El Desperado Retains The IWGP Jr Heavyweight Title In Thriller Against YOH At NJPW BATTLE LINE HOKKAIDO ~ ROAD TO DESTRUCTION

By: Lewis Carlan

New Japan Pro-Wrestling held it’s NJPW BATTLE LINE HOKKAIDO ~ ROAD TO DESTRUCTION event on Sept. 24th at the Kitagas Arena Sapporo 46 with 2,045 fans in attendance.

The main event was an IWGP Jr. Heavyweight Championship match as the current champion El Desperado defended his title for the eighth time against the challenge of YOH. YOH, who is a multi-time IWGP Jr. Heavyweight Tag Team Title holder has never held the IWGP Jr. Heavyweight Title as that accomplishment has eluded him his entire career.

The last three singles matches between Desperado and YOH, which dates back to 2021, have all been won by YOH. YOH’s most recent win over Desperado came in May 2025 as they faced each other in a NJPW Best Of The Super Junior 32 tournament bout. Going into this match, YOH could very well have had a psychological advantage over the current IWGP Jr. Heavyweight titleholder.

YOH entered this championship match poised and ready to claim the belt that he has not been able to win in his thirteen year career. The match between Desperado and YOH on Sept. 24th was a spectacular one. YOH was pulling out all the stops in an effort to win the IWGP Jr. Heavyweight belt.

Despite his valiant effort, Desperado proved to be too much for YOH as he wasn’t going to be denied his eighth successful title defense. In the end, it took Desperado over 24 hellacious minutes to defeat YOH with his patented Pinche Loco finisher. It took more than one Pinche Loco’s to finish YOH as he kicked out at one when hit with the first Pinche Loco.

DOUKI appeared after Desperado’s win and “demanded” his title back. Desperado defeated DOUKI back in Jan. 2025 for the IWGP Jr. Heavyweight Title. It appears DOUKI will be the next challenger for the champion.

Photo Credit: NJPW

Here are the full results for NJPW BATTLE LINE HOKKAIDO ~ ROAD TO DESTRUCTION courtesy of purolove.com:

• Masatora Yasuda & Zane Jay defeat Katsuya Murashima & Tatsuya Matsumoto (8:44) after a crab hold from Yasuda against Matsumoto.
• Hiroshi Tanahashi Final Road ~ Enishi: Hiroshi Tanahashi defeated Master Wato (10:18) with the High Fly Flow.
• Toru Yano, Togi Makabe & Tomoaki Honma defeated Tiger Mask, Ryusuke Taguchi & Shoma Kato (6:53) after a crab hold from Makabe against Kato.
• Shota Umino, Oleg Boltin & Yuya Uemura defeated”King of Darkness” EVIL, Don Fale & Dick Togo (7:41) after a Frankensteiner by Uemura against Togo.
• Tomohiro Ishii, Taichi & & TAKA Michinoku  defeated Yuto-Ice, OSKAR & Gedo (8:24) after Taichi’s Tensho Jujiho vs. Gedo.
• David Finlay, Gabe Kidd & Taiji Ishimori defeated Shingo Takagi, Yota Tsuji & Hiromu Takahashi (10:02) after a Gedo Clutch by Ishimori against Takahashi.
• Ren Narita, SANADA & Yujiro Takahashi defeated Zack Sabre Jr., Ryohei Oiwa & Hartley Jackson (11:14) when Jackson was disqualified.
• IWGP Jr. Heavyweight Tag Team Title: SHO & DOUKI (c) defeated Robbie Eagles & Kosei Fujita (19:42) as DOUKI Fujita pinnte (2nd defense).
• IWGP Jr. Heavyweight Title: El Desperado (c) defeated YOH (24:52) with the pinche loco (8th defense).