It was recently announced by NJPW that a total of eight stars will miss today’s Summer Struggle Event from inside Korakuen Hall in Tokyo, Japan due to COVID-19 protocols. The most notable of all stars to miss today's event is IWGP World Heavyweight Champion Shingo Takagi as well as BUSHI, who also missed last night’s event as both of them have undergone PCR testing and are still awaiting the results.
Six other stars who shared the ring with Shingo Takagi and BUSHI at this past Saturday night’s Summer Struggle Event have been removed from today's Summer Struggle Event as well reportedly due to contact tracing. Those stars are Tetsuya Naito, SANADA, EVIL, Yujiro Takahashi, Gedo and Dick Togo.
Despite being in close contact with IWGP Heavyweight Champion Shingo Takagi and BUSHI, Tetsuya Naito, SANADA, EVIL and Yujiro Takahashi still competed at last night's Summer Struggle Event. Today's event was supposed to see Gedo and Dick Togo face Ryusuke Taguchi and Master Wato in a Super Jr. Tag League Match, but Ryusuke Taguchi and Master Wato will now face Togi Makabe and Tomoaki Honma instead. Chase Owens and Jado has also been set to face Toru Yano and Kazuchika Okada, who was a late addition.
Even though Shingo Takagi is currently out of action due to COVID-19 protocols, he is still scheduled to defend his IWGP World Heavyweight Championship against EVIL at Wrestle Grand Slam on September 5.
You can check out NJPW's announcement below:
Wrestlers absent due to fever and COVID protocols; changes made to tonight's Korakuen card: https://t.co/vM2n0WRXmS#njpw #njsst pic.twitter.com/z88PXLm9o4
— NJPW Global (@njpwglobal) August 16, 2021
