New Japan looked to the future at Wrestle Kingdom 20, with a big debut and new double champs

Their Jan. 4 Tokyo Dome show is always an important one for New Japan Pro-Wrestling. Today’s Wrestle Kingdom 20 certainly was, and that was even before saying goodbye to Hiroshi Tanahashi (as a wrestler) to close things out.

Before that, the promotion and its partners pitted two pairs of champions against one another. Meanwhile, an Olympic gold medalist the promotion has high hopes for debuted in a title match.

Saya Kamitani put her NJPW Strong Women’s belt up against Syuri and her belt. Commentary sold that Kamitani just got cleared after her last defense of Stardom’s top title, a war with Saori Anou on December 29. She was also the heel with a stable (the aptly named HATE) to get involved. That gave her the first advantage of the match.

Knowing they weren’t getting the time they would on a Stardom show, the wrestlers let fly, sprinting through a 10+ minute match with multiple nearfalls that ended with Syuri getting three after landing her Syu-Sekai finisher.

Not the result many were expecting, as Kamitani’s World of Stardom title makes her a pretty big deal. Syuri’s been the IWGP Women’s champ since winning it at October’s King of Pro-Wrestling event.

New Japan didn’t take their traditional path with Olympic judoka Aaron Wolf. Rather than bring him up through their Dojo system, send him for a short run with an international partner promotion, then introduce him as part of a stable, Wolf’s entire rollout since being introduced last year has led to his Tokyo Dome debut.

Throughout that process, Wolf has had long hair and his own style. He surprised the packed house today, coming out for his NEVER Openweight title match with the clean, no frills look of a Young Lion.

The 29-year-old had to endure not only his opponent, EVIL, but also his ever-interfering stable, House of Torture.

They allowed Wolf to show off his toughness, surviving chairshots, chalk to the eyes, and being splashed through a table by Bad Luck Fale.

The beatdown led to Everything is EVIL, but Wolf was able to reverse into a triangle choke to put EVIL to sleep as the match approached the 15 minute mark. It may not have been a grand slam debut, but it was certainly a good one — the new NEVER Openweight champ seemed to fight through early jitters and looked more comfortable as the match went on. If that trend continues as he works more pro wrestling moves into his judo-based offense, NJPW’s bet on Wolf should pay off.

Before Hiroshi Tanahashi’s retirement match against Kazuchika Okada closed the show, IWGP World champ Konosuke Takeshita and IWGP Global champ Yota Tsuji did the “Winner Take All” thing. This may have been the bout with the most on the line for New Japan’s future. Tsuji is one of a trio of young wrestlers the promotion publicly pinned its hopes on a couple years back, and has clearly gotten the most over of the three (Shota Umino and Ren Narita are the other two “Reiwa Muskateers”. He’s also been openly critical of New Japan’s relationship with AEW, and has included the triple-contracted Takeshita as part of that problem.

It added layers to the 30 minute epic Tsuji and Takeshita fought at the Tokyo Dome Sunday, which saw each man take the others’ biggest moves and keep fighting. That included using the other’s biggest moves as well, such as when The Alpha closed out this hard-hitting back-and-forth with Tsuji’s Gene Blaster spear:

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