Welcome to another eWrestlingNews Question of the Day!
Let’s deviate from the normal WWE and AEW questions and focus on one of the biggest stories out of New Japan Pro Wrestling over the past week, with Zack Sabre Jr. winning the G1 Climax tournament.
Not only did that happen, but he decided that he doesn’t want to do the traditional thing and wait to have his title match at NJPW Wrestle Kingdom 19. Instead, he has opted to challenge either Tetsuya Naito or Great-O-Khan (likely Naito) at the King of Pro-Wrestling event coming up on October 14, 2024 at Ryōgoku Kokugikan in Tokyo, Japan.
Considering there are many ways this could all play out, my question for you today is “What should be the main event for the IWGP World Heavyweight Championship at Wrestle Kingdom 19 come January 2025?”
Remember to answer with your response in the comments below.
As far as my answer…
I’ll always preface any non-WWE/AEW talk by stating that I’m not an avid fan of New Japan Pro Wrestling, so take my words with that grain of salt. I could not tell you all the ins and outs of how this company will/should/can book things going forward. This is from a very casual perspective. Keep that in mind.
However, I’ll say that the very fact that they’re doing this in this fashion immediately screams to me “put the title on Zack Sabre Jr now” more than anything else.
What’s curious to me is that they’re having this title match in Japan on October 14th, only to turn around less than a week later and have Royal Quest IV in London, England on October 20th.
Why not just have Zack Sabre Jr. challenge for the title there, instead? Wouldn’t that make more sense, if he were to win the title there? And if he isn’t going to win the title six days prior, isn’t that a huge negative for the Royal Quest event to have that lingering disappointment in the eyes of the fans who would have been hoping to see him walk in as champion if he’s not going to win it there?
Something is up. This smells fishy. But I guess their plans are to have him win the title and his first defense will immediately be the hook for Royal Quest, in just a different philosophy from what I and many other companies would have, wherein the challenge is more important. Unless, of course, there’s some weird plan afoot where their match will end in a draw and they’ll have a rematch a few days later to have their cake and eat it, too.
In any case, if they don’t go with Zack Sabre Jr. as champion by the end of Royal Quest, I’ll be stunned, and I’ll have no idea what their goal will be for Wrestle Kingdom.
However, assuming he’s the champion, we need to not only figure out what WK19 is, but Wrestle Dynasty 2025 as well, as that is the next day after and will feature talent from All Elite Wrestling, Ring of Honor and CMLL. Then, there’s New Year Dash the next day after that, too!
Not knowing what they have in store for any of this, I would think the setup is going to be something where New Year Dash is just a series of filler tag team matches for the most part and nothing all that grand, while Wrestle Kingdom will be the big New Japan exclusive show (in bulk) and Wrestle Dynasty will be the big crossover event.
Therefore, I’m looking at who Zack Sabre Jr. can fight from AEW/ROH/CMLL at Dynasty before I’m even looking at Wrestle Kingdom, but I’m assuming he’ll retain there regardless of who he fights.
There are a handful of great options, even if I ignore CMLL (as I know zilch about their roster). Orange Cassidy has history with him and would make for a great challenger who could lose, as I don’t think Sabre Jr is dropping the belt so soon after winning it; least of all to an outsider. Jon Moxley is another major candidate, given his history with New Japan. Throw in someone like Darby Allin and I think the fans would pop. People would go nuts for Will Ospreay, of course. Maybe Swerve Strickland would be an awesome choice, assuming he’s not holding the AEW World Championship. Even then, it could be a non-title champion versus champion match just for shits and giggles.
But that brings the question back to who Sabre can fight the night prior.
Far be it from me to tell New Japan not to book a rematch, considering it seems they love that, but I don’t think Tetsuya Naito would be the best option. It could be that simple, though.
Is this the last main event Hiroshi Tanahashi has in him? Could a younger talent like Shota Umino or Yota Tsuji rise to the ranks, or is it better for them to be saved until they’re built up even more to challenge him later in the year or at Wrestle Kingdom 20? Tsuji did come very close to winning the tournament, after all, so there can be a story there. David Finlay is holding a title, but I guess he’s a possibility. Given Sanada main-evented, he shouldn’t be counted out, but I’ve never heard any real buzz around his name all this time, so I don’t think fans would be going nuts over that match. That didn’t stop them before, though.
I’m likely overthinking this, but here are the scenarios I can see playing out the most:
- If ZSJ is meant to be champ heading into Dynasty, he fights Sanada at Wrestle Kingdom because they really just think the next night is the more important show anyway.
- If ZSJ is meant to lose at Wrestle Kingdom, he drops it to Yota Tsuji.
- If ZSJ doesn’t win the title from Naito to begin with, Naito drops it to Tsuji at Wrestle Kingdom.
What do you think? Drop your thoughts below!
