WWE NXT’s Charlie Dempsey loses AJPW Triple Crown title match
Charlie Dempsey will not return to NXT with the AJPW Triple Crown title.
He was defeated by champion Katsuhiko Nakajima on today’s New Year Giant Series show at Korakuen Hall. The match went 20 minutes and headlined the card.
Katsuhiko Nakajima vs. Charlie Dempsey – 03.01.2024
Could anyone have ever imagined that William Regal son would be performing in All Japan? Very proper in-ring work, reminiscent of the 70s. I think it did the match some good. You always have to start from the basic#ajpw #WWENXT pic.twitter.com/shcY0D9Nl2— ROGER TARGET (@Roger_Target) January 3, 2024
#ajpw 's Katsuhiko Nakajima and #WWENXT 's Charlie Dempsey just put on a twenty minutes puroresu style match, strong style in it's purest, Dempsey went one on one against Nakajima without hesitation, but Nakajima connects a Northern Lights Bomb to retainhttps://t.co/M2rnSiOoNM
— ERD Wrestling (@ERD_Wrestling) January 3, 2024
It was Dempsey’s third match on the tour. He teamed with top up-and-coming rookie Yuma Anzai on December 31 in a win over Tatsumi Fujinami and LEONA in his first match. Dempsey and Anzai then defeated Nakajima and Hideki Suzuki on Tuesday’s show.
NXT’s Charlie Dempsey hit father William Regal’s move “Regal Plex” at today’s AJPW! pic.twitter.com/IYbBszonW7
— Dark Puroresu Flowsion (@PuroresuFlow) January 3, 2024
The Korakuen Hall fans greeted Dempsey with chants of “Let’s go Dempsey” during the match.
I swear I’ve been seeing for days that AJPW fans didn’t like or care about Charlie Dempsey… what happened? pic.twitter.com/pOuxzObdJo
— ⭕️ (@TeeStonee) January 3, 2024
AJPW New Year Giant Series Night 2 full results:
- Fuminori Abe, Hikaru Sato, Naruki Doi & Koji Iwamoto defeated Dan Tamura, Black Menso-re, Rising HAYATO & Ryo Inoue
- Minoru Suzuki & Hokuto Omori defeated Seigo Tachibana & Kuroshio TOKYO Japan
- Yuma Anzai & Ryuki Honda defeated Atsuki Aoyagi & Yuma Aoyagi
- Jun Saito & Rei Saito defeated Shotaro Ashino & Ren Ayabe
- Kento Miyahara & Davey Boy Smith Jr. defeated Hideki Suzuki & Suwama
- Triple Crown Champion Katsuhiko Nakajima defeated Charlie Dempsey
Ian Carey is a writer from Toronto, Ontario, Canada, whose work has appeared in award-winning publications such as NOW Magazine and The Huffington Post. He joined the F4WOnline team in 2019 and was named managing editor in the summer of 2026. Born in Calgary, Alberta, Ian has covered professional wrestling for more than 15 years.