NJPW set to work with former rival promotion for Wrestle Kingdom 16

NJPW confirmed that the Night 3 of Wrestle Kingdom 16 will be an NJPW vs. NOAH-based show.

New Japan Pro Wrestling and Pro Wrestling NOAH held a press conference to make this grand announcement.

January 8, which is the third night of Wrestle Kingdom 16, will see NJPW and NOAH Superstars share the stage. This will be the first time in years that NJPW and Pro Wrestling NOAH will work together.

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The poster for this special card features former IWGP Heavyweight Champions, Kazuchika Okada and Hiroshi Tanahashi. The reigning IWGP World Heavyweight Champion, Shingo Takagi, can also be seen on the NJPW side.

For NOAH, Kaito Kiyomiya, GHC Heavyweight Champion Katsuhiko Nakajima, and the reigning GHC Tag Team Champion Keiju Muto are featured.

At the press conference, Tanahashi stated that New Japan wrestlers will be fired up by this news. The Ace noted that over the past few years, NJPW has been competing with themselves:

“I think there’s no doubt the NJPW wrestlers will be fired up by this news. Over the last few years, NJPW has been competing amongst itself, and our quality has only elevated. Now we have the chance to show another company how far we have come, and it’s created a thrilling situation."

NJPW Wrestle Kingdom 16 is already a stacked event

New Japan Pro Wrestling is yet to announce and put together the full match card for Wrestle Kingdom 16. However, on Night 1, Kazuchika Okada, who won this year's G1 Climax, will challenge Shingo Takagi for the IWGP World Heavyweight Championship.

On Night 2, Will Ospreay will aim to win gold once again. The former IWGP World Heavyweight Champion is set to face the winner of Okada vs. Takagi from Night 1.

Courtesy of New Japan Pro Wrestling's working relationship with AEW and IMPACT Wrestling, it would be interesting to note if Superstars from either promotion are featured on Wrestle Kingdom 16.

About the author

Soumik Datta is a professional wrestling journalist who has been following the business for more than a decade.

In 2017, Soumik joined the Sportskeeda Wrestling team and is best known for his work with the WWE team. He has previously contributed to the Sportskeeda AEW, MMA, and the football team where he specifically covered the Major League Soccer.

In 2024, Soumik crossed 50 million reads for Sportskeeda WWE. While working under Sportskeeda MMA, he interviewed prominent UFC fighters, including Justin Gaethje, Sean O'Malley, and Cory Sandhagen, among others. He is also being followed by John Cena on X (formerly Twitter).

In 2025, Soumik became an Assistant Content Manager at Sportskeeda, but continues to cover and write about the hottest and trending news topics.

Apart from his love for professional wrestling, Soumik also watches Football and has been a lifelong follower of Liverpool FC and Mohun Bagan. He has also been following the Indian Super League and remains the only content creator to have traveled across India to watch 7 ISL Matches in 7 Days, a video which currently sits at 26K views on his YouTube channel. His channel currently amasses over 120K views.

As aforementioned, Soumik also likes to make content for his YouTube channel and travel to various places either with family, friends, or solo, or go on road trips.

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Edited by Abhinav Singh