YOH replacing Lio Rush in IWGP Junior Heavyweight Title match at NJPW Destruction in Ryogoku

Photo Courtesy: New Japan Pro-Wrestling

YOH is joining the fray. 

Lio Rush was one of multiple wrestlers that missed recent NJPW events due to an illness. Rush was scheduled to be a part of the three-way for the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Championship at Destruction in Ryogoku on October 9th. 

Rush is not able to participate, so while at the Destruction in Ryogoku press conference, YOH suggested that he take Rush’s place and it was made official

Hiromu Takahashi will defend the IWGP Junior Title against YOH and ‘Speedball’ Mike Bailey in a three-way. 

With YOH being added to the bout, here’s the updated lineup for the final stop of NJPW’s 2023 Destruction tour: 

  • Pre-Show: Ryusuke Taguchi, Tiger Mask, Toru Yano, YOSHI-HASHI & TBA vs. Takahiro Katori, Jun Masaoka, Kengo, Kazuma Sumi & Takeshi Masada
  • DOUKI, Taichi & TBA (New Just 5 Guys member) vs. HOUSE OF TORTURE (Yoshinobu Kanemaru, SHO & Yujiro Takahashi)
  • Los Ingobernables de Japon (BUSHI, Yota Tsuji, Shingo Takagi & Tetsuya Naito) vs. United Empire (Callum Newman, HENARE, Great-O-Khan & Jeff Cobb)
  • NEVER Openweight 6-Man Tag Team Championships: Tomohiro Ishii, Hiroshi Tanahashi & Kazuchika Okada (c) vs. Josh Alexander, Chris Sabin & Alex Shelley
  • Best of 7 Series Final: Master Wato, Shota Umino & Yuji Nagata vs. Strong Style (El Desperado, Ren Narita & Minoru Suzuki)
  • Tanga Loa vs. Chase Owens
  • IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Championships: BULLET CLUB War Dogs (Drilla Moloney & Clark Connors) (c) vs. Kevin Knight & KUSHIDA
  • NJPW STRONG Openweight Tag Team Championships: BULLET CLUB War Dogs (Alex Coughlin & Gabe Kidd) (c) vs. El Phantasmo & Hikuleo
  • NEVER Openweight Championship: David Finlay (c) vs. Tama Tonga
  • IWGP Junior Heavyweight Championship — Three-Way Match: Hiromu Takahashi (c) vs. YOH vs. ‘Speedball’ Mike Bailey
  • IWGP World Heavyweight Championship — Lumberjack Match: SANADA (c) (w/ Just 5 Guys) vs. EVIL (w/ HOUSE OF TORTURE)
About Andrew Thompson 9644 Articles
A Washington D.C. native and graduate of Norfolk State University, Andrew Thompson has been covering wrestling since 2017.