NJPW has a new IWGP World Heavyweight Champion, and his name is Yota Tsuji.
Tsuji got past AEW’s Konosuke Takeshita in a nearly 30-minute epic on Sunday night, submitting him to earn NJPW’s top title in the co-main event of Wrestle Kingdom 20 inside the Tokyo Dome.
Tsuji showed resilience in the fight, surviving many of Takeshita’s top moves: A Raging Fire, Blue Thunder Bomb, then another Blue Thunder Bomb off the top rope all wasn’t enough to take him down. Takeshita, to his credit, consumed numerous big blows in the fight prior to the finishing sequence as well.
Deep into the contest, Tsuji and Takeshita crawled to opposing corners of the ring and agreed to settle things in a classic shootout. Charging at eachother in full force, Tsuji was able to catch Takeshita with his Gene Blast spear. Then, in a statement, he locked in the Boston Crab submission to get the tap in 29 minutes.
Takeshita earned the IWGP World Heavyweight Championship in October, overcoming Zack Sabre Jr. in a 31-minute main event at Ryogoku Kokugikan. He earned the opportunity after prevailing in last summer’s G1 Climax, racking up nine wins over a month-long period.
Along with the prestigious top title Takeshita brought to this weekend’s match, Tsuji was also wagering his IWGP Global Heavyweight Championship, making it a title-versus-title bout.
The biggest win of Tsuji’s career had a short-lived post-match celebration, as he was attacked in the ring by Jake Lee. The former GHC Heavyweight Champion made his in-ring return earlier on the card, aligning himself with United Empire and working his first match in over a year.
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)
- Aaron Wolf def. EVIL (NEVER Openweight Championship) (12:53)
- Yota Tsuji def. Konosuke Takeshita (IWGP World Heavyweight Championship & IWGP Global Heavyweight Championship) (29:19)
Still to come
- Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. Kazuchika Okada
