Zack Sabre Jr. defended the IWGP Heavyweight Championship against Shota Umino at NJPW Wrestle Kingdom 19, and he spoke about Umino’s performance after the show. Sabre defeated Umino after a back and forth match and he spoke about his opponent in an interview with Pep Talks after Wrestle Dynasty.
“I think Shota, I think he’s much tougher and more resilient than I think a lot of people give him credit for,” Sabre said (h/t to Fightful). “We sort of had somewhat of a gentleman’s agreement that I wouldn’t touch his ankle before. But I prioritised wanting to keep the championship over sportsmanship. But the fact that he was able to get the ropes from the submission, I think it’s a testament to how tough he is. I think he’s going to find himself in the near future. I have no doubt that he’s going to be a world champion in the future. But I think he’s still lost, knowing the wrestler that he is. But it takes time.”
He continued, “It’s easy for me with a 20-year career to be able to look down upon him. But I was very impressed by him. Obviously it was indeed a very long match, but that’s a sign of how, I think, how tough he was, and I also think the pressure obviously, neither of us had main evented the Tokyo Dome before. I don’t know what the statistics are. Is it the first Tokyo Dome in 12 years without one of Okada, Naito and Tanahashi or something like that, right? So, it was a progression for me, but I’ve got 20 years and, much more experience. So I think, in fact, he’s 27. Six or seven years into his career to be able to main event at the Tokyo Dome, I think he did incredibly well.”
