All Japan Pro Wrestling (AJPW) recently concluded its 49th Anniversary tour. In the final event, AJPW hosted a show that featured two title matches. One of those title matches was a title change in the bout between defending GAORA TV Champion, Shuji Ishikawa against Shigehiro Irie.
Shigehiro Irie Captures GAORA TV Championship
「夢見ることができればそれは、実現できる。」
この言葉を信じて戦い続けました。
石川選手は本当に強かった。
でもなんとか勝つことができた。
本当に皆さんありがとうございました。そして僕は全日本プロレスでチャンピオンになりましたよ。
見てくれてるかな…🔵#ajpw pic.twitter.com/QFYfuPMLm6— Shigehiro Irie（入江茂弘）🍯 (@tachimukau_irie) October 31, 2021
Shigehiro Irie has been on and off in AJPW for the past three years. He’s mainly known for being one of the freelance wrestlers in the Purple Haze Faction. He has stayed relatively inactive in challenging for singles championships in AJPW. Shigehiro Irie named himself #1 Contender for the GAORA TV title after Shuji Ishikawa defeated Daisuke Sekimoto on the October 9 show.
In the main event of this show, Shigehiro Irie and Shuji Ishikawa battled for an almost 20-minute match. With the result of this match being a brand new champion with Shigehiro Irie capturing the GAORA TV Championship. This marks the first-ever championship win in AJPW for Shigehiro Irie. After the match, Irie would celebrate with his stablemates from Purple Haze, with the question left unanswered regarding who his first challenger is.
It is currently unknown who the first challenger is for Shigehiro Irie. With the Real World Tag League starting on November 13th, it’s unlikely he will defend the championship on this tour due to his participation in the tag league with Zeus. Challengers can become apparent on these tours if anyone can get a pin over a champion during these round-robin styles tournaments. Those title matches could happen as early as December 16’s AJPW Prime Night or January’s New Year Wars tour.
Stay tuned to the Last Word on Pro Wrestling for more on this and other stories from around the world of wrestling, as they develop. You can always count on LWOPW to be on top of the major news in the wrestling world. As well as to provide you with analysis, previews, videos, interviews, and editorials on the wrestling world. Make sure to watch All Japan Pro Wrestling on AJPW.TV.
