As you know if you read Mr. Ares preview (or follow NJPW on your own, but even then we recommend Ares’ previews), you know the card for New Japan’s Power Struggle event today (Nov. 3) featured more AEW participation than any NJPW in recent memory. Not surprising then that it set the stage for more inter-promotional action between the two partner/rival companies in January at NJPW’s biggest annual show, Wrestle Kingdom.
First, Maxwell Jacob Friedman followed up on his trash talk from last month with
another big screen appearance after TMDK’s Hartley Jackson & Ryohei Oiwa beat AEW/ROH tag team The Swirl (Blake Christian & Lee Johnson). G1 Climax winner Oiwa was the target of MJF’s ire in his King of Pro Wrestling message, and today Max went ahead and issued a direct challenge for the Tokyo Dome. Not wanting to hear Friedman bad mouth New Japan any longer, The Grip accepted.
Jon Moxley returned to New Japan in the next bout, but we’ll cover that along with some other Death Riders news in a bit.
United Empire’s two leaders finally booked a match, and it will be at Wrestle Kingdom 21. Will Ospreay and Callum Newman failed to reclaim the IWGP Tag titles from Knockout Bros after Newman was disqualified. Things got testy with Ospreay again, and this time set up a match for the Tokyo Dome between the AEW World champ and his former protege.
Looking to follow his recent AEW World title with another IWGP run, Kenny Omega faced Oleg Boltin and reigning IWGP Heavyweight king Yota Tsuji in a non-title Triple Threat. Omega pinning Tsuji, and called his shot for another Wrestle Kingdom main event.
Power Struggle featured the finals of the Super Junior Tag League, which saw Unbound Co.’s Robbie X & Taiji Ishimori) defeat Ichiban Sweet Boys (Kosei Fujita & Robbie Eagles). Both teams will get a shot at the IWGP Jr. Heavyweight Tag belts, though. Mistico, who wrestled in one of the preliminary multi-man matches, came out to vacate the title as his partner El Desperado is sidelined for injury. Ishimori and X wouldn’t accept the belts, instead agreeing to fight for them against Mistico and a partner of his choosing at Wrestle Kingdom. Ichiban Sweet Boys will be in that Tokyo Dome match too, so the Tag League final ultimately didn’t mean much outside of the trophy. But I digress…
The main event saw Gabe Kidd defend his IWGP Global championship against Taichi. The AEW wrestler outlasted the veteran in a Kings Road-style classic…
…then demanded that New Japan boss Hiroshi Tanahashi strap his title back around his waist.
After President Ace did so, Kidd hit him with a forearm, put him down with a DDT, and threw his belt out of the ring. Yuya Uemura raced in to jump the disrespectful Brit, but Mox (who, with Wheeler Yuta along to take the pin, lost to Uemura and Shingo Takagi earlier, setting up a match with Takagi in the process) snuck in behind him. That brought out Takagi, who also fell to the Death Riders duo.
Standing over the three Japanese stars, Kidd said, “The Death Riders have declared war on New Japan. It is Death Riders against New Japan because it is the Death Riders against the fucking world.”
Mox’s show closing promo seemed to confirm Kidd will defend the Global title against Uemura while he faces Takagi on Jan. 4, 2027.
Here are the full results from Power Struggle:
- Aaron Wolf, KUUKAI, & Master Wato def. United Empire (Francesco Akira, Jakob Austin Young, & Zane Jay)
- KUSHIDA, Masatora Yasuda, & Mistico def. Unbound Co. (Daiki Nagai, Gedo & Titan)
- TMDK (Hartley Jackson & Ryohei Oiwa) def. The Swirl (Blake Christian & Lee Johnson)
- Kazuma Sumi, Ryusuke Taguchi, Toru Yano, & Yuya Uemura def. House of Torture (DOUKI, Ren Narita, Shun Skywalker, & Yoshinobu Kanemaru)
- Hyo, Shota Umino, & YOH def. House of Torture (Dick Togo, SHO, & Yujiro Takahashi)
- Unbound Co. (Jeff Cobb & Shingo Takagi) def. Death Riders (Jon Moxley & Wheeler Yuta)
- Knockout Brothers (OSKAR & Yuto-Ice) def. United Empire (Callum Newman & Will Ospreay) to retain the IWGP Tag Team Championship
- Kenny Omega defeated Yota Tsuji and Boltin Oleg
- Unbound Co. (Robbie X & Taiji Ishimori) defeated Ichiban Sweet Boys (Kosei Fujita & Robbie Eagles) in the Super Junior Tag League Final
- Gabe Kidd def. Taichi to retain the IWGP Global Heavyweight Championship
And an early look at Wrestle Kingdom 21’s card:
- IWGP Heavyweight Champion Yota Tsuji defends against Kenny Omega
- IWGP Global Heavyweight Champion Gabe Kidd defends against Yuya Uemura
- MJF vs. Ryohei Oiwa
- Will Ospreay vs. Callum Newman
- IWGP Junior Heavyweight Champion YOH defends against SHO (If YOH loses, he must leave NJPW. If SHO loses, he must abandon House of Torture and reunite his tag team with YOH)
- Jon Moxley vs. Shingo Takagi
