NJPW/ROH G1 Supercard: Original Main Event Plans REVEALED
Kazuchika Okada vs. Jay White will headline, but this wasn't NJPW's original plan.
IWGP Heavyweight Champion Jay White will defend his belt against Kazuchika Okada, the 2019 New Japan Cup winner, in the main event of NJPW and ROH's landmark G1 Supercard event at Madison Square Garden. It's a great match on paper and gives the duo a chance to continue their ongoing story (Okada is 0-2 versus White in singles competition), but it wasn't what the bookers originally had in mind.
Per Dave Meltzer in this week's Wrestling Observer Newsletter, New Japan originally wanted to run another Kazuchika Okada versus Kenny Omega clash on 6 April.
Had he not departed for All Elite Wrestling, Omega would've defended his IWGP Heavyweight Title against Hiroshi Tanahashi at Wrestle Kingdom 13, then overcome a filler contender between WK and the Supercard. Then, his reign would finally come to an end by Okada's hand in MSG.
"This card was first put together with the idea of doing the first Omega/Okada match in the U.S.," Meltzer writes. Kenny's departure messes this up, though it's hard to find fault in the way NJPW have coped with this, as the G1 Supercard lineup looks stellar from the main event downward.