The Great-O-Khan Decides To Retire NEW JAPAN PRO-WRESTLING's KOPW Championship

The KOPW Championship is officially retired. 

In 2020, former IWGP Heavyweight Champion Kazuchika Okada created the KIng of Pro Wrestling title. The belt has been held by numerous top NJPW stars including Toru Yano, Shingo Takagi, and Taiji Ishimori; But after four years, the Great-O-Khan confirmed that he made the decision to retire the championship for good. 

#andSTILL#andLAST???

Great-O-Khan vs Taichi ended in a double KO draw- and O-Khan declared he was retiring the title on one big condition!

Road to Tokyo Dome report:https://t.co/yf5SVroENR

Watch the replay!https://t.co/3yNau2N5jd#njpw #njwk19 pic.twitter.com/Vd9x8vxQgr

— NJPW Global (@njpwglobal) December 22, 2024

In terms of the annual NJPW Ranbo at Wrestle Kingdom, which helped decide the first KOPW Champion of the year, the match will now shift into a No. 1 contender’s bout for the IWGP World Heavyweight Championship. 

OFFICIAL

After Great-O-Khan retired the KOPW Championship last night, the Wrestle Kingdom 19 kickoff New Japan Ranbo winner will be granted an IWGP World Heavyweight Championship opportunity!https://t.co/4vDon5vL6h#njpw #njwk19 pic.twitter.com/xf8IZYkYQT

— NJPW Global (@njpwglobal) December 23, 2024

There’s no word on why officials decided to scrap the belt. The concept of the KOPW Championship was certainly interesting and it helped produce some of New Japan’s best matches in recent years. But New Japan Pro-Wrestling does have a lot of titles in their promotion; currently, there’s 12 belts on the roster (excluding the KOPW Championship), so it could be a case that the company felt that the KOPW title was no longer necessary. 

Whatever the reason may be, the New Japan Ranbo match just became more exciting since world title implications are now the big stakes of the match. 

Check out the updated line-up for Wrestle Kingdom 19:

• New Japan Ranbo
• Intergalactic Jet Setters (KUSHIDA & Kevin Knight) (c) vs. Ichiban Sweet Boys (Robbie Eagles & Kosei Fujita) vs. Bullet Club War Dogs (Clark Connors & Drilla Moloney) vs. Catch 2/2 (TJP & Francesco Akira) - IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Championships
• Mayu Iwatani (c) vs. AZM - IWGP Women's Championship
• Ren Narita (c) vs. Jeff Cobb vs. Ryohei Oiwa vs. El Phantasmo - NJPW World Television Championship
• Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. EVIL - Lumberjack Match
• Shingo Takagi (c) vs. Konosuke Takeshita - NEVER Openweight Championship - If Konosuke Takeshita is AEW International Champion on January 4, the match will be title vs. title.
• DOUKI (c) vs. El Desperado - IWGP Junior Heavyweight Championship
• David Finlay (c) vs. Yota Tsuji - IWGP Global Heavyweight Championship
• Tetsuya Naito vs. Hiromu Takahashi
• Zack Sabre Jr. (c) vs. Shota Umino - IWGP World Heavyweight Championship