Zack Sabre Jr. reacts to Shota Umino's performance in the Wrestle Kingdom 19 main event.
At NJPW Wrestle Kingdom 19 earlier this month, the show was main evented by an IWGP Heavyweight Title match between Zack Sabre Jr. and Shota Umino. After a lengthy battle, Sabre Jr. would come away with the victory to retain his championship.
In an interview recorded after AEW x NJPW Wrestle Dynasty, Zack Sabre Jr told Pep Talks that he was very impressed by Shota Umino, and expects to see him win a world title in the future.
"I think Shota, I think he's much tougher and more resilient than I think a lot of people give him credit for. We sort of had somewhat of a gentleman's agreement that I wouldn't touch his ankle before. But I prioritised wanting to keep the championship over sportsmanship. But the fact that he was able to get the ropes from the submission, I think it's a testament to how tough he is. I think he's going to find himself in the near future. I have no doubt that he's going to be a world champion in the future. But I think he's still lost, knowing the wrestler that he is. But it takes time. It's easy for me with a 20-year career to be able to look down upon him. But I was very impressed by him. Obviously it was indeed a very long match, but that's a sign of how, I think, how tough he was, and I also think the pressure obviously, neither of us had main evented the Tokyo Dome before. I don't know what the statistics are. Is it the first Tokyo Dome in 12 years without one of Okada, Naito and Tanahashi or something like that, right? So, it was a progression for me, but I've got 20 years and, much more experience. So I think, in fact, he's 27. Six or seven years into his career to be able to main event at the Tokyo Dome, I think he did incredibly well."
For the full results from Wrestle Kingdom 19, you can find them here.
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