NJPW 46th Anniversary live results: Kazuchika Okada vs. Will Ospreay

New Japan marks 46 years tonight with a main event pitting both weight class champions against one another.

IWGP Heavyweight Champion Kazuchika Okada will battle IWGP Junior Heavyweight Champion Will Ospreay in a rare main event pitting the two champions against one another. This isn’t their first one-on-one encounter — a 2015 bout between them at Revolution Pro Wrestling led Okada, in storyline, to offer Ospreay a spot in the Chaos stable. Three years later, we’ll see where the two stand in a main event that is bound to impress.

Two other high-profile singles matches will take place on the card as well. Minoru Suzuki will defend the Intercontinental title against Togi Makabe, who has been racking up wins in tag team matches as of late, while Suzuki-gun’s Taichi will be the latest to move up to the heavyweight division to take on Tetsuya Naito.

This morning’s anniversary show will start at 5 a.m. ET, so be sure to join us for live results then. There will be English commentary.

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It was announced at the start of the show that due to a concussion, Katsuya Kitamura was unable to compete tonight. His match against Manabu Nakanishi has been postponed.

Hiroyoshi Tenzan, Jushin Liger, Tiger Mask, Kushida & Ryusuke Taguchi defeated Yuji Nagata, Ren Narita, Tomoyuki Oka. Shota Umino & Tetsuhiro Yagi

Solid opener. Lots of solid action and good representation by everyone. Shota Umino is really coming along; he had nice fire in this match and shows some charisma. He and KUSHIDA were going at it when KUSHIDA trapped him in an armbar. Umino tried to counter with a pin attempt, but KUSHIDA kicked out and really sunk the armbar in, causing Umino to tap.

Hirooki Goto, Tomohiro Ishii and Toru Yano defeated Juice Robinson, David Finlay and Toa Henare

This was short, but also a pretty solid match. Juice Robinson debuted a new look and in the ring looked really good. Toa Henare came in and went after Goto, even getting a nearfall, but everyone came in and broke it up. but Goto stopped him with the ushigoroshi and pinned him with the GTR.

Yoshinobu Kanemaru and El Desperado defeated Roppongi 3K and BUSHI & Hiromu Takahashi to win the IWGP Jr. tag team titles

Roppongi 3K looked good early, with YOH and Takahashi getting into a fierce chop battle. Rules were kind of confusing as only two teams could be in at one, but this was still pretty good action. Heels worked on SHO until he got a hot tag, as he and YOH cleared house. It’s becoming more clear SHO is the standout in the team, he shows more charisma and has some really cool spots.

Roppongi 3K had the win with the 3K but Hiromu Takahashi came in and stopped it. In the confusion, BUSHI used the mist on SHO, but before he could capitalize Kanemaru came in and spat whiskey in in BUSHI’s face, blinding him. Desperado used a modified cradle to pin SHO and win the titles. Playing hot potato with this title feels overdone at this point, but otherwise a pretty good match.

SANADA defeated YOSHI-HASHI

SANADA dominated early, taking YOSHI-HASHI to the outside and even attempting to sink in the skull end into the crowd before returning back to the ring. He was mostly in control, with YOSHI-HASHI getting brief periods of offense until SANADA missed a moonsault from the top rope. YOSHI-HASHI got some terrific near falls with an inside cradle and a lariat. A running liger bomb nearfall follows, then locks in the butterfly lock. SANADA struggled and struggled until he finally made the ropes.

YOSHI-HASHI went for karma but SANADA hopped over and latched on the skull end. YOSHI-HASHI refused to tap, but was eventually rendered unconscious. SANADA followed with a moonsault and scored the win. Fantastic match that highlighted how underrated YOSHI-HASHI is as a babyface and just how good overall SANADA really is.

Tetsuya Naito defeated Taichi

Taichi smashed Naito with his cane and brawled with him back to the entranceway, powerbombing him right on top of the stage. Naito beat the count, but Taichi was mainly on offense until Naito found an opening. Taichi catches him with a kick on the apron and throws him into the barricade.

Taichi went for a superkick, but Naito countered and hit the satellite DDT. Taichi countered the Destino with a giant side suplex and hit the press powerbomb, but Naito kicked out. Naito blasted Taichi with a reverse rana. Naito hit Gloria and went for Destino again, but Taichi escaped, shoved the referee and hit a low blow. He cradled Naito, but somehow Naito kicked out in a great near fall.

Naito dodged a superkick as Taka Michinoku distracted the referee. Taichi tried to use the cane, but Naito countered, took it away from him, blasted him with it, then low blowed him. Naito went for the Destino for the third time, finally getting it and scored the pinfall. Way better match than you ever would expect in a match featuring Taichi. This was honestly on par with the previous match.

A Rey Mysterio video aired. Didn’t say much other than he’s happy to be a part of the Strong Style Evolved show. Kevin Kelly did bring up the possible bicep injury, but didn’t have any new details.

Minoru Suzuki defeated Togi Makabe to retain the IWGP Intercontinental title

The two brawled early, with Makabe taking it to the outside and throwing Suzuki into the barricade. Suzuki fights back and wraps Makabe’s knee on the post. He takes a chair and smashes it into Makabe’s exposed leg.

Makabe fired back and at one point, continually wanted to Suzuki to punch him as hard as he could. It was kind of like a game of who could strike harder. Makabe jammed Suzuki’s skull into the ring post and hit the spider German suplex but Suzuki rolled out of the way when Makabe went for the King Kong knee drop.

Suzuki wrapped around Makabe’s bad knee, but Makabe escaped with a German suplex. He followed that with a lariat Makabe hits the ropes, but Suzuki comes right back with a dropkick. He put Makabe to sleep, then tries for the Gotch piledriver, but Makabe powers out and strikes Suzuki with open handed slaps. Suzuki fires back with some of his own, then catches Makabe with another sleeper. He hits the Gotch piledriver and pins Makabe to retain the title. Very good, physical match.

Kazuchika Okada defeated Will Ospreay

This was great. Ospreay did a ton of cool stuff throughout the match and Okada was excellent as usual. It won’t win match of the year votes or anything, but this was a strong showing by both men and they had a really great, fun match.

The two started off with some mat wrestling. With some good near falls early. Ospreay did a great bridge and crucifix that stunned Okada out of the ring. More mat wrestling followed, including a cute spot where they mimicked getting their shoulders up in stereo while both had wrist control.

Okada got the heat by body slamming Ospreay on the floor. Okada remains in control until Ospreay hits a springboard kick to the head. Okada regained offense and took him to the outside, where he threw him on the barricade and blasted him with a big boot that sent him to the floor. Okada went to do a dive over the barricade, but Ospreay met him on top of the barricade and launched off, sending Okada to the floor. He followed that up with the Sasuke special.

Ospreay went for the ozcutter but Okada countered with a sleeper. Okada hits the dropick and continues on offense until Ospreay hits a spanish fly and a rainmaker of his own. Ospreay hit the reverse 450 splash but Okada kicked out. Ospreay went for the ozcutter, but Okada grabbed him and hit the tombstone.

Okada went for the rainmaker but Ospreay escaped and hit a powerbomb. Okada comes back with a German suplex and a rainmaker, then another. Ospreay escapes a third and goes for another ozcutter, but Okada countered with a tombstone and hit another rainmaker for the win.

A really fun show overall. Nothing bad, and the last few matches were great.