NJPW pulls six wrestlers from event due to COVID-19 protocols

NJPW pulled six wrestlers from today’s New Year’s Golden Series event after one of them had a high temperature. 

The promotion did not announce which of the six wrestlers had the fever, but all six participants from Thursday’s Toru Yano, Satoshi Kojima and Tomoaki Honma vs. Minoru Suzuki, Taichi and TAKA Michinoku tag match were removed from Friday’s event due to contact tracing protocols. 

One match was removed from Friday’s show and three other matches were switched around as a result. 

The New Year’s Golden Series kicked off yesterday with a show at Korakuen Hall in Tokyo. The tour is set to run through February 20, culminating with Kazuchika Okada defending the IWGP World Heavyweight Championship against Tetsuya Naito, a KOPW 2022 match, and a NEVER Six-Man Tag title match on the final night. 

The tour will also feature Hiroshi Tanahashi defending the IWGP United States Heavyweight Championship against SANADA on the penultimate night of the Series.