Two title matches added to NJPW Wrestling Dontaku
Two new title bouts have been officially confirmed for NJPW Wrestling Dontaku 2023.
NJPW has announced that Zack Sabre Jr. will defend his NJPW World Television Championship against Jeff Cobb at the Wednesday, May 3 event. The Strong Openweight Championship will also be up for grabs as KENTA faces Hikuleo.
The championships being on the line in these matches became official after successful title defenses at NJPW Capital Collision in Washington, D.C. Sabre retained against Tom Lawlor, while KENTA retained against Eddie Edwards.
Sabre became the first-ever NJPW World Television Champion by defeating Ren Narita in the finals of a tournament at Wrestle Kingdom 17 this January.
KENTA won the Strong Openweight Championship from Fred Rosser in February. Wrestling Dontaku will be the first time the title has ever been defended in Japan.
Wrestling Dontaku is being held at the Fukuoka Convention Center and will air live on NJPW World. Here’s the updated card for the event:
- IWGP World Heavyweight Champion SANADA defends against Hiromu Takahashi
- NEVER Openweight Champion Tama Tonga defends against David Finlay
- NEVER Openweight Six-Man Tag Team Champions Minoru Suzuki, El Desperado & Ren Narita defend against Kazuchika Okada and two mystery partners
- NJPW World TV Champion Zack Sabre Jr. defends against Jeff Cobb
- Strong Openweight Champion KENTA defends against Hikuleo
- Tetsuya Naito, Shingo Takagi & BUSHI vs. Taichi, Yoshinobu Kanemaru & DOUKI
- Shota Umino, KUSHIDA & Kevin Knight vs. Aaron Henare, TJP & Francesco Akira
- Mikey Nicholls, Shane Haste & Kosei Fujita vs. Mark Davis, Kyle Fletcher & Great-O-Khan
- Hirooki Goto, YOSHI-HASHI, Toru Yano & YOH vs. EVIL, Yujiro Takahashi, SHO & Dick Togo
- Kickoff match: Young Lion gauntlet
