NJPW announces full card for 49th Anniversary Show
New Japan Pro Wrestling has announced the card for their 49th Anniversary Show on March 4 at Budokan Hall.
The main event will feature IWGP Heavyweight and Intercontinental Champion Kota Ibushi face new IWGP Junior Heavyweight Champion El Desperado. At the press conference, it was noted that the titles would not be on the line. However, after Ibushi requested the match be for the titles, it was announced that Ibushi would defend both the IWGP Heavyweight and Intercontinental titles for the last time. The championships will then merge into one title, the IWGP World Heavyweight title.
Additionally, the first two New Japan Cup opening round matches will take place. Tetsuya Naito will face The Great-O-Khan, and Satoshi Kojima will face Jeff Cobb.
Here is the full card for the March 4 event:
- Kota Ibushi vs. El Desperado in a special singles match
- New Japan Cup first round: Tetsuya Natio vs. The Great-O-Khan
- New Japan Cup first round: Satoshi Kojima vs. Jeff Cobb
- Hiroshi Tanahashi, Juice Robinson, David Finlay, Toa Henare, and Ryusuke Taguchi vs. EVIL, KENTA, Chase Owens, Jay White, and Taiji Ishimori
- Master Wato, Gabriel Kidd, Tomoaki Honma and Hirooki Goto vs. Taichi, Minoru Suzuki, Zack Sabre Jr., and DOUKI