It’s official! Akebono and Bob Sapp advance on the Tokyo Dome as part of the New Japan vs. CHAOS opening match with the 3 vs. 3 becoming a 4 vs. 4 featuring the two behemoths. And a final reminder that you can order and watch this show live on iPPV on 1/4 (US$35) anywhere in the world.

I’d like to wish everyone a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

UPDATE: Another late card change but this time forced as young Daichi Hashimoto has suffered a fracture to his left forearm which requires two months of healing. The son of New Japan legend Shinya Hashimoto was set to make his first New Japan appearance but will be replaced by Shinjiro Otani, making his first return to New Japan in quite a while.

NJPW “WRESTLE KINGDOM 7 ~EVOLUTION~ IN TOKYO DOME”, 1/4/13 (WPW/PPV/iPPV)
Tokyo Dome

0-1. Wataru Inoue, Tama Tonga & Captain New Japan vs. Tomohiro Ishii, YOSHI-HASHI & Jado
0-2. Jushin Thunder Liger, Tiger Mask & Hiromu Takahashi vs. Ryusuke Taguchi, KUSHIDA & BUSHI
1. Special 8 Man Tag Match: Manabu Nakanishi, MVP, Strong Man & Akebono vs. Toru Yano, Takashi Iizuka, Yujiro Takahashi & Bob Sapp
2. NEVER Openweight Title: Masato Tanaka (c) vs. Shelton Benjamin
3. IWGP Tag Team Title: Lance Archer & Davey Boy Smith Jr. (c) vs. Hirooki Goto & Karl Anderson
4. Special Singles Match: Yuji Nagata vs. Minoru Suzuki
5. IWGP Jr. Heavyweight Title – 3WAY Match: Prince Devitt (c) vs. Low Ki vs. Kota Ibushi
6. Special Tag Match: Hiroyoshi Tenzan & Satoshi Kojima vs. Keiji Muto & Shinjiro Otani
7. Special Singles Match: Togi Makabe vs. Katsuyori Shibata
8. Double Main Event I – IWGP Intercontinental Title: Shinsuke Nakamura (c) vs. Kazushi Sakuraba
9. Double Main Event II – IWGP Heavyweight Title: Hiroshi Tanahashi (c) vs. Kazuchika Okada