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What’s the story?
On November 5, 2017, New Japan Pro Wrestling will be hosting their annual Power Struggle event, which is going to be their last show of this year. The final match card for the event has now been officially set and revealed and it looks very promising.
The show will feature four big title matches and will also feature IWGP Heavyweight Champion Kazuchika Okada leading his faction CHAOS against Tetsuya Naito’s LIJ stable in a mega 10 man tag team match.
Bullet Club and Suzuki Gun members will also be in action on the night as well as newly crowned IWGP Junior Tag Team Champions Roppongi 3K who is also scheduled to have a big match on the night.
In case you didn’t know…
The Power Struggle event has held since 2011 and this will be the seventh event under the name of Power Struggle. From 2012-2014 the Power Struggle event was streamed outside of Japan as an iPPV. However, since 2015 the event has aired on NJPW’s official streaming website, NJPW World.
The event takes place throughout the entire month of November and is the final event before NJPW’s annual Wrestle Kingdom show—which is the company’s biggest event of the year.
The heart of the matter
This year the Power Struggle event will take place in the Edion Arena in Osaka and will be headlined by Hiroshi Tanahashi and Kota Ibushi. The event will feature a total of ten matches this year and will witness four title matches during the entire event. Bullet Club members the Young Bucks, along with ROH World Champion Cody Rhodes are also set to make their return to the country during the show.
Meanwhile, Bullet Club leader Kenny Omega will make his third US Title defence against Trent. However, on the other hand, Suzuki Gun’s leader Minoru Suzuki will defend the Never Openweight Title against Toru Yano on the night. The Bullet Club also has a chance of bringing the Junior Heavyweight Title to the group for the first time since 2016 when Marty Scurll goes toe-to-toe against Will Ospreay.
NJPW Power Struggle Full Match Card:
#1. David Finlay vs Katsuya Kitamura- Pre Show
#2. Dragon Lee & Titan vs The Young Bucks (Matt and Nick Jackson)
#3. Hirai Kawato, Juice Robinson, Jushin Thunder Liger, Kushida and Tiger Mask vs Suzuki Gun (El Desperado, Taichi, Taka Michinoku, Yoshinobu Kanemaru, and Zack Sabre Jr.)
#4. Tencozy (Hiroyoshi Tenzan & Satoshi Kojima) and Togi Makabe vs Bullet Club (Cody, Yujiro Takahashi, and Chase Owens)
#5. Roppongi 3K (Sho & Yoh) vs Super 69 (ACH & Ryusuke Taguchi) - 2017 Super Junior Tag Team Tournament Final
#6. CHAOS (Kazuchika Okada, Hirooki Goto, Tomohiro Ishii, Yoshi-Hashi, and Gedo) vs Los Ingobernables de Japon (Tetsuya Naito, Bushi, Evil, Hiromu Takahashi and Sanada)
#7. Minoru Suzuki (c) vs Toru Yano- Bullrope Deathmatch for the Never Openweight Championship
#8. Will Ospreay (c) vs Marty Scurll- IWGP Junior Heavyweight Championship
#9. Kenny Omega (c) vs Trent Beretta- IWGP United States Heavyweight Championship
#10. Hiroshi Tanahashi (c) vs Kota Ibushi- IWGP Intercontinental Championship
What’s next?
With four titles on the line, it will be interesting to see if NJPW decides to make any title changes come November 5, on the last show of the year before Wrestle Kingdom 12.
However, one thing is for sure that NJPW has surely put up a stacked card for the Power Struggle event and the promotion is, as usual, going to put up a great show.
Author’s take
In my opinion, I don’t think a title change during the event is likely. But, however, with four major titles on the line fans cannot rule out the possibility of a shocking title change in Osaka, later this month. Despite all the speculation, I am excited to see how well NJPW performs in terms of booking and match quality.
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