NJPW Announces Final Card For Wrestle Kingdom 17

NJPW President Takami Ohbari held a press conference Thursday to confirm the final card for the 17th annual Wrestle Kingdom pay-per-view. 

The show on January 4, being billed as the Antonio Inoki memorial event, will be co-headlined by G1 Climax winner Kazuchika Okada challenging IWGP World Heavyweight Champion Jay White for the richest prize in the promotion.

The other main event will see IWGP United States Heavyweight Champion Will Ospreay defending against AEW star Kenny Omega. The two former IWGP World Champions engaged in a war of words at several AEW shows earlier this year, and also faced off as part of the AEW World Trios tourney. 

In another top title match, IWGP Junior Heavyweight Champion Taiji Ishimori will defend against Master Wato, Hiromu Takahashi and El Desperado in a four-way match.

Wrestle Kingdom 17 will also witness the farewell match of NJPW legend Keiji Muto, who will team up with Hiroshi Tanahashi & Shota Umino in a Trios Match against Los Ingobernables De Japon's Tetsuya Naito, SANADA & BUSHI.

Meanwhile, WWE superstar Karl Anderson will defend his NEVER Openweight Championship against Tama Tonga. Anderson had previously pulled out of a scheduled title defense against Hikuleo at NJPW"s Battle Autumn event on November 5, drawing the ire of NJPW management. However, he would subsequently defend his title against Hikuleo on December 14, following which his WK 17 bout against Tonga was set up.

Also, to commemorate Antonio Inoki's legacy, a Memorial Match will be held pitting Yuji Nagata, Satoshi Kojima & Togi Makabe against Tatsumi Fujinami, Tiger Mask & Minoru Suzuki.

Other matches confirmed for the show include Ren Narita vs Zack Sabre Jr. to crown the inaugural NJPW World TV Champion, IWGP Tag Team Champions FTR defending against Bishamon (Hirooki Goto & YOSHI-HASHI), IWGP Women's Champion KAIRI vs Tam Nakano, and IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Champions Catch 2/2 (Francesco Akira & TJP) vs CHAOS (Lio Rush & YOH).