Whiskey Bottle Ladder Match set for NJPW Road to Tokyo Dome event
The stipulation has been set for NJPW’s final KOPW Championship match of 2023.
Taichi will defend the KOPW title against Yoshinobu Kanemaru in a Whiskey Bottle Ladder Match at NJPW’s Road to Tokyo Dome show this Thursday (December 21). The show is being held at Korakuen Hall in Tokyo and will air live on NJPW World.
The Whiskey Bottle Ladder Match stipulation was proposed by Taichi and won a fan vote over Kanemaru’s proposed stipulation (low blows and removing corner pads would be legal but only for Kanemaru). Taichi’s stipulation won with 70 percent of the vote.
In the Whiskey Bottle Ladder Match, a whiskey bottle will be suspended from the ceiling and can be used as a weapon by the wrestler who retrieves it.
The winner of Taichi vs. Kanemaru will become the official KOPW Champion for 2023. A new provisional champion for 2024 will be crowned in the new year.
Taichi won the KOPW title from SHO last month, regaining the championship after having lost it to SHO at Destruction in Kobe in September. Kanemaru betrayed Taichi at Destruction in Kobe, leaving Just Five Guys and joining House of Torture.
Thursday’s Road to Tokyo Dome event is also set to include a NEVER Openweight Six-Man Tag Team title match with Kazuchika Okada, Hiroshi Tanahashi & Tomohiro Ishii defending against Jeff Cobb, Great-O-Khan & Henare.
Joseph Currier is the lead editor of F4WOnline.com, directing daily news coverage and writing articles on professional wrestling. He is a graduate of the University of Massachusetts, obtaining a journalism degree in 2016. Joseph joined F4W during his time at UMass and has now been writing about the industry for nearly a decade.
In addition to his work with F4W, Joseph has previously contributed to Sports Illustrated's wrestling coverage. He lives in Massachusetts and is a diehard fan of the Boston sports teams and Liverpool Football Club.