NJPW Announces Creation of Provisional KOPW 2020 Title

– Earlier today, New Japan Pro Wrestling (NJPW) held its Summer Struggle Press conference where former IWGP heavyweight champion Kazuchika Okada announced the creation of the King of Pro Wrestling (KOPW) 2020 title. Per the announcement, the new title will not be represented by a title belt and will be reset at the end of each year.

The new title will be decided over two nights: first on August 26 in Korakuen Hall and on August 29 at Summer Struggle in Jingu Stadium. Eight wrestlers will compete in four singles matches on August 26. In the first round, each wrestler will be allowed to bring their own desired match rules. Per Okada, “There are all kinds of rules. Two out of three falls, ladder, steel cage matches, it could be anything.”

Also, fans will have the opportunity to vote on which wrestler’s rules the singles matches will be contested under. The winners of the singles matches will then advance to a Fatal 4-Way match on August 29 that will be under “regular four way rules. The winner of that match will be crowned the provisional KOPW 2020 champion.

The KOPW title will be allowed to be defended until the end of 2020. Fans will vote on stipulations for the matches. The winner of the last title match of the year will be given the KOPW trophy, and the process will restart in 2021.

You can view the video for today’s NJPW Summer Struggle in Jingu press conference with the announcement by Okada below.