NJPW Wrestle Kingdom 17 notes: Cheering,  Road to Tokyo Dome, New Year Dash

NJPW held a press conference Wednesday night revealing details on the upcoming Road to Tokyo Dome events, New Year Dash, and further information regarding cheering crowds.

The press conference opened with NJPW President Takami Ohbari announcing new guidelines that will allow crowds to have “in principle vocal support”, starting at Wrestle Kingdom 17.

“An important distinction is that rules concerning ‘no “loud voice” cheering’ have not changed at events,” Ohbari said (via NJPW Global’s Twitter). “However, the definition of cheering has been allowed to change after our consultations to allow an in principle, and effective return to cheering. Current government rulings state that long singing, rally songs etc are not allowed. However, counting with a referee, cheering with a catchphrase like 1,2,3 daa, or chanting for wrestlers is allowed under our guidelines.”

“As rally songs are disallowed, so are chants that might be longer than, for example, the chorus of a song. Singing to the length of a wrestler’s entrance would be disallowed,” Ohbari added. “But with chants pre pandemic lasting an average of 10-20 seconds, this is not a significant issue.”

Ohbari noted that some venues won’t recognize NJPW’s new guidelines, but they will be in place starting at Wrestle Kingdom 17.

It was also announced during the press conference that New Year Dash will have a mystery format, with matches not being announced until wrestlers come out for their matches. One match has been announced for the show, however, is a match featuring the final four participants at the Wrestle Kingdom 17 Ranbo. They will compete in a four-way match to determine the first KOPW 2023 provisional champion.

With Minrou Suzuki announcing Suzuki-gun would disband at the end of 2022, the final match featuring the stable will take place on night two of the Road to Tokyo Dome tour at Korakuen Hall. Suzuki will team with Lance Archer, El Desperado, and Taka Michinoku to take on Zack Sabre Jr., Taichi, Yoshinobu Kanemaru, and DOUKI.

Night one, also at Korakuen Hall, will be headlined by a six-man tag featuring Suzuki-gun members. Suzuki, Archer, and DOUKI will take on YOH, Hiroshi Tanahashi, and Kazuchika Okada.

Here are the full cards for both nights of the Road to Tokyo Dome:

Night one (December 22):

  • Hiroshi Tanahashi, Kazuchika Okada, and YOH vs. Minoru Suzuki, Lance Archer, and DOUKI
  • Six or Nine (Master Wato & Ryusuke Taguchi) vs. Los Ingobernables De Japon (Hiromu Takahashi & BUSHI) vs. Suzuki-gun (El Desperado & Yoshinobu Kanemaru) vs Bullet Club (Taiji Ishimori & Gedo)
  • Ren Narita and Tomoaki Honma vs. Zack Sabre Jr. and Taichi
  • Shota Umino, Satoshi Kojima & Togi Makabe vs. SANADA, Shingo Takagi & Tetsuya Naito
  • Jeff Cobb vs. Oskar Leube
  • Ryohei Oiwa vs. Great-O-Khan
  • Yuto Nakashima vs. Aaron Henare
  • Kosei Fujita vs. Francesco Akira

Night two (December 23):

  • Minoru Suzuki, Lance Archer, El Desperado, and Taka Michinoku vs. Zack Sabre Jr., Taichi, Yoshinobu Kanemaru, and DOUKI
  • Kazuchika Okada, YOH & Master Wato vs. El Phantasmo, Taiji Ishimori & Gedo
  • Hiroshi Tanahashi, Ryusuke Taguchi & Shota Umino vs. Tetsuya Naito, SANADA & BUSHI
  • Hiroyoshi Tenzan & Satoshi Kojima vs. YOSHI-HASHI & Hirooki Goto vs. Hiromu Takahashi & Shingo Takagi vs. EVIL & Dick Togo
  • Togi Makabe, Tomoaki Honma, Tiger Mask & Ren Narita vs. Jeff Cobb, Great-O-Khan, Aaron Henare & Francesco Akira
  • Ryohei Oiwa & Kosei Fujita vs. Tomohiro Ishii & Toru Yano
  • Yuto Nakashima & Oskar Leube vs. Yujiro Takahashi & SHO