Zack Sabre Jr. celebrates the beginning of a new era.
At NJPW King of Pro-Wrestling, Zack Sabre Jr. defeated Tetsuya Naito to win the IWGP World Heavyweight Championship for the first time.
In his post-match comments, Zack Sabre Jr. discussed his victory.
“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.
Sabre Jr. went on to highlight how an Englishman had finally won the world title, He stated that this would not just be his era, but that of TMDK as a whole. Sabre Jr. said that NJPW was about to get more interesting.
"Finally, an Englishman has won a trophy and a championship, and the IWGP World Heavyweight Championship is coming home. I can’t wait. This isn’t just the era of Zack Sabre Jr. This is the era of TMDK. Fujita and Oiwa are the future, not just of New Japan. Oiwa and Fujita are the future of the Japanese professional wrestling industry. New Japan is about to get a lot more fucking interesting, and it got more orange," Sabre Jr. said.
Sabre Jr also called winning the title and the G1 Climax the greatest achievements of his life. He then made it clear that he was just getting started.
Catch up on our coverage of NJPW King of Pro-Wrestling here.
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