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Complete card set for Royal Quest night 1!

September 26, 2022

IWGP Tag Team Championships to headline the first night in London

The full card has finally been set for Royal Quest next weekend at Crystal Palace, London. With the IWGP Tag Team Championships headlined, a big eight-game card is on deck for NJPW’s return to the UK after more than three years away.

The first night is SOLD OUT!

Two night tickets

Watch Royal Quest II in English on demand on NJPW World in October!

IWGP United States Champion Will Ospreay will face Shota Umino in a special non-title singles match to headline on October 1. Ospreay and Umino pick up on a vicious feud from last fall in RevPro, when Umino missed out on a memorable challenge to the then British heavyweight. Champion Ospreay. Over the next year, Umino dedicated itself to testing itself in both the UK and the US, where competition in Windy City Riot, Forbidden Door and NJPW STRONG wowed fans and helped his progress to continue. Can he topple the Commonwelath Kingpin and claim the biggest victory of his young career?

The semi-main event will see FTR defend the IWGP Tag Team Championships for the first time against STRONG Openweight Tag Team Champions Aussie Open. After Dax Harwood and Cash Wheeler claim the titles in a three-way fight at Forbidden Door, relieving Great-O-Khan and Jeff Cobb of the United Empire of Gold, Kyle Fletcher and Mark Davis take the place of their teammates. Helping their case was a six-man tag team victory in Nashville in July, a victory that led to Fletcher calling FTR on the microphone and issuing a challenge that is now finally accepted.

With tag team competition in NJPW hot in the US and Japan, the UK presents neutral ground for these two teams on paper, but in practice the London crowd will be 100% behind the team. labels born in Australia but British made. Three years after the Aussie Open’s first big test against the Guerrillas of Destiny in the inaugural Royal Quest, will the holders of the FTR Triple Crown title see their reign cut short at Crystal Palace?

Eight-man action will see the BULLET CLUB team of Jay White, Karl Anderson, Doc Gallows and Gedo take on Hiroshi Tanahashi, Tama Tonga, Jado and Hikuleo. After the events of Kobe World Hall on September 25, Hontai has a big new addition in the form of Hikuleo, who sided with his brother Tama Tonga against Jay White, and potentially lined up for the Gold NEVER from Anderson. Meanwhile, the bad blood surrounding Anderson and Hiroshi Tanahashi continues after Sunday’s NEVER Openweight Championship match, and Tama Tonga and Jay White want another shot at each other before the declaration of power on October 10 at Ryogoku.

CHAOS and TMDK continue to go to war on the first night in London. With night two scheduled to see Kazuchika Okada take on Bad Dude Tito while Tomohiro Ishii takes on JONAH one-on-one, night one will see both sides in tag team action. Will it be Okada or JONAH who will make a statement of power in London?

The six-man tag team action will see a special preview of Sunday’s main event in London. Before Tetsuya Naito and Zack Saber Jr. headline meet on October 2, ZSJ will lead El Desperado and DOUKI into battle as Naito takes SANADA and Hiromu Takahashi to the ring. A trio match packed with extremely popular members of their respective factions should create an intoxicating partisan atmosphere at Crystal Palace, but who will prevail?

Great-O-Khan will have a flashback to their UK debut in Gideon Grey’s Legion on night one, as the duo take on the impressive young pair of Ricky Knight Jr. and Michael Oku. After over a year of chasing Will Ospreay and the British Heavyweight Championship, RKJ finally achieved his goal at RevPro’s recent anniversary event, and will now have another big opportunity ahead of him, just like the former British winner of the J-Cup and former heavyweight champion Michael. OK. The best of Britain will face the best of the United Empire, and they will be looking to make a significant mark in London.

Tag team action will see a preview of night two’s IWGP Women’s Championship Tournament match when Alpha Female Jazzy Gabert teams up with Kanji to take on British Champion Alex Windsor and Gabert’s second opponent Ava White. Former STARDOM World Champion Gabert is the favorite for the night two tournament bout, but White isn’t about to back down from any opposition and has the best of partners in his corner in the form of the British champion Windsor. Meanwhile, four-year-old professional Kanji has consistently impressed in RevPro, EVE and PROGRESS, and is looking to have an outstanding performance on the first night of Royal Quest.

Gabriel Kidd will return to NJPW competition for the first time since fighting Fred Rosser in Seattle earlier this year when he takes on Dan Moloney. Moloney and Kidd are no strangers to each other, having faced off in May at RevPro’s Epic Encounters event; now Kidd wants to make a definitive point that he’s back for the long haul, while Moloney wants to make his own statement in the battle of two sure-footed 25-year-olds.