Yota Tsuji is looking to shake things up in New Japan Pro Wrestling.
The Japanese star recently defeated Hirooki Goto in the final of the New Japan Cup. This marked his first cup win of his career, ending Goto’s hopes of a record fourth win.
The win earned him a shot at the IWGP World Heavyweight Championship.Tetsuya Natio currently holds the title, and is Tsuji’s teammate in the Los Ingobernables de Japon faction.
These inter-stable clash will take place at Sakura Genesis on April 6 in the Ryogoku Sumo Hall. It will be Tsuji’s second world title match of his career. He has big plans if he does win the big one.
Speaking with NJPW, Yota Tsuji revealed that if he wins the title, he wants to bring back the fourth-generation version of the belt. This version was replaced by the current title belt by Kota Ibushi in 2021.
“I would want the fourth generation IWGP Heavyweight Championship. And I do want to make this very clear. The World title came about because Tetsuya Naito at first wanted to be double champion, and he achieved that. After he did, there was talk of the unification, and Naito was against that. He fought against it, and he lost. In all honesty, Naito wants that World title he has now to be separated. But his story, the route he took to get here means that he feels he can’t. I plan on doing what he’s unable to.”
Yota Tsuji Wants To Be The Main Figure In LIJ
Later in the same interview, Tsuji was asked about his thoughts about the match between himself and Naito.
He claimed that he did not want to be seen as the leader of the group should he win, but that he wanted his name to be the first one you think of when thinking of LiJ.
“Well, this is a match where we’re both on the same team, so there’s an issue with making the numbers. It’s hard to put a card together, and this is a short series. Plus I think this idea of Tsuji versus Naito should be something special and something we can build excitement for. I’m looking forward to seeing what comes out of that one preview match.”
“I’m not interested in any one of us being the leader. But when anyone casually thinks of LIJ, they think of Tetsuya Naito, then Shingo Takagi, then Yota Tsuji. It’s not about wanting to be the leader, it’s about my name being at the top of people’s lists. It’s about making people think that LIJ equals Yota Tsuji.”
