Wrestle Kingdom 8 Preview

Over the last eighteen months NJPW has been on a tremendous role.  Last year Wrestle Kingdom 7, Invasion Attack, Dominion and the King of Pro Wrestling iPPV events were all spectacular shows. Both Wrestle Kingdom and Invasion Attack (alongside day 4 of the G1 Climax) were all in the running for The Wrestling Media Nation Pay-Per-View of the Year Award, which one of them may well have won by the time this preview goes up.


The promotion are looking to continue that role of fantastic shows heading into 2014.

Here's a breakdown of my thoughts, starting from the very top of the card on the anounced matches for their January 4th Tokyo Dome show, New Japans biggest show of the year, Wrestle Kingdom 8

{Main Event II}

IWGP Intercontinental Championship

Shinsuke Nakamura (c) vs. Hiroshi Tanahashi

After a fan vote between this match and the IWGP Heavyweight Title match, this battle for New Japan's secondary title gets to main event the biggest show of the year. Both Nakamura and Tanahashi are incredibly charismatic and talented performers and it's a match that the fans haven't seen for over two years in a major, meaningful contest. Shinsuke Nakamura has done an excellent job in making the relatively new Intercontinental Championship into a title second only to the IWGP Heavyweight title itself. Tanahashi, due to the self-inflicted stipulation of the King Of Pro Wrestling  main event, can't challenge for the Heavyweight title until Kazuchika Okada loses it.

A strong case can be made for either man to win, Nakamura is the major star who hasn't had the opportunity to challenge for the Heavyweight title since he last held it in early 2010, so if he wins then an IWGP Heavyweight title match could well be the next step. Tanahashi needs to be stay prominent until Okada drops the title and a run with the Intercontinental title would maintain his presence at the top of the card while strengthening the belt even further..

My Prediction: Hiroshi Tanahashi takes the title in a Match of the Year candidate.

The 59th IWGP
 Heavyweight
Champion

{Main Event I}

IWGP Heavyweight Championship

Kazuchika Okada (c) vs Tetsuya Naito

Kazuchika Okada must be incredibly frustrated not to get to main event slot, but that decision is down to the fans opinion of Naito rather than Okada himself. Despite him winning the G1 Climax, Naito just isn't over with the public. That said he is the current NEVER Open-weight champion (after beating Masato Tanaka in September) and New Japan had teased a title vs title match, however they changed their mind and had Okada cut a promo saying the title was beneath him and he didn't want it. These two men had a fantastic match in February 2012 during Okada's first Heavyweight title reign and I'd expect nothing less from them this time around.

Prediction: Kazuchika Okada retains the title in what should be a great match.

IWGP Junior Heavyweight Championship

Prince Devitt (c) vs. Kota Ibushi

Fergal Devitt's heel turn and leading of the Bullet Club has, from a storyline perspective, been a major highlight in New Japan this year. He's also spent the majority of the year battling the heavyweights and challenging both Okada & Tanahashi in high profile bouts. Unfortunately this means that his that his run as the Jnrs. Champion has been pretty forgettable. His fifth successful title defense took place on July 5th and this match with Ibushi will be only his sixth defense of his title, New Japan have conveniently let him off  with title defenses in order to allow him to see through his run as a Heavyweight.

Kota Ibushi has now officially signed a contract with NJPW, so he's now a part of both New Japan and the DDT promotion, a joint contract is a first for NJPW and probably shows how much they rate him. He's a big favourite with the fans and he has great chemistry with Devitt so this is going to be another superb match
.
Prediction: Kota Ibushi takes the title and Devitt returns to the Heavyweight division.

Katsuyori Shibata vs. Hiroki Goto

Shibata and Goto have had some of the stiffest and most hard hitting battles you could ever hope to witness in a wrestling ring, the highlight being their Match Of The Year Contender at Dominion. These two have been matched up a few times now and some might accuse the promotion of going to the well once too often, that said this is guaranteed to be a great, hard hitting match up and it's exactly the type of thing I want to see on the biggest show of the year.

Hiroki Goto has been out of action since the G1 Climax tournament with a broken jaw and this will be his return to action. In the world of parity booking that you see in the WWE then Goto would start with a win. However Japanese promotions tend to book those returning from injury to lose their first match back because they won't be 100%. Katsyori Shibata is one of those wrestlers that fans really want to see and was one of the favourites to win the 2013 G1 Climax. He genuinely seems to be on the verge of great things and a win here could see him pushed into contention for the Heavyweight title.

Prediction: Katsuyori Shibata

Togi Makabe vs. Bad Luck Fale

The stipulation for this match states that it can only end in a TKO, knockout or submission. Fale is Devitt's enforcer and by New Japan standards, he's a huge guy. He's picking up his wins using Hernandez's Border Toss and the opponent usually ends up leaving on a stretcher.

Makabe is a former IWGP Heavyweight champion and a pretty good brawler. He can do more, although that won't be the case here considering he's facing Fale who is very limited. Technically this won't be great but both men have physical presence and they have built this up for a quite a while, so it should have some heat. Look for antics of the Bullet Club to be the difference.

Prediction: Bad Luck Fale

Minoru Suzuki & Shelton Benjamin vs. Toru Yano & The Great Muta

Will this rather tedious feud between Suzuki and Yano ever end? Suzuki really should be in more important matches, he's already beaten up Yano more than once. Yano and his regular partner Takeshi Iizuka are fine in the first couple of matches of a show but that's really it. Yano hasn't announced his partner yet, Suzuki says he knows it's Bob Sapp and he doesn't care. To be honest I don't care about this match either.  [Editors note: Since this preview was written it has been announced that Toru Yanos mystery partner is The Great Muta - a man that hasn't appeared for the promotion since the 2008 Wrestle Kingdom. Mutoh has been off creating his own promotion, Wrestle-1, which you may recognise from AJ Styles recent TNA storyline)

Prediction: Minoru Suzuki & Shelton Benjamin

Yuji Nagata & Kazushi Sakuraba vs. Rolles & Daniel Gracie

This is billed as NJPW (The King of Sports)  vs. Gracie Jiu Jitsu, with the idea of using memories of Sakuraba's golden period in 1999/2000 in Pride; where he faced and defeated a number of Gracie family members to earn the nickname of "The Gracie Killer".Who knows if anyone will care about the Gracie clan in 2013?  This will be a completely unique match compared to anything else on the card. Expect ratings from a DUD to ***+ depending on your perspective.

Prediction: Yuji Nagata & Kazushi Sakuraba

NWA Heavyweight Championship

Rob Conway (c) vs. Satoshi Kojima 

Conway has been defending the NWA title on New Japan shows for the majority of 2013, including wins over Kojima, Nakanishi and Liger. He's a decent worker but he's yet to really click with the Japanese audience. He's booked as the arrogant foreigner who needs outside interference to get the job done.

Kojima is trying to get revenge after losing at Invasion Attack to Conway and if regular tag partner Tenzan needs to take a break, then this gives him something to do.

Prediction: Satoshi Kojima wins but maybe doesn't take the title (DQ?)

IWGP Heavyweight Tag Team Championship

Killer Elite Squad  (c) vs. Karl Anderson & Doc Gallows

It's pretty unusual for a New Japan tag title match not to feature any Japanese wrestlers, although this could be the start of a feud between Suzuki-Gun (KES are members) and the Bullet Club.

Anderson & Gallows won the World Tag League back at the beginning of December to earn this shot, Karl Anderson has been a major star in NJPW for a couple of years now but as a habit of losing the really big matches, including matches for the IWGP Heavyweight title and the finals of the 2012 G1 Climax. A win here would some recognition for his sterling work since Giant Bernard left for WWE.

Prediction: Karl Anderson & Doc Gallows

IWGP Junior-Heavyweight Tag Team Championship

Young Bucks (c) vs. Forever Hooligans  vs. The Time Splitters  vs. Taka Michinoku & Taichi 

This should be all kinds of fun and incredibly fast paced action with lots of dives and high-flying, it will also be the biggest match of the Young Bucks career and they are the defending champions. This really could be a match that any team could win, it's also Alex Shelley's comeback and as the Time Splitters are the only obvious babyface team I'll go with them.

Prediction: The Time Splitters

The top four matches all look outstanding and the two tag matches to open the show should both be really entertaining. After the tag matches though, there isn't really anything special that stands out until the Shibata/Goto match. The 2014 card doesn't quite look as good as the 2013 Tokyo Dome show, which had an amazing card, but it should still be an awesome event and one that any and all wrestling fans should be hyped to see.

Written by Shaun Nichols of Wrestlings Last Hope