Tama Tonga has won the NEVER Openweight Championship.
At NJPW Wrestle Kingdom 17, Karl Anderson defended the title against Tonga. In doing so, he became the first-ever contracted WWE wrestler to compete at a Wrestle Kingdom show. Anderson took an early advantage by hitting Tonga with the championship, but the challenger ultimately rallied and scored the win. He pinned “Machine Gun” with two gun stuns to begin his second reign as the NEVER Openweight Championship.
Tama Tonga get never championship #wk17 pic.twitter.com/kblr1BsJjn
— なかわんくま/nakawankuma/中博俊 (@nakawankuma) January 4, 2023
Anderson previously won the gold at NJPW Dominion 2022 by defeating Tonga. While he was still the NEVER Openweight Champion, he returned to WWE on the October 10 episode of RAW. He did not compete as originally scheduled at NJPW Battle Autumn on November 5, but he defended the gold against Hikuleo at NJPW’s December 14 event.
