With future WWE Hall of Famer Chris Jericho jumping ship to Japan for a red-hot feud against Kenny Omega, more eyes will be on New Japan Pro-Wrestling's version of WrestleMania than any year in recent memory. Omega-Jericho will serve as one half of a dual main event at Thursday morning's Wrestle Kingdom 12 card from the Tokyo Dome (2 a.m. ET, live stream on NJPWworld.com). 

The show is expected to be a major part of NJPW's current North American expansion, which includes the featured push of many English-speaking American and Canadian stars like Omega, Cody (nee Rhodes), the Young Bucks and now Jericho. The expansion will continue in March when NJPW returns to the United States for the second straight year with a card set in Long Beach, California. 

What isn't known is whether Jericho will be part of that U.S. show. The longtime WWE star, who announced his NJPW signing in shocking fashion in November, is reportedly a free agent again after Friday's New Year Dash card (which is akin to WWE's Raw after WrestleMania). One has to wonder whether Thursday's card, and how well it is received or how much fun Jericho has in the Tokyo Dome, will play a part in his decision making. 

For many North American pro wrestling fans, this week will mark their first time viewing an NJPW pay-per-view show. Let's take a closer look at each match, what's at stake and what to expect. 

NJPW Wrestle Kingdom 12 predictions

New Japan Rumble: Similar to WWE's Royal Rumble, this match features a new surprise entrant every few minutes. The key distinction between this and WWE's format is that wrestlers can be eliminated via pinfall and submission in Japan, as well as being thrown over the top rope. NJPW doesn't announce the participants in advance, making a prediction impossible. But the quality of wrestling typically isn't the strong because of how many aging legends take part. Last year's match, won by current star Michael Elgin in his return from injury, featured 14 participants including nostalgic names Billy Gunn, Jyushin "Thunder" Liger, Tiger Mask and Scott Norton. Pick: None

IWGP Jr. Tag Team Championship -- Roppongi 3K (c) vs. The Young Bucks: After the amicable breakup of Beretta and Rocky Romero in September as the tag team Roppongi Vice, Romero moved into a managerial role and announced a new team. Consisting of Sho Tanaka and Yohei Kamatsu, Roppongi 3K (named after Romero's claim that they were "3,000 times better than Roppongi Vice) made a surprise reveal at October's King of Pro-Wrestling PPV and defeated Ricochet and Ryusuke Taguchi for the belts. The duo further established itself as legit by winning November's Super Junior Tag Tournament. After the match, 3K was challenged by The Young Bucks, who have dominated the division since their 2013 NJPW debut, holding the belts six times. Considering how many times the Bucks and Roppongi Vice have traded the titles in recent years, this has all the making to be the start of an exciting spin-off feud with 3K, featuring no shortage of high-flying spots between the two best junior heavyweight tag teams. But with the belts' hot potato history of late, featuring six title changes in 2017, it's a good bet that the Bucks will exit as seven-time champions. Pick: The Young Bucks win the titles

NEVER Openweight 6-Man Tag Team Championship -- Bullet Club (c) vs. Chaos vs. Michael Elgin & War Machine vs. Suzuki-gun vs. Taguchi Japan: Thursday marks the two-year anniversary of the titles' creation, which has included 14 separate championship reigns. Representing Bullet Club, the trio of Bad Luck Fale, Tama Tonga and Tanga Loa are less than one month into their first. This gauntlet-style match is also expected to be the final NJPW appearance for War Machine, who are rumored to be signing with WWE. Expect chaos and physicality in this one, involving a few with WWE connections. Tonga and Loa (formerly Camacho in WWE) are the sons of former WWE star Haku. Meanwhile, Zach Sabre Jr. of Suzuki-gun was a standout in the 2016 WWE Cruiserweight Classic, and Juice Robinson of Taguchi Japan was formerly known as CJ Parker in NXT. Pick: Bullet Club retain their titles

Cody vs. Kota Ibushi (Special Single Match): This one lost the luster of being contested for the Ring of Honor title when Cody dropped the belt to Dalton Castle in December. But that doesn't rob from its potential to steal the show. Ibushi, known to American fans for his run in the WWE Cruiserweight Classic, made a case for inclusion as the world's best in-ring performer this summer during NJPW's G1 Climax tournament. Cody, meanwhile, has become one of the top independent stars in the world since asking WWE for his release in 2016 and a major player in Bullet Club. 

Jericho's late addition to the card likely means Cody took the spot originally meant for Omega, who was a former tag team partner and rival of Ibushi with Japan's DDT promotion. But he made sure to add enough juice to the storyline at December's World Tag League PPV when he hit Ibushi with a particularly stiff Cross Rhodes on the stage. The steady teasing over 2017 that a growing riff between Cody and Omega has been building within Bullet Club could become a factor here. So, too, could a five-star match as Cody proved against IWGP heavyweight champion Kazuchika Okada at last years's NJPW G1 Special in USA card that he can raise his game to levels above what he has shown in WWE. Pick: Ibushi wins

IWGP Tag Team Championship -- Killer Elite Squad (c) vs. SANADA & EVIL: Fronted by G1 winner Tetsuya Naito, the past 12 months have been massive for the Los Ignobernables de Japon (LIJ) faction. SANADA and EVIL have been no exception in that regard. The duo twice were part of six-man tag team championship reigns and each raised their stock considerably with performances at the G1. As a traditional tag team, they also won last month's World Tag League tournament, winning the A Block before defeating Tonga and Loa in the final. There's no reason to suggest that momentum slows down here, especially with KES having closed 2017 with the longest reign (96 days) of titles that change hands often. If Lance Archer's name sounds familiar, he wrestled in WWE's ECW reboot as Vance Archer and the massive, 6-foot-5 Davey Boy Smith Jr. is the son of the late British Bulldog. Pick: SANADA & EVIL win the titles

NEVER Openweight Championship (Hair vs. Hair Match) -- Minoru Suzuki (c) vs. Hirooki Goto: With two wins over Goto in 2017, including his title victory in April, Suzuki turned down Goto's multiple requests for one more title match. It ultimately took a pair of Goto victories in non-title bouts over Suzuki and Goto's willingness to put his hair on the line for the psychotic, 49-year-old legend to accept (and agree to put his own unique locks at stake). Any match involving this version of the maniacal Suzuki, an MMA pioneer in the early 1990s who once beat Ken Shamrock, is worth watching and his performances at the G1 were among the best in the tournament. The build to this one has also been fun, including Suzuki's failed attempt to trim Goto's hair with clippers ahead of time (which ended with him shaving a young boy). Per Suzuki's insistence, no seconds for either wrestler will be allowed at ringside, which could ultimately play against his natural heel tendencies. Pick: Goto wins the title  

IWGP Jr. Heavyweight Championship (4-Way Match) -- Marty Scurll (c) vs. Will Ospreay vs. KUSHIDA vs. Hiromu Takahashi: The last three men to hold the junior heavyweight title before Scurll won it in November will get a fresh shot at the gold in a match that should be off the charts in terms of big spots. This is also the first 4-way title match in the belt's 32-year history. Ospreay, a native of England, is just 24 and among the most acrobatic and exciting performers in the world. He is also a longtime rival of KUSHIDA, whose "Time Splitter" gimmick is a tongue-in-cheek knockoff of the character Marty McFly from "Back to the Future." In fact, this match melds multiple juicy rivalries into one, as each member physically attempted to stop the other from making an official challenge of Scurll in the buildup. Britain's Scurll is doing the best work of his career at the moment. And don't be surprised if the presence of his Bullet Club mates plays a part in the finish. Pick: Scurll retains the title

IWGP Intercontinental Championship -- Hiroshi Tanahashi (c) vs. Switchblade: Returning to NJPW for the first time since 2016, Jay White made quite a statement in November by challenging Tanahashi before attacking him. He also debuted his new edgy "Switchblade" character, clad in a black leather jacket. White's push shows the kind of confidence the company has in the 25-year-old from New Zealand, who was given the mysterious vignette treatment for the previous three months before his reveal. White has a golden opportunity to get over as a heel considering he's facing the veteran Tanahashi, who at 41 has put forth a long babyface career on top that's akin in WWE to John Cena. He has also routinely worked through serious injuries, including the grueling G1 tournament where he made a run to the A Block finals with virtually one working arm. Currently slowed by a knee injury, this feels like the right time for NJPW to find out whether White is truly a breakout star in the making, capable of becoming a factor in its North American push. Pick: Switchblade wins the title

IWGP U.S. Heavyweight Championship (No Disqualification Match) -- Kenny Omega (c) vs. Chris Jericho: With all due respect to everyone else on the card, this is the reason many in the U.S. are so willing to set their alarms at an ungodly hour to watch an internet stream from halfway across the world. It's not a stretch to call Omega, a native of Canada, the best wrestler in the world after authoring quite possibly the greatest calendar year of in-ring work in the history of the genre. Omega is NJPW's most valuable asset to the idea of competing with WWE from a critical standpoint and faces the perfect dance partner in Jericho, 47, who brings with him legendary experience and the legitimacy of commercial appeal. 

The build to the match was as simple and raw as it was brilliant. A Jericho vignette surprised Omega at a November PPV, challenging him for his U.S. championship. One month later, Jericho brutally attacked him from behind and left him bloodied. The following day, the two brawled at a press conference producing intensity that was electric. Billed as "Alpha vs. Omega," pairing the best in the world against the best of all-time, the match could end up being the perfect marriage between Omega's big-spot style and Jericho's storytelling thanks to the no DQ stipulation and the expectations it will feel like a real fight. 

Even though both enter as heels, Jericho has reinvented his character so brilliantly as a psychopath that Omega has received babyface cheers. When you consider Omega's star power and the plans NJPW has for him, seeing him retain is the most likely scenario. That is, unless Jericho, who appeared to tease a future program with Tetsuya Naito on Twitter, plans on hanging around long enough to aid the North American expansion. Pick: Jericho wins the title

IWGP Heavyweight Championship -- Kazuchika Okada (c) vs. Tetsuya Naito: While the "real" main event has been overshadowed by Jericho's late addition to the card, this one has all the makings to be a classic just the same. Backed by an incredible storyline, it's the potential for in-ring magic that just might present the biggest appeal. Both men achieved near perfection in 2017 matches against Omega (including a trio with Okada that redefined how great wrestling can be) and after a long build, they'll finally do business against one another. 

The story is one of real-life redemption. Naito, who might be best described in WWE terms as Roman Reigns if he turned heel, defeated Omega in the G1 final to secure the shot in the Wrestle Kingdom main event. Four years earlier,  Naito also won the G1 to earn a shot at then champion Okada but was denied a main event slot at Wrestle Kingdom after NJPW, fearful Naito wasn't over enough as babyface, allowed the fans to vote for which match would close. 

After taking his career to Mexico in 2015 and joining the heel Los Ingoberales stable, Naito returned to NJPW as a villain and founded the LIJ faction. Thanks to his newfound "tranquilo" persona as a likable no-care heel, the 35-year-old enters 2018 as the company's most popular star in Japan. He'll face Okada, 30, who defeated Naito for the heavyweight crown in 2016, and will enter the Tokyo Dome as the longest reigning champion (564 days) in IWGP history. While Naito's story has been a feel-good one to watch, it's hard to shake the feeling that it already peaked for him at the G1. Okada is the company's best wrestler not named Omega and the one would make the most sense considering their rivalry to have "The Cleaner" eventually go over when it's his time to finally win NJPW's top prize. Pick: Okada retains the title