Various: Wrestle Kingdom 12 Start Times, NJPW, Indies, Daniel Bryan

Start Times for Thursday’s NJPW Wrestle Kingdom 12

New Japan Pro Wrestling’s biggest event of the year, Wrestle Kingdom 12, occurs this Thursday with a one hour pre-show starting at 2AM EST. The pre-show will feature the annual New Japan Rumble match as part of the festivities leading to the actual start of the event at 3AM EST.

For those in different time zones, Mr. Lariato on Twitter converted the starting time of Wrestle Kingdom 12 to the local time of various time zones.

Wrestle Kingdom start times:

Japan: 5PM (4PM pre-show)
Europe: 9AM (8AM pre-show)
UK: 8AM (7AM pre-show)
Atlantic: 4AM (1AM pre-show)
Eastern: 3AM (2AM pre-show)
Central: 2AM (1AM pre-show)
Mountain 1AM (midnight pre-show)
Western: Midnight (11PM pre-show)#NJPW #njwk12

— LARIATOOOO!! (@MrLARIATO) January 3, 2018

For those unable to watch the event live, New Japan World will have a replay of the event available to watch after it ends. For those who get channel AXS TV, the network will be airing a special three hour version of the event at 8PM EST on January 6th.

NJPW News & Notes

During a fan festival event held earlier today, New Japan Pro Wrestling’s Yuji Nagata revealed over 32,000 tickets for Wrestle Kingdom 12 have been sold so far. The official amount at the moment is 32,600 tickets with the number expected to rise after walk-up ticket sales are included in the overall tally.

Website WrestleZone held a recent interview with Will Ospreay and one of the topics discussed involved his future goals in NJPW. Ospreay stated one of his goals is to wrestle in the company’s heavyweight division.

For future goals, I don’t know if you ever keep up with my social media every now and again, but I’ve been putting on a lot of weight recently. I’ve been hitting the gym hard. I’ve been putting weight on. It’s a slow thing for me because I know to expand in New Japan, you do have to be a heavyweight. To be considered one of the top guys, you do have to be a heavyweight. I know this. I’ve accepted this, so now is the time for me to start knuckling down, working hard, and heading towards the heavyweight division.

A recent Instagram post by Chris Jericho dedicated his upcoming match against Kenny Omega to his “fallen brothers” Eddie Guerrero and Chris Benoit. While the post generated online backlash due to it honoring Benoit, Jericho later stated he posted the fan drawing of the trio because he really liked the art a lot.

Indie Wrestling News & Notes

Ring of Honor announced their upcoming Network-like streaming service will be called “Honor Club.”

Ring of Honor also announced Stardom’s Mayu Iwatani, Hana Kimura, Kagetsu, and HZK will be competing in their upcoming women’s tournament to crown the company’s first ever Women of Honor champion.

Mexico’s Crash Lucha Libre recently teased on Twitter they will be collaborating with Japan’s Dragon Gate very soon.

Daniel Bryan on Chances He Wrestles in the WWE in 2018

Sports Illustrated held a recent interview with Daniel Bryan and one of the topics discussed involved the chances of him wrestling in the WWE in 2018. Bryan stated he currently believes he will not be wrestling in the WWE this year especially if he is not booked for a match at Wrestlemania 34. Bryan mentioned the WWE is still very hesitant on medically clearing him for an in-ring return.

“It’s not a black and white answer. There are a lot of issues with me getting cleared by WWE. They have a very strict protocol, which is a good thing, but the timeline of all that happening was not the best for me. It’s an interesting situation that will develop.”