KENTA successfully defended his IWGP U.S. Heavyweight Title challenger briefcase on night one of Wrestle Kingdom 15 against Satoshi Kojima. Prior to their match, a pre-recorded promo from the current IWGP U.S. Heavyweight Champion Jon Moxley aired. Moxley stated that he would be coming after whomever emerged victorious from the match. His promo was filmed from the location that NJPW Strong is taped from. Moxley’s last match for New Japan Pro-Wrestling was in February of 2020 against Minoru Suzuki.
Breaking:
Jon Moxley FULL PROMO pic.twitter.com/iW8Eiay4lZ— GIFSkull III (Backup) #RIPBrodieLee (@SkullGIF) January 4, 2021
Prior to the main card of Wrestle Kingdom 15 kicking off, the New Japan Ranbo took place and the final four competitors were Toru Yano, Bad Luck Fale, Chase Owens and BUSHI. Those four talents will be competing in a four way on night two of Wrestle Kingdom to determine the first holder of the provisional KOPW trophy in 2021. Toru Yano ended 2020 as the trophy holder.
NJPW commentators Kevin Kelly and Rocky Romero opened the broadcast with a tribute to the late Jon Huber (Brodie Lee). Rocky stated, “It’s January 4th, you know what that means” and Kevin followed by dedicating the show to Huber.
While the ring was being cleaned, New Japan aired a number of ads and one of those ads was to promote their new mobile game titled ‘New Japan Pro-Wrestling Strong Spirits’.
NJPW STRONG SPIRITS sees NJPW return to the smart phone gaming ring!
Make sure you stay on top of all the news before the game's launch!
Official site: https://t.co/ytSG8RWv3M
Twitter @njpwss_global https://t.co/rxIEMwWRsP#njpw #njpwss #njwk15 pic.twitter.com/nOBwvP6D2P
— NJPW Global (@njpwglobal) January 4, 2021
Hiromu Takahashi is challenging Taiji Ishimori for the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Championship on night two of Wrestle Kingdom. Hiromu yelled out a couple of words after picking up his win over El Phantasmo on night one and NJPW announcer Chris Charlton relayed that Hiromu said he has a “broken hand”.
Below is the updated lineup for Wrestle Kingdom 15 night two:
* STARDOM Dark Match: Saya Kamitani, AZM & Utami Hayashishita vs. Maika, Natsupoi & Himeka
* STARDOM Dark Match: Mayu Iwatani & Tam Nakano vs. Syuri & Giulia
* Provisional KOPW 2021 Trophy — Four Way Match: Chase Owens vs. Bad Luck Fale vs. BUSHI vs. Toru Yano
* IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Championship: El Desperado & Yoshinobu Kanemaru (c) vs. Ryusuke Taguchi & Master Wato
* NEVER Openweight Championship: Shingo Takagi (c) vs. Jeff Cobb
* EVIL vs. SANADA
* IWGP Junior Heavyweight Championship: Taiji Ishimori (c) vs. Hiromu Takahashi
* IWGP Heavyweight and Intercontinental Championships: Kota Ibushi (c) vs. Jay White
