At a press conference today NJPW revealed changes to the IWGP US Heavyweight Championship and some upcoming matches fans can look forward to.
NJPW Chairman Naoki Sugabayashi announced big changes coming to the IWGP US Heavyweight Championship.
“The IWGP US Heavyweight Championship which will be replaced by a new championship…With the introduction of the IWGP UK Championship this summer there was confusion among fans as to the status of the title. With that in mind, this new championship combines and adds to the US and UK Championship roles. It will be called the IWGP Global Heavyweight Championship,” he announced.
The match between Will Ospreay, Jon Moxley and David Finlay at Wrestle Kingdom will now be for the IWGP Global Heavyweight Championship.
With Bishamon (Yoshi-Hashi and Hirooki Goto) winning World Tag League yesterday, Sugabayashi also revealed they will face Strong Openweight Tag Team Champions Hikuleo and El Phantasmo at Wrestle Kingdom for the IWGP and Strong Openweight Tag Team Championships.
Bishamon appeared at the press conference and had this to say about their big win yesterday.
“We thankfully were able to three-peat as World Tag League winners and we did it as the IWGP Tag Team Champions. Thank you for your support,” said Yoshi-Hashi saying he feels a “real sense of accomplishment”.
“Bishamon have made history. I’m happy to be in the record books. I didn’t sleep much last night. When I went out for a walk this morning I was stopped by some elementary school kids wanting an autograph. I think that underscored the importance of what we do,” said Goto revealing that the champs will be resting up and healing up for their big match at Wrestle Kingdom.
Sugabayashi also announced these following matches for Road to Tokyo Dome, December 21st at Korakuen Hall:
- Taichi (c) versus Yoshinobu Kanemaru – KOPW 2023 Provisional Match
- Kazuchika Okada, Hiroshi Tanahashi and Tomohiro Ishii (c) versus United Empire (Jeff Cobb, Great-O-Khan and Henare)- Never Openweight 6-Man Tag Team Championship Match
Also on that card are:
Masked Boltin and Masked Horse versus Tiger Mask and Toru Yano
Oskar Leube and Yuto Nakashima versus Kosei Fujita and Zack Sabre Jr.
Callum Newman, Francesco Akira and TJP versus Gedo, Drilla Moloney and Clark Connors
Master Wato, Tomoaki Honma and Shota Umino versus Sho, Ren Narita and Evil
Satoshi Kojima and El Desperado versus Shingo Tagaki and Hiromu Takahashi
Douki, Yuya Uemura and Sanada versus Bushi, Yota Tsuji and Tetrsuya Naito
Thus far, the Wrestle Kingdom card taking place on January 4th at the Tokyo Dome is:
Shingo Takagi (c) vs. Tama Tonga – NEVER Openweight Championship Match
Hiromu Takahashi (c) vs. El Desperado – IWGP Junior Heavyweight Championship Match
Bullet Club War Dogs (Clark Connors and Drilla Moloney) (c) vs. Catch 2/2 (TJP and Francesco Akira) – IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Championship Match
Bishamon (Hirooki Goto and Yoshi-Hashi) (IWGP) vs. Guerrillas of Destiny (Hikuleo and El Phantasmo) (Strong Openweight) – Winners Takes All Tag Team Match for the IWGP Tag Team Championships and Strong Openweight Tag Team Championships
Zack Sabre Jr. (c) vs. Hiroshi Tanahashi – NJPW World Television Championship Match
Will Ospreay vs. Jon Moxley vs. David Finlay – Three-way match for the inaugural IWGP Global Heavyweight Championship
Bryan Danielson vs. Kazuchika Okada
Sanada (c) vs. Tetsuya Naito – IWGP World Heavyweight Championship Match
