Champions & Challengers Face Off At Contract Signing
NJPW held a contract signing for the main event matches of Wrestling Dontaku on Thursday. Taiji Ishimori sounded downright cocky when talking about his upcoming match with IWGP Jr. Heavyweight Champion Dragon Lee. Ishimori held up a mask, stolen from Dragon Lee mid-match on Wednesday, saying that he’d return it when he beat Ishimori for the belt.
Dragon Lee said that he has a lot of respect for Ishimori, but that “respect goes out the window,” once the match starts. Lee has yet to pin Ishimori for the title, pinning Bandido in a Three-Way match at G1 Supercard. The two are set to face off in the main event of night 1 of Wrestling Dontaku.
After the Junior Heavyweights, IWGP Heavyweight Champion Kazuchika Okada and Number One Contender SANADA has an almost playful, yet focused energy during their contract signing. The IWGP Heavyweight Champion is looking to be the first to successfully defend the title this year, saying “there have been several champions so far this year but no successful defences. I will absolutely defend this title.”
Okada also expanded on why he chose SANADA as his first defense: “We’re the same age, of the same generation and the match made me realize that this generation can really tear it up. I want to show that again on Saturday.”
SANADA promised to win the title to ring in the Reiwa era in Japan. SANADA also said that he expects Okada and himself to show off sides of themselves that hadn’t been shown in the preliminary tag matches, with Okada indicating that he’ll be pushing SANADA’s buttons to throw him off his game. Okada and SANADA are set to face off in the main event of night 2 of Wrestling Dontaku.
'I ended Heisei as champion winning in Madison Square Garden. I'll start Reiwa with style too, as champion' Kazuchika Okada full of confidence at the contract signing for #njdontaku !https://t.co/uvS80YqTzS pic.twitter.com/kKEJpDPzBl
— NJPW Global (@njpwglobal) May 2, 2019
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