Francesco Akira debuts at NJPW Hyper Battle, joins United Empire

Francesco Akira made his debut at tonight’s NJPW Hyper Battle event, confronting El Desperado.

After Desperado successfully defended the title against SHO, Taiji Ishimori came out and challenged Desperado for a title match. Before Desperado could reply, the lights went out. When they came back on, Akira was in the ring. He directed his attention to Desperado, telling him that he would see him at Best of the Super Juniors while holding a lighter. After he left, Desperado accepted Ishimori’s challenge.

A vignette was uploaded to NJPW’s YouTube account last month showing Will Ospreay promoting a new junior heavyweight by the name of Bruciare, which means “burn” in Italian.

Akira, 22, is best known for his run in All Japan Pro Wrestling, winning the World Junior Heavyweight Championship once and won last year’s Jr. Battle of Glory tournament. He last wrestled for the company in September of last year and since has worked in Europe, including Revolution Pro Wrestling.