Hiroshi Tanahashi will take on Chris Jericho at Wrestle Kingdom next year. Jericho vs Tanahashi is scheduled to take place on night 2 of the event, January 5th, 2020. In a recent interview with Tokyo Sports, Tanahashi said that if he is victorious over Jericho he will then ask for a shot at the AEW World Championship.
Tanahashi’s comments in the Japanese-language interview are available here.
A loose translation of Tanahashi’s comments includes that if he beats Jericho on January 5th, 2020, he would open “the forbidden door” by asking for a shot at the AEW World Championship. The article continues to speculate that Tanahashi beating Jericho could lead to a new relationship between the two wrestling promotions.
“If the Tanahashi wins and develops into a championship, the relationship between the two organizations may be new,” a loose translation of some of the article reads.
Wrestle Kingdom Nights 1 & 2 Lineups
Wrestle Kingdom 14 Day 1 (January 4, 2020)
- Jushin Thunder Liger Retirement Match #1: Jushin Thunder Liger, Tatsumi Fujinami, The Great Sasuke & Tiger Mask IV (with El Samurai) vs. Naoki Sano, Shinjiro Otani, Tatsuhiko Takaiwa & Ryusuke Taguchi (with Kuniaki Kobayashi) (Special Referee: Norio Honaga)
- Eight Man Tag Team Match: Los Ingobernables de Japon (SANADA, EVIL, Shingo Takagi & BUSHI) vs. Suzukigun (Zack Sabre Jr., Minoru Suzuki, Taichi & El Desperado)
- Eight Man Tag Team Match: CHAOS (Hirooki Goto, Tomohiro Ishii, Toru Yano & YOSHI-HASHI) vs. Bullet Club (KENTA, Bad Luck Fale, Chase Owens & Yujiro Takahashi)
- IWGP Tag Team Championship: Guerrillas of Destiny (Tama Tonga & Tanga Loa (c) vs. FinJuice (Juice Robinson & David Finlay)
- IWGP US Heavyweight Championship Texas Deathmatch: Lance Archer (c) vs. Jon Moxley
- IWGP Junior Heavyweight Championship: Will Ospreay (c) vs. Hiromu Takahashi
- IWGP Intercontinental Championship: Jay White (c) vs. Tetsuya Naito
- IWGP Heavyweight Championship: Kazuchika Okada (c) vs. Kota Ibushi
Wrestle Kingdom 14 Day 2 (January 5, 2020)
- Jushin Thunder Liger Retirement Match #2: Jushin Thunder Liger & Naoki Sano (with Yoshiaki Fujiwara) vs. Hiromu Takahashi & Ryu Lee (formerly known as Dragon Lee)
- IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Championship: Bullet Club (Taiji Ishimori & El Phantasmo) (c) vs. Roppongi 3K (SHO & YOH)
- Rev Pro British Heavyweight Championship: Zack Sabre Jr. (c) vs. SANADA
- IWGP US Heavyweight Championship: Lance Archer OR Jon Moxley (c) vs. Juice Robinson
- NEVER Openweight Championship: KENTA (c) vs. Hirooki Goto
- Singles Match: Loser of IWGP Heavyweight Championship match vs. Loser of IWGP Intercontinental Championship match from the previous day
- Singles Match: Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. Chris Jericho
- IWGP Heavyweight Championship & IWGP Intercontinental Championship: IWGP Heavyweight Champion vs. IWGP Intercontinental Champion
