Live this coming Friday from Fukuoka we will see a momentous day in the history of New Japan Pro Wrestling.

History will be made as the greatest rivalry in the modern history of the company reignites between the “Ace of New Japan” Hiroshi Tanahashi and the “New Ace”, the current IWGP Heavyweight Champion Kazuchika Okada.

IWGP Heavyweight Championship – Kazuchika Okada vs Hiroshi Tanahashi

The big story here is if Okada defeats Tanahashi, he will break the current record of 11 for defences of the championship and continue his astonishing record setting 680+ day reign as champion. What is compelling about this one, is that Tanahashi himself holds the current defences record, and his challenge was built around making sure his record is preserved and regaining the championship he hasn’t held for over two years.

Okada ended Tanahashi’s reign as Ace on January 4th 2016 at Wrestle Kingdom 10 in the Tokyo Dome, in one of the many classic matches of their story that stretches all the way back to 2012. Their last singles match against one another took place later that year on one of the final days of the G1 Climax 26 in an absolute barnstormer that ended in a thirty-minute time limit draw that showed these two were still very equally matched despite Okada being the new face of New Japan.

In the time that’s elapsed since then, Tanahashi moved into the Intercontinental Championship picture, feuding with Tetsuya Naito and Minoru Suzuki before challenging Okada following his retention over Zack Sabre Jr. at Sakura Genesis, while Okada has had an amazing run of title defences after defeating Naito for the IWGP Heavyweight Championship at Dominion in June 2016.

Since November 2016, Okada has faced and retained against: Naomichi Marufuji, Kenny Omega (twice), Minoru Suzuki, Katsuyori Shibata, Bad Luck Fale, Cody, EVIL, Tetsuya Naito, SANADA and Zack Sabre Jr. with every single match being stellar and cementing Okada’s place as one of the greats of all time. The question is whether he’ll add Tanahashi to this list, and if he does, it then begs the question of who will be able to dethrone him as champion.

The history shared by Okada and Tanahashi and the fact they’re two of the world’s greatest wrestlers going head-to-head immediately makes this must-see. Add to that the added drama of records being broken and that makes this all the more engrossing.

It’s bound to be another classic, and I can’t wait.

IWGP Junior Heavyweight Championship – Will Ospreay vs KUSHIDA

Okada vs Tanahashi will not be the only rivalry revisited, as Will Ospreay defends the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Championship against one of his best opponents, KUSHIDA, the man who it is safe to say is the “Ace” of the Junior Heavyweight division. There’s an interesting story here as this will be their first singles match since King of Pro-Wrestling last November, where Ospreay exorcised his demons and defeated KUSHIDA for the first time in several attempts, which makes this match all the more unpredictable.

Ospreay has been on a great run of form since his title win in the Tokyo Dome at Wrestle Kingdom 12 and has had excellent matches against the likes of Marty Scurll, Kazuchika Okada and Hiromu Takahashi, pulling out some amazing moves and taking some brutal knocks that he was lucky not be paralysed by. If he can stick to the former and avoid the latter here, there’s a very good chance that he and KUSHIDA can put on a match that excels what they did at KOPW and even in their 5 star classic in the Best of the Super Juniors final last June. If so, this one could be a contender for match of the night even above Okada vs Tanahashi.

Golden☆Lovers, Bad Luck Fale & GoD

vs

Cody, Hangman Page, Marty Scurll & The Young Bucks

The Bullet Club civil war has continued and who knows what will happen next, with this chaotic clash being another chapter in the ongoing power struggle between Kenny Omega and Cody.

Since reuniting with Kota Ibushi and reforming Golden☆Lovers, the leader of Bullet Club, Kenny Omega has had a change of character, he is no longer “The Cleaner” – the role he was originally brought into Bullet Club to have – and is embracing the title of “Best Bout Machine”, befitting his reputation of putting on amazing wrestling matches. He has also separated himself from his Elite teammates, The Young Bucks, who he and Ibushi faced in a classic at Strong Style Evolved and who they will be up against here.

Following SSE, The Young Bucks tried to make their intentions clear during the Omega vs Cody match at ROH Supercard of Honor XII on WrestleMania weekend, interfering late on and attempting to deliver a superkick to Cody, only to accidentally cost Omega the match when “The American Nightmare” moved out of the way. The Bucks’ error and Cody’s “win” gave Cody all the more reason to profess himself as the leader of Bullet Club and only made matters worse between The Bucks and Omega and Bullet Club as a whole.

The previous NJPW show on May 3rd was an eventful day for the faction, as it saw Kenny Omega defeat Hangman Page, Cody defeat Kota Ibushi and The Young Bucks & Marty Scurll win the NEVER Openweight 6-Man Tag Team Championships from the Tongan trio of Bad Luck Fale, Tama Tonga and Tanga Loa, long standing members of the Bullet Club who had been taking something of a backseat amidst the chaos. After the events that transpired on Thursday and now with the full involvement of the Tongans, big things could happen in this one to determine the future of Bullet Club, so make sure you don’t miss it.

Tetsuya Naito’s Los Ingobernable De Japon vs Minoru Suzuki’s Suzuki-gun

Following his loss to Kazuchika Okada at Wrestle Kingdom 12, Tetsuya Naito and his LIJ faction have found themselves to be the next desired victims of Suzuki-gun. Naito has been faced with a challenge from the detestable Taichi, lost in the opening round of the New Japan Cup to Zack Sabre Jr. and then defeated Minoru Suzuki at Wrestling Hinokuni to once again become IWGP Intercontinental Champion. During this time his teammates, SANADA and EVIL have successfully retained their IWGP Tag Team Championships against Killer Elite Squad (Davey Boy Smith Jr. and Lance Archer), while BUSHI and Hiromu Takahashi have been unsuccessful in trying to take the IWGP Junior Tag Team Championships off of El Desperado and Yoshinobu Kanemaru.

This ten man tag team match will most likely be the final match of the LIJ vs Suzuki-Gun feud, so it’s more than possible that Naito’s first opponent for his championship will be revealed. If it that’s the case, don’t count out the possibility of Chris Jericho making his return to NJPW to properly set up the match with Naito that was teased back in January at New Year Dash!

Jericho’s said that he’s finished up with NJPW, but he has a history of lying in order to throw people off-guard, and with NJPW’s second biggest show of the year, Dominion and the big event in San Francisco at the Cow Palace coming up in June and July, the inclusion of Jericho on the card would be a big benefit to NJPW and their hopes of expanding their product to a wider audience, so keep an eye on this one.

What else is on the card?

NEVER Openweight Champion Hirooki Goto, IWGP United States Champion “Switchblade” Jay White and YOSHI-HASHI face Juice Robinson, David Finlay and Michael Elgin : During this tour Goto and White have successfully retained their championships against Juice and Finlay, so this tag match is a second chance for the unsuccessful challengers to make a statement and possibly earn a rematch in the near future. It’s also a chance for YOSHI-HASHI and Michael Elgin to stake their claims for titles, as Jay White has made it very clear he wants members of factions to be able to face each other for gold, so he’ll have no issues with his teammate YOSHI-HASHI wins the match and going on to make a challenge.

: During this tour Goto and White have successfully retained their championships against Juice and Finlay, so this tag match is a second chance for the unsuccessful challengers to make a statement and possibly earn a rematch in the near future. It’s also a chance for YOSHI-HASHI and Michael Elgin to stake their claims for titles, as Jay White has made it very clear he wants members of factions to be able to face each other for gold, so he’ll have no issues with his teammate YOSHI-HASHI wins the match and going on to make a challenge. Rocky Romero’s Roppongi 3K face TAKA, Taichi & Takashi Iizuka : This match has an importance for the Junior Tag Team Championships as RPG 3K lost their Junior Heavyweight titles against their opponent’s Suzuki-gun stablemates El Desperado + Kanemaru, and have issues with Suzuki-gun because of that, so a win against TAKA, Taichi and Iizuka will put them back in contention for the chance of becoming three time tag champions.

: This match has an importance for the Junior Tag Team Championships as RPG 3K lost their Junior Heavyweight titles against their opponent’s Suzuki-gun stablemates El Desperado + Kanemaru, and have issues with Suzuki-gun because of that, so a win against TAKA, Taichi and Iizuka will put them back in contention for the chance of becoming three time tag champions. Tomohiro Ishii + Toru Yano vs Togi Makabe + Toa Henare : Ishii has had some issues with Henare lately, and with the additions of Yano and Makabe, this one should be comical and hard-hitting, a good way to wake the crowd up during the opening matches of the show.

: Ishii has had some issues with Henare lately, and with the additions of Yano and Makabe, this one should be comical and hard-hitting, a good way to wake the crowd up during the opening matches of the show. Chase Owens + Yujiro Takahashi VS Yuji Nagata + Tomoyuki Oka : Chase Owens has been improving greatly in recent months, and his recent teaming with Golden ☆ Lovers has given him some much needed exposure and a chance to showcase his abilities. This tag won’t be the best match on the card, but the involvement of a constantly improving Chase and the great Yuji Nagata should be far from poor.

: Chase Owens has been improving greatly in recent months, and his recent teaming with Golden Lovers has given him some much needed exposure and a chance to showcase his abilities. This tag won’t be the best match on the card, but the involvement of a constantly improving Chase and the great Yuji Nagata should be far from poor. Ryusuke Taguchi, Tiger Mask + Jushin Thunder Liger VS Shota Umino, Ren Narita + Yuya Uemura: The opening match of the show featuring three of the New Japan old-guard and three of the up and coming Young Lions of New Japan will get the crowd going with a fun match showcasing favourites of yesterday and today with hopeful of favourites of tomorrow. This doesn’t have an impact on any of the major stories in NJPW at the minute, so this is far from a must-see on the level of Okada vs Tanahashi, but it’s worth a watch if you’ve got an interest in watching the development of Amino, Narita and Uemura from Young Lions into top stars in the company.

This is a big show for New Japan, so check it out on NJPWWorld at 9am BST/4am EST on May 4th.