Four of NJPW's top stars will compete for a shot at the IWGP United States Championship.
New Japan Pro-Wrestling announced that a four-man tournament will determine the next challenger for IWGP United States Champion Kenny Omega. First, at NJPW Collision in Philadelphia, Lance Archer will face Juice Robinson. Then, at NJPW Resurgence on May 21, Will Ospreay will take on Hiroshi Tanahashi. The winners of these matches will collide at NJPW Dominion on June 4, where the victor will earn a shot at the gold.
In the announcement, NJPW noted that Ospreay will be making his return from a shoulder injury; he has been out of action since he won his New Japan Cup match against Mark Davis on March 13.
From NJPW:
After March 29 saw Jeff Cobb come up just short in his challenge to IWGP United States Champion Kenny Omega, a new number one contender has yet to be determined. With that in mind, a mini tournament of four former IWGP US Champions will take place in coming US events, with a deciding match to take place in Osaka Jo Hall at Dominion!
The first matchup will take place Sunday in Philadelphia’s 2300 Arena. There, Lance Archer will face Juice Robinson, in their first singles matchup since Archer defeated Juice for the title at King of Pro-Wrestling 2019.
Next, Resurgence on May 21 will see Long Beach’s Walter Pyramid play host to a huge featured match, with Hiroshi Tanahashi taking on Will Ospreay. This match had originally been scheduled for Dontaku in 2022, and was called off at short notice; now as Ospreay returns from shoulder injury, a phenomenal bout of Japanese and international aces is sure to stun the Long beach crowd.
The winners of both these matches will meet at Dominion in Osaka Jo Hall on June 4. Who will be the next challenger to Omega’s US crown?
The announcement did not specify when the title match would be.
Fightful will provide more information as it becomes available.
Ospreay recently provided an update on his shoulder injury. Click here to see what he had to say.
NJPW announced that Orange Cassidy will replace Eddie Kingston at NJPW Collision in Philadelphia. More information is available here.
