Quoted By:
>After that, there’s one more thing I want to do. If you read the Tokyo Sports this morning, you would have seen that I plan to take the IWGP World Heavyweight Championship and return it to what it was, to separate it once more. The reason for that is simply to restore the value of the IWGP title. I feel strongly that NJPW, the cerulean blue ring has the best professional wrestling in the world. But when it comes to scale, comes to budget, there’s WWE, then AEW, then NJPW. So where can NJPW compete and beat those companies? It’s in the value of our brand and our wrestling.
>NJPW is in the competition in the ring, and it’s in the heart and the spirit our wrestlers show. It’s in matches that have fans inspired and ready to take on challenges in their own lives. And the pinnacle of that competition is in the IWGP. Right now, we have the IWGP World Heavyweight Championship, which was composed of the IWGP Heavyweight and Intercontinental Championships. But now, with the IWGP US title retired, we now have a new Global Championship. It’s created a lot of questions about the value of the top IWGP Championship is.
>I want to make it exactly clear just how much IWGP means. That means I should take the IWGP World Heavyweight title, separate it again, officially retire the Intercontinental belt, and carry the IWGP Heavyweight. Lead us into a new era while properly respecting the lineage that came before. But that’s all after I beat Naito. First I have to beat him, and it would mean a lot to defeat Tetsuya Naito in order to achieve my goals’.
