El Desperado taking leave of absence from NJPW to undergo meniscus surgery

El Desperado is taking time off.

NJPW announced on Monday that Desperado would be taking a leave of absence to undergo surgery to repair a medial meniscus injury that has affected him for the past six months.

According to NJPW’s website, Desperado made the announcement on his YouTube channel. He felt that between his match with Chris Brookes in DDT on Sunday and the G1 Climax tournament starting, now was the best time to take time off and focus on regaining the IWGP Junior Heavyweight title. 

The website wrote:

Desperado stated that with the G1 Climax seeing heavyweights take center stage, everything aligned for him to take time off after wrestling Chris Brookes. Desperado stated that he still gave it all he had in the first half of the year and was satisfied with his performance, but with a view to continuing to operate at ‘over 100%’ the time had come to take surgery and take an indefinite leave before returning ‘to take the title back, win next year’s Best of the Super Jr. and do more things to inspire’.

Desperado had won this year’s Best of the Super Juniors tournament and defeated SHO to win the IWGP Junior Heavyweight title at NJPW Soul on June 16. However, he lost the title in his first defense against DOUKI in a match that took place on July 5.