Okada vs Takagi looks set for Wrestle Kingdom 16 night one

The main event of Power Struggle in Osaka’s EDION Arena on November 6 saw the IWGP World Heavyweight Championship defended for the third time by Shingo Takagi against Zack Sabre Jr. 

A series of standing switches at the start of the match saw neither man want to give up an advantage to the other, Sabre briefly isolating the arm before a clean break. It was the power of Shingo that broke a high speed exchange however, a tackle putting the challenger in the corner while the champion took over. 

Takagi would again look to his power as he tried a wheelbarrow German, but was taken down with heel hook, only to muscle the challenger into a facelock. Yet Sabre’s resourcefulness would come to the Briton’s aid, and a Cobra Twist in the ropes, followed by a rear naked choke over the cables would deal some damage to the champion albeit at the cost of the referee’s scolding. 

Shingo would be taken to the floor, where Sabre would strike with a running punt down the apron line. The champion clearly slowed, Takagi’s attempt to fire back with a Dragon Screw would be stopped by a pair of neck snaps, but Takagi nonetheless broke a front guillotine with a suplex and then spiked Sabre with a DDT. 

Sabre continued to prove evasive. Countering Noshigami, ZSJ reached back to come up with a choke, and then baited the champion into a sliding lariat attempt that would instead end with an arm snap. Now with the Dragon where the challenger wanted him, Sabre went for a Mistica into another submission, but the power of Takagi again shone through, the champion dropping his weight straight south on his foe. 

As the pace quickened, Sabre threw a German suplex only for Shingo to fire right back. Sabre’s La Mistica, and overhead kick didn’t stop a short range Pumping Bomber, but a punt to the arm did; until a Takagi neck twist saw one of Sabre’s biggest weapons used against him. After a powerbomb scored for two, Takagi locked in the Shingo Takagi Facelock, but a game of counter wrestling would continue, and a Zack Driver put the champion to the mat. 

Takagi would find a popup DVD foiled as Sabre wanted the same hold that secured him his G1 win over the Dragon, but the Dragon instead landed a brutal sluiding elbow. Shingo would counter a Japanese leg roll hold, and stood to deliver Made In Japan for two, before a Pumping Bomber that bowled the champion almost out of the ring. 

Tempting fate, Takagi muscled Sabre to the top rope, before having to club him down as the Briton fought back. A flying cross armbreaker would score for ZSJ though, who went for the arm and found it, only for the champion to collapse into the ropes and avoid certain defeat. A blistering PK to the arm followed, and Sabre scored an emphatic Zack Driver, but Takagi just barely rolled a shoulder at two as the match passed the 25 minute mark. 

With burning tenacity, Sabre found a sleeper, and after being dropped from the second rope, only transitioned into a tight triangle choke. Takagi powered to his feet and landed Last of the Dragon but could not follow with a cover as the crowd rallied behind both competitors. As both found their feet, brutal strikes ricocheted off chests and heads; Sabre countered Made In Japan with a European Clutch for the nearest of falls, and Takagi bought space with Noshigami. 

Takagi’s Last of the Dragon was again countered by Sabre with a Dragon Sleeper, but Shingo would respond with a Takagi style GTR. Pumping Bomber got another two as the match passed 30 minutes, and Shingo landed a series of short headbutts before Last of the Dragon finally saw the decision rendered. 

After the bout, Shingo Takagi’s celebrations were cut short by Kazuchika Okada. Okada would call back to his first challenge to then IWGP Heavyweight Champion Hiroshi Tanahashi in 2012, stating ‘congratulations… and thanks for all your hard work’. Okada stated that now it was the turn of the G1 Champion to take over from the IWGP World Heavyweight Champion and carry the company forward. Shingo Takagi was very much accepting of Okada’s proposition to find out which champion was the strongest, and suggested that the main event be made official for January 4 and night one of Wrestle Kingdom 16.