Power Struggle (2017)

Power Struggle (2017)
Promotional poster for the event, featuring Hiroshi Tanahashi, Kazuchika Okada, Tetsuya Naito and Kenny Omega
Information
Promotion	New Japan Pro-Wrestling
Sponsor(s)	wateRouge by home+
Date	02017-11-05-0000November 5, 2017
Attendance	5,480
Venue	Edion Arena Osaka
City	Osaka, Japan
Event chronology
Road to Power Struggle (2017) Power Struggle (2017) Lion's Gate Project 9
Power Struggle chronology
Power Struggle (2016) Power Struggle (2017) Power Struggle (2018)

Power Struggle (2017) was professional wrestling event promoted by New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW). The event took place on November 5, 2017, in Osaka, Osaka, at the Edion Arena Osaka. It will be the seventh event under the Power Struggle name. The event featured ten matches (including one dark match), headlined by Hiroshi Tanahashi defending the IWGP Intercontinental Championship against Kota Ibushi.

ProductionEdit

StorylinesEdit

Power Struggle featured ten professional wrestling matches that involved different wrestlers from pre-existing scripted feuds and storylines. Wrestlers portray villains, heroes, or less distinguishable characters in the scripted events that build tension and culminate in a wrestling match or series of matches.^[1]

Power Struggle was headlined by Hiroshi Tanahashi making his third defense of the IWGP Intercontinental Championship against Kota Ibushi.^[2][3] The match was set up during the 2017 G1 Climax, where Ibushi defeated Tanahashi on August 1 with his new finishing maneuver, the Kamigoye.^[2][4] Following the conclusion of the tournament, Tanahashi set out to avenge losses he had suffered during the tournament. After successfully defending his IWGP Intercontinental Championship on September 16 at Destruction in Hiroshima against Zack Sabre Jr., another wrestler who had defeated him, Tanahashi called out Kota Ibushi, offering him the next title opportunity.^[2][5] Ibushi accepted and the match was officially announced on October 10.^[2][6]

In the semi-main event of the show, Kenny Omega defended the IWGP United States Heavyweight Championship against Beretta. The match was set up on October 29, when Beretta, having recently joined NJPW's heavyweight ranks, challenging Omega, who accepted, not taking the challenger seriously.

In the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Championship match, Will Ospreay would make his first title defense against Marty Scurll.^[2] On October 9 at King of Pro-Wrestling, Ospreay ended a four-match losing streak against KUSHIDA and defeated him to become the new IWGP Junior Heavyweight Champion, becoming the first British to win the title. After the match, Hiromu Takahashi entered the ring to seemingly challenge Ospreay, but before he could do so, Marty Scurll came out, "snapped" Takahashi's fingers and made his own challenge to his compatriot Ospreay, which was accepted by the champion.^[7][8] The match was officially announced the following day.^[6] Ospreay and Scurll faced off during the 2017 Best of the Super Juniors tournament, where Scurll was victorious in his NJPW debut match.^[2]

The NEVER Openweight Championship would also be defended at Power Struggle with thee defending champion Minoru Suzuki making his fourth defense against challenger Toru Yano in a bullrope deathmatch.^[2] The two have been engaged in what has been called a "seemingly endless feud" since 2013, when Yano scored his first upset win over Suzuki in the 2013 New Japan Cup.^[9][10] Since then Yano has scored multiple wins over Suzuki with one long-term story involving Suzuki's inability to defeat his rival during NJPW's premier tournament, the G1 Climax. During the 2017 edition of the tournament, Yano again defeated Suzuki after tying him up with tape, which put him in line for a shot at Suzuki's NEVER Openweight Championship.^[2][11] At King of Pro-Wrestling, Suzuki teamed with his Suzuki-gun stablemate Zack Sabre Jr. to take on Yano and his CHAOS stablemate Hirooki Goto. After scoring a countout win over Suzuki, Yano took his rival's championship belt and fled the arena with it.^[7] Backstage, an irate Suzuki requested a bullrope deathmatch against Yano, which was officially announced the following day.^[2][6]

The event would also feature the finals of the 2017 Super Jr. Tag Tournament.^[2][3] The first round and semifinals of the tournament took place in October. Roppongi 3K (Sho and Yoh), the reigning IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Champions, earned their spot in the finals by defeating Hirai Kawato and KUSHIDA and Los Ingobernables de Japon (BUSHI and Hiromu Takahashi), while newcomer team Super 69 (ACH and Ryusuke Taguchi) advanced with wins over two Suzuki-gun teams; Taichi and Taka Michinoku as well as El Desperado and Yoshinobu Kanemaru.^[12]

IWGP Heavyweight Champion Kazuchika Okada and his number one contender Tetsuya Naito, who will headline Wrestle Kingdom 12 in Tokyo Dome, would meet at Power Struggle in a ten-man tag team match, where Okada would team with his CHAOS stablemates, while Naito teams with fellow members of Los Ingobernabes de Japon.^[12]

The event is also set to feature the debut of an individual dubbed "Switchblade", who has been featured in vignettes since the 2017 G1 Climax.^[13] The previous year, NJPW had done a similar deal with vignettes hyping "Time Bomb", who was revealed as Hiromu Takahashi at the 2016 Power Struggle.^[14]

ResultsEdit

#	Matches[12]	Stipulations	Times
1D	David Finlay defeated Katsuya Kitamura	Singles match	05:32
2	The Young Bucks (Matt Jackson and Nick Jackson) defeated Dragon Lee and Titán	Tag team match	07:18
3	Hirai Kawato, Juice Robinson, Jushin Thunder Liger, KUSHIDA and Tiger Mask defeated Suzuki-gun (El Desperado, Taichi, Taka Michinoku, Yoshinobu Kanemaru and Zack Sabre Jr.)	Ten-man tag team match	05:19
4	Tencozy (Hiroyoshi Tenzan and Satoshi Kojima) and Togi Makabe defeated Bullet Club (Chase Owens, Cody and Yujiro Takahashi) (with P and Pieter)	Six-man tag team match	08:11
5	Roppongi 3K (Sho and Yoh) defeated Super 69 (ACH and Ryusuke Taguchi)	Tag team match; finals of the 2017 Super Jr. Tag Tournament	15:51
6	CHAOS (Gedo, Hirooki Goto, Kazuchika Okada, Tomohiro Ishii and Yoshi-Hashi) defeated Los Ingobernables de Japon (BUSHI, EVIL, Hiromu Takahashi, SANADA and Tetsuya Naito)	Ten-man tag team match	12:07
7	Minoru Suzuki (c) (with El Desperado and Yoshinobu Kanemaru) defeated Toru Yano	Bullrope deathmatch for the NEVER Openweight Championship	15:21
8	Marty Scurll defeated Will Ospreay (c)	Singles match for the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Championship	17:28
9	Kenny Omega (c) (with Matt Jackson and Nick Jackson) defeated Beretta	Singles match for the IWGP United States Heavyweight Championship	21:45
10	Hiroshi Tanahashi (c) defeated Kota Ibushi	Singles match for the IWGP Intercontinental Championship	29:26
(c) – refers to the champion(s) heading into the match – refers to the video of that match D – indicates the match was a dark match

ReferencesEdit

External linksEdit

• The official New Japan Pro-Wrestling website