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#AndNEW: Two Companies Futures Altered Following G1 Supercard

Saturday night’s G1 Supercard from Madison Square Garden in New York City saw a plethora of title changes, as both promotions involved, New Japan Pro Wrestling and Ring of Honor, had their entire foundations rocked to the core with title changes. Here’s a quick look at all the title changes that went down on Saturday in MSG.

Two Companies Futures Altered Following G1 Supercard

#AndNEW: Jeff Cobb wins the NEVER Openweight Championship

In one of the many inter-promotional matchups, ROH Television Champion Jeff Cobb challenged NEVER Openweight Champion Will Ospreay in a title-for-title match in New York City. While Cobb has participated in NJPW events before, most notably in Tag League, it looks like we’ll see more of him in New Japan this year, as he defeated Ospreay to become a double champion. He’s already got his first defense lined up, facing Taichi at NJPW Wrestling Dontaku next month.

Photo: NJPW

#AndNEW: Kelly Klein wins the Women of Honor World Championship

Stardom‘s Mayu Iwatani defeated Kelly Klein for the WOH World title back at Bound By Honor in February and has been defending the belt in Japan with Stardom, as well as defeating Kelly Klein again at the ROH 17th Anniversary Show. But in NYC, it was Klein’s second attempt to reclaim the title that proved to be the winning one, as she became the first 2x WOH World Champion.

#AndNEW: Dragon Lee wins the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Championship

In one of the most talked about matches of the night (before, during and after), CMLL’s Dragon Lee defeated ROH’s Bandido and the reigning IWGP Junior Heavyweight Champion in Bullet Club‘s Taiji Ishimori to become the new Junior Heavyweight Champion. Dragon Lee made no bones about who he wanted to face when they were finally able to.

#AndNEW: Guerrillas of Destiny wins the ROH World Tag Team Championships

It was a frantic tag team four-way as both the IWGP Tag Team Champions Guerrillas of Destiny (Tama Tonga & Tanga Loa) and ROH World Tag Team Champions Villain Enterprises (Brody King & PCO) had their belts on the line in their own “Winner Takes All” match, but there were two other teams involved – ROH’s Briscoes (Jay & Mark Briscoe) and Los Ingobernables de Japon‘s EVIL & SANADA also had a shot at collecting the gold from both sides of the pond. But despite a side distraction by the appearance of former WWE Superstars Enzo & Big Cass, GoD reigned supreme, saving their IWGP titles and collecting their first ROH Tag Team titles.

#AndNEW: Kota Ibushi wins the IWGP Intercontinental Championship

Many were surprised that after rejecting full-time contracts with any company for years, that Kota Ibushi would choose to finally sign with New Japan after being freelance for so long, instead of joining his Golden Lovers‘ partner Kenny Omega in All Elite Wrestling. But after Saturday, it’s tough to argue his decision, as he defeated Tetsuya Naito to become the IWGP Intercontinental Champion for the first time in his career.

#AndNEW: Matt Taven wins the ROH World Championship

The Kingdom‘s Matt Taven has been laying his claim to being the “real World Champion” for Ring of Honor for sometime in ROH, going back to his battles with Cody Rhodes, and on Saturday, he finally made that bold statement a reality, defeating ROH World Champion Jay Lethal and fellow challenger Marty Scurll to become the new ROH World Champion in a ladder match.

#AndNEW: Kazuchika Okada regains the IWGP Heavyweight Championship

Following his defeat to Kenny Omega last year for the Heavyweight title, Kazuchika Okada has been a broken man. He went on an uncharacteristic losing streak for much of 2018, as his own stable, CHAOS, imploded. His protege Jay White turned on the stable and defeated Hiroshi Tanahashi for the Heavyweight title at Wrestle Kingdom 13, bringing the gold to Bullet Club once again. Okada fought through and won the G1 Climax series to earn one more shot at Jay White – someone that Okada had been on a losing streak against individually – but The Rainmaker found his redemption and won his fifth IWGP Heavyweight Championship.

Jamie Greer

Jamie Greer

Jamie Greer joined LWOPW in 2015 and was the site's Managing Editor from 2016 through 2020. After handing over ME duties to Alex Richards, he remains a frequent contributor to the site. He's also written for Pro Wrestling Illustrated, WrestleZone, The Windsor Star, and other publications. He lives in Windsor, Ontario, Canada, with his wife and son.

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