DOUKI Wins IWGP Jr. Heavyweight Championship at NJPW Road to King of Pro Wrestling

By: Noah Leatherland

A shocking result came out of today’s NJPW show at Korakuen Hall. While most are looking forward to King of Pro Wrestling for the next major developments, DOUKI managed to create a surprise title change as he claimed the IWGP Jr. Heavyweight Championship from El Desperado.

The match between El Desperado and DOUKI was a third championship encounter between the two men. DOUKI had defeated El Desperado to win his first IWGP Jr. Heavyweight back at New Japan Soul on July 5th, 2024. DOUKI’s first reign as champion came to an end against El Desperado a few months later at Wrestle Kingdom 19 earlier this year. It was an unfortunate end to DOUKI’s title reign, with DOUKI injuring his arm just a few minutes into the bout and the referee’s decision awarding El Desperado the belt. DOUKI returned from injury in June, winning the junior tag belts with SHO.

It was DOUKI’s tag team partner that proved to be the difference maker in Korakuen Hall. Behind the referee’s back, SHO hit the ring and laid out Desperado with a weapon. DOUKI locked in a submission, with the referee ruling it a knockout. This ended El Desperado’s reign at 275 days, having made 8 successful defences. DOUKI now reigns as a double champion in NJPW, holding the IWGP Jr. and IWGP Jr. Tag Team Championships.

Here are the full results from the NJPW event in Korakuen Hall courtesy of purolove.com:

• Masatora Yasuda & Zane Jay def. Shoma Kato & Tatsuya Matsumoto (7:41)
• Hiroshi Tanahashi & Katsuya Murashima def. El Phantasmo & Jado (9:17)
• Clark Connors & Drilla Moloney def. SANADA & Yoshinobu Kanemaru (4:20)
• Dick Togo, Don Fale, EVIL & SHO def. Kuukai, Oleg Boltin, Tiger Mask & Toru Yano (7:30)
• Hiromu Takahashi, Shingo Takagi, Titan & Yota Tsuji def. David Finlay, Gabe Kidd, Gedo & Taiji Ishimori (7:08)
• Shota Umino def. OSKAR (16:04)
• Yuya Uemura def. Yuto-Ice (15:29)
• IWGP Jr. Heavyweight Title: DOUKI defeats El Desperado (c) (17:17)