SANADA is your new IWGP World Heavyweight Champion.
Saturday’s NJPW Sakura Genesis event was headlined by SANADA pulling off a major upset to defeat Kazuchika Okada for the IWGP World Heavyweight Title.
SANADA previously earned the title shot by winning the 2023 New Japan Cup. He finished Okada off with his new Deadfall move for the pin. After the match, SANADA was challenged by IWGP Junior Heavyweight Champion Hiromu Takahashi. SANADA’s Just Five Guys stablemate Yoshinobu Kanemaru then interrupted and demanded a shot at Takahashi’s IWGP Junior Heavyweight Title, before the Hiromu vs. SANADA title match happens.
This is SANADA’s first reign with the title. Okada began his second reign at Wrestle Kingdom 17 on January 4, by defeating Jay White. He held the strap for 94 recognized days.
SANADA vs. Okada went 26 minutes and 58 seconds, according to NJPW. This was the 10th match between SANADA and Okada, going back to May 2016. Going into the match, Okada was up 8-1 in their series. His last win over SANADA was their final match before today, which was at the NJPW G1 Climax Day 10 event on October 4, 2021. The bout before that was their last title match before today, which saw Okada retain the IWGP Heavyweight Title on October 14, 2019 at the NJPW King of Pro Wrestling event. Before today, SANADA’s only win in the series came on August 3, 2019 at the NJPW G1 Climax Day 13 event.
Below are several shots from today’s title change at Sumo Hall in Tokyo, Japan:
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