Former NJPW Champion May Never Wrestle Again After Injury

Hiromu Takahashi is only 29-years-old but he suffered a broken neck when a Phoenix-plex was botched during the G1 Special In San Fransisco earlier this year. He still successfully defended the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Title against Dragon Lee somehow, but Hiromu was forced to relinquish the title due to injury.
It was initially reported that the LIJ member would be out nine to twelve months, but recent news might not be that certain that an in-ring return is possible.
Dave Meltzer was asked about Takahashi’s condition during Wrestling Observer Radio where he didn’t have the best news to report. It seems the broken neck might prevent him from wrestling again which is extremely unfortunate considering the star power NJPW desperately needs in order to continue with any momentum.

“He’s mostly better, he’s not ready to return to the ring. The last I heard it wasn’t even 100% that he would return to the ring where earlier I heard he would. So it’s not good. Yeah, the news isn’t good, but hopefully, he can return.”
“It’s too bad because when I kept thinking of the future of New Japan and how bright it’s gonna be one of the things was he’s a freaking Superstar. I mean he’s charismatic, he’s a fantastic wrestler, so losing him, that’s definitely a major loss.”

The professional wrestling world could be in for a huge change in the upcoming year. This might mean big stories and even larger movement when it comes to wrestlers leaving companies to go try their hand elsewhere. New Japan Pro Wrestling won’t be immune to that and WWE is already talking to at least one current champion that we know of.
Only time will tell if Hiromu Takahashi will wrestle again, but we can only hope for the best. In the meantime, he seems to be progressing in the right direction, so we can take that as a good sign.
If you use our quotes credit Ringside News