The 2024 G1 Climax winner Zack Sabre Jr is not waiting until next year to get his earned title shot and he wants to challenge for Tetsuya Naito’s IWGP World Heavyweight Championship much sooner.
Wrestle Kingdom is NJPW’s biggest show of the year that takes place in January. The winner of the previous year’s G1 Climax tournament generally challenges for the company’s most prestigious title in the main event of the show.
In his first post-match comments after winning the 2024 edition of the tournament, however, ZSJ claimed that he doesn’t want to wait. The 37-year-old said that he wants his shot at the title during the King of Pro-Wrestling event from Ryogoku Kokugikan in October:
“As a fan, I think it’s boring as bollocks waiting until Tokyo Dome for the title match. I’m not waiting any longer. It had to be at Ryogoku Kokugikan. This is my favourite place in the world to wrestle. I’m going to be returning to England as the IWGP World Heavyweight Champion and I will make my first defence at Royal Quest IV.”
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Zack Sabre Jr has previously held the NJPW World Television Championship, and the IWGP Tag Team Championship but never won the world title in the company.
He faced Yota Tsuji in the finals of the G1 Climax this year. Both the wrestlers gave tough competition to each other for the ultimate opportunity.
The ending moment of the bout saw Yota attempting the Gene Blaster but ZSJ countered it into an intricate submission in the middle of the ring. Tsuji had no option but to tap. With this victory, Zack Sabre Jr became only the second non-Japanese wrestler to win the tournament after Kenny Omega in 2016.
