The top of New Japan Pro-Wrestling is crowded—and clouded with uncertainty.
Kazuchika Okada is carrying around a title after bringing back the IWGP heavyweight championship in October, a title that previously had been unified under the banner of the IWGP world heavyweight championship.
Will Ospreay claims he is the rightful owner of that world heavyweight championship. He defeated Kota Ibushi for the unified title in April and then outlasted Shingo Takagi in a 44-minute classic the following month. Ospreay later was stripped of the title due to injury, but he is back and making noise.
Yet there is only one man who carried New Japan through the past six months as its champion, delivering standout bouts and a legitimate claim to best wrestler in the world, and that is reigning IWGP world heavyweight champion Shingo Takagi.