Yota Tsuji Talks Potentially Not Defending The IWGP Heavyweight Title At AEW X NJPW Forbidden Door: I Have To Protect Its Value

Yota Tsuji discusses potentially not defending the IWGP Heavyweight title at AEW x NJPW Forbidden Door, wanting to protect the title.

Since the inception of the AEW x NJPW Forbidden Door event, championships of both AEW and NJPW have been defended at the event, with crossover bouts being popular at the event, including multiple IWGP Heavyweight title matches. Now, the current champion has flirted with the idea of skipping the pay-per-view.

While speaking to Tokyo Sports in a new interview, Yota Tsuji would speak about the upcoming pay-per-view, noting that he may skip the event to ‘protect’ the IWGP Heavyweight title’s value.

“I think we must firmly protect what New Japan Pro Wrestling must not lose. Look back at the past. There were 4-way matches, open challenges, and retired wrestlers challenging… Do you think I would participate in an IWGP match when it’s being treated like this in FD? As the man who revived the IWGP Heavyweight Championship, I have to protect its value.”

As of this writing, the IWGP Heavyweight Champion does not have a match set for Forbidden Door.

At NJPW Dominion this past weekend, Yota would capture the championship for the second time, defeating Callum Newman to reclaim the title. You can read more about that here.