New Japan is back in the US today for their monthly, or close to it, international event, Fighting Spirit Unleashed. This installment is the first time in 5 years they’re back in the northeast US as the last visit was before the pandemic began. It’s a loaded 11 match card with 3 title matches and more: The first title match will be for the STRONG Tag Team Championship as Shane Haste & Mikey Nicholls, fresh off losing the IWGP Heavyweight Tag Team Championship in Japan, try to retain these titles against James Drake & Zack Gibson aka former WWE team Grizzled Young Veterans. In the second title match, the All Elite Wrestling International Championship is on the line as Konosuke Takeshita defends against TJP. In the main event, Kosei Fujita will try to build on his Super Junior Tag League victory earlier this week when he faces Gabriel Kidd for the STRONG Openweight Championship. There also is a 4-way for the next STRONG Women’s Championship shot at Mercedes Mone which seems to be between AEW’s Anna Jay and Trish Adora, with Stardom sending Hacuki & Koguma to participate too.
Today’s event will be held at Lowell Memorial Auditorium in Lowell, MA and can be watched LIVE on New Japan World in Japanese and English. The event will also be available as a PPV on TrillerTV/FITE for $19.99. There will also be a FREE 30-minute pre-show on these outlets and YouTube. One match has no time limit but everything else is 30 minutes so despite the number of matches I expect this to be a “standard length” US PPV event with, including the pre-show, a total running time of about 3 1/2 hours.
Today’s lineup:
Pre-show:
Matt Vandagriff vs. Seabass Finn
PPV/main show:
Kevin Knight vs. David Finlay
STRONG Tag Team Champions Shane Haste & Mikey Nicholls vs. James Drake & Zack Gibson for the titles
Lio Rush vs. Mustafa Ali
Fred Rosser & Tom Lawlor vs. Jorel Nelson & Royce Isaavs in a 2/3 Falls Match. Fall 1 is a Tables Match. Fall 2 is a Submission Match (win only by submission). If needed, Fall 3 is a Last Man Standing Strap Match (win only by KO/TKO, unable to answer 10 count when down)
Anna Jay vs. Trish Adora, Hazuki & Koguma in a 4-way for a STRONG Women’s Championship shot
Yota Tsuji & Shingo Takagi vs. Matt Taven & Mike Bennett
Ryohei Oiwa vs. KENTA
Zack Sabre Jr. & Bad Dude Tito vs. Tomohiro Ishii & Shota Umino
AEW International Champion Konosuke Takeshita vs. TJP for the title
STRONG Openweight Champion Gabriel Kidd vs. Kosei Fujita for the title
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Updates below will begin at 3:30 PM PT/6:30 PM ET.
