Hiromu Takahashi and Chris Jericho return to New Japan

Two big names returned to New Japan Pro Wrestling at their annual Power Struggle event on Saturday night and both men laid out Wrestle Kingdom challenges.

Power Struggle, New Japan‘s annual November event, has a reputation for being the event where Wrestle Kingdom challenges get laid out and wrestlers reappear in the company as it is the last major show before Wrestle Kingdom.

The first man to lay out a challenge was the returning “Painmaker” Chris Jericho. After a match pitting the teams of Kota Ibushi and Hiroshi Tanahashi against Kazuchika Okada and YOSHI-HASHI, a video was played on the big screen.

The video showed a group of men, who looked eerily similar to Tanahashi, playing air guitar and being knocked out one by one by an unseen assailant. Finally the attacker was revealed to be Jericho, in full “Painmaker” makeup. Jericho then challenged Tanahashi to a match on night two of Wrestle Kingdom. Jericho also claimed that this would be Tanahashi’s last match after he was done with him. After the video, Tanahashi asked for the microphone and accepted the former IWGP Intercontinental Champion’s challenge.

The second man to lay out a challenge was “The Timebomb” Hiromu Takahashi who had been gone for 16 months due to a severe neck injury. Will Ospreay, the current IWGP Junior Heavyweight Champion, successfully defended his title in a match against BUSHI and then proceeded to get on the mic and ask who would be his next challenger.

A familiar video was then shown on the big screen, the image of a time bomb and a countdown, which brought the crowd to their feet. The video appeared to be a teaser though as it ended before anyone came out. But then suddenly it came back showing a collection of Takahashi’s trademark stuffed cats dancing around a bomb as another countdown was shown. This time, Takahashi walked out when the countdown hit zero. Takahashi discarded his neck brace and ran down to the ring clutching two of his stuffed cats as the crowd erupted.

Takahashi then challenged Ospreay to a Junior Heavyweight Title match, but not before running around the ringside area crashing into the barricades. The two men faced off in the ring before hugging.

Fans should be very happy to see both these stars back in NJPW as Wrestle Kingdom starts to loom ever closer and many of the marquee matches are starting to be set in stone.