Tag: njpw castle attack

NJPW announces Yano vs. Owens KOPW stipulation for Castle Attack

Posted on by Ethan Renner

Toru Yano will defend the provisional 2021 King of Pro Wrestling title against Chase Owens in a YTR style Texas strap match at Saturday’s NJPW Castle Attack event. 

The stipulation was decided in a Twitter poll held on the NJPW Global account. Fans were asked to choose between the Yano style strap match and the Owens style. The winner of the match will be the participant who removes all four corner pads while strapped to their opponent. The Owens stip would have been a traditional four corners strap match. 

Yano is the current provisional KOPW 2021 champ after winning the title in a four-way at Wrestle Kingdom 15 on January 5, defeating Owens, Bad Luck Fale and BUSHI.

The official 2021 KOPW will be decided after the final provisional title defense of the year. Yano won the 2020 version of the title, last defeating Fale in a bodyslam match at Road to Tokyo Dome on December 23 to cement his win. 

Here are the announced lineups for Castle Attack. A change is yet to be announced to the Sunday card, as Hiromu Takahashi will be unable to defend the IWGP Junior Heavyweight title on that show due to injury: 

Saturday, February 27, 2 a.m. Eastern time

  • Kazuchika Okada vs. EVIL
  • Tomohiro Ishii vs. Jay White
  • Provisional KOPW 2021 Championship YTR style strap match: Toru Yano (c) vs. Chase Owens
  • Tama Tonga vs. Hirooki Goto
  • Tanga Loa vs. YOSHI-HASHI
  • Hiroshi Tanahashi, Hiroyoshi Tenzan & Satoshi Kojima vs. Great-O-Khan, Will Ospreay & Jeff Cobb

Sunday, February 28, 12 a.m. Eastern time

  • IWGP Intercontinental Championship: Kota Ibushi (c) vs. Tetsuya Naito
  • NEVER Openweight Championship: Hiroshi Tanahashi (c) vs. Great-O-Khan
  • IWGP Heavyweight Tag Team Championships: Tama Tonga & Tanga Loa (c) vs. Hirooki Goto & YOSHI-HASHI
  • Kazuchika Okada, Tomohiro Ishii & Toru Yano vs. EVIL, Jay White & Chase Owens
  • Hiroyoshi Tenzan & Satoshi Kojima vs. Will Ospreay & Jeff Cobb

Tetsuya Naito off NJPW Road to Castle Attack due to knee injury

Posted on by Bryan Rose

Tetsuya Naito did not wrestle on this morning’s NJPW Road to Castle Attack due to injury.

Naito came out at the start of tonight’s show and said that he would be unable to compete due to a knee injury that he suffered during his match last night. He apologized to the fans, but then turned his attention to Kota Ibushi, who he faces for the IWGP Intercontinental title on Febuary 28 at Castle Attack. He called him out on wanting to unify both the Intercontinental and Heavyweight titles, intending to still wrestle on the 28th..

Instead of the scheduled Kota Ibushi & Yuji Nagata vs. Tetsuya Naito & SANADA main event, SANADA faced Yuji Nagata in a singles match in the co-main event, with SANADA scoring the win following a moonsault. Kazuchika Okada and SHO faced EVIL and Dick Togo in the main event instead, with SHO submitting Togo.

Naito last wrestled on February 16, teaming with Shingo Takagi to defeat Yuji Nagata and Kota Ibushi.

Twitter poll to decide KOPW stipulation at NJPW Castle Attack

Posted on by Ethan Renner

NJPW has announced a Twitter poll will be held to decide the stipulation for the Toru Yano vs. Chase Owens match for the KOPW 2021 title at Castle Attack night one on February 27. 

The poll is currently underway on the NJPW Global Twitter account. Voters will be asked to choose between two strap match variations as Yano defends the KOPW provisional title against Owens. Yano has proposed a Yano-style strap match, where the competitors will be strapped together and the winner will be the first to remove all four corner pads. 

Owens has proposed a traditional four corners strap match, where the winner will be the first to touch all four corners while strapped to their opponent. 

Owens introduced a strap in the elimination match main event on Sunday’s Road to Castle Attack show and eliminated Yano. Yano then used the strap to pull Owens over the top rope to eliminate him as well. 

The two were on opposite sides of a tag match on Monday’s Road to Castle Attack Show as well, where Owens again introduced a strap. 

Castle Attack will be a two-night event, held on February 27 and February 28 in Osaka-Jo Hall. Here are the full lineups: 

Saturday, February 27 —

  • Kazuchika Okada vs. EVIL
  • Tomohiro Ishii vs. Jay White
  • KOPW 2021 provisional: Toru Yano (c) vs. Chase Owens
  • Hirooki Goto vs. Tama Tonga
  • YOSHI-HASHI vs. Tanga Loa
  • Great-O-Khan, Will Ospreay & Jeff Cobb vs. Hiroshi Tanahashi, Hiroyoshi Tenzan & Satoshi Kojima

Sunday, February 28 —

  • IWGP Intercontinental Championship: Kota Ibushi (c) vs. Tetsuya Naito
  • IWGP Junior Heavyweight Championship: Hiromu Takahashi (c) vs. El Phantasmo
  • NEVER Openweight Championship: Hiroshi Tanahashi (c) vs. Great-O-Khan
  • IWGP Heavyweight Tag Team Championship: Tama Tonga & Tanga Loa (c) vs. Hirooki Goto & YOSHI-HASHI
  • Kazuchika Okada, Tomohiro Ishii & Toru Yano vs. EVIL, Jay White & Chase Owens
  • Will Ospreay & Jeff Cobb vs. Hiroyoshi Tenzan & Satoshi Kojima