Semifinals Set For NJPW World Television Championship Tournament

Earlier this month, New Japan Pro Wrestling announced the NJPW World Television Championship. A youth oriented title that is meant to highlight "high-speed" matches. Along with the title, the company also announced a tournament to crown the first ever champion. The first and second rounds of the tournament have been taking place throughout NJPW's Battle Autumn '22 tour.

The semifinals will take place at the final Battle Autumn '22 show on November 5th. Ren Narita will take on SANADA while EVIL takes on Zack Sabre Jr. The winners of these two matches will move on to Wrestle Kingdom to battle to become the first ever NJPW World Television Champion. 

Sabre had to go through Alex Zayne and David Finlay on his path to the semi-finals, while EVIL had to go through United Empire's Aaron Henare and CHAOS's perpetual underdog YOSHI-HASHI. SANADA had to go through longtime rival Taichi, as well as KENTA. Ren Narita had to overcome Toru Yano, as well as a blistering bout with Tomohiro Ishii.

Going into the semi-finals, three of the four competitors look to add more gold onto their resume, with the Young Lion Narita being the only star not to hold gold. Narita has been a standout on NJPW Strong, and the tournament marks Narita's return to NJPW since leaving for excursion. Sabre will be looking to capture his first taste of singles gold, having only been a tag champion in NJPW. EVIL is a former IWGP Heavyweight and IWGP Intercontinental Heavyweight Champion, while former tag partner SANADA held the IWGP United States Championship earlier this year, but was forced to vacate the title.