- Syuri def. Sareee (14:56) (IWGP Women’s Championship)
- David Finlay, Clark Connors & Taiji Ishimori def. Hiromu Takahashi, Shingo Takagi & Titan (7:58)
- Drilla Moloney def. SANADA (Riot in Ryogoku Match) (14:24)
- Hirooki Goto, YOSHI-HASHI & YOH def. Hartley Jackson, Kosei Fujita & Ryohei Oiwa (7:58)
- El Phantasmo vs. Hiroshi Tanahashi (NJPW World Television Championship) (Time Limit Draw) (15:00)
- EVIL def. Boltin Oleg (NEVER Openweight Championship) (11:40)
- Yuto-Ice & OSKAR def. Shota Umino & Yuya Uemura (IWGP Tag Team Championships) (14:42)
- Yota Tsuji def. Gabe Kidd (IWGP Global Heavyweight Championship) (24:15)
- Konosuke Takeshita def. Zack Sabre Jr. (IWGP World Heavyweight Championship) (31:16)
Konosuke Takeshita has captured the IWGP World Heavyweight Championship.
Takeshita put an end to Zack Sabre Jr.’s reign with the belt on Monday night, dethroning him in a 31-minute showdown to headline NJPW’s King of Pro Wrestling card at the Ryogoku Sumo Hall in Tokyo, Japan.
Sabre Jr. gave Takeshita loads of trouble during the match, trapping him with crafty submissions and connecting with his Zack Driver on more than one occasion. However, after enduring numerous hard shots from Takeshita throughout the half-hour battle, it was eventually a Powerdrive Knee which put him away.
Takeshita earned a shot against Sabre Jr. after winning the G1 Climax tournament earlier this year. While most G1 winners have used their tournament victory for a match in the main event of Wrestle Kingdom, Takeshita opted for a different path. He wanted to enter the Tokyo Dome in January as the champion, and thus instead called for a shot against Sabre Jr. at this week’s KOPW show.
Now with the title around his waist, Takeshita’s plan of heading into Wrestle Kingdom as champ seems more than likely.
It didn’t take long for Takeshita’s first challenger to be determined. The newly-crowned champ mentioned in his post-match promo that many are disgruntled with his current run, and invited anyone backstage who doesn’t like him to head down to the ring and make it known.
Answering the challenge was Hirooki Goto, a former world champ in his own right who, notably, overcame Takeshita during this year’s G1 tournament. While that match seems likely, it’s unclear when it could emerge.
The start of Sabre Jr.’s reign was somewhat of a shock for many earlier this year, dethroning Goto at Tanahashi Jam in Aichi, Japan. While he didn’t defend his title for a solid portion of the reign due to his role in the G1 Climax, he put the title on the line against Ren Narita and AEW’s Nigel McGuinness after the tournament’s conclusion.
Earlier in the night: Yota Tsuji avenges loss to Gabe Kidd, Aaron Wolf goes face-to-face with EVIL
The co-main event saw Yota Tsuji regain the IWGP Global Heavyweight Championship, avenging a June loss to Gabe Kidd in a 24-minute war. Tsuji had to connect with his Gene Blast spear three times to weaken Kidd before making him tap with a Boston Crab. In a surprising post-match angle, the “unaffiliated” ex-Los Ingobernables members shook hands with Bullet Club, teasing a possible alliance between the groups.
The Knockout Brothers scored their first major victory as IWGP Tag Team Champions on Monday, overcoming the duo of Shota Umino and Yuya Uemura in a competitive 15-minute battle. A hectic finishing sequence saw the champs connect with their double-team KOB Piledriver for the pinfall win.
A first glimpse at Aaron Wolf’s debut match was potentially given earlier in the night, as the Olympic Judoka went face-to-face with EVIL after the House of Torture member regained the NEVER Openweight Championship off Boltin Oleg. Wolf, who will debut at Wrestle Kingdom next month, hit the ring for the save during the post-match, confronting EVIL after an antics-filled title victory.
A back-and-forth battle between El Phantasmo and Hiroshi Tanahashi ended with no winner, as the 15-minute time limit set for the NJPW World Television Championship expired before either could find a fall. Phantasmo was the one closing in on a win near the end after blocking a High Fly Flow, then scoring a Thunderkiss 86, but couldn’t put together enough against a hard-to-kill and soon-to-retire Tanahashi before the match hit 15 minutes.
Drilla Moloney picked up the win in a bloody, no-disqualification “Riot in Ryogoku” match against SANADA. Moloney fulfilled his wish to bash a guitar over the head of SANADA, then connected with the Drilla Killa for the pinfall. An image uploaded to social media afterward from Moloney showed that he needed numerous stitches to close the cut he suffered on his head during the match.
Syuri recaptured the IWGP Women’s Championship in the opening bout of the night, avenging her loss from earlier this year against Sareee in a hard-hitting 15-minute battle. Sareee gave Syuri trouble with a series of four Uranages, but eventually got put away by the STARDOM talent’s Syu-sekai finisher.
