Junior heavyweight championship action has been added to this weekend’s show in Kobe.
Hiromu Takahashi will bring his newly-earned GHC Junior Heavyweight Championship over to NJPW this weekend, defending the NOAH belt against Taiji Ishimori as part of Sunday’s Destruction in Kobe card.
The last-minute title stipulation for this weekend’s NJPW lineup was made after Ishimori scored a win over Takahashi in six-man tag action at Wednesday’s Road To show in Sapporo. A NJPW web piece mentioned how Ishimori claims he won’t defend the belt in NOAH if he wins, possibly putting an October 11 Ryogoku title matchup against Eita in doubt if he comes up victorious.
Takahashi claimed GHC gold earlier this month when he unseated YO-HEY in a 17-minute battle in Korakuen Hall. Excluding DDT’s Iron Man Heavymetal Championship, it’s the first time Takahashi has earned a non-NJPW title since his brief run with the CMLL World Lightweight Championship in 2016.
For Ishimori, a victory this weekend would continue a storied history he has previously built up with NOAH. The Bullet Club member’s lengthy career with NOAH from 2006 to 2018 included three past reigns with the junior heavyweight championship, including a run which lasted over 400 days in one instance.
Here’s an updated look at this weekend’s NJPW card, which now has five title matchups in total:
- YOH, El Desperado, YOSHI-HASHI, Yuya Uemura & Shota Umino vs. SHO, DOUKI, Dick Togo, SANADA & EVIL
- Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. Great-O-Khan
- Boltin Oleg vs. Don Fale (NEVER Openweight Championship)
- Taichi & Tomohiro Ishii vs. OSKAR & Yuto-Ice (IWGP Tag Team Championships)
- Hiromu Takahashi vs. Taiji Ishimori (GHC Junior Heavyweight Championship)
- Yota Tsuji vs. David Finlay
- Shingo Takagi vs. Gabe Kidd (IWGP Global Heavyweight Championship)
- Zack Sabre Jr. vs. Ren Narita (IWGP World Heavyweight Championship)
