NJPW Announces New KOPW 2020 Gimmick Title
The title debuts at Summer Struggle in Jingu Stadium (29 August).
New Japan Pro Wrestling has today announced a new prize focused exclusively on gimmick matches.
Speaking at a special press conference earlier today, former IWGP Heavyweight Champion Kazuchika Okada revealed the KOPW 2020 - but stated that it won't be treated as a traditional wrestling championship with a physical belt. Instead, it'll be an accolade that New Japan claims will be "reset at the end of each year."
The first KOPW 2020 is to be crowned in a special two-night tournament going down across the Summer Struggle tour. NJPW's 29 August event in Korakuen Hall will host four singles matches. The stipulations will be determined by a fan vote based on ideas from the wrestlers themselves, with Okada teasing ladder, steel cage, and two-out-of-three falls matches.
The 26 August winners will progress to a 29 August four-way inside Jingo Stadium, with the ultimate victor becoming the "provisional" KOPW 2020.
From there, the KOPW 2020 shall be defended until year's end, with fans voting on the match gimmicks, and whoever holds it on the last show of 2020 shall be presented with a trophy. Okada promises bouts "completely different from what we expect from IWGP Titles, and from NJPW."