On today’s Castle Attack event NJPW had three different titles on the line as Kota Ibushi defended the IWGP Heavyweight Championship, while Guerrilas Of Destiny (Tama Tonga & Tanga Loa) defended their IWGP Heavyweight Tag Team Championships. In the other title match on the night the vacant IWGP Heavyweight Championship was on the line in a three-way match between Desperado, BUSHI, and El Phantasmo. The title was vacated by Hiromu Takahashi as he is out with an injury.
El Desperado Wins IWGP Jr Heavyweight Championship for the First Time
El Desperado emerged as the winner of the bout when he pinned El Phantasmo after 23 minutes. This is Desperado’s first singles title win in NJPW, it is also the first of his career as he never even won the GHC Jr Heavyweight title during his stint in Pro Wrestling NOAH. Desperado as champion presents a fresh face at the top of the Jr division with a number of relatively unique matchups available to Desperado as champion.
El Desperado is now a double champion as he and Yoshinobu Kanemaru are also the IWGP Jr Heavyweight Tag Team Champions, with Desperado holding both titles they run the risk of overexposing one of their divisions best performers, especially as the division has so few credible challengers they will run out of fresh feuds quickly.
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