NJPW kicked off its Road to Power Struggle tour at Korkauen Hall where Kazuchika Okada resurrected the old IWGP heavyweight belt.
Okada walked out with the retired championship over his shoulder for his six-man tag match against the Guerrillas of Destiny & Jado.
After winning his third G1 Climax tournament, Okada has proposed a championship belt be used instead of the traditional briefcase that contains the contract for a title shot. This creates a scenario where Takagi, Okada, and Will Ospreay are all making claims to being the rightful world champion of the promotion.
Okada has also indicated he wants to face Kota Ibushi again after their G1 Final was cut short due to Ibushi suffering a dislocated shoulder.
Sunday’s card at Korakuen Hall was the first of three consecutive nights at the building with the tour leading into the November 6th Power Struggle event in Osaka. On that show, Okada will defend his championship/contract against Tama Tonga, who was the only person to defeat Okada throughout the G1.
Sunday’s show in front of 598 fans was headlined by an Elimination Match where Suzuki-gun’s Zack Sabre Jr., El Desperado, Yoshinobu Kanemaru & DOUKI defeated Shingo Takagi, SANADA, Hiromu Takahashi & BUSHI. During the match, ZSJ threw Takagi over the top rope to eliminate the champion and won the match for his team by eliminating BUSHI last.
Zack Sabre Jr. will challenge Takagi for the IWGP World Heavyweight Championship at Power Struggle after submitting Takagi during the G1.
Sunday’s card also featured the return of Aaron Henare as he teamed with Empire United stablemate The Great O-Khan to defeat Satoshi Kojima & Toru Yano. It was Henare’s first match since May as he had been out of action due to a neck injury.
Here are the results from Sunday’s Road to Power Struggle event:
*Hiroyoshi Tenzan, Ryusuke Taguchi & Master Wato over Robbie Eagles, Tiger Mask & Ryohei Oiwa
*EVIL, SHO, Yujiro & Dick Togo over Tomohiro Ishii, Hirooki Goto, YOSHI-HASHI & Kosei Fujita
*Great O-Khan & Aaron Henare over Satoshi Kojima & Toru Yano
*Hiroshi Tanahashi & Yuji Nagata over KENTA & Gedo
*Guerrillas of Destiny & Jado over Kazuchika Okada, Togi Makabe & Tomoaki Honma
*Elimination Match: Zack Sabre Jr., El Desperado, Yoshinobu Kanemaru & DOUKI over Shingo Takagi, SANADA, Hiromu Takahashi & BUSHI
