United Empire handed first trios loss in Korakuen
March 30’s Road to Sakura Genesis event saw the last matches live on NJPW World before Sakura Genesis at Ryogoku Sumo Hall will have Will Ospreay challenge Kota Ibushi for the new IWGP World Heavyweight Championship. After the new title was unveiled earlier in the night, Ospreay and Ibushi met in a six man main event, with Jeff Cobb and Great-O-Khan completing the United Empire side while Ibushi teamed with Satoshi Kojima and Hiroyoshi Tenzan.
After taking a close up look at the new IWGP World Heavyweight Championship, Will Ospreay exploded out of the blocks at Kota Ibushi as Cobb and O-Khan took Kojima and Tenzan to the floor. Ibushi would turn the tables however, and the six time IWGP Tag Team Champions TenCozy assisted, Tenzan throwing in Mongolian Chops to both Ospreay and Cobb.
After a dropkick by Cobb however, Tenzan would find himself in the wrong part of the ring. The veteran was on the receiving end of United Empire control before a Tenzan suplex would drop O-Khan on his taped lower back, allowing Kojima in to land two full clips of his machine gun chops. A pair of DDTs for Cobb and O-Khan would follow, and though the Dominator would go to his judo based offense to take Kojima off his feet, a Koji Cutter would be waiting, as tags were made on both sides.
Ibushi would bring trademark energy to Ospreay, but found his momentum killed with a reverse Bloody Sunday. Quickening the pace, Ospreay went for OsCutter, but found himself countered by Ibushi, an intricate sequence of counters leading to a lariat that rocked the number one contender. Yet it would be Cobb getting the tag while Ibushi stayed in, and a huge vertical suplex from the ‘imperial unit’ would have Ibushi struggling.
Unable to fight his way back into the match, Ibushi would take a trio of blows in the corner before a Spin Cycle almost cost the world champion the match. An overhead kick would create space however, and a TenCozy Cutter was waiting for an interfering O-Khan. Ospreay would tie Ospreay up in the ropes, and escaped a Tour of the Islands to hit a high kick, before delivering Kamigoye to hand United Empire their first loss as a trio.
Post match, Ibushi would offer words of respect to his challenger Sunday, but also stated that there were areas in Ospreay that could never match up to himself and Shingo Takagi, who was commentating ringside. Whether those differences will result in a successful retention is something we will find out Sunday.
