Jay White to challenge Tetsuya Naito for the IWGP Intercontinental Championship on September 22 in Kobe World Hall.
A huge championship match has been signed for DESTRUCTION in KOBE on Sunday, September 22, as Switchblade Jay White will face champion Tetsuya Naito, it has been announced.
Naito and White met one on one on the last day of block action in G1 Climax 29. In controversial form, with Gedo playing an assisting role, White defeated Naito, and advanced to the finals of the tournament. While White would lose in the G1 finals to Kota Ibushi, he would remain steadfast in the belief that Naito was his ‘destino’.
In Long Beach on August 25, White would take to the microphone and declare that he and he alone deserved to be Intercontinental Champion, and would go on to become the first ever double Intercontinental and IWGP Heavyweight Champion in the Tokyo Dome at Wrestle Kingdom 14. Naito has long declared double gold to be his ambition, and Kota Ibushi stated after winning the G1 Climax that he too had designs on the unprecedented feat.
For White, the first step is seizing the title from Naito. Jay White’s one and only Intercontinental Championship match was at Wrestle Kingdom 12, when he took on Hiroshi Tanahashi on return from excursion. White fell short, but quickly shot to stardom afterward.
Naito will be making the first defence of his fourth reign as IWGP Intercontinental Champion, but hasn’t been entirely successful of late with the belt, with his last two reigns as champion ending at one and zero defences respectively. Naito will be hungry for revenge, and eager to keep his Tokyo Dome dreams strongly alive.
Kobe will also see the last two matches of the Young Lion Cup. The eight man league will run through the Road to Destruction tour, with the top point scorer after these last bouts being the cup winner. Shota Umino will face Karl Fredericks in a clash between the two arguably most talked about contenders in the league.
Meanwhile Ren Narita will take on Clark Connors. Both men have had experience in leading junior heavyweight tournaments this year, as Narita was a late substitute in Best of the Super Juniors, and Connors participated in the Super J-Cup. How will these technically proficient junior heavyweights match up?
The full card for Destruction in Kobe will be revealed at a later date. Destruction will air LIVE, with English commentary on NJPW World Sunday September 22 at 4PM JST!
