Claudio Castagnoli wants to teach Shingo Takagi a lesson.
Castagnoli vs. Takagi is official for NJPW’s Destruction in Kobe card, which is scheduled to take place on September 27.
Takagi initially called for a match against Castagnoli last month. Following a poor G1 showing from the former IWGP champ, winning just four of his nine bouts, he blamed the run on Castagnoli. Takagi said a tag loss he suffered on AEW programming with Castagnoli threw off his rhythm, and thus caused his bad tournament run.
Castagnoli responded to Takagi’s call-out during Wednesday’s Road to Destruction broadcast.
“Shingo. I don’t speak Japanese, but I understood every word of your message to me,” Castagnoli said. “It was ‘Wah, wah, wah wah wah wah wah wah wah.’ You want me to come to Kobe to teach you another lesson? No problem. Judging by what you said, that means you’ll have another two years of bad luck coming afterwards. Be careful what you wish for, little man. In Kobe, I’ll show you who the boss is.”
Shingo Takagi's challenge for 9/27 in Kobe has been answered!
A message from @claudioCSRO!#njdest pic.twitter.com/rFtmfyoFpO
— NJPW Global (@njpwglobal) September 9, 2026
While Takagi and Castagnoli have shared the ring three times before, including during a 2007 ROH card, the upcoming booking will be their first time in a one-on-one match.
With Castagnoli vs. Takagi in the lineup, here’s an updated look at NJPW’s show in Kobe:
- Claudio Castagnoli vs. Shingo Takagi
- Konosuke Takeshita vs. Shun Skywalker (NJPW World Television Championship)
- Aaron Wolf, Taichi & Yuya Uemura vs. Hartley Jackson, Kosei Fujita & Ryohei Oiwa
- Jeff Cobb vs. Callum Newman
- Gabe Kidd vs. Drilla Moloney (IWGP Global Heavyweight Championship)
- Yota Tsuji vs. Hirooki Goto (IWGP Heavyweight Championship)
