NJPW To End Confusion With New Championship

NJPW is looking to put the recent controversy surrounding what was known as the IWGP United States Championship behind it by introducing a new title.

Will Ospreay captured the IWGP United States Championship for the second time in his career when he defeated Kenny Omega at Forbidden Door 2023. Since then Ospreay has re-christened the title the IWGP United Kingdom Championship, introducing a new belt featuring the Union flag to represent his own homeland.

Will Ospreay defended the title at NJPW Power Struggle successfully against Shota Umino but after that match, all hell broke loose. Jon Moxley, who defeated Great-O-Khan on the show confronted Ospreay with a match between the two looking likely for Wrestle Kingdom in January 2024.

However, both men were attacked by Bullet Club’s David Finlay. In a shocking turn of events, David Finlay destroyed both the IWGP US and UK belts indicating that change to NJPW could be on its way.

NJPW Confirm New Title After Belts Destroyed

At a press conference following Power Struggle, NJPW Chairman Naoki Sugabayashi confirmed the promotion will be establishing a new title that looks like it will be replacing the IWGP US Title:

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 IWGP United States Championship was introduced to NJPW in July 2017 with Kenny Omega becoming the first title holder when he defeated Tomohiro Ishii in a tournament final during a G1 Special in Los Angeles, California. Since then, the title has been tinged with AEW stars as Jon Moxley, Jay White, Juice Robinson, Cody Rhodes, and Lance Archer have all been champions.