The first champion will be crowned at Wrestle Kingdom.
At NJPW Power Struggle, IWGP U.S. (U.K.) Heavyweight Champion Will Ospreay went face-to-face with Jon Moxley and was planning to challenge him to a match at Wrestle Kingdom 18 on January 4th. Their interaction ended when David Finlay jumped both talents.
Finlay proceeded to pick up a mallet and smashed both the U.S. and U.K. Heavyweight Titles. It was later confirmed by NJPW that a brand new championship is going to be introduced at Wrestle Kingdom 18 via a three-way between Ospreay, Finlay and Moxley.
A press conference was held and Chairman Naoki Sugabayashi announced the IWGP Global Heavyweight Championship. He stated that there were discussions of bringing back the IWGP Intercontinental Title, but it was decided that the Global Heavyweight Championship was more fitting.
The first IWGP Global Heavyweight Champion will be crowned at Wrestle Kingdom and here’s the updated lineup for that event:
- IWGP World Heavyweight Championship: SANADA (c) vs. Tetsuya Naito
- Bryan Danielson vs. Kazuchika Okada
- IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Championships: BULLET CLUB War Dogs (Clark Connors & Drilla Moloney) (c) vs. Catch 2/2 (Francesco Akira & TJP)
- IWGP Junior Heavyweight Championship: Hiromu Takahashi (c) vs. El Desperado
- IWGP Global Heavyweight Championship: Will Ospreay vs. Jon Moxley vs. David Finlay (w/ Gedo)
- NEVER Openweight Championship: Shingo Takagi (c) vs. Tama Tonga
- IWGP & NJPW STRONG Openweight Tag Team Championships: Bishamon (Hirooki Goto & YOSHI-HASHI) (c) vs. Hikuleo & El Phantasmo (c)
- NJPW World Television Championship: Zack Sabre Jr. (c) vs. Hiroshi Tanahashi
