Defunct Title Restored To NJPW By New Champion

A new champion in NJPW has gone back in time to bring back a much-missed championship in the promotion.

At Wrestle Kingdom 15 in 2021, the landscape changed massively in New Japan Pro Wrestling. That show was headlined by Kota Ibushi and Tetsuya Naito, with Ibushi winning both the IWGP Heavyweight and Intercontinental Championships.

Those titles were then combined to become the IWGP World Heavyweight Championship, which was considered an entirely new title by NJPW. This caused upset with a lot of fans as the original heavyweight title had lineage stretching back to the 1980s.

At Wrestle Kingdom 20, Yota Tsuji put his IWGP Global Title on the line against IWGP World Heavyweight Champion Konosuke Takeshita, whose title was also up for grabs. Tsuji had teased Takeshita about never being part of NJPW before and utilised a Boston Crab – the first move taught to NJPW’s Young Lions – to force Takeshita to submit.

Yota Tsuji Brings Back Beloved NJPW Title

Now, one day later at New Year’s Dash, Yota Tsuji has resurrected the original IWGP Heavyweight Championship, showing off that title belt. Therefore, it seems there are no plans to unify that title with the Global Title that he also still holds.

Wrestle Kingdom also saw the final match of Hiroshi Tanahashi’s legendary career. John Cena has paid his own unique tribute to the icon who has retired just weeks after Cena did the same.