New Japan held their latest Tokyo Dome press conference earlier today, here are some notable items coming out of it. The full presser can be watched on demand FOR FREE on New Japan World (no account/paid subscription required) and YouTube.
2 new matches are official: IWGP World Heavyweight Champion Konosuke Takeshita vs. IWGP Global Champion Yota Tsuji for the titles and IWGP Women’s Champion Sturi vs. STRONG Women’s Champion Saya Kamitani for the titles (but not the World Of Stardom Championship also held by Kamitani).
The previously announced Aaron Wolf vs. EVIL match, the debut match for the former, will now be for the NEVER Openweight Championship held by EVIL. Originally it was not going to be. EVIL used a can of spray paint to paint the title belt gold at the presser…which for the most part it already was.
Hiroshi Tanahashi announced that the number of sold tickets so far for 1/4 is 31,548. If the Dome is used at full capacity (usually for baseball) that’s about halfway yo a legit sellout as the Dome can hold 65,000. At worst, it’s on pace to only be out-drawn worldwide by WWE WrestleMania. Fitting as I consider 1/4 to be the biggest pro wrestling event annually outside of WrestleMania.
Tanahashi was asked about a potential final opponent following backstage comments at the last event where he talked to Gedo about it. Gedo is also the head booker for New Japan. This led US websites to start rumors about it being former New Japan wrestler and longtime rival Shinsuke Nakamura, but one reason I doubt it happens-he’a in WWE. New Japan has a working partnership with All Elite Wrestling, WWE’s biggest rival. I think that makes more recent rival and torchbearer-to-be Kazuchika Okada more likely. A foreign wrestler was also hinted at.
The broadcast plans are also set for the event, beginning on 1/3 at 11 PM PT/2 AM ET (1/4 at 4 PM Japan time):
INSIDE JAPAN ONLY: TV Asahi live and exclusive broadcast
OUTSIDE JAPAN ONLY: New Japan World live and on demand. NOT AVAILABLE IN JAPAN (at least until several days latrr)