It continues to be one of the most newsworthy tours of recent years to see New Japan Road tour this week. Besides yesterday’s announcements regarding this year’s G1 Climax, today’s event saw a major development regarding this year’s IWGP Tag Team and NJPW Strong Openweight Tag Team Championships, YOSHI-HASHI and Hirooki Goto, collectively known as Bishamon, currently hold these positions.
On both nights of NJPW Strong: Independence Day next month, the Bullet Club’s newest members, Alex Coughlin and Gabriel Kidd, will face Bishamon as the official challenger. As the cards are not yet official, both the Heavyweight Tag Team Championship and the Openweight Tag Team Championship would be defended separately over two consecutive days rather than in a single match.
Bishamon stands as the new stewards of both NJPW’s heavyweight tag team titles, having won them at Dominion earlier this month. Before their triumph, the championships had been vacated by the Aussie Open, paving the way for a different foreign team to take charge. Kidd and Coughlin have enjoyed a long connection with Katsuyori Shibata, but made their allegiance with Bullet Club clear when their victory brought in a fresh reign for David Finlay and the legendary stable. This two-match series against Bullet Club’s War Dogs will be their first title defense since then.
In addition, Jon Moxley will face El Desperado and a mystery partner on the two nights of NJPW Strong: Independence Day when he tags alongside Homicide. In addition, Eddie Kingston will compete against KENTA for the Strong Openweight Championship for the first time in Japan since 2011.
