Chase Owens Pulled From NJPW Events Following Death In The Family

Former IWGP Tag Team Champion Chase Owens has officially withdrawn from the rest of the World Tag League currently taking place, per New Japan Pro-Wrestling. Owens will be returning home immediately, and today's match in Osaka was canceled due to a death in his family. As a result of his departure, he and tag team partner Bad Luck Fale will forfeit all upcoming matches they were set to compete in — leaving their scheduled opponents with an automatic win on the night.

The winner of the NJPW World Tag League Tournament each year receives an automatic match at Wrestle Kingdom for the IWGP Tag Team Championships, which are currently held by AEW's FTR. Prior to pulling out of the tournament, Fale and Owens, representing the Bullet Club, had wrestled four matches in the tournament thus far registering a pair of wins in the standings; their most recent being over the team of Alex Coughlin & Gabriel Kidd. 

Fale and Owens end the tournament with four points, but sitting atop the leaderboard are TMDK and Aussie Open in a first-place tie with 10 points a piece; those two pairings have yet to face off just yet. The finals of the World Tag League take place on December 14. WWE's Karl Anderson will defend his NEVER Openweight Championship against Hikuleo on that show as well.

This was the sixth time in his career that Owens had been included in the NJPW World Tag League. On four separate occasions –  2016, 2017, 2019, and 2020 — he was able to battle his way into the semi-finals before being eliminated. The IWGP Tag Team Championship remains the only title he has held while a part of NJPW.