Zack Sabre Jr: Tetsuya Naito’s Days At The Top Are Over, It’s Time For My Era In New Japan Pro Wrestling

We are officially in the ZSJ era.

In the main event of NJPW King of Pro-Wrestling, Zack Sabre Jr realized his dreams when he defeated Tetsuya Naito in the main event to become the new IWGP World Heavyweight Championship. A title he has been going after since he joined the promotion eight years ago. Now, it’s a new era and ZSJ is the leader of it.

“Only took eight years. Almost eight years, but I mean split the digits. 20-year career, eight years in New Japan. Carry the one. I mean, put that in the calculator and we’ll figure that out after. The era has changed. There is a new era, and it definitely Zack Sabre Jr’s era. But TMDK are with me every step of the way. We’ve got a brand new New Japan, and it’s fucking orange. I mean, it’s cliche, but everything happens at the right moment. Naito is in the condition that he is in now because he has given every part of his body, soul, and mind to New Japan Pro-Wrestling, and I can only respect that. Winning the G1 was solely about winning by submission, to prove that myself of wrestling is the best style of wrestling. I sacrificed I guess some of my [methodology] to win with an impact move, but that is a sign of my respect to Naito because I could tell that Naito would refuse to give up. With my respect for Naito, I knew that the only way to beat him by submission was to break his arms or break his legs. I think Naito’s days at the top of New Japan are over, but Naito was champion for a reason. Naito is still incredibly strong, Naito is gonna have a very long and successful career, but now I’m at the top. So I chose to beat him with an impact move to save having to [nearly] kill him. Naito is a stubborn, stubborn bastard. I wanted Naito to be able to walk out with dignity today. So that is the end of my chapter for now with Naito. That’s 13 singles matches. I beat him in the G1, I beat him for the championship. As far as I’m concerned, my history and my story with Naito for now is over. He had lots of plans for the Tokyo Dome. He’ll be doing them without the championship, and that’s absolutely fine. The most important thing now is that Zack Sabre Jr. is the IWGP World Heavyweight Champion,” Sabre Jr. said.

ZSJ would go on to call winning the championship the greatest achievement of his entire life. It has been a long time coming for him and now, he gets to see just how tough it’ll be to become the new Ace.

H/t to Fightful for the transcription.

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