Juice Robinson & More Announced For IWGP United States #1 Contender's Tournament
New Japan-Pro Wrestling has announced a tournament to determine who will be IWGP United States Champion Kenny Omega's next challenger. The promotion revealed that there will be a mini tournament between four former IWGP United States Champions.
The first match will be between Lance Archer and Juice Robinson on April 16 at the Collision in Philadelphia event. The last time that the two faced each other in singles action, Archer defeated Robinson for the IWGP United States Championship in October 2019.
The second matchup will be between Hiroshi Tanahashi and Will Ospreay on May 21 at Resurgence in Long Beach, California at the Walter Pyramid. In their announcement, NJPW noted how this matchup was originally scheduled for Dontaku in 2022, but was "called off at short notice." As noted, Ospreay is currently recovering from a shoulder injury and shared an update on Saturday, stating that he has "more range of motion" in his shoulder but is still "struggling with strength."
The winner of the match between Archer and Robinson and the winner of the Tanahashi-Ospreay contest will meet at Dominion in Osaka-jō Hall on June 4. Then the winner of that match will get a future shot at Omega's IWGP United States title.
Omega has been the IWGP United States Champion since Wrestle Kingdom 17 in January at the Tokyo Dome where he defeated Ospreay. The former AEW World Champion last successfully defended the title against Jeff Cobb on the March 29 episode of "AEW Dynamite." Omega is in his second title reign, with his first reign with the belt coming back in 2017 when he became the first star to hold the title.