{"id":127703,"date":"2024-10-14T10:34:13","date_gmt":"2024-10-14T14:34:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/?p=127703"},"modified":"2024-10-15T09:28:20","modified_gmt":"2024-10-15T13:28:20","slug":"njpw-kopw-2024-sabre-jr-wins-iwgp-title-tanahashi-announces-retirement-young-bucks-return","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/2024\/10\/14\/njpw-kopw-2024-sabre-jr-wins-iwgp-title-tanahashi-announces-retirement-young-bucks-return\/","title":{"rendered":"NJPW KOPW 2024: Sabre Jr. Wins IWGP Title, Tanahashi Announces Retirement, Young Bucks Return"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">NJPW resurrected its <\/span><strong><em><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">King of Pro-Wrestling<\/span><\/em><\/strong><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\"> PPV for the first time since 2019 and <\/span><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">made sure<\/span><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\"> it was an event people would <\/span><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">talk about<\/span><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">.<\/span><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\"> NJPW crowned a new IWGP World Heavyweight Champion, said goodbye to a legend, and revealed two former stars would return.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">Here&#8217;s our rundown of the most talked-about moments from the October 14, 2024 <\/span><em><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">NJPW King of Pro-Wrestling <\/span><\/em><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">at Ryogoku Sumo Hall.<\/span><\/p>\n<h3>NJPW King of Pro-Wrestling &#8211; Top Moments<\/h3>\n<p><strong>Zack Sabre Jr Wins IWGP World Heavyweight Championship<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\"><strong>Zack Sabre Jr.<\/strong> won the IWGP World Heavyweight Championship in a hard-fought victory over <strong>Tetsuya Naito<\/strong>. Sabre Jr. had earned a title shot at Naito after winning the <em><strong>G1 Climax 34.<\/strong><\/em> Sabre Jr was set to face Naito next year at <\/span><strong><em><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">Wrestle Kingdom 19 <\/span><\/em><\/strong><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">in January 2025.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">But Sabre Jr wanted to make history by winning the <em>G1 Climax<\/em> and the IWGP World Heavyweight Championship in the same year. So he chose to take his shot today at the Sumo Hall.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">It paid off and Sabre Jr is now the IWGP World Heavyweight Champion. <\/span><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">But, for Sabre Jr to walk into the Tokyo Dome on January 4, 2025 as champion, he&#8217;s got a lot to do.<\/span><\/p>\n<p>Sabre Jr will face <strong>SANADA<\/strong> on Sunday at\u00a0<em><strong>Royal Quest IV<\/strong><\/em><strong>\u00a0<\/strong>in London. <strong>Shota Umino <\/strong>and <strong>Shingo Takagi\u00a0<\/strong>have also both challenged Sabre Jr to a shot at his newly-won gold.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"ja\" dir=\"ltr\">\u2694\ufe0fKING OF PRO-WRESTLING 2024\u2694\ufe0f<\/p>\n<p>IWGP GLOBAL\u30d8\u30d3\u30fc\u7d1a\u9078\u624b\u6a29\u8a66\u5408\u203c\ufe0f<br \/>13\u5ea6\u76ee\u306e\u30b7\u30f3\u30b0\u30eb\u30de\u30c3\u30c1\u2026<br \/>\u771f\u590f\u306e\u8987\u8005\u304b\u3001\u73feIWGP\u4e16\u754c\u30d8\u30d3\u30fc\u7d1a\u738b\u8005\u304b\u3001\u679c\u305f\u3057\u3066\u52dd\u3064\u306e\u306f\u2026\u2049\ufe0f<\/p>\n<p>\ud83c\udd9a <a  href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/s_d_naito?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">@s_d_naito<\/a> \u00d7 <a  href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/zacksabrejr?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">@zacksabrejr<\/a><a  href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/njpwworld?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">#njpwworld<\/a> \u3067\u914d\u4fe1\u4e2d\ud83d\udce1<\/p>\n<p>\u8996\u8074\uff06\u767b\u9332\u23e9<a  href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/9iZJzPgCfN\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">https:\/\/t.co\/9iZJzPgCfN<\/a><a  href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/NJPW?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">#NJPW<\/a> <a  href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/njpwworld?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">#njpwworld<\/a> <a  href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/njkopw?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">#njkopw<\/a> <a  href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/JCDNfvtWrB\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">pic.twitter.com\/JCDNfvtWrB<\/a><\/p>\n<p>&mdash; NJPW WORLD (@njpwworld) <a  href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/njpwworld\/status\/1845788659364037020?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">October 14, 2024<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<h3><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">Hiroshi Tanahashi To Retire in 2026<\/span><\/h3>\n<p><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">NJPW President <\/span><strong><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">Hiroshi Tanahashi<\/span><\/strong><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\"> announced <\/span><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">he will retire<\/span><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\"> from active competition at <\/span><strong><em><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">Wrestle Kingdom 20<\/span><\/em><\/strong><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\"> on January 4, 2026. <\/span><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">Tanahashi competed in a <\/span><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">special<\/span><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\"> 25th Anniversary match. <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">The Ace teamed with <strong>Shota Umino<\/strong> and <strong>El Phantasmo<\/strong> to defeat <strong>HOUSE OF TORTURE&#8217;s EVIL, Yujiro Takahashi &amp; Yoshinobu Kanemaru<\/strong>. <\/span><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">After the victory, Tanahashi said he would embark on a final year in pro wrestling. Start fantasy booking those final matches now!\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p>Tanahashi has held every title in NJPW, including the IWGP World Heavyweight Championship a record eight times. He has won the <em>G1 Climax\u00a0<\/em>three times and the\u00a0<em>New Japan Cup\u00a0<\/em>twice.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"ja\" dir=\"ltr\">\u2694\ufe0fKING OF PRO-WRESTLING 2024\u2694\ufe0f<\/p>\n<p>\u68da\u6a4b\u5f18\u81f3\u30c7\u30d3\u30e5\u30fc25\u5468\u5e74\u8a18\u5ff5\u8a66\u5408\u203c\ufe0f<br \/>\u68da\u6a4b\u304cHoT\u3092\u76f8\u624b\u306b\u8e8d\u52d5\u203c\ufe0f<\/p>\n<p>\ud83c\udd9a \u65b0\u65e5\u672c\u672c\u968a\ud83e\udd81 \u00d7 HOUSE OF TORTURE\ud83d\ude08<a  href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/njpwworld?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">#njpwworld<\/a> \u3067\u914d\u4fe1\u4e2d\ud83d\udce1<\/p>\n<p>\u8996\u8074\uff06\u767b\u9332\u23e9<a  href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/9iZJzPgCfN\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">https:\/\/t.co\/9iZJzPgCfN<\/a><a  href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/NJPW?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">#NJPW<\/a> <a  href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/njpwworld?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">#njpwworld<\/a> <a  href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/njkopw?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">#njkopw<\/a> <a  href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/NURV7Tg2Xj\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">pic.twitter.com\/NURV7Tg2Xj<\/a><\/p>\n<p>&mdash; NJPW WORLD (@njpwworld) <a  href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/njpwworld\/status\/1845768692593827980?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">October 14, 2024<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<h3>DOUKI Unmasked at NJPW KOPW<\/h3>\n<p><strong>DOUKI<\/strong> successfully defended his IWGP Junior Heavyweight Championship against <strong>SHO<\/strong> in 14 seconds. But it was what happened next that really shocked everyone.<\/p>\n<p>SHO unmasked DOUKI. DOUKI sprayed red mist from his creepy face into the eyes of SHO. Topping a bad night for SHO.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">.<a  href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/DoukiPerros?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">@DoukiPerros<\/a> &#8230;&#8230;.\ud83d\udc40\u2049\ufe0f<\/p>\n<p>Sign up Now &amp; Stay tuned to <a  href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/CcdQ1X9P52\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">https:\/\/t.co\/CcdQ1X9P52<\/a><a  href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/NJPW?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">#NJPW<\/a> <a  href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/njpwworld?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">#njpwworld<\/a> <a  href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/njkopw?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">#njkopw<\/a> <a  href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/22hiAOZ6xg\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">pic.twitter.com\/22hiAOZ6xg<\/a><\/p>\n<p>&mdash; NJPW WORLD (@njpwworld) <a  href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/njpwworld\/status\/1845771020377948663?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">October 14, 2024<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<h3><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">Young Bucks To Return To Tokyo Dome<\/span><\/h3>\n<p><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\"><strong>The Young Bucks (Nicholas <\/strong>and<strong> Matthew Jackson)<\/strong> appeared via a video promo to reveal they would return to the Toyko Dome next year. <\/span><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">The Young Bucks will appear at <\/span><strong><em><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">Wrestle Dynasty <\/span><\/em><\/strong><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">on January 5, 2025.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">NJPW, AEW, CMLL, ROH, <\/span><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">and<\/span><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\"> STARDOM co-promote <\/span><em><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">Wrestle Dynasty <\/span><\/em><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">at the Toyko Dome just 24 hours after <em>Wrestle Kingdom 19<\/em>.<\/span><\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">The Young Bucks are making their return at Wrestle Dynasty on January 5th\u203c\ufe0f<a  href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/wrestledynasty?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">#wrestledynasty<\/a> <a  href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/2mShzQZEVo\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">pic.twitter.com\/2mShzQZEVo<\/a><\/p>\n<p>&mdash; NJPW Global (@njpwglobal) <a  href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/njpwglobal\/status\/1845761556900176231?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">October 14, 2024<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<h3>More From LWOS Pro Wrestling<\/h3>\n<p><em><span class=\"s1\">Header photo \u2013 NJPW. Stay tuned to the\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/\" target=\"_self\">Last Word on Pro Wrestling<\/a>\u00a0for more on this and other stories from around the world of wrestling, as they develop. You can always count on LWOPW to be on top of the major news in the wrestling world, as well as to provide you with analysis, previews, videos, interviews, and editorials on the wrestling world.\u00a0 You can rewatch all 2021 NJPW events and plenty more tremendous wrestling content from New Japan Pro-Wrestling on\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/njpwworld.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">NJPWWorld.com<\/a>; The King of Sports Streaming.<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>NJPW resurrected its King of Pro-Wrestling PPV for the first time since 2019 and made sure it was an event people would talk about. NJPW crowned a new IWGP World Heavyweight Champion, said goodbye to a legend, and revealed two former stars would return. Here&#8217;s our rundown of the most talked-about moments from the October [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3852,"featured_media":127709,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"no","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[14,2192],"tags":[5296,1029,188,3585,9029,781,176,172],"class_list":["post-127703","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-njpw","category-wrestling","tag-douki","tag-hiroshi-tanahashi","tag-njpw","tag-njpw-king-of-pro-wrestling","tag-njpw-kopw","tag-tetsuya-naito","tag-the-young-bucks","tag-zack-sabre-jr"],"modified_by":"Chinyere Okafor","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/127703","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3852"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=127703"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/127703\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/127709"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=127703"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=127703"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=127703"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}