Two blockbuster matches have been confirmed for King of Pro Wrestling.
This past Sunday, New Japan Pro-Wrestling held their Destruction of Kobe show that set the path for the King of Pro Wrestling. Going into Destruction, it was already confirmed that Konosuke Takeshita would use his G1 Climax win to challenge the winner of the Zack Sabre Jr. vs. Ren Narita match.
Takeshita beat Narita to get into the quarter finals. The 30-year-old also beat the IWGP World Heavyweight Champion to advance into the finals. But Zack Sabre Jr does own a victory over Takeshita early in the G1 Climax tournament. Takeshita has history with both men, but only one was going to face the 2025 G1 Climax winner on October 13th.
Narita and Zack finally had their match and it went for nearly 30-minutes. House of Torture was involved, but that didn’t help Narita get the win as the IWGP World Heavyweight Champion retained after hitting a Zack Driver. That officially confirmed a rematch between Konosuke Takeshita and Zack Sabre Jr. at Kings of Pro Wrestling.
But that wasn’t the only match confirmed.
Gabe Kidd defended the IWGP Global Title against Shingo Takagi and the match truly stole the show. The bout went about 22 minutes and there were several strong nearfalls including after Shingo hit Made In Japan and Kidd nailing a running knee/powerbomb. In the end, Kidd hit a jumping piledriver for the three count.
Of course, a champion’s work is never done. After Shingo and Kidd showed respect to one another, Yota Tsuji jumped into the ring and challenged Kidd for the IWGP Global Heavyweight title at KOPW. The 28-year-old accepted the match.
Yota is the man that Kidd beat to win the IWGP Global Heavyweight title at Dominion. These two had a nearly 25-minute classic that ended with Kidd using his signature piledriver for the win.
However, these two had a match at The New Beginning in Osaka show for the prestigious belt and that ended in a double KO. Kidd and Yota have a storied rivalry and their match at KOPW should determine the better man.
Check out the advertised line-up for the New Japan Pro-Wrestling pay–per-view:
- IWGP World Heavyweight Championship: Zack Sabre Jr. (c) vs. Konosuke Takeshita
- IWGP Global Heavyweight Championship: Gabe Kidd (c) vs. Yota Tsuji