Power Struggle (2018)

Power Struggle (2018) was a professional wrestling event promoted by New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW). It took place on November 3, 2018, in Osaka, Osaka, at the Osaka Prefectural Gymnasium.[2] It was the eighth event under the Power Struggle name.

Power Struggle (2018)
PromotionNew Japan Pro-Wrestling
DateNovember 3, 2018
CityOsaka, Japan
VenueOsaka Prefectural Gymnasium (Edion Arena Osaka)
Attendance5,441 [1]
Event chronology
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Road to Power Struggle		 Next →
Lion's Break Project 1
Power Struggle chronology
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2017		 Next →
2019

Storylines

Power Struggle featured professional wrestling matches that involved different wrestlers from pre-existing scripted feuds and storylines. Wrestlers portrayed villains, heroes, or less distinguishable characters in the scripted events that built tension and culminated in a wrestling match or series of matches.[3]

At Dominion 6.9 in Osaka-jo Hall, Chris Jericho defeated Tetsuya Naito to win the IWGP Intercontinental Championship. After the match Jericho continued to attack Naito until Naito's Los Ingobernables de Japon stablemate Evil interfered. Jericho wouldn't be seen at NJPW events until King of Pro-Wrestling where right before Evil's match against Zack Sabre Jr., Jericho attacked Evil causing the match to be called a no contest. Backstage, Jericho challenged Evil and the match was made official.

At King of Pro-Wrestling, Will Ospreay got the pinfall victory over the NEVER Openweight Champion Taichi in a 6-Man Tag Match. With this victory Ospreay was meant to challenge Taichi for the NEVER Openweight championship, however, the match was cancelled due to Ospreay suffering an injury. Ospreay was replaced by Hirooki Goto, who Taichi beat to win the NEVER Openweight Championship.

In the 2018 New Japan Cup, Zack Sabre Jr. defeated Tetsuya Naito in a first round match. On the final night of B Block action for the G1 Climax 28, Sabre Jr. defeated Naito. At King of Pro-Wrestling, Sabre Jr. attacked Evil after he was unable to compete in his match against him, Naito then came to the aid of Evil. A match between Naito and Sabre Jr. was made.

At King of Pro-Wrestling, Jay White, Gedo, and Jado turned on Chaos and joined Bullet Club OGs. Because of this, at Power Struggle, Jay White and Bad Luck Fale will team to take on Kazuchika Okada and Barreta of Chaos.

At King of Pro-Wrestling, Hiroshi Tanahashi successfully defended his Tokyo Dome IWGP Heavyweight Championship challenge rights certificate against Jay White and at the end of the night he confronted IWGP Heavyweight Champion Kenny Omega. At Power Struggle, Omega will be teaming up with his Golden Lovers teammate Kota Ibushi to face Tanahashi and David Finlay.

The Super Junior Tag Tournament 2018 was a thirteen-night professional wrestling tournament, with the final to be held at Power Struggle. Eight teams competed in a single block in order to qualify. The first team to qualify were the reigning IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Champions, Yoshinobu Kanemaru and El Desperado, winning five out of their seven block matches, followed by Los Ingobernables de Japon (Bushi and Shingo Takagi) and Roppongi 3K (Sho and Yoh), who qualified with the same number of wins.

Results
No. Results[4] Stipulations Times[5]
1 Taguchi Japan (Ryusuke Taguchi, Chris Sabin, ACH and Toa Henare) defeated Jyushin Thunder Liger, Tiger Mask, Volador Jr. and Soberano Jr. Eight-man tag team match 06:10
2 Bullet Club (Tama Tonga, Tanga Loa and Robbie Eagles) (with Jado and Taiji Ishimori) defeated Great Bash Heel (Togi Makabe and Tomoaki Honma) and Kushida Six-man tag team match 07:39
3 Chaos (Kazuchika Okada and Beretta) defeated Bullet Club (Jay White and Bad Luck Fale) (with Gedo) Tag team match 04:32
4 Golden☆Lovers (Kenny Omega and Kota Ibushi) defeated Taguchi Japan (Hiroshi Tanahashi and David Finlay) Tag team match 09:47
5 Roppongi 3K (Sho and Yoh) (with Rocky Romero) defeated Suzuki-gun (Yoshinobu Kanemaru and El Desperado) and Los Ingobernables de Japon (Bushi and Shingo Takagi) Three-way tag team match; 2018 Super Jr. Tag League final 15:55
6 Hirooki Goto defeated Taichi (c) (with Miho Abe) Singles match for the NEVER Openweight Championship 15:02
7 Tomohiro Ishii (c) defeated Minoru Suzuki Singles match for the British Heavyweight Championship 19:21
8 Tetsuya Naito defeated Zack Sabre Jr. (with Taka Michinoku) Singles match 20:12
9 Chris Jericho (c) defeated Evil by submission Singles match for the IWGP Intercontinental Championship 21:40
  • (c) – refers to the champion(s) heading into the match

References
  1. "POWER STRUGGLE – 大阪・大阪府立体育会館（エディオンアリーナ大阪）". www.njpw.co.jp (in Japanese). Retrieved 2020-05-23.
  2. "POWER STRUGGLE ～SUPER Jr. TAG LEAGUE 2018～". New Japan Pro-Wrestling. Retrieved 10 October 2018.
  3. Grabianowski, Ed. "How Pro Wrestling Works". HowStuffWorks, Inc. Discovery Communications. Archived from the original on November 18, 2013. Retrieved August 21, 2017.
  4. "POWER STRUGGLE – 大阪・大阪府立体育会館（エディオンアリーナ大阪）". www.njpw.co.jp (in Japanese). Retrieved 2020-05-23.
  5. NJPW. "2018.11.03 POWER STRUGGLE | NEW JAPAN PRO-WRESTLING". NJPW. Retrieved 2020-05-23.
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