NJPW News: Pre-Show Gauntlet Added To Wrestle Kingdom, Fan Festa 2019 Matches

NJPW adds a Pre-Show Gauntlet to Wrestle Kingdom & more!

New Japan Pro Wrestling finished up their 2018 schedule this weekend with two Road To Tokyo Dome events at Korakuen Hall (see Friday’s results here, Saturday’s here) before they head into 2019 and Wrestle Kingdom 13 on January 4th.

NJPW’s annual Wrestle Kingdom show is always a stacked lineup and this year’s edition is no different, but the promotion was not finished with the card as it’s been announced that the Pre-Show will now feature a five team Gauntlet to crown the number one contenders to the NEVER Openweight 6-Man Tag Team Titles. Battling for a shot at The Guerrillas Of Destiny and Taiji Ishimori will be Ryusuke Taguchi, Toru Yano and Togi Makabe, Best Friends and Hirooki Goto, Killer Elite Squad and Minoru Suzuki, David Finlay, Jeff Cobb and Michael Elgin, then lastly will be Marty Scurll, Hangman Page and Yujiro Takahashi.

Additionally, preceding Wrestle Kingdom on January 3rd will be the Wrestle Kingdom 13 Fan Festa, which will now feature in-ring action as NJPW announced the following matches:

• Tiger Mask & Jyushin Thunder Liger vs. Ren Narita & Yuya Uemura
• Yuji Nagata & Manabu Nakanishi vs. Toa Henare & Tomoaki Honma
• Satoshi Kojima & Hiroyoshi Tenzan vs. Ayato Yoshida & Shota Umino

Here’s a look at the updated lineup for Wrestle Kingdom 13:

IWGP Heavyweight Championship
(C) Kenny Omega vs. Hiroshi Tanahashi

IWGP Intercontinental Championship
(C) Chris Jericho vs. Tetsuya Naito

Kazuchika Okada vs. ‘Switchblade’ Jay White

IWGP United States Championship
(C) Cody vs. Juice Robinson

NEVER Openweight Championship
(C) Kota Ibushi vs. Will Ospreay

IWGP Junior Heavyweight Championship
(C) KUSHIDA vs. Taiji Ishimori

Triple Threat for the IWGP Tag Team Championship
(C) The Guerrillas Of Destiny vs EVIL & SANADA vs. The Young Bucks

RevPro British Heavyweight Title
(C) Tomohiro Ishii vs. Zack Sabre Jr.

Triple Threat for the IWGP Junior Tag Team Championship
(C) El Desperado & Yoshinobu Kanemaru vs. Roppongi 3K vs. BUSHI & Shingo Takagi

Pre-Show: NEVER Openweight 6-Man Tag Team Title #1 Contender Gauntlet
Best Friends & Hirooki Goto vs. Killer Elite Squad & Minoru Suzuki vs.
Toru Yano, Togi Makabe & Ryusuke Taguchi vs. David Finley, Jeff Cobb & Michael Elgin vs.
Marty Scurll, Yujiro Takahashi & Hangman Page

Which match are you looking forward to the most? Let us know on social media @theCHAIRSHOTcom and always remember to use the hashtag #UseYourHead!