New Japan runs their first US event of 2023 today, which also marks the start of a re-branding for the NJPW STRONG sub-label. Effective today, the US PPV events will be known as STRONG LIVE while the weekly TV show becomes STRONG ON DEMAND, featuring matches from each PPV over a roughly one-month set of episodes instead of monthly TV tapings like they had been doing. Today’s event is a loaded one with 4 title matches-STRONG Openweight Champion Fred Rosser looks to keep his long reign going against KENTA, STRONG Tag Team Champions Motor City Machine Guns defend against West Coast Wrecking Crew, then a double main event-IWGP Women’s Champion KAIRI defends against Mercedes Mone (the former Sasha Banks) in a match that has drawn constant fan vitriol because it’s not the true main event and last match-that’s a rematch 11 years in the making as IWGP World Heavyweight Champion Kazuchika Okada defends the title against Hiroshi Tanahashi, in perhaps the final title clash between the legends of NJPW.
Today’s event will be held at San Jose Civic Center in San Jose, CA and can be watched LIVE on FITE in English for $19.99. You get the live event and unlimited on demand replays with purchase. The event is a legit advance sellout. It’s also available in Japanese on New Japan World as a PPV, but it will cost you roughly $10-15 more going that route. There is also a FREE pre-show on YouTube and FITE 40 minutes before the PPV begins with 2 matches and more. The west coast setting and late start time makes this a near-all-nighter for those watching on the east coast, so get some caffeine if you’re staying up to watch as with the pre-show included the event will likely run at least 3 1/2 hours, and because one match won’t have ropes used the setup/takedown time may push the event closer to 4 hours.
Tonight’s lineup:
Pre-show:
Alex Coughlin vs. JR Kratos
David Finlay vs. Bobby Fish
PPV:
Rocky Romero, Josh Alexander, Adrian Quest & Mascara Dorada vs. Volador Jr., KUSHIDA, Kevin Knight & The DKC
STRONG Openweight Champion Fred Rosser vs. KENTA for the title
STRONG Tag Team Champions Motor City Machine Guns vs. West Coast Wrecking Crew for the titles
Eddie Kingston vs. Jay White in a Loser Leaves New Japan Match
Homicide vs. Tom Lawlor in a Filthy Rules Fight (No Ropes, No DQs)
NJPW World TV Champion Zack Sabre Jr. vs. Clark Connors for the title
IWGP Women’s Champion KAIRI vs. Mercedes Mone for the title
IWGP World Heavyweight Champion Kazuchika Okada vs. Hiroshi Tanahashi for the title
Refresh this page occasionally for the latest results.
Updates below will begin at 9:20 PM ET/6:20 PM PT.
9:20 PM ET UPDATE: Live updates begin now…
We are LIVE from San Jose Civic Center in San Jose, CA. Your hosts are .
The paid attendance may be announced after the event but is a legit advance sellout. Based on the venue and layout I’ve heard that may be around 3000. Mostly empty right now as the crowd is still filing in (doors opened just under an hour ago).
There is no audio yet as the pre-show begins, at least on my stream (watching on an Apple TV 4K). From Twitter comments it sounds like it’s not just me, also no audio on the YouTube version. (New Japan confirmed the issues on YouTube about 5 minutes in. Issue persists on FITE)
Pre-show:
Match 1: Alex Coughlin vs. JR Kratos. 20 minute time limit
Result: Alex Coughlin beat JR Kratos
Match 2: David Finlay vs. Bobby Fish. 20 minute time limit
Result: David Finlay beat Bobby Fish
End Pre-Show.
Updates will resume when the PPV begins in 10 minutes (7 PM PT/10 PM ET). Hopefully with audio on the FITE feed. (About 5 minutes before the PPV begins New Japan announced on Twitter the audio issues will be resolved for the PPV)
PPV:
Now we’ve got video problems. Frozen at the start. Matches to start at 10:05 PM ET/7:05 PM PT.
Video restored at start time. But still no audio. Then we lose video again. Could be a long night for us PPV viewers. (If this is not fixed within the next 10 minutes or so I’m going to have to cancel the live results because I’m not putting up with this and will be requesting a refund)
10:15 PM ET UPDATE: Apologies but I am going to CANCEL the live results due to streaming issues. It’s STILL not working.
