NJPW Wrestle Kingdom 18 Main Event Made Official At Press Conference, SANADA & Tetsuya Naito Comment

New Japan Pro-Wrestling held a press conference at the Hikosen Theater in Tokyo on October 10th to make the IWGP World Heavyweight Title match at Wrestle Kingdom 18 official. Wrestle Kingdom 18 will be held in the Tokyo Dome on January 4th, 2024 and the main event will be the IWGP World Heavyweight Champion SANADA defending against the G1 Climax 33 winner Tetsuya Naito.

Although clarification did come later in the press conference that this match will indeed be the main event, Naito voiced his concerned about this match not being called the main event right from the start:

Today is the first card announcement for Wrestle Kingdom 18, so I was really hyped up to be here. The most exciting thing for me was the match order, though. I was hoping to hear (chairman Sugabayashi) state that this match would be the main event, but that didn’t happen. But like I said in the ring in Ryogoku yesterday, I’m all ready to close out the main event in the Dome with a massive cheer. I hope you all are as well.’

Testsuya Naito

After the clarification that this match will be the main event, Tetsuya Naito expressed his doubts:

You never know with this company and their double, triple main events. I won’t believe it until right before I go out there.

Tetsuya Naito

SANADA followed Naito with a comment of his own:

Just like in Ryogoku with EVIL, this is my first time wrestling Naito with the IWGP World Heavyweight title on the line, so I’m definitely excited. Assuming this is the main event, putting Tokyo Dome aside, to be in the main event in the biggest card of pro-wrestling is something that very few can lay claim to. That’s another huge motivator. Lately in NJPW, Okada, Tanahashi, Naito have had this vice grip on the Dome main event scene, so I want to win decisively and make sure my name is the one that breaks that trend.’

SANADA

Naito was asked by the media what his views are on SANADA’s IWGP World Heavyweight Title reign and Naito was brutally honest on how he felt about it:

He’s defended four times, right? That’s a great resume, perhaps, but does he really have the presence of the top champion? I’m not sure. If you ask fans that don’t come to see every NJPW event who the champion is, will they be able to answer with SANADA? I’m not sure they can.

Tetsuya Naito

SANADA responded to Naito’s remark:

Maybe I’m not at the level of presence of an Okada and Naito, yet. But when I win in the Tokyo Dome, that situation changes.

SANADA

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