New Years Rules Stipulation Added To Final KOPW 2021 Bout

NJPW has announced that Toru Yano and Yoshinobu Kanemaru will face off in a New Years Rules bout on the December 24 Road To Tokyo Dome show, in the final KOPW 2021 Trophy match of the year.

As per the stipulation, Yano and Kanemaru will wrestle a ‘normal’ match, but will have to drink alcohol at two minute intervals. After the wrestlers have downed their drinks, they will have to answer the referee’s 20-count. If a wrestler doesn’t respond to the count, they lose the bout. The match can also end via pin-fall, submission, disqualification and count-out.

The way the KOPW (King of Pro Wrestling) trophy works is that wrestlers will challenge for the provisional trophy throughout the year, with whoever is holding the trophy at the end of the year crowned the King of Pro Wrestling for that year, before the title resets in January.

A poll will decide the choice of alcohol which will be served to both competitors, with Yano proposing sake, and Kanemaru proposing whiskey.

This New Years Rules bout is Yano’s final obstacle on his road to being dubbed the King of Pro Wrestling 2021. Yano previously won the 2020 King of Pro Wrestling accolade.

the first KOPW 2022 have been announced for Wrestle Kingdom. You can read the full cards for the January 4 and 5 shows here.

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• NJPW
• Toru Yano
• kopw
• Alcohol

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