Eight Wrestlers To Miss NJPW Summer Struggle Due To COVID-19 Protocols

By Sai Mohan

NJPW announced Sunday that a total of eight wrestlers have been pulled from Monday's NJPW Summer Struggle event at Korakuen Hall due to COVID-19 protocols.

Most notably, IWGP World Heavyweight Champion Shingo Takagi and BUSHI will miss the show after also missing Sunday's event. Both have undergone PCR testing and are awaiting the results of their tests.

It was noted that six other wrestlers who shared the ring with Shingo and BUSHI at Saturday's event have been pulled from Monday's show due to contact tracing. Those wrestlers are Tetsuya Naito, SANADA, EVIL, Yujiro Takahashi, Gedo and Dick Togo.

Naito, SANADA, EVIL and Yujiro performed at Sunday's event despite being in close contact with Shingo and BUSHI on Saturday.

Gedo and Togo had been scheduled to participate in a Super Junior Tag League match on Monday. Instead, they will forfeit the bout to Ryusuke Taguchi and Master Wato, who will now face Togi Makabe and Tomoaki Honma instead.

Meanwhile, Kazuchika Okada has now been inserted to the card due to the changes. He will team with Toru Yano to face Chase Owens and Jado.

Despite being out due to COVID-19 protocols, Takagi is still scheduled to defend his IWGP World Heavyweight title against EVIL in the main event of Wrestle Grand Slam in MetLife Dome on Sept. 5.

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