The card has been unveiled for NJPW’s 46th Anniversary Event in the Ota Gymnasium, and it’s headed up by a champion versus champion dream match. The NJPW 46th anniversary match will be IWGP Heavyweight Champion Kazuchika Okada against IWGP Junior Heavyweight Champion Will Ospreay.
After Okada successfully defended his IWGP title on February 10 in Osaka, he made a challenge to Ospreay, stating ‘it’s been a while since we had a champion versus champion match!’ Ospreay was only too happy to oblige.
Ospreay was similarly successful in defending his Junior Heavyweight Championship against Hiromu Takahashi in Osaka. The two have faced one another before in fact; though Ospreay lost their match in October 2015 for RPW, Okada was impressed enough to hand pick the Englishman for a spot in CHAOS. On accepting Okada’s challenge, Ospreay said that ‘the time has finally come’ for the two to lock horns again. It’s the world’s pre-eminent high flier against its pre-eminent champion. How will this dream bout play out?
In the semi-main event, the Intercontinental Championship will be defended as Minoru Suzuki takes on the challenge of Togi Makabe. Suzuki won the Intercontinental title in terrifying form from Hiroshi Tanahashi in January, and immediately provoked Makabe, who was announcing at ringside. Makabe would respond physically the next night in Hokkaido, and has spent the entire month of February challenging Suzuki. In response, Suzuki has repeatedly stated that Makabe doesn’t understand the reality of what he’s getting himself into. Saying in Osaka February 10, he’ll ‘let Makabe know how he really feels,’ Suzuki finally accepted Makabe’s challenge. Makabe has been NEVER and IWGP Champion in the past, but this is his first Intercontinental challenge. Could the white belt be headed around the waist of the Unchained King Kong? Or will Suzuki chalk up his first successful defense?
An intriguing singles match on March 6 will see Tetsuya Naito face Taichi. On January 23, Taichi celebrated 15 years in pro wrestling with a singles match against Naito at “TAKA-Taichi Mania”. Taichi impressively lasted 24 minutes against the Los Ingobernables De Japon leader before falling to a Destino. After the match, Naito recommended that Taichi go heavyweight, saying ‘If you want to change something about yourself, why not show it? You’re a big guy, going heavy would be one big change for you.’
Taichi took Naito’s words to heart, and sought to instantly make an impact. He attacked Naito after his victory against YOSHI-HASHI February 10, and assaulted him again backstage, demanding they have ‘one more singles match. In a New Japan ring this time!’ Certainly Naito’s would be a huge initial scalp in Taichi’s heavyweight career, but that’s much easier said than done.
Also on March 6, YOSHI-HASHI and Hirooki Goto face IWGP Tag Champions EVIL and SANADA in a non-title match. YOSHI-HASHI suffered a harsh defeat at the hand of Tetsuya Naito February 10, but days later, bounced back by pinning Goto with a new finisher he calls Kinkoji. After the match, YOSHI-HASHI and Goto both made it clear they wanted IWGP tag gold; while this match isn’t for the titles, a win would definitely add credibility to the new challengers.
The Heavyweight Tag Championships may not be on the line, but the Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Championships will be defended March 6, in a three way match. Roppongi 3K will have to face both Hiromu Takahashi and BUSHI from LIJ and Yoshinobu Kanemaru and El Desperado from Suzuki Gun.
This comes off two painful losses for RPG3K. On February 10 in Osaka, Kanemaru and Desperado successfully exploited SHO’s back injury to secure a tap out victory. Then, February 14 in Okinawa, Hiromu, BUSHI and SANADA formed a trio, and BUSHI and Hiromu used a double team called Insurgentes to score a pinfall win on YOH. BUSHI would claim that the belts ‘don’t suit you two! Me and Hiromu will take them off you!’
SHO would later state that ‘champions don’t turn down challenges’ and so the three way match was made. With one fall to a finish, SHO and YOH don’t need to be involved in the decision to lose their tag titles. They’ll have to reverse their recent form in a big way in Ota.
Then, Katsuya Kitamura will have match number seven of his seven match trial series. Kitamura has gone 0-6 in his other bouts, but with Manabu Nakanishi as his opponent, this is the first time in the series he gets another crack of the whip. Kitamura will want to put his lessons learned into practice, and end his trial series with a huge win. Either way, the Anniversary Extravaganza will be an unmissable one from the opening bell.
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