SANADA Vacates IWGP United States Title At NJPW Hyper Battle

A new IWGP United States Champion will need to be crowned.

SANADA appeared on today's Hyper Battle show from Sumo Hall and announced he didn't know when he would return from his orbital bone injury. As a result, he was vacating the IWGP United States Title.

Cold Skull suggested he would hand the title back to former champion Hiroshi Tanahashi but this only led to an interruption from Will Ospreay - the man who fractured SANADA's orbital bone during their New Japan Cup match on March 17.

Ospreay claimed he should be given the championship but then Tanahashi interrupted and challenged The Commonwealth Kingpin to a title match at Wrestling Dontaku on May 1. Ospreay didn't accept the offer, but the match will likely be sanctioned by New Japan Pro-Wrestling in the coming days.

The 13th IWGP United States Champion, SANADA captured the gold on February 19 by defeating Hiroshi Tanahashi. The Los Ingobernables de Japon member did not defend the championship before it was vacated.