A top star is set to undergo eye surgery ahead of his NJPW Wrestle Kingdom 18 title match.
Tetsuya Naito won this year’s G1 Climax 33 tournament by defeating Will Ospreay and Kazuchika Okada on back-to-back nights.
The Los Ingobernables de Japon leader will now challenge SANADA for the IWGP World Heavyweight Championship on January 4 in the Tokyo Dome at NJPW Wrestle Kingdom 18.
Speaking with Tokyo Sports, Naito revealed that he will undergo surgery on his right eye on November 7. On his paralysis and when his surgery will take place, Naito said:
“It’s muscle paralysis, so even if you have surgery, it won’t get completely better.”
“Even if you have this surgery, if you continue to wrestle, you’ll probably return to the same condition eventually,”
His doctor mentioned that the NJPW star can only undergo this surgery three times, which means this will be the final time Naito can have the procedure. He said:
“Actually, I wanted to save my last one for when I retire.”
“But… even after I retire, it’s important, but more than that, I want to cherish the present, which will never come back, so I decided to do it,”
This will be Naito’s third surgery to improve the upper oblique muscle paralysis in his right eye. The former IWGP Heavyweight Champion has been suffering with the ailment from since 2019.
Also announced for NJPW Wrestle Kingdom 18, Bryan Danielson will face Kazuchika Okada in a AEW x NJPW Forbidden Door 2023 rematch and Hiromu Takahashi will defend the IWGP Jr. Heavyweight Title against Taiji Ishimori.
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