Juice Robinson Stripped Of NJPW US Championship

Written by Adam Morrison • Published 11th June 2022
Juice Robinson holding IWGP United States Heavyweight Championship

Juice Robinson has already vacated the IWGP United States Heavyweight Championship, allowing a new champion to be crowned at the impending Dominion event.

New Japan Pro-Wrestling’s IWGP United States Heavyweight Championship has been declared vacant once again. Juice Robinson, the now-former champion, was stripped of the championship with the release of an official company statement that alleged Juice had “reneged” on their agreement.

The former CJ Parker had previously released an in-character promo, claiming he wouldn’t be in attendance at the scheduled 12 June event. Robinson has reportedly been suffering from appendicitis, which was also the reason behind him missing the Best of the Super Juniors finals on 3 June.

Will Ospreay and former champion SANADA will now contest the vacant championship at Dominion.

Juice Robinson has been in the headlines for the past couple of months after first alleging on 13 April that his contract with New Japan was up and he’d be exiting the company. This was then followed by him joining Bullet Club during 1 May’s Wrestling Dontaku card.

Robinson has been a mainstay in the United States Heavyweight Championship title picture after becoming the third champion in history in July 2018. He’s since become a three-time champion, with his latest reign beginning at Capital Collision on 14 May.

The championship had previously been declared vacant following then-champion SANADA suffering a fractured orbital bone. Hiroshi Tanahashi would lift the vacant title at Wrestling Dontaku, which is when Juice Robinson made his emphatic jump to the ranks of Bullet Club.

Jon Moxley also vacated the championship in October 2019, though his reasoning was through no fault of his own. ‘The Death Rider’ was unable to travel to a scheduled defence at King of Pro-Wrestling due to travel issues stemming from Typhoon Hagibis.