With their show-stopping matches and professional wrestling excellence, NJPW has toured the world, including some very prestigious cities such as New York City, Osaka, Tokyo, Los Angeles, Hiroshima, and Chicago – but this Saturday (4/27), NJPW will walk into a new location in The United States capital itself.
Over the course of New Japan Pro Wrestling‘s history, there have been many titles in the promotion. Right now, one title is especially precious to everyone involved: IWGP United States Championship. Hiroshi Tanahashi won this at the NJPW Wrestling Dontaku event and because of this, the ongoing soap opera around this title has captivated and shocked even New Japan’s most calloused fans.
This Saturday at Capital Collision, all the major chess players in the drama will enter the ring in an attempt to settle the score and declare the definitive United States Champion once and for all. Tanahashi, one of New Japan’s most prominent and popular superstars, faces former IWGP United States Champion Jon Moxley, The United Empire’s brash leader Will Ospreay and the shocking new member of Bullet Club, Juice Robinson.
Ospreay has been crying that he is the true wrestling champion, following a positive cocaine test, leading to Tomohiro Ishii stepping up and replacing him in a match at Wrestling Dontaku. Ospreay has declared he will strip Tanahashi of the title for his past indiscretions, but to do so, he’ll have to face Jon Moxley one-on-one again because Moxley wants back what was previously his most prized possession: the US Championship. Moxley has always been obsessed with gaining back what had previously been his most treasured championship – hence why Saturday’s DC show is such a big deal.
The fighter who may prove to be the most troublesome for all is Juice Robinson, who was a surprise addition to team Bullet Club. He has always been dangerous in the ring, but how far will he go to prove himself as the newest member of Bullet Club’s elite mercenaries?
With multiple explosively exciting and complicated issues going on at once, the only guaranteed outcome is unpredictably calculated chaos. Let us hope that somebody emerges victorious this Saturday night in the FITE Championship.
