NJPW Scrapping One Championship, Introducing Another at Wrestle Kingdom 18

:njpw:

The IWGP United States Heavyweight Championship will be replaced with a new championship that is set to be revealed at New Japan's biggest annual event.

At NJPW Power Struggle, champion Will Ospreay retained his gold against Shota Umino in the show's main event. Post-match, Ospreay called out Jon Moxley, whose absence from NJPW during the pandemic made "this belt mean nothing" according to the Brit.

Just as both men went nose to nose, David Finlay attacked both with a shillelagh. Being provided a hammer by Gedo, Finlay destroyed both the IWGP U.S. Heavyweight Championship as well as the United Kingdom Heavyweight Championship Ospreay has been wearing in recent months.

During the NJPW Wrestle Kingdom 18 press conference, New Japan Pro Wrestling Chairman Naoki Sugabayashi announced that a new championship would be created due to Finlay's actions.

"Regarding the IWGP US belt, we will establish a new title. It is true that fans were confused whether it is a US belt or a UK belt, so we created a new one. We will announce the details soon.”

Ospreay, Finlay, and Moxley will compete at Wrestle Kingdom 18 on January 4, to crown the new champion.
Wrestle Kingdom 18

Here is the card for NJPW Wrestle Kingdom 18 as it stands:

Will Ospreay (c) vs. Jon Moxley vs. David Finlay (IWGP United States Heavyweight Championship)

Sanada (c) vs. Tetsuya Naito (IWGP World Heavyweight Championship)

Kazuchika Okada vs. Bryan Danielson

Bullet Club War Dogs (Clark Connors and Drilla Moloney) (c) vs. Catch 2/2 (TJP and Francesco Akira) (IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Championship)

Hiromu Takahashi (c) vs. El Desperado (IWGP Junior Heavyweight Championship)