7 months ago
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NJPW has just wrapped up their annual Sakura Genesis event at Ryogoku Sumo Hall in Tokyo, Japan, and it concluded with Tetsuya Naito retaining the IWGP World Heavyweight Championship. Naito took on his Los Ingobrenables de Japon stablemate Yota Tsuji in the show's main event, who himself won the New Japan Cup to earn a shot at the title. After all was said and done, Naito was ready to do his "LIJ roll call" that he does whenever he closes a NJPW show, but was confronted by his next challenger.
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That next challenger is none other than multi-time AEW World Champion Jon Moxley, who himself was victorious earlier in the night as he and Shota Umino defeated Jack Perry and Ren Narita. Moxley and Naito were already set to face each other at Windy City Riot on April 12 in Chicago, but the bout was supposed to be a non-title affair. However, Moxley issued the challenge to make the match a title bout, to which Naito accepted. The two men have only ever faced each other once in singles action, with Moxley picking up the victory over Naito during the 2019 G1 Climax tournament.
With the bout signed, the Windy City Riot card will now feature four championship defenses when Naito's title is included. Zack Sabre Jr. will challenge Matt Riddle for the NJPW World Television Championship, Stephanie Vaquer will defend the NJPW STRONG Women's Championship against AZM, and the Guerrillas of Destiny will defend the NJPW STRONG Openweight Tag Team Championship against TMDK, The West Coast Wrecking Crew, and the team of Tom Lawlor and Fred Rosser. Elsewhere on the card, Mustafa Ali will go one-on-one with Hiromu Takahashi, Jack Perry will face Shota Umino, Nic Nemeth will face Tomohiro Ishii, and a Riot Rules Match will take place with Eddie Kingston and Gabe Kidd acting as team captains.
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