Tetsuya Naito has officially wrestled what appears to be his final match for New Japan Pro Wrestling, for now, closing out nearly two decades with the company.
At Wrestling Dontaku in Fukuoka on Sunday morning, Naito teamed with fellow Los Ingobernables de Japon members BUSHI, Hiromu Takahashi, and Shingo Takagi in an eight-man tag match. They secured the victory over Taichi, Tomohiro Ishii, TAKA Michinoku, and Shota Umino, with Takagi scoring the pinfall on Michinoku.
Following the match, Naito and his teammates raised their hands in victory to a loud ovation from the Fukuoka crowd. As Naito’s music played, the four members performed their signature LIJ salute and posed near the entrance ramp for what may be the final time together.
Later in the night, after Yota Tsuji retained the IWGP Global Championship against Yuya Uemura, the entire LIJ group, including Naito and BUSHI, returned to the ring. The five posed once more before Naito and BUSHI exited. Tsuji addressed the crowd, saying that he doesn’t know if LIJ will continue, but they will always be ingobernable and will always be connected.
The farewell comes after NJPW and Naito failed to agree on terms for a contract renewal. According to Bryan Alvarez of Wrestling Observer on X, financial disagreements played a significant role.
“The impression I have gotten when it comes to Naito is simply that he wanted a lot more money than they were willing to pay him. Good chance this had been awhile in the making,” Alvarez wrote.
Naito debuted in NJPW as a young lion in 2005 and rose to superstardom as the leader of LIJ, capturing multiple titles, including the IWGP World Heavyweight Championship twice.
Why Is WWE Reportedly Not Interested In Signing Tetsuya Naito?
It has been reported that WWE may not look to sign Tetsuya Naito due to concerns about him not passing the company’s physical checks. Naito has had a history of knee injuries throughout his career, and it is felt that those in WWE may believe this may cause problems when coming to pass their medical checks. It has also been reported that AEW may not be interested in signing Naito full-time, and instead may only offer him one-off appearances when the time is right.