New Japan’s Fighting Spirit Unleashed event in the USA gifted us some great matches and set us on our way for this Monday’s KOPW event in Tokyo. This is one of the final major NJPW shows of the year and will most likely set a lot of matches in stone for Wrestle Kingdom 13 in Tokyo Dome on January 4th 2019.

IWGP Heavyweight Championship Match: Kenny Omega vs Kota Ibushi vs Cody

While a triple threat match may seem very familiar for wrestling fans in 2018, in New Japan, the idea of a championship match being anything other than a traditional singles contest is something unique. This is only the third triple threat match for the IWGP Heavyweight Championship in history – the others being Kazuyuki Fujita’s 2005 defence against Masahiro Chono and Brock Lesnar, and AJ Styles’ defence against Kazuchika Okada and Michael Elgin in Ring of Honor in 2014.

This one came about following Omega and Ibushi’s tag team win over Okada and Tomohiro Ishii at Fighting Spirit Unleashed, where Omega proposed he and Ibushi face each other for the title at this event. These two finally had their long-awaited match in NJPW against one another in this year’s G1, but the 30-minute time limit stipulation restricted this it was apparent both men were saving something for a bigger occasion. Ibushi’s win to go on to the final has earned him an IWGP Heavyweight Championship match, so Omega/Ibushi II happening this year was never out of the question.

Unfortunately though, we’ll have to wait a bit longer to see this rematch as Cody, who had earlier in the night surprisingly defeated Juice Robinson to win the IWGP United States Heavyweight Championship, was able to sway Omega – who he stated he’s now on good terms with following the Bullet Club civil war – into making this one a triple threat match based on the idea of “lessening the pressure” and by playing into Omega’s love of making history. I expect this match to be excellent and can’t wait to see it this coming Monday.

Prediction: Omega pins Cody to retain.

IWGP Junior Heavyweight Championship Match: KUSHIDA vs Marty Scurll

This is a match I didn’t expect to see happen. I fully expected Will Ospreay to defeat Marty Scurll in Long Beach this past Saturday, but – as was the case for most of my predictions for that show – you never know which way NJPW is going to go. KUSHIDA and Scurll don’t have too much history in singles matches with one another besides two solid matches in ROH last year and in the Best of the Super Juniors this past May where they’ve worked quite well together. I’m looking forward to seeing these two in a match with major stakes at hand and I’m also intrigued at where this one will go given there’s been rumours of KUSHIDA possibly moving up to the Heavyweight division having achieved so much at the Junior level. Regardless of those rumours, I can’t see past a KUSHIDA win here going into Wrestle Kingdom, although I’m not certain who could be viable as a challenger other than Will Ospreay or Taiji Ishimori, who we haven’t seen a ton of since his defeat to Hiromu Takahashi in the BOSJ final despite him being one of the NEVER Openweight Six Man Tag Team Champions.

Prediction: KUSHIDA wins the vacant championship.

Match for the Wrestle Kingdom 13 main event briefcase:

Hiroshi Tanahashi vs ‘Switchblade’ Jay White

A lot has happened in NJPW in 2018: From Okada’s legendary title reign and Omega defeating him to become champion, to Chris Jericho’s ventures in the company and Hiroshi Tanahashi appearing to step out of the spotlight only to win the G1 final.

One of the most notable stories amongst those has undeniably been the rise of Jay White, who since returning to New Japan late last year as ‘Switchblade’ to challenge Hiroshi Tanahashi for the Intercontinental Championship at Wrestle Kingdom, has achieved many impressive accolades. Despite losing to The Ace in the Tokyo Dome, he’d go on to defeat Kenny Omega to become the IWGP United States Heavyweight Champion and have great title matches against the likes of Hangman Page and Juice Robinson. He then entered his first G1 and picked up a staggering 12 points, coming very close to the final after defeating Tanahashi and Okada – albeit through nefarious tactics.

That win over Tana has brought us here with the Wrestle Kingdom main event hanging in the balance. While you should never count out The Ace, it’s clear that Jay has the advantage going into this one courtesy of his win in the G1, his sneak attack following Tana’s briefcase retention over Okada in Kobe and him pinning his opponent here in the Long Beach. It’s also very important that Jay has Gedo by his side, the man who cornered Kazuchika Okada to all of his successes and now has a new attitude.

This match should be brutal and it should be very dramatic given the impact it has on the future of NJPW going forward.

Prediction: Tanahashi seals his place in the main event of Wrestle Kingdom 13.

EVIL vs Zack Sabre Jr

As the Los Ingobernables De Japon and Suzuki-gun feud has been ongoing for the majority of this year, you could be forgiven for thinking that, while this will be enjoyable, this is nothing more than a standard singles match. However, there’s much more to this one than there was to the Naito/Suzuki match in Beppu this past September. When you consider the focus that’s been put on EVIL as of recent, it’s clear that this one has massive implications for the IWGP Intercontinental Championship picture. The same could be said about Zack Sabre Jr, who has had an excellent year in the company and has really developed an entertaining character with TAKA as his cornerman. That being said, I can’t see any other result than EVIL picking up the win here leading to a match with Chris Jericho at Power Struggle in November, as it seems everything has been leading in that direction from the post-match events of Jericho’s championship win against Naito at Dominion, to commentary’s talking of Jericho during EVIL’s matches, and Jericho continuously putting EVIL down while giving credit to a majority of the rest of the NJPW roster.

Prediction: EVIL wins and we see Chris Jericho post-match, setting us up for the Power Struggle main event.

CHAOS (Kazuchika Okada, Toru Yano, SHO + YOH)

vs

Los Ingobernables De Japon (Tetsuya Naito, SANADA, BUSHI + ?)

Any other day, and this wouldn’t be anything of note. CHAOS vs LIJ matches can be fun, especially when Toru Yano is involved, but we’ve seen a lot of them, particularly late last year and earlier this year leading into the Okada/Naito match at Wrestle Kingdom 12. What makes this one important is that in the absence of Hiromu due to his injury, Naito has confirmed that LIJ will not wait about, but they’ll move forward by adding a new member to the faction. I have no idea who this new member will be, but I imagine it’s likely to be a Junior Heavyweight star to team with BUSHI in Junior Tag League coming up soon – it’s worth noting that this won’t be the recently departed WWE star, Neville, as he’s just returned to wrestling in Dragon Gate under his previous alias of PAC. What do we know is that this will be someone Naito has “had his eye on for a long time”. This match is worth checking out primarily because of this mystery surrounding it, but as I say, it’s still going to be a fun watch.

Prediction: LIJ pick up the win.

What else is on the card?

IWGP Junior Tag Team Championships: El Desperado + Yoshinobu Kanemaru vs Tiger Mask + Jyushin Thunder Liger : It’s no secret that the Junior Tag Division has been lacking a lot in terms of competition, and with The Young Bucks moving up to the Heavyweight division this year, that’s been emphasised even more. Still, I never expected to see Tiger and Liger teaming up to fight for the titles. Very likely to open the show, I expect the crowd to be hyped for this one given their love for the old guard and while I don’t think they’ll be winning this, it’s refreshing to see a new team in the division. ( Prediction: Despy and Kanemaru retain. )

: It’s no secret that the Junior Tag Division has been lacking a lot in terms of competition, and with The Young Bucks moving up to the Heavyweight division this year, that’s been emphasised even more. Still, I never expected to see Tiger and Liger teaming up to fight for the titles. Very likely to open the show, I expect the crowd to be hyped for this one given their love for the old guard and while I don’t think they’ll be winning this, it’s refreshing to see a new team in the division. ( ) CHAOS (Will Ospreay, Hirooki Goto + Tomohiro Ishii) vs Suzuki-gun (Minoru Suzuki, Taichi + Takashi Iizuka) : I’m looking forward to this one for two reasons. The first being that a pinfall win for Ospreay or Ishii could bring them into the NEVER Openweight Championship picture to refresh it from Goto for the meantime, and the second being that we once again get to see Ishii and Suzuki in the same ring as each other. Ishii and Suzuki’s brawls are brutal and they’re something I could watch over and over again. ( Prediction: Suzuki-gun win. )

: I’m looking forward to this one for two reasons. The first being that a pinfall win for Ospreay or Ishii could bring them into the NEVER Openweight Championship picture to refresh it from Goto for the meantime, and the second being that we once again get to see Ishii and Suzuki in the same ring as each other. Ishii and Suzuki’s brawls are brutal and they’re something I could watch over and over again. ( ) Bullet Club Elite (The Young Bucks, Hangman Page + Chase Owens) vs Bullet Club OG (GoD, Bad Luck Fale + Taiji Ishimori) : Coming out of Fighting Spirit Unleashed, Tama Tonga and Tanga Loa of GoD are the new IWGP Heavyweight Tag Team Champions, so this is a chance for The Young Bucks to get a win back to lead into a possible rematch. This continuation of the war inside Bullet Club also gives a chance for Hangman and Chase to make a statement after their loss to SCU in Long Beach. I don’t think this will be the end of the Bullet Club implosion story, but I’m not sure where it’ll go from here. ( Prediction: Bullet Club OG win. )

: Coming out of Tama Tonga and Tanga Loa of GoD are the new IWGP Heavyweight Tag Team Champions, so this is a chance for The Young Bucks to get a win back to lead into a possible rematch. This continuation of the war inside Bullet Club also gives a chance for Hangman and Chase to make a statement after their loss to SCU in Long Beach. I don’t think this will be the end of the Bullet Club implosion story, but I’m not sure where it’ll go from here. ( ) GBH (Togi Makabe + Tomoaki Honma) vs Toa Henare + Juice Robinson: There’s not too much interesting about this one, although it’s a good chance for newer fans to see Great Bash Heel teaming together now that Honma has returned from injury, and it may also serve as an important match for both teams going into World Tag League. (Prediction: Makabe + Honma win.)