Master Wato will take the place of KUSHIDA, who is still recovering from illness, at Monday’s NJPW Declaration of Power event.
As announced earlier this week, KUSHIDA was pulled from the card as he continues to recover from hand, foot, and mouth disease. Master Wato will take his place in the previously billed non-title match with Junior Heavyweight Champion Taiji Ishimori.
That change also impacts a four-on-four tag match in which Wato was originally due to compete. Dick Togo will also drop out of that match, which will now involve Hiroshi Tanahashi, Hikuleo & Ryusuke Taguchi taking on EVIL, Yujiro Takahashi & SHO.
The official New Japan Pro Wrestling website states:
Yesterday the announcement was made that as a result of his continuing recovery from illness, KUSHIDA will not be able to wrestle his scheduled singles match with Taiji Ishimori on Monday October [10th] in Ryogoku.
In the wake of the decision, Master Wato would issue his own challenge to Ishimori, suggesting that the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Champion ‘assess’ someone different. Ishimori accepted the non-title challenge, and now the match is official for Ryogoku!
As a result, what was an eight man contest now becomes six in the third match of the night, with Hikuleo, Ryusuke Taguchi and Hiroshi Tanahashi set to take on HOUSE OF TORTURE.
Latest card for Declaration of Power, at Ryogoku Sumo Hall, Tokyo:
- IWGP World Heavyweight Championship: Jay White (c) vs. Tama Tonga
- Kazuchika Okada vs. JONAH
- Provisional KOPW ‘Who’s Your Daddy?’ match: Shingo Takagi vs. El Phantasmo
- Taiji Ishimori vs. Master Wato
- Tetsuya Naito, SANADA, Hiromu Takahashi & BUSHI vs. Will Ospreay, Aaron Henare, TJP & Francesco Akira
- Hirooki Goto & YOSHI-HASHI vs. The Great-O-Khan & Jeff Cobb
- Hiroshi Tanahashi, Hikuleo & Ryusuke Taguchi vs. EVIL, Yujiro Takahashi & SHO
- Zack Sabre Jr. & Taichi vs. Shane Haste & Bad Dude Tito
- David Finlay, Robbie Eagles & Ren Narita vs. El Desperado, Yoshinobu Kanemaru & DOUKI
