NJPW News: Hiroshi Tanahashi wins British Heavyweight Championship at Royal Quest
At tonight's NJPW: Royal Quest, former record-IWGP Heavyweight Champion, Hiroshi Tanahashi made history when he won the British Heavyweight Championship by defeating Zack Sabre Jr. in another classic match.
Heading into the title bout, Tanahashi had previously beaten ZSJ at this year's G1 Climax 29 tournament. However, in previous encounters Sabre Jr. had also secured notable wins over The Ace of New Japan.
Prior to their title match on 31st August, at the Copper Box, Zack Sabre Jr. had already successfully defended the British Heavyweight Championship against Tanahashi at the Madison Square Garden of all places at the G1 Supercard, earlier in the year.
ZSJ earlier had won the British Heavyweight Championship for the third time at this year's Wrestle Kingdom 13 show when he defeated Tomohiro Ishii to win the title.
Much like their previous clashes, Tanahashi and ZSJ put on another instant classic in front of a red hot crowd at the Copper Box. The Ace eventually planted a slingblade, as he climbed up to the top rope and connected a High Fly Flow to get the pinfall and win the British Heavyweight Championship for the very first time in his career.
This was also the first time Tanahashi had won the British Heavyweight Championship and as for RevPro fans, it seems like The Ace will be working more dates in the United Kingdom moving forward.
Tanahashi could also possibly defend the title on Japanese territory as well, given the fact that we've seen ZSJ defending the belt in New Japan. As far as the latter concerned, ZSJ could possibly vouch for a rematch in the near future and it remains interesting to be seen what NJPW has in store for the British sensation from here onwards.