Lumberjack stipulation proposed for IWGP World Heavyweight title match

A stipulation has been proposed for SANADA and EVIL’s upcoming IWGP World Heavyweight Championship match.

SANADA is defending the title against EVIL at NJPW Destruction in Ryogoku on Monday, October 9. At a press conference on Tuesday, SANADA suggested that the bout be a lumberjack match.

Though SANADA is champion, EVIL is currently in possession of the IWGP World Heavyweight title belt after stealing it from SANADA last month. EVIL even released a T-shirt commemorating his fake title reign.

The explanation for the lumberjack stipulation was that SANADA proposed it so their title match would be fair. SANADA said he knows House of Torture would interfere in the match anyway, so the lumberjack stipulation would allow both House of Torture and Just Five Guys to be at ringside from the start.

This might not be fitting of an IWGP World Heavyweight Championship match, but I would like to propose lumberjacks for our title match. He stole the title from me and there’s been nothing but interference in all our matches. He was once my best tag team partner, and I always felt it a goal of mine that we should go one on one for the world title. I want this to be a fair fight, so let’s make it a Lumberjack Match.

EVIL said he would think about the stipulation.

SANADA and EVIL were formerly tag team partners in Los Ingobernables de Japon. SANADA is currently part of Just Five Guys with Taichi, DOUKI, Yoshinobu Kanemaru, and TAKA Michinoku. EVIL is the leader of House of Torture, which also includes SHO, Dick Togo, and Yujiro Takahashi.

Here’s the current lineup for Destruction in Ryogoku:

  • IWGP World Heavyweight Champion SANADA defends against EVIL
  • IWGP Junior Heavyweight Champion Hiromu Takahashi defends against Mike Bailey and Lio Rush in a three-way match
  • NEVER Openweight Champion David Finlay defends against Tama Tonga
  • Strong Openweight Tag Team Champions Gabe Kidd & Alex Coughlin defend against El Phantasmo & Hikuleo
  • IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Champions Clark Connors & Drilla Moloney defend against KUSHIDA & Kevin Knight
  • Tanga Loa vs. Chase Owens
  • Best-of-seven series finale: Shota Umino, Master Wato & Yuji Nagata vs. Ren Narita, El Desperado & Minoru Suzuki
  • NEVER Openweight Six-Man Tag Team Champions Kazuchika Okada, Hiroshi Tanahashi & Tomohiro Ishii defend against Josh Alexander, Alex Shelley & Chris Sabin