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COMPLETE DETAILS ON NJPW POWER STRUGGLE 2020 TOMORROW, DRAGON GATE AND MORE FROM JAPAN

New Japan Pro Wrestling

New Japan Pro Wrestling will hold its Power Struggle show in EDION Arena Osaka tomorrow.

The full card is:

• KOPW 2020: Toru Yano (c) vs. Zack Sabre Jr.
• NEVER Openweight Championship: Minoru Suzuki (c) vs. Shingo Takagi
• Great-O-Khan vs. Kazuchika Okada
• IWGP United States Heavyweight Championship challenge rights certificate briefcase: KENTA (c) vs. Hiroshi Tanahashi
• IWGP Heavyweight Championship challenge rights certificate briefcase: Kota Ibushi (c) vs. Jay White
• IWGP Heavyweight Championship and IWGP Intercontinental Championship: Tetsuya Naito (c) vs. EVIL

Power Struggle is traditionally New Japan’s last big show before Wrestle Kingdom, with big angles such as Chris Jericho’s challenges to Kenny Omega and Hiroshi Tanahashi taking place in recent years to set up the final marquee matches for January.

Granted, this year is slightly different due to the G1 Climax taking place in the autumn and the combined Best of the Super Juniors and World Tag League yet to come.

Regardless, there are still plenty of big matches which could drastically change the course ahead of Wrestle Kingdom 15.

Tetsuya Naito is currently set to defend the IWGP Heavyweight Championship and IWGP Intercontinental Championship against G1 Climax winner Kota Ibushi on the first night of Wrestle Kingdom 15. However, Naito will defend both championships against EVIL and Ibushi will defend his challenge rights certificate briefcase against Jay White tomorrow.

There has been brewing dissension between EVIL and White since the latter’s return to Japan for the G1 Climax. The two are yet to interact on-screen, but have not been shy in mentioning each other in backstage promos.

Tomorrow show’s will be Naito’s first defense since winning back both championships from EVIL at SUMMER STRUGGLE in JINGU on August 29. It will also be Ibushi’s first defense of the briefcase.

Both matches are set up from G1 Climax defeats. White defeated Ibushi and EVIL defeated Naito.

Elsewhere on the card, KENTA will defend his IWGP United States Heavyweight Championship challenge rights certificate briefcase against Hiroshi Tanahashi.

Calling the carcass which contains the certificate a briefcase might be a little generous at this point. KENTA, who has repeatedly used the briefcase as a weapon, uploaded a video on Twitter yesterday showing the briefcase’s current state.

Tanahashi defeated KENTA in the G1 Climax, paving the way for this match.

Jon Moxley currently holds the IWGP United States Heavyweight Championship. With the current travel restrictions in place due to the ongoing COVID-19 global pandemic, not to mention Moxley’s obvious contractual obligations to All Elite Wrestling, it is hard to guess when Moxley will be able to next defend the championship.

Great-O-Khan will wrestle his first singles match since returning from excursion in England against Kazuchika Okada.

Great-O-Khan returned on the last night of G1 Climax A block competition to help Will Ospreay defeat Okada. Great-O-Khan is currently the only other in-ring member of Ospreay’s new faction.

Minoru Suzuki will make his first defense of the NEVER Openweight Championship against Shingo Takagi. Suzuki won the championship from Takagi at SUMMER STRUGGLE in JINGU, but Takagi was victorious on the last night of G1 Climax A block competition.

Toru Yano will make his first defense of the KOPW 2020 trophy against Zack Sabre Jr. in a No Corner Pad match.

The show will air on NJPW World at 5pm JST, 8am BST, 3am ET. There will be live English commentary.

Dragon Gate

Dragon Gate has announced the full cards for its November 7 and 8 The Gate of Evolution 2020 tour shows and Kobe Pro-Wrestling Festival on November 15.

The full cards are:

November 7 in KBS Hall, Kyoto
• Boku R Shimizu, Punch Tominaga and Ryo Saito vs. Genki Horiguchi, Susumu Yokosuka and Yasushi Kanda
• KAZMA SAKAMOTO vs. Yosuke Santa Maria
• Ben-K and Kota Minoura vs. Madoka Kikuta and Ultimo Dragon
• BxB Hulk, Dia Inferno, KAI and Kaito Ishida vs. Dragon Dia, Jason lee, Keisuke Okuda and YAMATO
• Kzy and U-T vs. Masato Yoshino and Shuji Kondo
• Dragon Kid, Kagetora and Naruki Doi vs. Eita, SB KENTo and Takashi Yoshida

November 8 Fukuiken Sangyokaikan, Fukui
• Boku R Shimizu, Naruki Doi and Punch Tominaga vs. Dragon Kid, Masato Yoshino and Punch Tominaga
• Kota Minoura and Yosuke Santa Maria vs. Shachihoko Boy and Susumu Yokosuka
• BxB Hulk and Kaito Ishida vs. Ho Ho Lun and Keisuke Okuda
• Don Fujii and Kagetora vs. Jimmy and YAMATO
• Ben-K, Dragon Dia, Jason Lee and Kzy vs. Dia Inferno, Eita, H?Y?O and SB KENTo

November 15 in Kobe World Kinen Hall, Hyogo
• Open the Brave Gate Championship: Keisuke Okuda (c) vs. Kaito Ishida
• Battle Royal: Boku R Shimizu vs. Diamante vs. Gamma vs. Ho Ho Lun vs. H?Y?O vs. Jimmy vs. Konomama Ichikawa vs. Problem Dragon vs. Punch Tominaga vs. Shachihoko Boy vs. Super Shisa
• Genki Horiguchi and Ryo Saito vs. Madoka Kikuta and Taketo Kamei
• Don Fujii, Masaaki Mochizuki, TARU and Ultimo Dragon vs. K-ness, Susumu Yokosuka, Taro Nohashi and Yasushi Kanda
• Dia Inferno vs. Dragon Dia
• Kzy, Strong Machine J and YAMATO vs. Masato Yoshino, Naruki Doi and Toru Owashi
• Open the Twin Gate Championship: Jason Lee and Kota Minoura (c) vs. BxB Hulk and KAI
• Open the Triangle Gate Championships: KAZMA SAKMOTO, SB KENTo and Takashi Yoshida (c) vs. Ben-K, U-T and Yosuke Santa Maria vs. Dragon Kid, Kagetora and Shuji Kondo
• Open the Dream Gate Championship: Eita (c) vs. Shun Skywalker

The November 7 show will air live on the Dragon Gate Network at 6pm JST, 9am BST, 4am ET.

The winner of the 11-man battle royal at Kobe Pro-Wrestling Festival will receive the right to any in-ring wish.

Kobe Pro-Wrestling Festival will also live air on the Dragon Gate Network, with additional English commentary as well. The show will start at 3pm JST, 6am BST, 1am ET.

Big Japan Pro Wrestling

Big Japan Pro Wrestling will continue its Hokkaido tour tomorrow.

The full card is:

• Masaki Morihiro vs. Takuho Kato
• Kazuki Hashimoto vs. Kosuke Sato
• Brahman Kei and Brahman Shu vs. Hideyoshi Kamitani and Kota Sekifuda
• Abdullah Kobayashi and CIMA vs. Drew Parker and Yuko Miyamoto
• Deathmatch: Jaki Numazawa and Ryuji Ito vs. Kankuro Hoshino and Yuki Ishikawa
• Akira Hyodo and Yuji Okabayashi vs. Takuya Nomura vs. Yasufumi Nakanoue
• Daichi Hashimoto, Daisuke Sekimoto and Yuya Aoki vs. El Lindaman, Ryuichi Kawakami and T-Hawk

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