Francesco Akira will be unable to wrestle on Tuesday’s Best of the Super Juniors card.
NJPW issued a statement that the junior heavyweight has suffered a left knee injury and will be unavailable for the card in Himeji:
Francesco Akira, who was scheduled to wrestle on May 21 in Himeji, has sustained an injury to his left knee and will not compete in his scheduled tag team match.
We apologise to fans who were looking forward to seeing Akira wrestle, and appreciate your understanding.
The following change has been made to the night’s card:
3rd Match: Yota Tsuji & Hiromu Takahashi vs Francesco Akira & Callum Newman-> 1st Match: Yota Tsuji & Hiromu Takahashi vs Shoma Kato & Katsuya Murashima
New Japan Pro-Wrestling joins fans in wishing Francesco Akira a full, fast recovery. Akira’s status for May 22’s group match, and subsequent dates on the Best of the Super Jr. 31 tour will be determined after medical evaluation.
Akira was scheduled for a tag match on the undercard portion of Tuesday’s show and is still being listed for his next B Block match this Wednesday against Hiromu Takahashi.
Akira wrestled on Sunday’s show against Drilla Moloney with Moloney targeting the knee and making it the focus of the short match, which lasted 4:38 when Moloney submitted Akira with a kneebar.
Akira has four points in the B Block with a 2-3 record with four round-robin matches left.
