Tag: iwgp united states title

Kenny Omega wins IWGP United States title at NJPW Wrestle Kingdom 17

Posted on by Bryan Rose

Kenny Omega is once again the IWGP United States Champion.

Omega defeated Will Ospreay to win the title for a second time in an intense, bloody back and forth match. At one point, Omega gave Ospreay a DDT on the exposed ring turnbuckle, causing Ospreay to bleed heavily. Omega’s eye was also swollen shut near the end of the match. The finish saw Omega strike Ospreay with the kamigoye, Kota Ibushi’s finisher, then pinned Ospreay with the One Winged Angel.

This is Omega’s second run with the championship, becoming the inaugural champion back in 2017. Ospreay’s reign with the title ended after over 200 days, originally winning the vacant title by pinning SANADA at Dominion back on June 12.

Omega appeared via video at NJPW and Stardom’s Historic X-Over event back on November 20 and challenged Ospreay to a match at Wrestle Kingdom. Ospreay and the Untied Empire originally attacked The Elite back on the August 31 edition of AEW Dynamite.

The Elite are scheduled to face Death Triangle in the final match of the best of seven series, a Escalera de la Muerte (ladder) match.

IWGP US title match announced for NJPW Resurgence

Posted on by Bryan Rose

A new match for the IWGP United States title has been announced for NJPW Resurgence.

Hiroshi Tanahashi appeared via video on tonight’s Dynamite, issuing the challenge. In the video, Tanahashi said the US title has a charm to it, and mentioned his other championship accomplishments in the past. But he’s never held the US title, and wants to add that to his championship legacy. After Dynamite ended, the full video was posted to NJPW’s social media, with Tanahashi saying the match would take place at Resurgence at the Torch at the Los Angeles Coliseum.

NJPW’s social media later made the match official for August 14. Tanahashi has not appeared in the US since February of 2020, participating in the New Beginning in USA 2020 tour.

Other matches already announced for Resurgence include:

  • Jay White vs. David Finlay for the NEVER Openweight title
  • Alex Coughlin vs. Karl Fredericks
  • Rocky Romero, Fred Rosser, and Wheeler Yuta vs. TJP, Clark Connors, and Ren Narita

Jon Moxley set to defend IWGP US title on AEW Dynamite

Posted on by Bryan Rose

Jon Moxley will return to AEW next week and will defend his IWGP United States title on the first night of Fyter Fest.

It was announced on tonight’s Dynamite that Moxley will defend the title against Karl Anderson. This will be Moxley’s first match since he and Eddie Kingston lost to the Young Bucks at Double or Nothing back in May.

A video aired tonight, which featured Karl Anderson talking about his return to New Japan Pro Wrestling. He noted that Kenny Omega was the first IWGP United States champion and the fact that Moxley currently holds the title makes him sick. He said that next week he would do what he and Doc Gallows do best, beat up Jon Moxley.

Moxley has been IWGP United States champion since January 4, 2020, when he defeated Lance Archer at Wrestle Kingdom 14. He has been unable to defend the title in Japan and instead has defended it on NJPW Strong. He also defended the title successfully against Yuji Nagata on the May 12 edition of Dynamite.

Yuji Nagata to challenge for Moxley’s IWGP US title on AEW Dynamite

Posted on by Bryan Rose

New Japan Pro Wrestling’s Yuji Nagata will appear on AEW Dynamite to challenge Jon Moxley for the IWGP United States title.

The match was announced during tonight’s AEW Dynamite, and will take place on May 12, in two weeks time. 

NJPW uploaded a video earlier this month with Moxley challenging Nagata. Nagata later released a video of his own, calling Moxley a “snot-nosed punk” and accepted his challenge. It wasn’t made clear when the match would take place until tonight.

Moxley has been the IWGP United States champion since January of 2020, defeating Lance Archer to win the title at Wrestle Kingdom 14. He has defended it sparingly due to the COVID-19 pandemic, but most recently defended the title against KENTA successfully on the February 27 edition of NJPW Strong.

NJPW and AEW established a relationship earlier this year. KENTA appeared on Dynamite back on the February 10 edition of Dynamite, teaming with Kenny Omega to take on Jon Moxley and Lance Archer, with Archer and Moxley scoring the win.

Jon Moxley appears on NJPW Strong, attacks KENTA

Posted on by Bryan Rose

Image: NJPW

Jon Moxley appeared at the end of tonight’s NJPW Strong, making it clear he would face KENTA in Japan.

KENTA, Hikuleo, and El Phantasmo jumped Lio Rush, Fred Rosser, and TJP following tonight’s main event when Rush pinned ELP. The lights then suddenly went out. Jon Moxley appeared when they came back on with the IWGP United States title and laid out Hikuelo and ELP with the belt. Moxley and KENTA traded blows, with KENTA going for the GTS. Moxley countered and landed the Death Rider DDT.

Moxley took a microphone and said that he doesn’t play political games, and that KENTA’s dream of becoming the United States champion had just become a nightmare. He then said into the camera that he would face KENTA in Tokyo “one of these days”.

Moxley has been IWGP United States champion for 392 days, defeating Lance Archer at Wrestle Kingdom 14 on January 4 of last year. However, he has been unable to come into Japan to defend the championship due to COVID-19 restrictions.

KENTA defeated David Finlay in a New Japan Cup USA tournament final in August to win a briefcase with a IWGP United States title match contract. He successfully defended the briefcase at  Wrestle Kingdom 15 on January 4, defeating Satoshi Kojima.

New IWGP US Champion crowned at NJPW King of Pro Wrestling

Posted on by Bryan Rose

Lance Archer, who wasn’t even booked to be in this morning’s IWGP United States title match, is now the new champion.

Archer subbed for Jon Moxley at this morning’s King of Pro Wrestling event, defeating Juice Robinson for the newly-vacated United States championship. Moxley was unable to make it to the show due to travel issues associated with the typhoon that hit Japan this weekend, and was stripped of the title just hours before the show started.

Although it was announced as a singles match, Archer demanded the match become a no disqualification match like the title match that was previously advertised. Robinson agreed, and the two proceeded to have an all out brawl, with Archer getting the win following Blackout on a pile of chairs then the iron claw.

After the match, David Finlay returned to the promotion and laid out Archer with a couple of stunners. He had been out for most of the year following shoulder surgery, having last wrestled in February.

Moxley, Sabre off NJPW KOPW due to travel issues, US title now vacant

Posted on by Bryan Rose

UPDATE: New Japan has also confirmed that Zack Sabre Jr. is off the card, also due to travel issues. SHO & YOH will now face Yoshinobu Kanemaru & El Desperado in the opener while the third match will feature Shingo Takagi & Tetsuya Naito taking on Taichi & DOUKI.

Original story:

Jon Moxley is off this morning’s King of Pro Wrestling card.

NJPW tonight on their website confirmed that Moxley would be unable to compete tonight as a result of travel delays due to Typhoon Hagibis, which is still active as of this writing.

As a result, the title has been declared vacant and a match between Juice Robinson and Lance Archer will take place on tonight’s card. The winner of that match will become the seventh IWGP United States champion.

The typhoon has caused a number of pro wrestling events to be delayed. Stardom and Ice Ribbon both cancelled shows that were due to take place this weekend. NJPW released a statement this weekend confirming that King of Pro Wrestling is taking place as scheduled Monday morning. 

Typhoon Hagibis is considered to be one of the biggest typhoons to hit the Kanto region of Japan since 1958. It has caused 37 deaths thus far.

Juice Robinson vs. Jon Moxley set for NJPW BOSJ finals

Posted on by Bryan Rose

The IWGP United States Heavyweight Championship will be on the line at the Best of the Super Juniors finals.

At a press conference tonight, NJPW officially announced that Juice Robinson will be defending the United States title against Jon Moxley at the BOSJ finals on Wednesday, June 5. Moxley revealed on Sunday night that he is the one that has been behind the “Time’s Up” videos that have been airing since Wrestling Dontaku.

In the press conference, Robinson brought up that he and Moxley started the same day in Florida Championship Wrestling and that he looked up to Moxley as he knew that Moxley was a better wrestler at the time. He also mentioned that Moxley has a singles win over him. But that was when he considered himself a young lion, saying that he wasn’t about to let Moxley take the title and leave after six months. He promised a brawl at the BOSJ finals.

Moxley resurfaced this past weekend by appearing at AEW’s Double or Nothing on Saturday. AEW then announced that Moxley has signed a multi-year deal with them. The following day, Moxley’s Twitter account posted the “Time’s Up” video with his name attached at the end. AEW President and CEO Tony Khan mentioned in a Double or Nothing post-show media scrum that Moxley will also do some other dates on the indies and internationally.

Also on the Best of the Super Juniors finals card is a match between Hiroshi Tanahashi and Jay White, who had a confrontation at Wrestling Dontaku following Tanahashi’s return from an elbow injury. The show will be headlined by the Best of the Super Juniors tournament finals.

Cody Rhodes out of ROH Global Wars match, will undergo MRI

Posted on by Bryan Rose

An injury has put Cody Rhodes out of tomorrow’s IWGP United States title match at ROH Global Wars.

Rhodes made the announcement today on his Twitter account, noting that he would not be able to make his title defense against Beretta tomorrow in Toronto, saying that a replacement would be named.

“Sadly folks I will not be able to wrestle tomorrow in Toronto” he wrote. “I will still be at the pre-show meet/greet to say hello to everybody. ROH & I will find a suitable replacement for the match. I’m extremely sorry. I’ll be able to confirm the extent of the issue after an MRI this week.”

Rhodes also described how the injury happened on 11/9, saying he felt a pop in his knee as he was teasing tossing a t-shirt into the crowd.

“Going from one side of the crowd to the other last night, teasing a t-shirt toss of all things…heard a loud POP in my knee,” he wrote. “Terryfing (sic). Hoping it was just a lil’ meniscus and Sunday I can still deliver.”

Cody and Beretta had been building the feud during the last New Japan tour, with Beretta issuing a challenge to Cody for the championship during a Road to Power Struggle event.

Jay White added to ROH War of the Worlds tour

Posted on by Bryan Rose

Jay White is heading back to Ring of Honor.

ROH announced today on their website that White will be part of the upcoming War of the Worlds tour next month. They said that if he were to retain the IWGP United States title against David Finlay on April 24, he will also defend the title on the tour. He is set for the May 9 date in Lowell, Massachusetts and May 11 in Toronto, Canada. 

Other people set for the tour include Jushin Thunder Liger, Roppongi 3K, Rocky Romero, and the entire Los Ingobernables de Japón stable consisting of Tetsuya Naito, EVIL, BUSHI, SANADA and Hiromu Takahashi. Aside from the aforementioned dates, War of the Worlds will also stop at Royal Oak, Michigan on May 12 and will conclude on May 13 in Chicago, Illinois.

White wrestled for Ring of Honor during his excursion with New Japan from 2016-2017, wrestling the likes of Lio Rush, Will Ospreay and Christopher Daniels.

NJPW reveals full G1 Special night two card

Posted on by Joseph Currier

Following the completion of last night’s show, New Japan Pro Wrestling has revealed the full card for G1 Special night two.

The complete lineup couldn’t be announced until the first round of the IWGP United States Heavyweight Championship tournament took place. The semifinals will see Kenny Omega face Jay Lethal and Tomohiro Ishii square off with Zack Sabre Jr. Whoever wins those will go on to the finals, with the inaugural champion being crowned in the main event.

Those who lost in the first round of the tournament are involved in multi-man tag matches on night two. Kazuchika Okada and Cody Rhodes will also be on opposite sides in an eight-man tag after their title match last night, with Okada teaming with The Briscoes & Will Ospreay against Cody, Bad Luck Fale, Yujiro Takahashi & Marty Scurll.

Two title matches that were known about in advance will take place on the show as well. Hiroshi Tanahashi will defend his IWGP Intercontinental Championship against Billy Gunn and The Young Bucks will put their junior tag titles on the line against Roppongi Vice.

Tonight’s show will air live on New Japan World (with English commentary available) everywhere in the world. It will then be shown on AXS TV on Friday. The full card is:

  • The finals of the IWGP United States Heavyweight Championship tournament
  • IWGP Intercontinental Champion Hiroshi Tanahashi defending against Billy Gunn
  • Kazuchika Okada, Will Ospreay & The Briscoes vs. Cody, Bad Luck Fale, Yujiro Takahashi & Marty Scurll
  • IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Champions The Young Bucks defending against Roppongi Vice
  • Michael Elgin & War Machine vs. Hangman Page & Guerrillas of Destiny
  • Juice Robinson, Jay White, Volador Jr., Dragon Lee & Titan vs. Tetsuya Naito, SANADA, EVIL, BUSHI & Hiromu Takahashi
  • Tomohiro Ishii vs. Zack Sabre Jr. in an IWGP United States Heavyweight Championship tournament semifinal match
  • Kenny Omega vs. Jay Lethal in an IWGP United States Heavyweight Championship tournament semifinal match
  • KUSHIDA, Jushin Thunder Liger & David Finlay vs. Yoshitatsu & The Tempura Boyz (Sho Tanaka & Yohei Komatsu)