHI
Hiroshi Tanahashi snapped on Tuesday. In what was supposed to be an easy preview match, Tanahashi unleashed on the IWGP United States Champion with a Kendo Stick, forcing a disqualification loss. Come Wednesday, there won’t be pesky things like disqualifications or countouts or “rules” to hold Tanahashi back. Hiroshi Tanahashi is ready to take back his US Title by any and all means, and the champion only has himself to blame.
KENTA gave in to Tanahashi’s demands for a rematch, feeling he didn’t get a fair shake in the match where KENTA won the title from Tanahashi, and thus suggested the No Disqualification stipulation.
KENTA has always been a brutal fighter, but now an unhinged Tanahashi is thrown into the mix. This promises to be a violent affair.
KAZUCHIKA OKADA vs. WILL OSPREAY
Will Ospreay has a legitimate claim to his main event on Wednesday. No one ever beat him for the IWGP World Heavyweight Championship, but the way he’s gone about his return from injury has done everything to undermine his case. He’s been carrying around a fake title belt, and calling Shingo Takagi, and now Kazuchika Okada, “interim” champions despite their official designation from New Japan Management. He’s behaving like someone that’s been told he’s the “future of wrestling” one too many times, and now believes they can do no wrong.
He bumps up against a man literally draped in the past of NJPW. Kazuchika Okada appeared in the Tokyo Dome on Tuesday, dressed in a robe that was reminiscent of the one worn by NJPW founder Antonio Inoki, with the literal history of NJPW written into some of the finer details on the robe. He makes a damn good case for the face of NJPW going into their 50th Anniversary celebration year. Ospreay might be the future of NJPW, but many see the way he carries himself as proof that maybe his time has not yet come. He has a near-impossible uphill battle against Kazuchika Okada.
These two were always going to clash. Before Ospreay was injured, he called out Okada as his next title defense. Now the shoe is on the other foot, and Ospreay is Okada’s first title defense. The loose ends of last summer finally get tied up in Wednesday’s main event.
