Rei Saito Injures Right Shoulder, Triple Crown Title Match In Jeopardy?

By:Lewis Carlan

On February 9th, a sold out crowd filled the famed Korakuen Hall to witness the “70 Years of Pro-Wrestling” event. The show featured many of the top stars from Pro Wrestling NOAH and All Japan Pro-Wrestling on this four match card. Some of the top competitors from NOAH included Go Shiozaki, Naomichi Marufuji & Takashi Sugiura. Kento Miyahara, Yuma Aoyagi & Atsuki Aoyagi were among the many talents representing AJPW on the event. In the headlining encounter, NOAH’s Kaito Kiyomiya defeated AJPW’s Yuma Anzai in a first time ever singles battle between the two young superstars.

The event opened with a highly anticipated tag team match up between the current AJPW World Tag Team Champions Jun & Rei Saito and former GHC Heavyweight Tag Team Champions Saxon Huxley & Timothy Thatcher. The match was wild from the start as both teams were initially counted out at the 1:05 mark of the bout. A second battle between the two teams ensued that ended with Rei Saito connecting with a flying bodypress on Huxley which enabled him to secure a three count and the victory.

序盤から場外で暴れる両軍！！

手のつけられない、獣同士の闘い！！#noah_ghc #ajpw #日テレプロレス pic.twitter.com/tUf0xBOIwh

— プロレスリング・ノア ｜PROWRESTLING NOAH (@noah_ghc) February 9, 2024

While Rei Saito got the pinfall over Huxley to win the match for him and his brother, the event ended with bad news for Saito. It has been confirmed that Saito injured his right shoulder during the match which is thought to have occurred during the bodypress on Huxley. According to Tokyo Sports, the injury could very well be a dislocated shoulder. Saito is set to challenge Katsuhiko Nakajima on February 20th for the AJPW Triple Crown Championship in a match that could be in serious jeopardy should the injury in fact be a dislocation. There has been no official word from AJPW, as of this writing, on the extent of the injury to Saito’s shoulder or the status of the February 20th championship match.