NJPW are a very busy company with shows planned across Japan and the United States in the coming weeks. Here’s all the information you need to know heading into this NJPW tour season.
Also, just before we get into all the match cards, a huge congratulations to Young Lion’s Shota Umino and Ren Narita as they take the next steps in their wrestling careers. Narita is set to join the LA Dojo and will train under Katsuyori Shibata. Umino or “Shooter” as we now know him, is going on an excursion to the UK so our shores will soon be graced by one of the most popular current Young Lions
The American Fighting Spirit Unleashed Tour is a 3-date tour starts in Lowell Massachusetts on the 27th September then hits New York on the 28th September and ends in Philadelphia on the 29th. This tour will see the return of international stars and some rather surprising match-ups throughout.
Fighting Spirit Unleashed Lowell (September 27th)
- LA Dojo Battle: Alex Coughlin vs Karl Fredericks
- Ren Narita vs Lance Archer
- Mickey Nicholls & Juice Robinson vs Clark Connors & TJP
- The Rock N Roll Express vs Jado & Chase Owens
- Amazing Red & Tomohiro Ishii vs BUSHI & Shingo Takagi
- Rocky Romero, YOSHI-HASHI & Hirooki Goto vs Gedo, KENTA & Jay White
- IWGP Tag Title Match: Guerrillas of Destiny (Tama Tonga & Tanga Loa) vs Roppongi 3K (SHO & YOH)
- Special Six Man Tag Match: Hiroshi Tanahashi, Kazuchika Okada & Kota Ibushi vs Tetsuya Naito, EVIL & SANADA
Fighting Spirit Unleashed New York (September 28th)
This will be the last event officiated by legendary referee Tiger Hattori
- Ren Narita vs TJP
- Karl Fredericks vs Lance Archer
- Mickey Nicholls & Juice Robinson vs Alex Coughlin & Clark Connors
- Roppongi 3K (SHO, YOH & Rocky Romero) vs Guerrillas of Destiny & Jado
- Rock N Roll Express & Hiroshi Tanahashi vs BUSHI, Shingo Takagi & Tetsuya Naito
- Amazing Red, Tomohiro Ishii & Hirooki Goto vs Gedo, Chase Owens & Jay White
- Never Openweight Title: KENTA vs YOSHI-HASHI
- Special Tag Match: Kota Ibushi & Kazuchika Okada vs EVIL & SANADA
Fighting Spirit Unleashed Philadelphia (September 29th)
- Rocky Romero vs Clark Connors
- Mickey Nicholls vs Karl Fredericks
- Alex Coughlin vs Lance Archer
- Ren Narita vs Amazing Red
- SHO, YOH, Juice Robinson vs Shingo Takagi, SANADA & Tetsuya Naito
- TJP & Kota Ibushi vs EVIL & BUSHI
- Special Elimination Match: Rock N Roll Express, YOSHI-HASHI, Tomohiro Ishii, Hirooki Goto & Hiroshi Tanahashi vs Gedo, Chase Owens, Tanga Loa, Tama Tonga, KENTA & Jay White
King of Pro Wrestling is one of NJPW’s biggest events of the year and will also see returns and titles defended from Ryogoku Kokugikan on October 14th. It also features the hotly anticipated match between Jushin Thunder Liger and Minoru Suzuki. After the shock appearance of Kyshin Liger, anything could happen. The rest of the show goes as follows:
- El Desperado comeback: DOUKI, Yoshinobu Kanemaru & El Desperado vs SHO, YOH & Ryusuke Taguchi
- Tomoaki Honma & Hiroshi Tanahashi vs Togi Makabe & Toru Yano
- BUSHI, Shingo Takagi & Tetsuya Naito vs Taichi, Lance Archer & Zack Sabre Jr
- YOSHI-HASHI, Tomohiro Ishii & Hirooki Goto vs Yujiro Takahashi, KENTA & Jay White
- Jushin Thunder Liger vs Minoru Suzuki
- IWGP Jr Heavyweight Title: Will Ospreay vs El Phantasmo
- IWGP US Title: Jon Moxley vs Juice Robinson (No DQ)
- Wrestle Kingdom Rights Contract: Kota Ibushi vs EVIL
- IWGP Heavyweight Title: Kazuchika Okada vs SANADA
These shows shall be available on NJPW World, NJPW’s streaming service and tickets/information can be found at njpw1972.com.
All images courtesy of njpw1972.com