New Japan Pro Wrestling held its “POWER STRUGGLE 2023” on November 4 in Edion Arena Osaka from Osaka, Japan. The night was filled with action from championship matches, to potential macthes set for Wrestle Kingdom 18 and more.
First we go to the Moxley vs Great-O-Kahn in a singles match. They match started and the two men started to fight which then spilt to the outside. This resulted in a double count out as neither of them got back into the ring before the count. Mox then took things into his own hands requesting a Falls Count anywehere match, they then resumed fighting each other as the bell rang the match was on much to the enjoyment of the fans. The match turned bloody and brutal real quick, Moxley even cut of the Great-O-Kahn’s signiture braid which infuritated the man. In the end Moxley emerged victorious
NEVER Openweight Six Man Tag Team Champions Kazuchika Okada, Tomohiro Ishii, & Hiroshi Tanahashi manged to dfend their titles (V4) against the TMDK trio of Mikey Nicholls, Shane Haste & Zack Sabre Jr. when Tanahashi got a roll up win of NJPW World TV champion ZSJ. After the match it looked like Tanahashi hinted towards a potential title match against Zack for his TV title. The surpirse was yet to come as after basking in victory as Okada was to leave the ring a VTR video was played and it was none other then Bryan Danielson who wants revenge and has challenged Kazuchika Okada for WRESTLE KINGDOM 18 in TOKYO DOME. Okada responded saying he wants revenge to beacuse of the loss he suffered and then accpeted by simply saying “YES!”.
Catch 2/2 manged to defeat Yoshinobu Kanemaru & SHO from the HOUSE of TORTURE Super Junior Tag League 2023 Finals to become the winners and earn a shot at the IWGP Jr tag team titles. It was not easy as the rest of the HOUSE of TORTURE continued there antics and and attacks. With a bit of back up from Jeff Cobb and Callum Newman who drove off the HOUSE of TORTURE, which allowed TJP & Francesco Akira to pick up the win.
The semi main was for the WGP Junior Heavyweight Championship and saw Champion Hirmou Takahashi defend his title by defeating Taiji Ishimori when Hirmou pinned Ishimori with his is unnamed roll up. After the match Hirmou said let do this again sometime to Ishimori who gave a too sweat to the air in response. Hiromu then before anyone else could challange for title stated that this time he would pick his next opponent and selcted El Desperado who was on Japanese commentary. El Desperado got in the rin and accpeted and said he need to have some surgery but would be ready for Wrestle Kingdom 18. He further said for Hirmou not to lose of let anyone else get a chance as he want theri encounter to be 1 on 1.
Main Event time and what a main event it was as the IWGP US (UK) Heavyweight Championship was on the line. In another banger and MOTY contender, Will Ospreay defeated Shota Umino in a match that lasted just over 40mins when Ospreay got the pin via Strombreaker. After a show of respect from both competitiors Ospreay called out to Moxley who was at ring side as a second supporting his student Umino. Just as they got face to face and seemingly setting up an encounter for WK18, David Finlay came out to attack and layout both of them. Finlay then proceeded to destroy both red belts the US & UK titles with a Sledghammer. Post match backstage Ospreay who is furious took matters into his own hands and demanded a 3 way match for WK18, Ospreay vs Moxley vs Finlay. He also stated if NJPW cant bring back the Intercontinental Championship for them to fight it out for, then he wanted them create a New championship that they can fight for so he can elevate it and defend it around the world.
You can find the rest of the results below.
NJPW “POWER STRUGGLE 2023” Full Results (04/11):
- Main Event IWGP US (UK) Heavyweight Championship Match: Will Ospreay (c) def. Shota Umino
- IWGP Junior Heavyweight Championship Match: Hiromu Takahashi (c) def. Taiji Ishimori
- Super Junior Tag League 2023 Finals: #1 TJP & Francesco Akira def. #2 Yoshinobu Kanemaru & SHO
- NEVER Openweight Six Man Tag Team Championship Match: Kazuchika Okada, Tomohiro Ishii, & Hiroshi Tanahashi (c) def. Mikey Nicholls, Shane Haste & Zack Sabre Jr.
- Falls Count Anywhere Match: Jon Moxley def. Great-O-Khan
- David Finlay def. Tanga Loa
- Tetsuya Naito & Yota Tsuji def. SANADA & Yuya Uemura
- KUSHIDA, Kevin Knight & Tama Tonga def. BUSHI, Shingo Takagi & Titán
- SJTL 2023 Special 4-Way Tag Match: El Desperado & Master Wato def. Clark Connors & Drilla Moloney, Kosei Fujita & Robbie Eagles and MUSASHI & YOH
- Jeff Cobb & Callum Newman def. Oskar Leube & Yuto Nakashima
- Pre-Show Frontier Zone Six Man Tag Team Match: Oleg Boltin, Ryusuke Taguchi & The DKC def. Mochizuki Jr., Strong Machine J & Yoshiki Kato