Yuji Nagata will be replacing Michael Elgin in the Gauntlet pre-show match prior to Wrestle Kingdom 13.
New Japan announced this evening that Elgin is out of action with a left knee injury and will undergo surgery shortly. Yuji Nagata, who wasn’t on the show before, will now team with Jeff Cobb and David Finlay.
It isn’t currently known how serious the injury is or how long Elgin will be out for.
The pre-show match, which replaces the New Japan Rumble, will be a gauntlet match to determine the number one contendership for the NEVER six man tag team titles, which are currently held by Tama Tonga, Tanga Loa and Taiji Ishimori.
The other participants in the match include Ryusuke Taguchi, Toru Yano and Togi Makabe, the CHAOS team of Best Friends & Hirooki Goto, the Suzuki-gun team of Killer Elite Squad & Minoru Suzuki, and the Elite team of Marty Scurll, Yujiro Takahashi and Hangman Page.