New Japan Pro Wrestling issued a statement on Monday night that Michael Elgin is leaving the company after his contract expired on March 31st. The company also announced that young lion Teruaki Kanemitsu is leaving the company.
Elgin started with New Japan in 2015 in the G1 Climax and made an immediate impact as a foreigner. Elgin would rise to become the Intercontinental champion in June 2016 defeating Kenny Omega at Dominion in Osaka. He held the title until September when he dropped it to Tetsuya Naito. The 32-year old also held the NEVER Openweight title and NEVER six-man tag titles and won the New Japan Rumble at Wrestle Kingdom 11 in January 2017.
He had missed a considerable amount of time in 2018 due to a knee injury and recently returned and participated in the New Japan Cup where he lost to Kazuchika Okada in the opening round.
Teruaki Kanemitsu came out of the New Japan Dojo and began wrestling for the company in January 2016. He suffered a cervical spine injury in his rookie year and was out of action for two years. He returned last December and had a match teaming with Ren Narita against Ayato Yoshida and Shota Umino at Korakuen Hall that went to a 15:00 draw. That was his match with the company.
