TNA's Nic Nemeth Loses IWGP Global Heavyweight Championship At NJPW Wrestling Dontaku

By Sam Palmer
Nic Nemeth, back when he was still a champion in NJPW Etsuo Hara/Getty Images

TNA star Nic Nemeth has had an eventful couple of days in NJPW, wrestling on both nights of the company's annual Wrestling Dontaku event in Fukuoka, but he will be returning to the United States without his IWGP Global Heavyweight Championship. After their original bout for the Sakura Genesis event in April was cancelled, Nemeth finally got the chance to defend his title against NJPW President and multi-time World Champion Hiroshi Tanahashi on May 3, where the former WWE star walked away victorious. However, inaugural champion David Finlay stormed the ring after the match, attacking Nemeth and Tanahashi, and proclaimed that he wanted a rematch for the belt he felt was rightfully his. Nemeth not only agreed to the match, but he agreed for it to take place 24 hours after his match with Tanahashi on May 4.

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This turned out to be a grave error on Nemeth's part, as he couldn't overcome the punishment that Finlay dished out and was eventually defeated, ending his reign as IWGP Global Heavyweight Champion at 71 days with just one successful defense in that time. Nemeth isn't entirely empty handed, as he recently won the AAA Mega Championship in Mexico after El Hijo del Vikingo had to vacate the title due to injury, and is also the current Squared Circle Expo Champion as he defeated Matt Cardona for the title in March 2024. The former WWE World Champion could have added the TNA World Championship to his collection in April 2024, but was defeated by champion Moose in the main event of the Rebellion pay-per-view in Las Vegas. 

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As for the new champion, Finlay and the rest of Bullet Club War Dogs will continue their feud with Los Ingobrenables de Japon at the upcoming UJPW All Together Again event in Tokyo on May 6, and the NJPW STRONG Resurgence event on May 11 in Ontario, California.

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