NJPW Anniversary Event
Date: March 4, 2021
Venue: Budokan Hall
Time: 5:00pm JST
First Match
Gabriel Kidd, Hirooki Goto, Master Wato & Tomoaki Honma vs. DOUKI, Minoru Suzuki, Taichi & Zack Sabre Jr
Second Match
David Finlay, Hiroshi Tanahashi, Juice Robinson, Ryusuke Taguchi & Toa Henare vs. Chase Owens, EVIL, Jay White, KENTA & Taiji Ishimori
- This will be David Finlay & Juice Robinson’s first NJPW matches in 2021. Toa Henare only appeard in the New Japan Rambo on January 4th.
- The Bullet Club side of this match has participated in 91 combined matches this year. Finlay, Tanahashi, Robinson, Taguchi & Henare combine for just 25.
Third Match
Kazuchika Okada, SHO & Tomohiro Ishii vs. BUSHI, SANADA, Shingo Takagi
Recent Hisory – Overall
- Shingo Takagi’s +8 Fall Differential is the best in NJPW this year. His only losing fall was at the end of his NEVER Openweight Championship match against Hiroshi Tanahashi.
- Kazuchika Okada’s 18 victories are the highest in NJPW so far this year.
Fourth Match
New Japan Cup 2021 First Round
Satoshi Kojima vs. Jeff Cobb
New Japan Cup History
Satoshi Kojima:
- 8th New Japan Cup Apperance, 3rd Consecutive
- 2020: Eliminated by EVIL in the first round. 2019: Eliminated by Minoru Suzuki in the first round. 2016: Eliminated by Toru Yano in the second round. 2015: Eliiminated by Katsuyori Shibata in the first round. 2013: Eliminated by Tomohiro Ishii in the first round. 2012: Eliminated by Tetsuya Naito in the first round. 2011: Eliminated by Togi Makabe in the first round.
Jeff Cobb:
- First New Japan Cup Apperance
- Only Tomoaki Honma, Yuji Nagata, and Yujiro Takahashi have more first round losses in the New Japan Cup than Satoshi Kojima. Kojima’s only win was a first round victory over Tomoaki Honma in the 2016 tournament.
Recent History – Overall
- Satoshi Kojima’s pinfall victory over Jeff Cobb this past weekend was the first time Jeff Cobb was pinned in an NJPW Tag Team match since February 24th, 2019 when Cobb’s current United Empire unit leader Will Ospreay pinned Cobb in a tag match during an Honor Rising event at Korakuen Hall.
Recent History – Singles
Head To Head History
- Jeff Cobb and Satoshi Kojima have faced off once in a singles match. That was at the beginning of 2020 on The New Beginning in USA tour at War Memorial Auditorium in Nashville, TN.
- Including tag matches, Cobb leads the overall series with Kojima 10-1 with his only loss being this past weekend at Castle Attack.
History in Budokan Hall
- Jeff Cobb has never lost in any match type in Budokan Hall. He is 4-0 in total with one singles victory, a G1 Climax 2019 victory over Toru Yano.
- Jeff Cobb has participated in one singles match at Budokan Hall. He defeated Toru Yano in the 2019 G1 climax.
- This will be Satoshi Kojima’s first singles match in Budokan Hall since 2004 and his first NJPW singles match in Budokan since he represented NJPW against Toshiaki Kawada in an AJPW vs. NJPW interpromotional match.
Fifth Match
New Japan Cup 2021 First Round
Tetsuya Naito vs. Great-O-Khan
New Japan Cup History
Tetsuya Naito:
- Ninth New Japan Cup Entry, first since 2019.
- 2019: Eliminated by Kota Ibushi in the first round. 2018: Eliminated by Zack Sabre Jr in the first round. 2016: Won tournament. 2015: Eliminated by Kota Ibushi in the Semi-Final. 2014: Eliminated by Bad Luck Fale in the second round. 2012: Eliminated by Hiroshi Tanahashi in the second round. 2011: Eliminated by Masato Tanaka in the first round. 2010: Eliminated by Togi Makabe in the semi-final.
Great-O-Khan
- First New Japan Cup Apperance
- Tetsuya Naito’s ten all-time New Japan Cup wins are 8th most all time.
Recent History – Singles
- Tetsuya Naito’s most recent singles victory was November 7th when he defeated EVIL at Power Struggle. He matches Great-O-Khan with a 1-3 record in his last 4 singles matches.
Head To Head History
- This will be the first time Tetsuya Naito and Great-O-Khan have matched up in any match type.
History in Budokan Hall
- Tetsuya Naito has lost both of his singles matches at Budokan Hall: a 2018 loss to Zack Sabre Jr in the G1 Climax and a 2019 loss to Jay White on the final block night of G1 Climax 29.
- This will be Great-O-Khan’s first singles match in Budokan Hall.
Main Event
IWGP Heavyweight & IWGP Intercontinental Double Championship Match
Kota Ibushi [C] vs. El Desperado
Recent History
Head To Head History
- Kota Ibushi and El Desperado have met once in singles action. Ibushi defeated El Desperado to defend the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Championship at The New Beginning in Osaka in 2014.
History In Budokan Hall
- Kota Ibushi has a deep history here in Budokan Hall. He is 4-1 in singles matches in the storied building and his wins include two G1 block finals, a DDT KO-D Openweight Title defense against Kenny Omega in 2012, and his G1 Climax Final victory over Jay White in 2019. His only loss here was in the 2018 G1 Climax Final against Hiroshi Tanahashi
- El Desperado has only had one singles match in Budokan Hall, of course that was his recent apperance in the Best of The Super Junior Final against Hiromu Takahashi this past November.
IWGP Heavyweight Championship
- This will be the 266th and last match to decide the IWGP Heavyweight Championship. The title has changed hands in just 29.43% of those matches.
- The IWGP Heavyweight Championship hasn’t been defended in Budokan Hall since 2002 when Yuji Nagata defeated Kensuke Sasaki to retain the title.
- This will be Kota Ibushi’s seventh ever IWGP Heavyweight Championship match, he is 3-3 in his first 6, including his championship victory over Tetsuya Naito and his two defenses.
- Thus far in Kota Ibushi’s reign, he has defended the IWGP Heavyweight Championship, on average, every 19.33 days. Tonight’s defense will solidify Ibushi as the the third most active IWGP Heavyweight Champion of all time.
IWGP Intercontinental Championship
- This will be the 76th and last match to decide the IWGP Intercontinental Championshp. The title has changed hands in 37.33% of those matches.
- Kota Ibushi has wrestled for the IWGP Intercontinental Championship nine times, he has been victorious in 6 of those matches.
- This will be the first time the IWGP Intercontinental Championship has been defended in Budokan Hall.