Full Match Line-Up For NJPW King of Pro-Wrestling 2025, Zack Sabre Jr. Collides With Konosuke Takeshita

By: Lewis Carlan

Fresh off the heels of the their huge DESTRUCTION IN KOBE 2025 event, New Japan Pro-Wrestling will hold it’s next big event on October 13th as they present King Of Pro-Wrestling 2025 at Ryogoku Sumo Hall in Tokyo. The road to Wrestle Kingdom 20 at the Tokyo Dome on Jan. 4th 2026 officially kicks off with King of Pro-Wrestling 2025.

The main event will feature the IWGP World Heavyweight Champion Zack Sabre Jr. making his third defense of his second reign as champion against the winner of the G1 Climax 35 tournament, Konosuke Takeshita. This will be the rubber match between the two superstars as Sabre Jr. and Takeshita faced each other twice in the G1 Climax 35 tournament. Sabre Jr. defeated Takeshita in a Block B match on July 30th while Takeshita scored a victory over Sabre Jr. in the semi-finals of the G1 Climax 35.

The winner of the match will likely head into Wrestle Kingdom 20 at the Tokyo Dome as the IWGP World Heavyweight Champion and both superstars desperately want that distinction.

Image Credit: NJPW

The IWGP Global Heavyweight Championship will be on the line as Gabe Kidd is set to make his third defense of the title, this time against the competitor he took it from Yota Tsuji.

Kidd beat Tsuji back in June for the title and has fiercely defended it since becoming champion. He holds successful IWGP Global Heavyweight Championship wins over Hiroshi Tanahashi and more recently Shingo Takagi at DESTRUCTION IN KOBE. Tsuji defeated David Finlay at DESTRUCTION IN KOBE and confronted KIDD during the event and issued his challenge.

These two superstars have met in singles matches 23 times with Tsuji holding a slight lead with an 11-10-2 record against Kidd. Their match back in February ended in a double knockout.

It is expected to be a hard fought and violent battle when these two rivals meet again on October 13th.

Image Credit: NJPW

The IWGP Tag Team Titles will be up for grabs as the new champions OSKAR & Yuto-Ice A.K.A. The Knockout Brothers will defend their belts against the formidable team of Shota Umino & Yuya Uemura.

The Knockout Brothers defeated Taichi & Tomohiro Ishii at DESTRUCTION IN KOBE to win the IWGP Tag Team Titles. Umino & Uemura will be a good test for the newly crowned champions at King of Pro-Wrestling.

Image Credit: NJPW

Here is the full line-up of matches for NJPW King of Pro-Wrestling 2025 on Oct 13th:

• Main Event IWGP World Heavyweight Championship: Zack Sabre Jr. (c) vs G1 Climax 35 Winner Konosuke Takeshita
• IWGP Global Heavyweight Championship: Gabe Kidd (c) vs Yota Tsuji
• IWGP Tag Team Championship: Knockout Brothers (OSKAR & Yuto-Ice) (c) vs Yuya Uemura & Shota Umino
• NEVER Openweight Championship: Boltin Oleg (c) vs EVIL
• Hiroshi Tanahashi Final Road Connection & NJPW World TV Championship: El Phantasmo (c) vs. Hiroshi Tanahashi
• YOH, YOSHI-HASHI & Hirooki Goto vs TMDK (Ryohei Oiwa, Hartley Jackson & Kosei Fujita)
• Drilla Moloney vs SANADA
• Shingo Takagi, Hiromu Takahashi & Titan vs War Dogs (David Finlay, Taiji Ishimori & Clark Connors)