Major League Wrestling brings a marquee non-title match to Chicago this Saturday when Trevor Lee takes on Yota Tsuji, the IWGP heavyweight champion from New Japan Pro-Wrestling, at Saturday Night SuperFight.
Lee, who signed with MLW seven months ago, called out Tsuji himself at one of MLW’s biggest shows of the year. Since joining the promotion, Lee has faced opponents including Kushida, Austin Aries and MÃstico, and he currently holds the MLW Southern Crown Championship.
“I think it’s been going great,” Lee told OutKick Dropkick of his MLW run. “I think with the last time we spoke, I probably said something along the lines of, I just want to go out there and show what I can do, and I feel like over these past few months, I’ve had the capability to do that.”
He described the matchup against Tsuji as a rare chance to prove himself against elite competition.
“I’m looking at this match like kind of like a job interview, right? And, what a way to, what a way to try to start it out,” Lee said.
Tsuji has held the IWGP heavyweight title twice, the IWGP global heavyweight title twice, and has also won the IWGP Intercontinental Championship and the NEVER Openweight 6-Man Tag Team Championship once each. He has recently fended off challengers including Boltin Oleg and Kenny Omega.
Although Saturday’s bout does not carry a title on the line, a win for Lee could position him among future contenders for Tsuji’s IWGP Heavyweight Championship. Asked whether he had thought about that possibility, Lee did not hold back.
“One-hundred percent,” he said. “I’d love to wrestle for New Japan. I’ve never wrestled for New Japan. I’ve wrestled for a lot of companies in my career, but I’ve never had the opportunity to even go to Japan and wrestle in Japan. So, what better way to step in day one to show everybody, hey, I’ve already beat the top guy here and I’m ready to continue to do it again.”
The Lee-Tsuji matchup is one of seven bouts on the Saturday Night SuperFight card. In the main event, MLW world heavyweight champion Killer Kross defends his title against Josh Bishop in a last man standing match.
Lee said he expects the Chicago crowd to be “rocking” for the event, which will stream live on Veeps starting at 8 p.m. ET.
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