IWGP HEAVYWEIGHT & INTERCONTINENTAL CHAMPIONSHIP MATCH
EVIL (C) v. HIROMU TAKAHASHI
RECENT HISTORY
SINGLES
OVERALL
IWGP HEAVYWEIGHT AND JUNIOR HEAVYWEIGHT CHAMPIONSHIPS
- The IWGP Heavyweight Championship hasn’t been defended against the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Champion since Kizuna Road in 2013 when Prince Devitt was defeated by Kazuchika Okada.
HEAD TO HEAD
- Between 2011 and 2013, Hiromu Takahashi defeated Takaaki Watanabe (now EVIL) a staggering 20 times in singles competition and Takaaki Watanabe never defeated Hiromu Takahashi. Of course, EVIL has been different since his return from excursion and again different since his return from NJPW’s COVID-19 Hiatus.
NEVER OPENWEIGHT CHAMPIONSHIP MATCH
SHINGO TAKAGI (C) V. EL DESPERADO
NEVER OPENWEIGHT CHAMPIONSHIP
- The NEVER Openweight Championship has changed hands in 42% of the times it’s been defended. Shingo’s two defenses put him in the top half of NEVER Openweight champions with as many or more title defenses than 14 of the 28 champions who held the title before him.
- Only five men have successfully defended the NEVER Openweight championship three times or more, Katsuyori Shibata, Hirooki Goto, Masato Tanaka, Tomohiro Ishii, and Minoru Suzuki.
- This will be El Desperado’s first NJPW singles title match for a championship other than the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Championship. He has unsuccessfully challenged for the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Championship four times.
RECENT HISTORY
SINGLES
OVERALL
HEAD TO HEAD
- Shingo Takagi and El Desperado have never faced each other in singles competition. They have faced each other 16 times in multi person matches but neither man has ever pinned or submitted the other.
SPECIAL SINGLES MATCH
KAZUCHIKA OKADA V. YUJIRO TAKAHASHI
RECENT HISTORY
SINGLES
OVERALL
- Kazuchika Okada’s 11 singles victories in the last 365 days are the most in NJPW.
- Yujiro Takahashi’s lone singles victory over the past 365 days was against Misterioso Jr in Durham, North Carolina on the New Beginning In USA tour.
HEAD TO HEAD
- Kazuchika Okada and Yujiro Takahashi have faced each other twice in singles matches, during the G1 Climax in 2014 and 2015. Okada was victorious in both matches.