[Derek]

Hiroshi Tanahashi has answered the wishes of President Sugabayashi and will challenge mentor Keiji Muto for the IWGP Heavyweight Title at the Tokyo Dome on January 4th! Tanahashi and Muto have a storied history, with Tana unable to defeat the man he has looked up to, but earlier this year in the Champion Carnival, battling him to a time limit draw. The next logical step would be to defeat him, but logic doesn’t always work and Muto will look to defy any patterns like he did when he deprived Nakamura of a revenge win in October. Tanahashi has cancelled all of his TNA appearances, which is probably for the best given how “well” he was being positioned on cards there.


--from Strong Style Spirit

as expected, its going to be Mutoh vs. Tanahashi at the Dome. And its no shock at all that he's done with TNA, I guess TNA didn't get the memo that Tana is the golden boy for the biggest company in Japan. This is the first match announced for the Dome Show thus far.

-edit 12/11- card is finalized:

NJPW “WRESTLE KINGDOM III IN TOKYO DOME”, 1/4/09 (WPW/PPV)
Tokyo Dome

1. Wrestle Kingdom Grand Opening VIENTO DORADO: Mistico, Ryusuke Taguchi & Prince Devitt vs. Averno, Jado & Gedo
2. Jushin Thunder Liger 20th Anniversary Match: Jushin Thunder Liger & Takuma Sano vs. Wataru Inoue & Koji Kanemoto
3. IWGP Jr. Heavyweight Tag Team Title ~Tread on!!~: Yujiro & Tetsuya Naito (c) vs. Alex Shelley & Chris Sabin
4. IWGP Jr. Heavyweight Title ~Ballistic interception~: Low Ki (c) vs. Tiger Mask
5. Fighting Holdings Competition: Riki Choshu, Masahiro Chono, Kurt Angle & Kevin Nash vs. Giant Bernard, Takashi Iizuka, Tomohiro Ishii & Karl Anderson
6. Crusade for Justice: Yuji Nagata vs. Masato Tanaka
7. New Japan vs. NOAH Battle Tendencies ~the invasion~: Manabu Nakanishi vs. Jun Akiyama
8. IWGP Tag Team Title - 3WAY Match ~Three correct answers~: Togi Makabe & Toru Yano (c) vs. Hiroyoshi Tenzan & Satoshi Kojima vs. “Team 3D” Brother Ray & Brother Devon
9. New Japan vs. NOAH Battle Tendencies ~the encounter~: Shinsuke Nakamura & Hirooki Goto vs. Mitsuharu Misawa & Takashi Sugiura
10. IWGP Heavyweight Title: Keiji Muto (c) vs. Hiroshi Tanahashi

[MrPaiMei]

For those not in the know, this Dome show has been hyped REALLY big thus far, as basically every company in Japan save DG (Z1, NOAH, AJPW, BattleARTS, HUSTLE, BJW, you name it) has been rumoured to have agreed to compete. Interested to see if MUTA loses the Triple Crown so it can be defended on 1/4.

[Derek]

I don't see Muta dropping the TC before the Dome Show (his next opponent is believed to be Takayama), so I can't see the TC being defended at the Dome show. But I do see some AJ participation in the Dome.

Considering that NJ and Z1 are still interacting, I'm sure they'll be involved in some way (I see Ohtani and Tanaka involved).

Haven't heard too much about specific NOAH involvement, or any other company, but I've heard rumblings that there will be plenty of companies taking part in the big show.

[The Great Maijin]

No Sasaki/Mutoh? That would have been historical.

[antoniomare007]

i expect TenKoji to challenge for the IWGP tag belts, and i can see some NOAH Jrs taking part of the 1/4 show....and Nagata defending the Z1 title should be fun (rematch with Tanaka please!, doubt it though)

it's kinda funny that Tana was poorly booked this year (the injury didn't help) and the trip to USA elevates him immediately

[Y²]

Finally, yay.

[Derek]

Originally Posted by antoniomare007

it's kinda funny that Tana was poorly booked this year (the injury didn't help) and the trip to USA elevates him immediately

I think he would have stayed a little longer if they would have used him better. I wouldn't be suprised if New Japan is going to be very mum about his time in TNA, considering he was supposed to come over to get back to his old form.

[MrPaiMei]

This is the kinda card I'd be looking for. All these companies have made some sort of mention of participating.

Wrestle Kingdom III
1. IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Championship: Tetsuya Naito and Yujiro vs. Alex Shelley [TNA] and Chris Sabin [TNA]
2. IWGP Junior Heavyweight Championship: Low Ki vs. Shuji Kondo [AJPW]
3. Koji Kanemoto, Manabu Nakinishi, and Yutaka Yoshie [DRADITION] vs. Masato Tanaka [Z1MAX], Ikuto Hidaka [Z1MAX], and Munenori Sawa [BattleARTS]
4. Giant Bernard vs. Daisuke Sekimoto [BJW]
5. Shinsuke Nakamura, Hirooki Goto, Minoru, Prince Devitt, and Milano Collection A.T. vs. Riki Choshu, Masahiro Chono, Jushin Lyger, AKIRA, and Super Strong Machine
6. AJPW Jr. Heavyweight Championship: Naomichi Marufuji [NOAH] vs. Ryusuke Taguchi
7. IWGP Heavyweight Tag Team Championship: Togi Makabe and Toru Yano vs. Hiroyoshi Tenzan and Satoshi Kojima [AJPW]
8. World Heavyweight Championship: Yuji Nagata vs. Shinjiro Ohtani [Z1MAX]
9. IWGP Heavyweight Championship: Keiji Mutoh [AJPW] vs. Hiroshi Tanahashi

[Fijian Warrior]

Niiiiiiiiiiiiiiiccee... should be good.

[MAVSFAN]

I heard a report that New Japan is trying to get an American Wrestler to face Chono for this show.