SANADA Reveals He Had Been Dealing With Scalenus Syndrome in His Arm Since 2024 & Being Reason Why He Used Guitar As Weapon In His Matches

As noted before, SANADA made his surprise return to New Japan Pro Wrestling at this past May’s Wrestling Dontaku 2026 Night 2 event. Prior to his return, SANADA had been absent from NJPW since this past January’s New Year Dash 2026 event and had been rumored to potentially be leaving the company at the time.

NJPW recently released a new video on their official YouTube channel focusing on SANADA. One of the topics discussed included SANADA revealing that he had been dealing with scalenus syndrome in his arm since 2024 following an injury he suffered during his match against Tetsuya Naito for the IWGP World Heavyweight Championship at Wrestle Kingdom 18. SANADA also revealed that this medical issue was the reason why he used guitars as a weapon during his matches due to him not having full control of his arm.

“It’s been bad since Tokyo Dome 2024, and it got worse these last six months. It was hard just brushing my teeth, or washing my hair. Crazy, I wrestled and won too.

It’s called scalenus syndrome. The chest and neck compresses all the blood vessels and the muscle just atrophy. The arm is so skinny. You can see the bone. Everyone wondering why if I can wrestle, I was using guitars in my matches. A lot of people asked, but truth is I couldn’t use my arm. So I was just using what I could use.”

Transcript h/t: Fightful.com