NJPW announces injuries to HENARE and Callum Newman, changes to World Tag League

HENARE and Callum Newman have suffered injuries that will force a shakeup to NJPW’s World Tag League, the promotion has announced.

In a statement posted to its website, NJPW revealed Thursday that HENARE and Newman have both suffered knee injuries and are off Friday’s World Tag League card. The injuries are especially untimely given that HENARE and Great-O-Khan stand atop the B Block and were scheduled to face the second-ranked Tetsuya Naito and Hiromu Takahashi duo in a tournament bout on Friday.

Naito and Hiromu were awarded a forfeit victory, putting them atop the block, and they will advance to Sunday’s Word Tag League Finals with a loss on Friday’s show by the Oleg Boltin and Toru Yano duo.

Should Yano and Boltin win Friday, it would create a three-way tie atop the block and necessitate a three-way with Naito & Hiromu vs. Boltin & Yano vs. HENARE & O-Khan tiebreaker match to be held sometime before Sunday’s tournament final.

The following changes have been made to Friday’s World Tag League card:

Hiromu Takahashi & Tetsuya Naito will now face Shoma Kato & Katsuya Murashima in a match with nothing at stake.

The BUSHI, Yota Tsuji, & Shingo Takagi vs. Jeff Cobb, Callum Newman, & Jakob Austin Young trios match set for Friday will see O-Khan replace Newman.