Minoru Suzuki diagnosed with concussion after match stopped due to in-ring accident

Japanese wrestling legend Minoru Suzuki has been diagnosed with a concussion after his match on Saturday was stopped due to an in-ring accident.

Suzuki wrestled for Tenryu Project at their Osaka Crush Night show on July 6. In a statement issued by the promotion, it was announced that the match was stopped at the referee’s discretion after an accident occurred with Suzuki. He was taken to the hospital, where he was examined and diagnosed with a concussion. Suzuki was allowed to leave the hospital and Tenryu Project said they will monitor his condition over the next few days.

The statement said Suzuki is able to walk and talk properly. He has not shown any significant symptoms and did not suffer any bleeding in the head or other areas.

In a social media post, the 56-year-old Suzuki assured fans that there’s no need to worry. He remembers everything about the match including when he “fell at the end.” Suzuki said a CT scan was done and there were no particular problems found.

The match was Suzuki, Kengo & YASSHI defending their Tenryu Project WAR Six-Man Tag Team titles against Tomohiro Ishii, Yuji Hino & Don Fujii. It was a two-out-of-three falls match that ended in a 1-1 draw when it was stopped. As a result, the champions retained their titles. Tenryu Project said they will do their best to arrange a rematch.

Referee Keigo Yoshino tweeted that Suzuki didn’t respond to calls before the start of the third fall and appeared to have lost consciousness. He regained consciousness and wanted to continue, but the decision was made to stop the match. Suzuki was able to joke around backstage after but was taken to the hospital to be evaluated.

Tenryu Project apologized for the match having to be called off but said they hope fans understand that protecting the wrestlers is the most important thing. The promotion thanked everyone who acted quickly to deal with the situation.