Tetsuya Naito Claims He’s Bigger Than IWGP Heavyweight Championship

Tetsuya Naito has twice competed for the IWGP Heavyweight Championship in the Tokyo Dome but has lost both matches to Kazuchika Okada. Although he did defeat Okada for the title in 2016, he would lose it back to him on only his 2nd title defense.

Naito was recently announced as Tokyo Sports’ MVP for 2017, the 2nd straight year he has won the award. During his acceptance speech, Naito claimed he is bigger than the IWGP Heavyweight Championship. NJPW1972.com translated his comments below.

‘Representing New Japan Pro Wrestling and Los Ingobernables De Japon, your Tokyo Sports MVP is Tetsuya Naito. I’d like to thank the Tokyo Sports editorial board for naming me MVP. A lot of people saw me and Los Ingobernables De Japon as a flash in the pan, that just as quickly as we got popular, it’d all be over. Yet here I am, only the fifth in history to win this award two years straight. And I did this in a year where the IWGP champion held his belt from start to finish. What that means is that I exist on another plane. It means that Tetsuya Naito is bigger than the IWGP Championship. That’s not arrogance talking; that’s something that I’ve proven to everyone.”

Naito was attacked by Chris Jericho on the New Years Dash show the night after WrestleKingdom. It is believed the two will wrestle each other sometime in the near future, possibly on the NJPW in Long Beach show on March 25th.