Say goodbye to the IWGP United States/United Kingdom Heavyweight Championship.
NJPW chairman Naoki Sugabayashi revealed at a press conference Monday that the IWGP US/UK title will be replaced by a new championship that the promotion is creating. A Google translation of Sugabayashi's comments reads:
Regarding the IWGP US belt, we will establish a new championship. It is true that fans were confused as to whether it was IWGP US or UK, so we have created a new championship. We will announce the details later.
The announcement comes after an angle at Saturday's Power Struggle event where David Finlay destroyed the title belts that represented the US/UK Championship, setting up a triple threat match at Wrestle Kingdom 18 between current title holder Will Ospreay, Finlay, and Jon Moxley.
Ospreay won the United States Championship from Kenny Omega at Forbidden Door this past June, then rebranded the title the UK Championship.
Sugabayashi's comments came at a presser that officially announced four new matches for Wrestle Kingdom 18, as well as an earlier start time.
A total of five bouts are currently official for the show:
NJPW Wrestle Kingdom 18, Thursday, January 4, 2:30 a.m. Eastern time on NJPW World —
IWGP World Heavyweight Champion SANADA defends against G1 winner Tetsuya NaitoBryan Danielson vs. Kazuchika OkadaIWGP United States/United Kingdom Heavyweight Champion Will Ospreay defends against Jon Moxley & David Finlay in a three-wayIWGP Junior Heavyweight Champion Hiromu Takahashi defends against El DesperadoIWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Champions Bullet Club War Dogs (Clark Connors & Drilla Moloney) defend against United Empire Catch 2/2 (TJP & Francesco Akira)Click Here: