Tetsuya Naito forced to withdraw from G1 Climax 31 due to an injury

Tetsuya Naito has been forced to withdraw from the ongoing G1 Climax 31 tournament. New Japan Pro Wrestling released a statement regarding Naito's injury, stating that the former IWGP Heavyweight Champion suffered an injury to his left knee.

It claimed that the damage was incurred to Naito's left meniscus and MCL. Due to this, the leader of Los Ingobernables de Japon will be unable to compete in the remainder of the G1 Climax tour.

NJPW has also confirmed that, as of right now, there is no timetable for Tetsuya Naito's return to in-ring action. All of his remaining matches will be counted as losses via forfeit with his scheduled opponents getting an automatic two points.

It is also to be noted that Tetsuya Naito's remaining opponents will instead be competing in special singles matches. The company has updated the match cards with the likes of Yuji Nagata, Satoshi Kojima, and Naito's fellow stablemates BUSHI and Hiromu Takahashi taking his spot across several match cards.

Here is the updated schedule from NJPW:

• September 23: G1 Climax 31 Night 3, Ota-ku
• 1st Match: Yuji Nagata vs. Tanga Loa
• September 26: G1 Climax 31 Night 5, Kobe
• 2nd Match: Yuji Nagata vs. Shingo Takagi
• September 30: G1 Climax 31 Night 7, Korakuen Hall
• 1st Match: BUSHI vs. Yujiro Takahashi
• October 3: G1 Climax 31 Night 9, Nagoya
• 2nd Match: BUSHI vs. Toru Yano
• October 7: G1 Climax 31 Night 11, Hiroshima
• 2nd Match: Hiromu Takahashi vs. KENTA
• October 9: G1 Climax 31 Night 13, Osaka
• 2nd Match: Hiromu Takahashi vs. Tomohiro Ishii
• October 13: G1 Climax 31 Night 15, Sendai
• 2nd Match: Satoshi Kojima vs. Kota Ibushi
• October 18: G1 Climax Night 17, Yokohama
• Satoshi Kojima vs. Great-O-Khan

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Tetsuya Naito is a multiple time IWGP Heavyweight Champion

Tetsuya Naito is a three-time IWGP Heavyweight Champion. The leader of Los Ingobernables de Japon is also a former dual champion, having held both the IWGP Heavyweight and Intercontinental Championships at the same time.

He also very recently won the IWGP Tag Team Championships with SANADA but the LIJ duo ended up dropping their belts to Dangerous Tekkers after only two weeks.