AZM vs. Mayu Iwatani for IWGP Women’s Title Set for NJPW Wrestle Kingdom 19

Sunday’s NJPW x Stardom Historic X-Over II event in Osaka, Japan featured one new match announced for the card of New Japan Pro Wrestling’s Wrestle Kingdom 19 event on January 4, 2025 at the Tokyo Dome in Tokyo, Japan.

This new match was an IWGP Women’s Championship match of AZM vs. Mayu Iwatani (c).

This match was setup following Iwatani defeating Momo Watanabe to retain her title. Following the match, Iwatani grabbed a microphone and praised Watanabe which led to Watanabe responding back in angry claiming that she will defeat Iwatani one day in the future. After Watanabe left, Iwatani continued her speech and talked about how she was not able to compete at the Tokyo Dome this year. Iwatani stated that she wants to do so next year at Wrestle Kingdom 19 and issued an open challenge for a match at the show. This led to AZM coming out and accepted the challenge. AZM then looked at Stardom President Taro Okada who was seated at ringside. Okada nodded in approval making the match official.

【11.17大阪大会・第7試合後】

「来年の1.4はこのベルトを賭けて試合がしたいです！」
IWGP女子王者・岩谷が1.4東京ドーム大会での防衛戦を要求！

AZMが次期挑戦者に名乗り上げ!!

★新日本プロレス・スマホサイトで詳報中！https://t.co/0v3He7lXtn#NJPWxSTARDOM pic.twitter.com/GuVVtCD4bz

— 新日本プロレスリング株式会社 (@njpw1972) November 17, 2024

Current card for NJPW Wrestle Kingdom 19:

• IWGP World Heavyweight Championship – Shota Umino vs. Zack Sabre Jr. (c)
• IWGP Junior Heavyweight Championship – El Desperado vs. DOUKI (c)
• IWGP Global Heavyweight Championship – Yota Tsuji vs. David Finlay (c)
• IWGP Women’s Championship – AZM vs. Mayu Iwatani (c)
• NJPW World Television Championship 3-Way match – Jeff Cobb vs. Ryohei Oiwa vs. SHO (c)
• NEVER Openweight Championship – Konosuke Takeshita vs. Shingo Takagi (c)
• IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Championship Four-way match – Ichiban Sweet Boys (Kosei Fujita & Robbie Eagles) vs. Catch 2/2 (Francesco Akira & TJP) vs. Bullet Club War Dogs (Drilla Moloney & Clark Connors) vs. Intergalactic Jet Setters (Kevin Knight & KUSHIDA) (c)
• Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. EVIL