At today’s NJPW Wrestling Hi No Kuni event in Kumamoto, Los Ingobernables de Japon leader Tetsuya Naito completed the LIJ clean sweep of Suzuki-Gun by defeating Minoru Suzuki to win his second IWGP Intercontinental Championship. It came following BUSHI‘s victory of El Desperado, Hiromu Takahashi defeating Yoshinobu Kanemaru and EVIL & Sanada defending the IWGP Tag Team titles against Killer Elite Squad‘s Lance Archer & Davey Boy Smith Jr. Following the victory, Naito refused to even acknowledge the belt he’d beaten Suzuki for, almost as if the belt was an afterthought in his quest to simply annoy Suzuki himself.
#AndNEW: Tetsuya Naito Wins IWGP Intercontinental Championship
Naito’s the only guy in the industry who would challenge for a title he doesn’t covet, but rather for the pain that winning it would cause someone. Beautiful. #njdontaku pic.twitter.com/DaraWA3FGC
— Jude Kilgour (@judekilgour) April 25, 2018
Considering Naito’s disdain for the Intercontinental belt during his first reign, a 259-day stretch that began in September 2016 when he defeated Michael Elgin at NJPW Destruction in Kobe and ran through to his loss to Hiroshi Tanahashi at last June’s NJPW Dominion, it will be interesting to see if Naito keeps the belt or relinquishes it. Either way, it appears the LIJ feud against Suzuki-Gun may still not be over.
Here's @s_d_naito trying to pay with his #IWGP IC title. #LOSINGOBERNABLESdeJAPON pic.twitter.com/WzCkOBKjh1
— Kevin Kelly (@realkevinkelly) May 30, 2017
