Change Made To IWGP Junior Heavyweight Title Match At NJPW Destruction In Ryogoku

Hiromu Takahashi has a new opponent for his IWGP Junior Heavyweight Championship defense at NJPW Destruction In Ryogoku. As previously reported, Lio Rush was among those pulled from yesterday’s NJPW Road to Destruction event in Sendai. NJPW announced that Rush will not be part of the Destruction in Ryogoku show, where he was to face Mike Bailey and Takahashi for the the latter’s championship. Instead, it was announced at a press event that YOH will compete in Rush’s place.

The announcement reads:

YOH to take Lio Rush’s place in Ryogoku Junior three way
YOH to jump in as Rush’s absence announced
At a special pre Destruction in Ryogoku press conference today in Tokyo, a big change was made to the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Championship three way match between Lio Rush, Hiromu Takahashi and Mike Bailey.

Bailey’s international commitments have meant the challenger will arrive in Japan hours before his title match, making preview tags leading up to Destruction in Ryogoku contested between Takahashi and Rush. Earlier this week though, Rush fell ill and had been absent from final dates on the road to Destruction, raising questions over his status. In the midst of this confusion, IWGP Junior Heavyweight Champion Hiromu Takahashi crashed the public contract signing, seemingly content with staging a press conference by himself, only to be interrupted by YOH.

Popcorn in hand, YOH took a seat with the fans, as Takahashi admitted losing to the CHAOS member 24 hours earlier in Miyagi. Hiromu told the crowd that he planned to defend his title in the three way at Ryogoku before accepting the challenge of YOH, but YOH had other plans. Telling the champion that his tag team partner was out of the running for Ryogoku, YOH commented ‘We can’t help getting sick sometimes, and Lio got sick. He can’t wrestle. So that said, put me in his place in the three way match!’

Hiromu didn’t need much time to consider things, and with Chairman Sugabayashi mute through the whole encounter, took silence for permission. As Takahashi vowed to surpass the defence record with the junior heavyweight gold, he now has to do it with a different match environment, and perhaps even more unpredictability tomorrow in Sumo Hall.