NJPW issued the following:
Hiromu vacates, three strive for IWGP Junior Heavyweight gold
Championship situation still up in the air after Korakuen Hall
Before action could start on February 25’s Road to Castle Attack card in Korakuen Hall, Hiromu Takahashi got the evening started with an emotional address to fans in attendance. Confirming to the crowd that his left pectoral tear has rendered him unable to make his scheduled defence Sunday at Castle Attack, Hiromu reasserted his dream to wear junior heavyweight gold and win the heavyweight title in prime time in a Tokyo Dome main event. Ultimately though, declaring he wanted ‘no regrets in his wrestling life’, Hiromu would relinquish his championship belt to chairman Naoki Sugabayashi ‘for the sake of the junior heavyweight division’ before requesting that BUSHI take his place opposite El Phantasmo in Sunday’s Osaka bout.
The main event however would add a wrinkle to Hiromu’s request. In a thrilling main event for the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag team Championships, a Pinche Loco from El Desperado to number one contender El Phantasmo led to Suzuki-Gun recapturing the tag gold. After the bout, Desperado was apparently not satisfied with one set of belts.
‘You and BUSHI? Really?’ Desperado would ask, before declaring that ‘however you look at this whole thing, I’m next, not BUSHI.’ Desperado said that either a three way should take place at Castle Attack, or that he should face the winner next Thursday in the Nippon Budokan at Anniversary, before being silenced by ELP’s Sudden Death.
In response, BUSHI would hit a Codebreaker to Phantasmo before declaring that since ‘Hiromu named me, I have to do this’. Promising that he would win for Hiromu and for himself, it seems that the junior heavyweight title scene is a crowded one headed into the weekend. What will happen?
