El Desperado is next in line for the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Championship.
Desperado won a four-way #1 contenders match on Sunday’s NJPW Wrestle Kingdom 20 card, lining himself up for a title match against DOUKI sometime this year.
Desperado overcame Taiji Ishimori, Kosei Fujita and DOUKI ally SHO in a quick seven-minute match, putting away the House of Torture member after landing a Tiger Driver and Pinche Loco.
The theme of the match was SHO attempting to win and protect DOUKI from facing a legitimate title challenger. A referee bump at one point allowed DOUKI and Yoshinbou Kanemaru to interfere with the match, trying to help SHO walk away with the win. However, in for the save were babyface junior heavyweights Robbie Eagles, Robbie X and Kuukai, who took the heels out of the equation with a trio of dives.
The victory lines Desperado up for an eighth singles matchup against DOUKI. They have faced off over a dozen times since 2020, including in a trio of title matchups since 2024. DOUKI’s current run with the belt only started after he took down Desperado back in October in Korakuen Hall.
Results
- Katsuya Murashima & Masatora Yasuda def. Shoma Kato & Tatsuya Matsumoto (6:19) (Pre-show)
- El Phantasmo def. Chris Brookes (NJPW World Television Championship) (11:49) (Pre-show)
- Zack Sabre Jr., Hartley Jackson & Ryohei Oiwa def. Master Wato, Toru Yano & YOH, Ryusuke Taguchi, Tiger Mask & Togi Makabe, Kaisei Takechi, Shota Umino & Yuya Uemura, Hirooki Goto, YOSHI-HASHI & Boltin Oleg, Satoshi Kojima, Taichi & Tomohiro Ishii, Ren Narita, SANADA & Yoshinobu Kanemaru, Clark Connors, OSKAR & Yuto-Ice (NEVER Openweight Six-Man Tag Team Championships) (Rambo Match) (20:46)
- Syuri def. Saya Kamitani (IWGP Women’s Championship & NJPW STRONG Women’s Championship) (12:08)
- Jake Lee, Andrade El Idolo, Callum Newman, Great-O-Khan & HENARE def. David Finlay, Drilla Moloney, Gabe Kidd, Hiromu Takahashi & Shingo Takagi (14:24)
- El Desperado def. Taiji Ishimori, SHO & Kosei Fujita (IWGP Junior Heavyweight Championship #1 Contender Match) (7:38)
Still to come
- EVIL vs. Aaron Wolf (NEVER Openweight Championship)
- Konosuke Takeshita vs. Yota Tsuji (IWGP World Heavyweight Championship & IWGP Global Heavyweight Championship)
- Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. Kazuchika Okada
