Following two successful shows in a debut tour of the United States last July, New Japan Pro Wrestling returns to Long Beach, California for what should be an excellent night of action, with all of the company’s top stars: Kazuchika Okada, Hiroshi Tanahashi, Tetsuya Naito, Kenny Omega and Minoru Suzuki making the trip from Japan to do what they do best in front of a rambunctious crowd.

There are four marquee matches set to take place at the event with the main event being The Golden☆Lovers (Kenny Omega and Kota Ibushi) teaming against The Young Bucks (Nick and Matt Jackson) in a dream match that many felt would never happen. This all came about as a result of the civil war currently going on in Bullet Club between BC leader Omega and self-professed leader Cody, as Cody’s building disdain of Omega reached its breaking point and led to the American Nightmare snapping, and nearly putting Omega out of action indefinitely before Ibushi ran in for the save (returning the favour to Omega for his own save from Cody this past January), and reunited with his former tag partner in one of the best moments in wrestling for a long time.

Omega and Ibushi made their tag team return at the Honour Rising shows, defeating Cody and Marty Scurll with Kenny then claiming the Golden☆Lovers to be the best tag team in the world. Of course, The Young Bucks, who have been impartial to both of their friends Kenny and Cody during this civil war, took offense to Omega’s claim and later that day this match was made.

This match should be an instant classic as both teams truly are two of the very best in the world, Omega is arguably the best wrestler in the world, and Ibushi – as well as the Bucks – is capable of doing things you didn’t think were possible in a wrestling ring. At the end of the year when recalling the great matches to have taken place, this is likely to be one of them.

‘Switchblade’ Jay White defends his IWGP United States Heavyweight Championship against Hangman Page in a match that came about following White’s shocking defeat of Omega to win the title, and Page’s initial challenge that led to the turn of Cody on Omega. Jay White returned to New Japan from excursion late last year and went on to unsuccessfully challenge then-Intercontinental Champion Hiroshi Tanahashi at Wrestle Kingdom in January, and while that match wasn’t exactly star-making for White, that moment would come against Omega in an excellent showing that convinced me personally that the 25 year old from New Zealand is destined for great things in the future.

Similar can be said about Page, who, while is yet to have his own star-making match – I wouldn’t be surprised if this was that match – has the potential to be a big star in the wrestling business.

Expect this one to be back and forth and showcasing the talents of both men, with the story focusing on who can hit their finisher first. White’s Blade Runner and Page’s Rite of Passage have been built incredibly strongly as of recent and I expect that the first man who hits their respective finisher will walk away as United States Champion.

The all time longest reigning NJPW Heavyweight Champion Kazuchika Okada teams with his CHAOS teammate Tomohiro Ishii to face Okada’s next challenger, the New Japan Cup winner Zack Sabre Jr. and the Intercontinental Champion Minoru Suzuki.

Sabre Jr. has been on an absolute roll as of recent, defeating Ibushi, Naito and Tanahashi in the New Japan Cup in order to win and earn the opportunity to face Okada at Sakura Genesis on April 1st. While Okada has beaten all comers in his 640+ day championship reign and has cemented himself as one of the greatest wrestlers of all time, he has yet to face a challenger so hell bent on applying submission holds that bend body parts where they aren’t supposed to bend to. This will be an interesting taster of what is to come in just over a week.

It might not help Okada that teaming with Sabre Jr. is his Suzuki-gun leader, Minoru Suzuki, who is capable of inflicting so much damage and pain that it wouldn’t be surprising if Okada walks into his title defence in Ryōgoku Sumo Hall less than 100% healthy, he knows what Suzuki is capable of, his matches against him at last year’s New Beginning in Sapporo and on Day 16 of the G1: 27 are more than enough evidence of that, it’s simply a case of doing what he’s been doing since July 2016: persevering above all punishment in order to win.

Of course, Okada’s partner, The Stone Pitbull, will be chomping at the bit to make a statement in this match, as a win over Suzuki could most certainly put him in line for a future Intercontinental Championship match – the prospect of Suzuki vs Ishii is very interesting – or a win over ZSJ could see him challenging the winner on April 1st hopefully sooner rather than later.

The fourth marquee match for the event features the legendary Jushin ‘Thunder’ Liger who will face arguably the greatest high flyer in the world today, Will Ospreay in a special singles match that could possibly steal the show.

This was originally going to be the Liger competing against Rey Mysterio as NJPW attempts to further highlight their company to wider audiences, but unfortunately Mysterio suffered an injury and was replaced by the current IWGP Junior Heavyweight Champion, Ospreay, who is definitely a suitable replacement. He has had a stellar year so far with great matches against the likes of KUSHIDA, Scurll, Takahashi, Okada, and the 25+ veteran Liger is still capable of putting on excellent matches.

This match is bound to be a highlight reel of great athleticism and in-ring ability.

Other things to look forward to from this show include:

Los Ingobernables De Japon (Tetsuya Naito, SANADA, BUSHI and Hiromu Takahashi) are set to face the team of Hiroshi Tanahashi, KUSHIDA, Taguchi and Dragon Lee in what should be a great eight-man tag. Naito and Tanahashi are two of the best wrestlers in the world, SANADA as of late has been putting on great match after great match, so expect no different here; you never know what you’ll get with Taguchi, who thrives on entertaining the fans with comedic antics, but when needed, can put on an excellent technical match, and BUSHI, KUSHIDA, Hiromu and Dragon Lee are four of the best high flyers in the business today, and any time Hiromu and Dragon Lee are against each other leads to an amazing, and dangerous, match where they seek to try as many risky moves as possible.

Keep an eye on the happenings in the all-Bullet Club affair of Cody and Marty Scurll vs GoD (Guerrillas of Destiny) Tama Tonga and Tanga Loa. While the power struggle between Cody and Kenny has been on-going, the other members of Bullet Club – Tama, Tanga, Bad Luck Fale et all have kept to their own business and avoided taking a side between the two alphas of the group. It’ll be very interesting to see whether this once fully functional faction continues to break down, or whether we’ll see a uniting of Team Cody and Team Tonga.

Two of the very best comedy wrestlers in the world in Chuckie T and Toru Yano team together to go against the dangerous Killer Elite Squad consisting of Davey Boy Smith Jr. and Lance Archer. Shenanigans will most likely prevail over logic for the team of Chuckie T and Yano, but don’t be surprised if one or both at some point show their aggressive sides to try and counter the onslaught of KES.

IWGP NEVER Openweight Champion Hirooki Goto teams with Gedo against the team of David Finlay and Juice Robinson, so keep an eye on this one too in case the young team of Finlay and Juice sneak a win, as that could open up the door for one of them to be Goto’s next challenger.

This will most likely have big implications for the future of New Japan in the next several months, so this one can’t be missed. I have no doubt that it’ll be worth your time if you’re a casual watcher of NJPW or professional wrestling.

It’s live at 1am, March 25th on njpwworld.com and any time after that. Check it out.