Power Struggle 2021: WrestleFile Historical Verdict

Yoshinobu Kanemaru and DOUKI defeated the Young Lion team of Kosei Fujita and Ryohei Oiwa in the 4:33 opening match. Kanemaru made Fujita submit with a Boston Crab, according to the November 6 contemporary Osaka report. The result was a short supporting contest, not a junior championship match, and Fujita rather than Oiwa was the losing wrestler. Its C evaluation treats the young wrestlers' effort and decisive submission as a useful opening comparison to the longer championship contests to follow. Power Struggle later produced three actual title changes, so this opening Suzuki-gun win should not be inflated into another belt result. Keeping the fall and duration specific helps the reader distinguish the event's first tag from the next two different multi-person matches.

Bullet Club's Tanga Loa, Gedo and Jado beat Tiger Mask, Togi Makabe and Tomoaki Honma in 5:07. Loa pinned Honma after the Ape Shit, a finish identified in the contemporaneous report and Japanese event ledger. Tiger Mask was the reigning IWGP junior tag champion, but his presence in this six-man tag did not make it a junior tag title defense. The championship story on this card developed in the later singles match between Robbie Eagles and El Desperado. A C grade fits a brief non-title tag that supplied a concrete Bullet Club win without requiring a retrospective invention about major title consequences. The winning team should not be confused with the separate House of Torture trio that won the NEVER six-man championship two matches later.

SANADA, Hiromu Takahashi and BUSHI of Los Ingobernables de Japón defeated Yuji Nagata, Ryusuke Taguchi and Master Wato in 7:05. SANADA countered Taguchi's ankle-lock attempt and caught him in a backward bridging pin, taking the actual fall rather than merely having his team credited with a generic win. This was a short non-title six-man and had no connection to the NEVER six-man belts changing hands in the next bout. It also did not decide the IWGP Junior Heavyweight singles belt later won by El Desperado. The C grade places the match in its undercard role, while the sequence leading to SANADA's cradle gives the result enough individual detail to avoid interchangeable criticism about a match's position in the running order.

House of Torture's EVIL, SHO and Yujiro Takahashi defeated Hirooki Goto, Tomohiro Ishii and YOSHI-HASHI in 13:46 to take the NEVER Openweight Six-Man Tag Team Championship. EVIL pinned YOSHI-HASHI with Everything Is EVIL after interference from Dick Togo and weapon attacks helped tip the bout. The outgoing CHAOS trio were defending champions, so this result was a genuine title switch rather than another Bullet Club undercard win. Contemporary reviews were critical of the amount of interference, an important reason not to assume a strong work-rate verdict simply from championship stakes. The B- assessment acknowledges the historical six-man title change and feud consequences while distinguishing it from the individual junior and United States title switches later in the Osaka event.

Toru Yano kept the provisional KOPW 2021 trophy against Great-O-Khan in a six-minute amateur-rules contest decided on points, 6-5. Unlike Yano's 2020 provisional KOPW defense against Zack Sabre Jr., this finish did not come through a wrestling count-out or a referee-counted pinfall. The competitors wrestled two three-minute periods under amateur scoring, with Great-O-Khan leading 4-1 after the first and Yano recovering to take a one-point advantage before time expired. The C+ appraisal recognizes a memorable change of format, but its rules make it a different type of attraction from the three championship matches following it. Yano retained the provisional prize; the match did not transfer any IWGP title or create a new NEVER champion.

El Desperado defeated Robbie Eagles by submission in 18:20 to take the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Championship at Power Struggle 2021. Eagles had attacked Desperado's leg, and both wrestlers continued to target each other's lower limbs through the title match. Desperado finally secured the Numero Dos, a variation of the Stretch Muffler that also traps the arms, forcing the reigning champion to submit. This was a genuine singles title change, not a successful Eagles defense or the junior tag result from the undercard. The B grade gives credit to the physical submission exchanges and the clear championship consequence while recognizing that the match was shorter than the three singles encounters that followed. The result made Desperado one of three new champions crowned in Osaka that evening.

KENTA defeated defending IWGP United States Heavyweight Champion Hiroshi Tanahashi in 23:44, finishing with the Go 2 Sleep after driving Tanahashi into an exposed corner. The match included a High Fly Flow from Tanahashi through a ringside table, but KENTA survived and later stopped the champion's final run. The U.S. belt actually changed hands; this was not merely a challenge-rights certificate bout like KENTA's appearance in Power Struggle 2020, when he defeated Tanahashi to keep a future opportunity. The B score reflects a long contest with a decisive outcome and memorable table spot even as its tempo drew a more mixed response than the junior title match. KENTA left Osaka with the title rather than simply retaining a contractual right.

Kazuchika Okada defeated Tama Tonga with the Rainmaker in 25:13 to retain the Tokyo Dome challenge-rights certificate earned through his G1 Climax 31 victory. Tonga had beaten Okada during the G1, giving this rematch a direct reason beyond simply occupying the semi-main-event position. The wrestlers countered their signature moves repeatedly before Okada struck with a sit-out Tombstone and then the Rainmaker. The B+ assessment recognizes the long competitive match and the importance of the future world-title opportunity, but it was not a championship defense: Shingo Takagi held the IWGP World Heavyweight belt at the time and defended it against Zack Sabre Jr. in the main event. Okada left with his challenge right intact, not with the title belt.

Shingo Takagi retained the IWGP World Heavyweight Championship against Zack Sabre Jr. after 30:27, pinning the challenger following Last of the Dragon. Sabre pursued Takagi's arm with submissions, including an armbar off the ropes and a later spinning Zack Driver that almost ended the bout; Takagi survived, eventually landing Last of the Dragon to close the longest match on the Osaka card. This was a retention, different from three preceding title changes: House of Torture won the NEVER six-man belts, El Desperado took the junior heavyweight title and KENTA captured the United States title. G1 winner Kazuchika Okada then confronted Takagi, linking the successful defense to the next Tokyo Dome championship program. The B+ grade reflects a long main event with a real, separately identified title holder and a definite finishing pin.