New Japan ran the second half of STRONG Independence Day today, following a day full of surprises with the chance for even more.
Today’s event was held at Korakuen Hall in Tokyo and can be watched on demand as a PPV only on New Japan World. (The PPV is only a combo pack that includes yesterday’s Day 1, in the US it’s about $30 and is available until roughly mid-September) You can also watch the pre-show match FOR FREE on YouTube.
The announced paid attendance was 1401, a super full house/very near sellout. They could have called it a sellout as attendance was down only 32 from yesterday.
There was a last-minute change to the card for today as JR Kratos was not cleared to compete today. Cut (head) suffered during yesterday’s match. He was to have faced Oskar Leube in the first PPV match.
Pre-show Match: Boltin Oleg, Master Wato & Ryusuke Taguchi beat Rekka, Takahiro Katori & Dragon Libre. Wato pinned Rekka with a Tsutenkaku German suplex hold.
Match 1: TBA, revealed at match time to (perhaps not surprisingly) be Satoshi Kojima, beat Oskar Leube.
Match 2: Francesco Akira & TJP beat Ryohei Oiwa & Homicide. Akira pinned Oiwa after 2/2.
Rocky Romero demanded an IWGP Jr. Heavyweight Tag Team Title match. Which led to…
Match 3: IWGP Jr. Heavyweight Tag Team Champions Clark Connors & Drilla Moloney beat Rocky Romero & Yoh to retain the titles. Connors pinned Romero after Full Clip. V1 for the champs.
Match 4: Alex Zayne & Lance Archer beat Kosei Fujita & Bad Dude Tito. Arxher pinned Fujita after a lariat.
Match 5: The DKC, Tomohiro Ishii & Hiroshi Tanahashi beat Jorel Nelson, Royce Isaacs & Tom Lawlor. Tanahashi pinned Isaacs.
Match 6: Giulia (Stardom) beat STRONG Women’s Champion Willow Nightingale to win the title. Giulia becomes the second STRONG Women’s Champion.
Match 7: IWGP Heavyweight Tag Team Champions YOSHI-HASHI & Hirooki Goto bear Gabriel Kidd & Alex Coughlin to retain the titles. YOSHI-HASHI pinned Kidd after Shoto. V1 for the champs.
Match 8: Eddie Kingston beat STRONG Openweight Champion KENTA to win the title. Kingston becomes the 6th STRONG Openweight Champion.
Main Event: In a Final Death match, Jon Moxley beat El Desperado.
Next up is the G1 CLIMAX 33 Tournament, the promotion’s biggest tournament of the year and the start of the road to Tokyo Dome, beginning on 7/15 at Hokkaido Prefectural Sports Center Hokkai Kitayell in Hokkaido. Live streaming on New Japan World will begin at 1 AM PT/4 AM ET. All tournament events will be available live and on demand on New Japan World.
Also announced is the Road to DESTRUCTION Tour, which will be the September and early October tour including DESTRUCTION in KOBE on 9/24 at Kobe World Hall in Kobe and DESTRUCTION in RYOGOKU on 10/9 at Ryogoku Kokugikan in Tokyo.
UPDATE: And it’s now official…WRESTLE KINGDOM 18 in TOKYO DOME on 1/4/24 at the Tokyo Dome. That’s a Thursday morning so make plans now.
