Great-O-Khan retires the KOPW Championship, declares New Japan Ranbo will be No. 1 contender match for IWGP World Heavyweight Title

December 22, 2024 Neal Flanagan NEWS
Image Courtesy: NJPW

The NJPW King of Pro Wrestling Title is no more after Great-O-Khan declared it would be retired.

O-Khan made the announcement after defeating Taichi in the main event of Sunday’s Road to Tokyo Dome event at Korakuen Hall, Tokyo.

The match was a best-of-three-falls encounter with three stipulations. O-Khan won the first fall — a no-ropes sumo rules match. Taichi evened the score by winning the second fall, a match with Yoshinobu Kanemaru as special guest referee.

The deciding last-man-standing fall ended in a double count-out. O-Khan retained due to champion’s advantage.

After the match, he told the crowd he wanted to retire the title. He stated his last act as champion would be that the New Japan Ranbo at Wrestle Kingdom 19 should be a No. 1 contender match for the IWGP World Heavyweight title.

NJPW Road to Tokyo Dome results, December 22nd

  • Hiromu Takahashi def. Shoma Kato
  • House Of Torture (Ren Narita & Yujiro Takahashi) def. United Empire (Jakob Austin Young & Jeff Cobb) and TMDK (Hartley Jackson & Ryohei Oiwa)
  • El Desperado & Master Wato def. Just 4 Guys (DOUKI & TAKA Michinoku)
  • Robbie Eagles def. Drilla Moloney and Francesco Akira and Kevin Knight
  • Los Ingobernables de Japon (BUSHI, Shingo Takagi & Yota Tsuji) def. BULLET CLUB War Dogs (David Finlay, Gedo & SANADA)
  • TMDK (Kosei Fujita & Zack Sabre Jr.) def. Hiroshi Tanahashi & Shota Umino
  • NJPW King Of Pro-Wrestling Two out of Three Falls Match: Great-O-Khan (c) def. Taichi
About Neal Flanagan 1100 Articles
Based in Northern Ireland, Neal Flanagan is a former newspaper journalist and copy editor. In addition to reporting for POST Wrestling, he co-hosts The Wellness Policy podcast with Wai Ting and Jordan Goodman.
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