Some sad news coming out of a very eventful night.
In one of the four championships matches last night at NJPW's G1 Special event at the Cow Palace in San Francisco, Hiromu Takahashi and Dragon Lee went to war over Hiromu's IWGP Junior Heavyweight Championship.
Hiromu and Dragon Lee are no strangers to one another as the two men have met on numerous occasions and each time they have not held back in taking one another to the limit in order to best the other man. Last night was no different as their match was filled with moments that had the crowd inside of the Cow Palace gasping and rising to their feet to applaud the in-ring performers.
The closing sequences of the match saw Dragon Lee catch Hiromu in a "Phoenix Plex" maneuver where Hiromu was trapped in an inverted "alley-oop" position and was tossed over Dragon Lee's shoulders. Hiromu landed directly on his neck and immediately grabbed for it after the move.
Although Hiromu did finish the the match--executing his "Time Bomb" finisher to secure the victory and retain his IWGP Junior Heavyweight Championship, there was not good news ahead for the L.I.J. member. This morning during an installment of the Wrestling Observer Radio, Dave Meltzer stated that the current belief amongst New Japan officials is that Hiromu broke his neck during the spot. Meltzer added that once Hiromu got to the backstage area he collapsed and was rushed to a nearby hospital.
New Japan Pro Wrestling issued an update on their website noting that Takahashi is “in a state that can sit and talk with consciousness."
Fightful's Sean Ross Sapp shared his thoughts on the G1 Special immediately following the show. To hear what he thinks about this specific match and the rest of the card, click here.
