Hiromu Takahashi’s title reign has come to an end.
Back at Wrestle Kingdom 14, Hiromu was once again on top of the mountain as the 30-year-old beat Will Ospreay to regain the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Championship. This is coming off a serious neck injury that sidelined the Los Ingobernables de Japon member for over a year.
Takahashi lost the belt to another veteran, Taiji Ishimori. Coming in, the then IWGP Junior Heavyweight Champion wasn’t 100% as Takahashi had an injured shoulder. Ishimori didn’t hesitate to target the bad shoulder by using various strikes and submissions on the Takahashi.
Takahashi had short bursts of comebacks throughout the match-up; however, the injured shoulder derailed him from fully gaining momentum. The former champion came extremely close to retaining his title by connecting with his finisher, Time Bomb, but Ishimori kicked out at the very last minute.
A frustrated Takahashi went for another Time Bomb, but Ishimori hit an inverted DDT and then put him in the Bone lock – which is a crossface submission – which ultimately forced Takahashi to tap out. This the second time that Ishimori has held the IWGP Junior Heavyweight title.