wrestling / News

SANADA Vacates IWGP US Title Due to Injury, Tanahashi vs. Ospreay Set for Vacant Title

April 9, 2022 | Posted by Jeffrey Harris
NJPW SANADA Image Credit: NJPW

As previously reported, IWGP US Heavyweight champion SANADA recently suffered an orbital bone fracture last month, forcing him to miss the rest of the New Japan Cup Tour. During today’s NJPW Hyper Battle event in Ryogoku, SANADA announced that he was relinquishing the title due to injury.

The injured champion requested the belt be returned to its previous holder, Hiroshi Tanahashi, under the condition that the two men could fight for the title when SANADA returns. Will Ospreay then came out and said he should be the one to receive the US title.

Former champion Tanahashi then appeared and said he and Ospreay would settle the issue and face one another for the vacant title on May 1 for Wrestling Dontaku. You can see a video of the in-ring segment of SANADA vacating the title, along with some backstage comments from the wrestlers below:

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NJPW, Sanada, Jeffrey Harris