New Japan Pro-Wrestling today announced that Juice Robinson has suffered a fractured orbital bone. Due to this, Robinson was forced to miss the last Road to Tokyo Dome event and will not appear at Wrestle Kingdom 15, where he was scheduled to face KENTA in a match to determine who would get a future IWGP US Championship opportunity against reigning champion Jon Moxley.
With regards to the Wrestle Kingdom match, NJPW said:
“Further announcements on the status of KENTA’s Tokyo Dome opponent will be made in due course.”
At today’s event, Robinson was scheduled to tag with Toa Henare to face KENTA and Jay White, but was replaced by Satoshi Kojima. Henare took a loss for the team after being caught by a Bladerunner from White. Undeterred, Kojima took to the microphone to ask KENTA, “Would you take a challenge from an aged 50 year-old like me”? KENTA refused initially, and received a KojiCutter and attempted lariat from the veteran.
While a match is not yet official, it looks like Kojima, who is a former two-time IWGP Heavyweight Champion and multi-time IWGP Heavyweight Tag Team Champion, will be looking to add an opportunity for the US Championship to his list of accolades.
Whoever emerges from Wrestle Kingdom with a future shot at the US Championship, it is unclear when they will get their title match. Due to the COVID pandemic, Moxley has been unable to travel to Japan to defend the belt since he successfully retained it in a war with Minoru Suzuki at The New Beginning in Osaka back in February. While it has been rumoured that he will appear at Wrestle Kingdom, AEW President Tony Khan ruled it out earlier this month.