Late Monday night, New Japan announced that Shinsuke Nakamura will have his final date with the company at their 1/30 “Road to New Beginning” iPPV from Korauken Hall in Tokyo, Japan, where Nakamura will be part of a main event 6-Man Tag, tagging with IWGP Champion Kazuchika Okada & Tomohiro Ishii against Hiroshi Tanahashi, Hirooki Goto and NEVER Champion Katsuyori Shibata.
With this announcement, New Japan also announced that effective immediately, they were stripping Nakamura of his IWGP Intercontinental Championship that he currently held for the company, with a new champion to be crowned at the 2/14 “New Beginning” iPPV in Niigata, Japan between Kenny Omega, who pinned Nakamura in a tag match on the 1/5 New Year’s Dash iPPV, against a mystery opponent. Nakamura held the IWGP Intercontinental Title a record 5 times for New Japan between 2012 and 2016.
Nakamura had confirmed wrestling media reports about his departure from New Japan for the WWE in an interview for Tokyo Sports last week, although Nakamura has yet to officially sign with WWE as of this writing.
Source: NJPW.co.jp