El Desperado to defend IWGP Jr. title against Jun Kasai at Death Pain Invitational
El Desperado will defend the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Championship against Jun Kasai later this month.
Their match at NJPW’s Death Pain Invitational on June 24 at Korakuen Hall is being billed as the final bout between the two. While the match was scheduled last month, NJPW announced on Tuesday that Desperado’s title will be on the line.
It's official!
— NJPW Global (@njpwglobal) June 3, 2025
El Desperado will put the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Championship on the line against Jun Kasai June 24 at Death Pain Invitacional!https://t.co/3RPXRyzEnz#deathpaininvi pic.twitter.com/N6pSFSok0p
Kosei Fujita and the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Championship
It was originally expected that the winner of Best of the Super Juniors 32 would challenge for the title at Dominion on June 15. However, following his tournament win, Kosei Fujita said backstage that he wants to wait to challenge Desperado until after the Death Pain Invitational. Fujita said he doesn’t want to face a Desperado who is still thinking about his match with Kasai.
'I want Desperado 100% focused on me (…) I want to be the youngest, but it's more important I win the right way'
Kosei Fujita greeted the press as #BOSJ32 winner- and is willing to face Desperado or Jun Kasai to take IWGP gold!https://t.co/xWPMnL4eSx#njpw pic.twitter.com/rOHkggjnp4— NJPW Global (@njpwglobal) June 2, 2025
El Desperado vs. Jun Kasai
Kasai has pinned Desperado twice this year, once in a triple threat in March and again in a tag match last month. Desperado had previously said that if he won BOSJ32, he would nominate Kasai as his next challenger.
Kasai appeared following Desperado’s tag match at the BOSJ finals and handed him a red envelope, formally inviting him to the Death Pain Invitational, even though the match had already been confirmed.
Desperado and Kasai have had three singles matches. Desperado won their 2022 bout, while their two meetings in 2019 ended in a no-contest and a double countout.