‘Bone Soldier’ Taiji Ishimori successfully defended his IWGP Junior Heavyweight Championship earlier this week against Jushin ‘Thunder’ Liger. Ishimori will now prepare for his third defence of the title in the World’s Most Famous Arena Madison Square Garden. It was also announced on the Anniversary show that Liger will be retiring at the end of the year. You can read more about that story below:
It was originally confirmed earlier this that Ishimori will be defending his Championship against Dragon Lee. The CMLL star Dragon Lee has been one of the most exciting performers in the NJPW Juniors division over the past few years. Lee had a fantastic run of feature bouts against Hiromu Takahashi whilst the ‘Time Bomb’ was on excursion in Mexico. Unfortunately during their last bout for NJPW Takahashi suffered a horrific neck injury. Takahashi is still recuperating from that injury and his return date is not yet confirmed.
NJPW has now announced a third participant in the match. Ring of Honor star Bandido will be making the match at Madison Square Garden a Triple Threat. Ishimori announced at the recent NJPW Anniversary show that he wanted a ROH star to challenge him at the MSG show. When Dragon Lee was announced as facing Ishimori it was mentioned that he is in fact a CMLL contracted star. NJPW1972 issued the following to quell any confusion: “since Dragon Lee is signed to CMLL, not ROH, Bandido decided to answer Ishimori’s open challenge. The rudo who has been catching the eye of many on the Indie scene especially with his electrifying match at All In against the Young Bucks and Kota Ibushi.”
