Last month, David Finlay became the inaugural IWGP Global Heavyweight Champion by defeating Will Ospreay and Jon Moxley in a three-way match at Wrestle Kingdom 18. Nic Nemeth formally known as Dolph Ziggler had a confrontation with Finlay at the event.
Today, David Finlay defended his title against Nic Nemeth in the main event of New Beginning in Sapporo. Nemeth won the title after a 23-minute battle with Finlay.
During the backstage interview, the new IWGP Global Heavyweight Champion said the following:
“I knew I could bring something to this title, it’s now something like Finlay had to throw around. This means a lot to fans, to family members, to wrestlers all over the world. Whether they are dead or not born yet, this means something. Don’t care when I don’t care how I will back this up in the middle of the ring every day until the day I die. I believe this, and I believe in this because I know in my heart that I’m the best wrestler walking the world today, and I’ll prove it every night.
I wanna thank New Japan for giving me a chance. I hadn’t proven myself outside of a bubble, I hadn’t proven myself in the last five years, and I didn’t know if I could still go. New Japan, sight or scene, said if you got it, it’s sink or swim. You got a chance to put it on the line, everything I worked for in the last 20 years was on the line tonight. If I didn’t back it up, I was done. I told myself I was done, I was gone, I’m retired.”
Nic Nemeth