Will Ospreay Injured, Vacates IWGP World Heavyweight Championship

New Japan Pro-Wrestling announced today that Will Ospreay has suffered a neck injury – and as a result, has been forced to vacate the IWGP World Heavyweight Championship.

New Japan revealed that Ospreay suffered a neck injury during his match with Shingo Takagi on the May 4th Wrestling Dontaku event in Fukuoka – a match that saw him retain the IWGP World Heavyweight title that he’d only just won from Kota Ibushi a month earlier at Sakura Genesis.

Ospreay has returned to the UK for treatment and rehabilitation on the injury, of which no additional details were available at time of writing. Announcements regarding the status of the now-vacated title will follow.

You would assume the title situation would be clarified at the upcoming Dominion show on June 6 in Osaka – with New Japan having announced that they’ll be returning with shows starting this Saturday in Aichi, before a run of shows on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday from Korakuen Hall.

Will Ospreay sustains neck injury; to vacate IWGP World Heavyweight Championshiphttps://t.co/u3RAwkbyzV#njpw pic.twitter.com/UlWMVstp4z

— NJPW Global (@njpwglobal) May 20, 2021