Tetsuya Naito wrestles final match under contract at NJPW Wrestling Dontaku
Tetsuya Naito has wrestled his final NJPW match, at least for now.
Naito finished his contractual obligations at Wrestling Dontaku in Fukuoka on Sunday morning. Teaming with another departing star in BUSHI as well as Hiromu Takahashi and Shingo Takagi, LIJ scored the win over Taichi, Tomohiro Ishii, Taka Michinoku, and Shota Umino when Takagi pinned Michinoku.
After the match, the four men raised each other’s hands in victory as the crowd cheered for Naito. The four then did the LIJ salute as Naito’s music played. The four then posed near the entrance ramp one last time before making their exit.
After Yota Tsuji successfully defended his IWGP Global title against Yuya Uemura, the rest of LIJ came out again and all five members posed before Naito and BUSHI made their exit. Tsuji said he didn’t know if LIJ would continue, but they would always be ingovernable and will always be connected.
Fans across the world were stunned when it was announced last month that Naito and NJPW mutually agreed to not renew his contract after negotiations fell through. According to Bryan Alvarez, money issues may have resulted in the two parties parting ways.
“The impression I have gotten when it comes to Naito is simply that he wanted a lot more money than they were willing to pay him. Good chance this had been awhile in the making,” he wrote.
Naito started as a young lion for the company back in 2005. By 2014 he had reached the main event scene, and one year later he became a star by forming the Los Ingobernables de Japon stable. He held the IWGP World title twice, the IWGP Heavyweight title three times, and was inducted into the Wrestling Observer Hall of Fame in 2022.