Karl Anderson retains NEVER Openweight Title, says he’ll see Tama Tonga at NJPW Wrestle Kingdom 17

Karl Anderson retains the NEVER Openweight Championship and he'll be defending the title again at Wrestle Kingdom 17

Anderson holds onto the NEVER Title. 

The singles match for the NEVER Openweight Championship between Karl Anderson and Hikuleo took place today at the World Tag/Super Junior Tag League finals. This match originally had to be postponed due to Anderson’s commitments with WWE since returning to the company in October. 

Anderson bested Hikuleo to continue his title reign. He looked into the camera after his win and stated the following:

I ain’t coming over here to drop no titles. You think I’m coming back to New Japan Pro-Wrestling to do a jiz-zob?

Shortly after, Tama Tonga came out to the ring and confronted Anderson. The NEVER Champion caught Tama with a ‘Gun Stun’ and told him he’ll see him again at Wrestle Kingdom 17 on January 4th. 

With that match being made official, here’s the updated Wrestle Kingdom 17 lineup: 

  • IWGP Women’s Championship: KAIRI (c) vs. Tam Nakano
  • NJPW World Television Championship Tournament Final: Zack Sabre Jr. vs. Ren Narita
  • IWGP World Heavyweight Championship: Jay White (c) vs. Kazuchika Okada
  • IWGP Junior Heavyweight Championship — Four Way: Taiji Ishimori (c) vs. Master Wato vs. Hiromu Takahashi vs. El Desperado
  • IWGP U.S. Heavyweight Championship: Will Ospreay (c) vs. Kenny Omega
  • IWGP Tag Team Championships: FTR (Dax Harwood & Cash Wheeler) (c) vs. TBD
  • NEVER Openweight Championship: Karl Anderson (c) vs. Tama Tonga
About Andrew Thompson 9443 Articles
A Washington D.C. native and graduate of Norfolk State University, Andrew Thompson has been covering wrestling since 2017.