Bryan Danielson is officially set to compete at a New Japan Pro-Wrestling event for the first time since 2004!
During today’s NJPW Power Struggle event, Bryan Danielson made an unexpected video appearance. It happened after Kazuchika Okada, Hiroshi Tanahashi, and Tomohiro Ishii successfully retained their NEVER Openweight Six-Man Tag Team titles against TMDK.
As Okada went to leave the ring, the arena went dark and a video package featuring Danielson began playing. The American Dragon, sporting a bandage over his left eye, blamed Okada for both his broken arm earlier this year and his currently broken orbital bone.
He went on to say he wants to return to favour by making sure Okada can never do The Rainmaker again and laid down a challenge for a match at Wrestle Kingdom 18 on January 4th. After the video package ended, Okada accepted the challenge.
This will mark the second-ever singles match between the two following their main event clash at AEW Forbidden Door this past June. During the match, Bryan Danielson broke his arm via an elbow drop from Okada, which kept him out of action for just over two months.
The currently announced line-up for NJPW Wrestle Kingdom 18 is as follows:
- Kazuchika Okada vs Bryan Danielson
- Bullet Club War Dogs (c) vs Catch 2/2 – IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Championship match
- Hiromu Takahashi (c) vs El Desperado – IWGP Junior Heavyweight Championship match
- Will Ospreay (c) vs Jon Moxley vs David Finlay – IWGP United Kingdom Heavyweight Championship match
- Sanada (c) vs Tetsuya Naito – IWGP World Heavyweight Championship match
When Did Bryan Danielson Last Wrestle For NJPW?
Bryan Danielson had several stints in New Japan Pro-Wrestling in the early 2000s, though he has not competed for the promotion since late 2004.
His last match on an NJPW event took place on November 30, 2004, on the sixth night of their Battle Final 2004 tour. There, he and James Gibson (now WWE producer Jamie Noble) lost to Jushin Thunder Liger and Minoru Tanaka of the CTU faction.