Hirooki Goto Wins NEVER Openweight Championship

Hirooki Goto has won the NEVER Openweight Championship at Wrestle Kingdom 14 Night Two. He was able to defeat the former champion KENTA to win the title for the fifth time.

Goto went to bat for his fallen friend Katsuyori Shibata in this match. KENTA had turned on Shibata at the G1 Climax Final and Goto stepped up after the fact to challenge KENTA. Shibata was forced into retirement in 2017 when he suffered a severe brain injury during his match with Kazuchika Okada at Sakura Genesis.

The match itself was a slugfest. The commentators drove home that KENTA is not the striker he used to be and if Goto could hit him hard he could take him down. That is what happened as Goto landed some big shots allowing him to hit the GTW and the GTR. After the match, KENTA was heard saying that this is not the end for him.

This was the third title change of the night as the NEVER Openweight Six-Man Tag Team Championships were won by EVIL, Shingo Takagi and BUSHI and the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Championships were won by Roppongi 3K.

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• kenta
• Wrestle Kingdom 14
• Hirooki Goto
• NJPW

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