New Japan Pro Wrestling presented Power Struggle on Saturday. The show was closed by a literal power struggle for the top spot of New Japan Pro Wrestling. IWGP World Heavyweight Champion Shingo Takagi, fresh off of defeating Zack Sabre Jr. in an exhausting 30min bout, was confronted by G1 Climax winner Kazuchika Okada, and the IWGP Heavyweight Title belt, which he defended against Tama Tonga earlier in the night.
Okada said that he doesn’t take Takagi seriously as champion, and Takagi said that he didn’t take Okada’s resurrection of the IWGP Heavyweight Title seriously either. It was a tense, awkward confrontation. Okada laid down the challenge, and Takagi accepted. The Dragon and The Rainmaker are set for a collision in the Tokyo Dome (or possible Yokohama, that’s also a thing).
While Okada was able to patch the blemish in his G1 Climax record, with his win over Tama Tonga. Takagi still has unfinished business with Kota Ibushi, who remains sidelined with an arm injury.
Three new champions were crowned on Saturday. El Desperado is once again IWGP Jr. Heavyweight Champion after a battering match with Robbie Eagles. Both men assaulted each other’s knees, until Eagles finally submitted to the Stretch Muffler.
KENTA’s long quest for the IWGP United States Heavyweight Championship came to an end at Power Struggle. Over a year after winning the first New Japan Cup USA, KENTA finally won NJPW’s United States title, beating Hiroshi Tanahashi in a brutal match. A High Fly Flow through a table on the outside ripped open KENTA’s back.
Another wrestler came full circle on Saturday, as EVIL once again lifted one-third of the NEVER Openweight 6-Man Tag Titles. Over a year after vacating the titles to join Bullet Club, EVIL led his own BC subgroup to victory over the very team that won the belts after EVIL gave them up.
CHAOS’s dominant reign with the trios title has ended. After 453 days and 9 defenses, Hirooki Goto, YOSHI-HASHI & Tomohiro Ishii fell to House of Torture. EVIL, SHO & Yujiro Takahashi attacked the former champs after the match, but were then run off by the returning YOH.
YOH, who hasn’t been seen since losing to SHO at Wrestle Grand Slam, made it clear that he is there to defend CHAOS, and get a modicum of revenge.
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?POWER STRUGGLE?
＼HOUSE OF TORTUREのCHAOSCHAOSに対する暴挙に怒り爆発のYOHが乱入し、HOUSE OF TORTUREを一掃‼️
? CHAOS? × HOUSE OF TORTURE?
? #njpwworld で配信中??登録＆視聴⏩https://t.co/Tj7UBJ4PjP#njpw #njpst pic.twitter.com/j2s03plloa
— NJPW WORLD (@njpwworld) November 6, 2021
Toru Yano defeated Great-O-Khan in an amateur wrestling match, please don’t make me explain it, I have no idea how it worked.
Elsewhere on the card plenty of Jr. Heavyweights got reps in ahead of the Best of Super Junior tournament. Here are the full results:
11/6
NJPW Power Struggle
Available on NJPWWorld.com
- Suzuki-gun (Yoshinobu Kanemaru & DOUKI) def. Ryohei Oiwa & Kosei Fujita by submission. (4:33)
Yoshinobu Kanemaru submitted Kosei Fujita via Boston Crab. - Bullet Club (Tanga Loa, Gedo & Jado) def. Tiger Mask, Togi Makabe & Tomoaki Honma by pinfall. (5:07)
Tanga Loa pinned Tomoaki Honma via Ape Shit. - Los Ingobernables de Japon (SANADA, BUSHI & Hiromu Takahashi) def. Ryusuke Taguchi, Master Wato & Yuji Nagata by pinfall. (7:05)
SANADA pinned Ryusuke Taguchi via Bridging Pin. - NEVER Openweight 6-Man Tag Championship Match: House of Torture (EVIL, SHO & Yujiro Takahashi) def. CHAOS (Hirooki Goto, YOSHI-HASHI & Tomohiro Ishii) (c) by pinfall. (13:46)
EVIL pinned YOSHI-HASHI via EVIL. - Amateur Wrestling Match For The KOPW 2021 Provisional Trophy: Toru Yano (c) def. Great-O-Khan. (6-5)
- IWGP Jr. Heavyweight Championship Match: El Desperado def. Robbie Eagles (c) by submission via Stretch Muffler. (18:20)
- IWGP United States Heavyweight Championship Match: KENTA def. Hiroshi Tanahashi (c) by pinfall via Go 2 Sleep. (23:44)
- IWGP World Heavyweight Right To Challenge Certificate Match: Kazuchika Okada (c) def. Tama Tonga by pinfall via Rainmaker. (25:13)
- IWGP World Heavyweight Championship Match: Shingo Takagi (c) def. Zack Sabre Jr. by pinfall via Last of the Dragon. (30:27)
New Japan Pro Wrestling will return to kick off the Best of Super Juniors/World Tag League Tour on Nov. 13th at 4:30am ET on NJPWWorld.com
