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On Night 1 of NJPW: Wrestling Dontaku, Jay White will challenge for the NEVER Openweight Championship. The Bullet Club front-runner will face reigning champion Hiroshi Tanahashi, as the former aims to become the first-ever quadruple champion in NJPW history.
The other main attraction match will feature Tama Tonga in action against Taichi in only the second-ever ladder match in NJPW history. The ladder match will be contested for the Iron Fingers.
Meanwhile, Tama's fellow tag team partner Tanga Loa will face Taichi's stablemate Zack Sabre Jr. in the other singles match on Night 1. The first night of Wrestling Dontaku will also feature The United Empire in action against Los Ingobernables de Japon in an eight-man tag team match.
Here is the full match card for NJPW Wrestling Dontaku Night 1:
- NEVER Openweight Championship: Hiroshi Tanahashi (c) vs. Jay White
- Second-ever Ladder Match in NJPW history: Tama Tonga vs. Taichi - For the Iron Fingers
- Special Singles Match: Tanga Loa vs. Zack Sabre Jr.
- The United Empire (Will Ospreay, Jeff Cobb, Aaron Henare, The Great O-Khan) vs. Los Ingobernables de Japon (Tetsuya Naito, Shingo Takagi, SANADA, Bushi)
- Suzuki Gun (Minoru Suzuki, El Desperado, Yoshinobu Kanemaru) vs. CHAOS (Kazuchika Okada, SHO, YOH)
- Bullet Club (EVIL, Dick Togo, Yujiro Takahashi, Taiji Ishimori) vs. Toru Yano, Hiroyoshi Tenzan, Tiger Mask, Master Wato
NJPW Wrestling Dontaku will start on May 3rd
Night 1 of NJPW's Wrestling Dontaku event will kick start on the 3rd of May at the Fukuoka Convention Center. The night could end up being quite historic for Switchblade if Jay White manages to beat The Ace for the NEVER Title in the main event.
If he does so, White will become the first Superstar in history to have won the IWGP Heavyweight, IWGP Intercontinental, IWGP United States, and the NEVER Openweight Championship.
However, at the recent Sakura Genesis show, White tapped out to Tanahashi's cloverleaf submission after a tag team match featuring the two men from opposing teams. With White already having beaten Tanahashi in the New Japan Cup this year, he will certainly be the favorite to walk out with another victory over The Ace.
