Chase Owens attacked G.o.D. at “New Year’s Dash” on January 5th and made it known that he and KENTA were eyeing their IWGP Tag Team Titles. A match for the IWGP Tag Team Championship was then made for The New Beginning in Osaka on February 11th. Additionally, a non-title preview tag team match was made between the two teams for The New Beginning in Nagoya show on January 20th. However, after successfully defending their STRONG Openweight Championship titles at “Battle In The Valley”, ELP and Hikuleo decided to put those titles on the line in the preview match.

NJPW STRONG Openweight Tag Team Championship
Guerrillas of Destiny (El Phantasmo & Hikuleo) vs. BULLET CLUB (Chase Owens & KENTA)
NJPW The New Beginning in Nagoya – Nagoya, Aichi – 1.20.2024

The Guerrillas of Destiny have been champions since 10.9.2023 and this is their fifth defense. Jado is in their corner. BULLET CLUB has evolved into two groups – The War Dogs, led by David Finlay, and the House of Torture, led by EVIL. KENTA and Owens are in neither camp, and while they could be viewed as the last remaining “pure” BULLET CLUB members, I think their non-involvement exemplifies their unimportance in NJPW in 2024. When I watch this match and see them wrestle a rote, pedestrian match, it’s easy to understand why they’re being treated as afterthoughts. They’re two guys with nothing else going on that can afford to lose to the tag champions while more important things happen around them. Not only that, but the Western fans, and based on their reaction, the home fans too, just have no interest in them. We finally got some energy in the final few minutes of the bout with KENTA and ELP going back and forth, but it didn’t make up for the slog that preceded those moments. KENTA accidentally double stomped Owens. Hikuleo then took down KENTA with Godsend, and Phantasmo pinned Owens with CR II at 21:33. Don’t watch this. **

Tension has been forming between Team Filthy members Tom Lawlor and the West Coast Wrecking Crew. At “Battle In The Valley”, against the West Coast Wrecking Crew’s wishes, Lawlor shook his longtime rival Fred Rosser’s hand after losing to his team in a six man tag team match. After the West Coast Wrecking Crew berated Lawlor backstage, Rosser approached Lawlor and said that if needs a teammate, he has one in him. What I didn’t anticipate was just how soon Lawlor would team with Rosser, and that it would take place in an ROH ring.

ROH World Tag Team Championship Proving Ground Match
The Undisputed Kingdom (Matt Taven & Mike Bennett) vs. Fred Rosser & Tom Lawlor
ROH on HonorClub #49 – Bossier City, LA – 2.1.2024

If Rosser and Lawlor win this match or last the ten minute time limit, they will earn a ROH World Tag Team title match. Rosser helps to fire up an uncertain Lawlor before the bell, and even turns the match in their team’s favor despite Taven and Bennett jumping them at the start of the match. Bennett grabs Rosser’s foot from the floor, allowing Taven to nail Rosser with a roundhouse kick. Rosser escapes the Kingdom’s grasp with a backdrop to Bennett. Lawlor Judo throws Bennett overhead into the corner and gets two with a waistlock slam. Taven returns Bennett’s favor from earlier and grabs Lawlor’s foot, sending Lawlor stumbling into a spinebuster from Bennett. Rosser saves Lawlor from being pinned after Taven’s Aurora Borealis frog splash. After Lawlor takes a release German suplex from Bennett, Lawlor cracks him in the face with a knee strike, and both men tag in their respective partners when they come to. Rosser runs through the champions with a double clothesline. He gives Taven his signature apron backbreaker for two, with Bennett making the save. Lawlor battering rams Bennett into Taven, and Rosser then helps Lawlor with a diving tackle to both Kingdom members in the corner. They then pull off double gut busters, and Rosser’s running knee gets him a two count on Taven. They lock in stereo chicken wings, but Bennett drives Lawlor onto Rosser and Taven to save his partner. Lawlor and Rosser accidentally knock heads attempting double rolling elbows on Taven. Bennett gives Lawlor a Death Valley Driver onto the entrance ramp and then blasts Rosser with the Boston Bayonet. Rockstar Supernova gets the Kingdom the pin on Rosser at 7:29. Rosser and Lawlor were the perfect former rivals turned partners, in that, they had enough familiarity to work well together, but don’t have the rhythm of an established tandem.The Kingdom were not only more in sync, but took shortcuts when possible, which paid off for them. This was quite enjoyable. Rosser and Lawlor for Tag League 2024. ***

On the February 11th STARDOM event, Oedo Tai of Natsuko Tora, Ruaka, and Starlight Kid defeated Mei Seira, Suzu Suzuki, and NJPW STRONG Women’s Champion Giulia in the main event. The match was a chaotic brawl, and it ended with Oedo Tai leader Tora pinning Giulia with a Swanton Bomb. Backstage, Tora challenged Giulia to a STRONG title match and the match was made for February 17th. Giulia and Tora would wrestle to a double count out in a tag team match on February 12th, and then in a six woman tag match on February 14th, Giulia would defeat Tora. With a record of 1-1-1 heading into the title match, and brawls breaking out during these bouts, both champion and challenger demanded that a No Disqualification stipulation be added to their title bout.

NJPW STRONG Women’s Championship – No Disqualification
Giulia vs. Natsuko Tora
STARDOM – Tokyo, Japan – 2.17.2024

Giulia has been champion since 7.5.2023 and this is her ninth defense. She brings a table to the ring for this match. Tora swings a chair into her face to end Giulia’s offensive stride. Tora beats her up in the Korakuen Hall stands, knocking Giulia down a flight of stairs with a swing of a baseball bat to the ribs. She clobbers Giulia with her first wrapped in a chain and then chokes her with the chain. The most significant moment of the match occurs when Tora traps Giulia in the ropes and cuts off a significant chunk of her hair. Enraged by the immense showing of disrespect, Giulia throws chairs at Tora and slams her face into the East wall of Korakuen Hall repeatedly. Giulia sets up her table, but Tora fights back and it does not get used. Giulia lands one super shotgun dropkick. Tora stops her second one with a shotei and brings her down with a super Death Valley Falcon Arrow for two. Giulia also stops Tora when she ascends the ropes and brings her down with a butterfly superplex. Giulia then successfully puts Tora through the ringside table with a piledriver. Back in the ring, she cracks Tora with a knee strike for two. The Northern Lights Bomb also gets two, which shocks Giulia. Tora blows green mist in Giulia’s face as she looks for a submission. A Death Valley Falcon Arrow and Swanton Bomb then get Tora the closest nearfall yet. However, Giulia kicks out at one after Tora delivers another Falcon Arrow. Giulia German suplexes Tora after ducking being hit with a piece of table. Giulia breaks the same piece of table over Tora’s head. Another knee strike gets another two count, but the Northern Lights Bomb onto the piece of table gets Giulia the pin at 16:23. This was a fun brawl and a nice change of pace from Giulia’s other defenses. Like Yuu and Megan Bayne, Tora having the size advantage made her more believable than some of Giulia’s other challengers which helped as well. I also appreciate that it was kept as a battle between the two competitors and not an overbooked mess with Oedo Tai or other members of the roster. ***½

Matt Riddle scored what could be considered an upset at the New Beginning in Sapporo on February 23rd, defeating Hiroshi Tanahashi to win the NJPW World Television title in Tanahashi’s second defense. Backstage, Riddle called out the man Tanahashi defeated for the title, Zack Sabre Jr. Sabre rejected Riddle’s call, saying he had moved on from the 15 minute time limit restrictions that the TV title brings, and instead nominated the other TMDK members to challenge Riddle. Riddle’s first TMDK challenger would step up just six days later.

NJPW World Television Championship
Matt Riddle vs. Bad Dude Tito
MLW Intimidation Games 2024 – New York, NY – 2.29.2024

Riddle has been champion since 2.23.2024 and this is his first defense. Riddle starts off hot with a running pump knee to Tito. They quickly trade German suplexes, and Tito gets two with a Death Valley Driver. He pulls Riddle into a short-arm clothesline to cut off Riddle. Riddle however comes back with a running knee and cradles Tito in a fisherman’s buster for two. Riddle then lands a twisting Swanton for two. Tito blocks a side kick from Riddle and slams him while holding his throat. Tito follows up with a frog splash for two. Riddle intercepts a clothesline and Pele kicks Tito to the corner where he follows in with a pair of running forearms. Riddle exploder suplexes Tito out of the corner into a PK. Tito gets his knees up to block a senton, and also counters a twisting Swanton from Riddle with a sit-out powerbomb out of mid-air. Riddle fires up with a German suplex, but Tito comes right back with a rolling forearm smash and a Blue Thunder Bomb for two. Riddle knees his way out of a Falcon Arrow. He catches Tito’s up and over attempt and drops him with the BroStone for the pin at 5:06. This encapsulates the kind of matches I think Riddle should be having as TV champion – short and explosive. Tito is the perfect person to have that kind of match against, and every time I see the man I just want to see him back in Japan more and more. ***

AEW Continental Crown Championship
Eddie Kingston vs. Bryan Danielson
AEW Revolution 2024 – Greensboro, NC – 3.4.2024

Kingston has been the Continental Crown Champion since 12.30.2023. This is Kingston’s fourth defense of the AEW Continental Championship, his eleventh defense of the ROH World Championship, and his twelfth defense of the NJPW Strong Openweight Championship. This is a threematch between Kingston and Danielson, as they traded wins in their two singles matches back in December. Danielson goes after Kingston’s left leg, while Kingston throws strikes at the challenger. When Danielson grabs Kingston’s head to cut off his barrage of chops, Kingston throws a headbutt and takes him out with a Saito suplex. Kingston lands a suicide dive, but grimaces in pain due to landing on his left knee. Danielson suplexes Kingston off of the apron and to the floor, and then attacks Kingston’s right elbow and shoulder back in the ring. Kingston pulls off an exploder suplex after catching Danielson leaping off of the top turnbuckle, using Danielson’s own momentum to pull it off. Danielson attacks Kingston’s right wrist to break out of a Stretch Plum. Kingston finds himself in a position to use his left arm to land hammer and anvil elbows. Danielson overhead armdrags Kingston into the corner and follows him in with several flying boots. Even though Kingston does avoid one, Danielson is able to come back quickly with a Dragon suplex for two. Danielson gives him a double underhook superplex. Kingston grabs the ropes before he can apply a submission, so Danielson unloads the hammer and anvil elbows to the side of his head before looking for a suplex. Kingston breaks his grasp and nails a leaping enzuigiri. He backfists Danielson, and when Danielson looks for a Busaiku Knee, Kingston halts him with a Northern Lights Bomb for two. Danielson kicks Kingston in the wrist as he lays on the mat and successfully delivers the Busaiku Knee. Kingston kicks out, so Danielson goes for a triangle choke and Kingston makes his way to the ropes to escape. They knock each other out with competing half-nelson suplexes. They pepper each other with strikes when they get back to their feet. Danielson dizzies Kingston with open-handed strikes. Kingston jabs Danielson and swipes him with repeated punches. Kingston cuts off a Busaiku Knee with a left-armed lariat and then powerbombs Danielson into a folding press for the pin at 19:45. This was so great. Danielson changing his focus from Kingston’s leg to Kingston’s arm when it became clear that striking was Kingston’s game plan was such a great wrinkle to the story for me, especially when Kingston ended the match by using his other arm to put Danielson down. Their exchanges were very engaging, and the crowd was really hot for them too which elevated everything. Kingston earned Danielson’s respect by defeating him yet again, and you felt that need from both competitors to win throughout the contest. It’s a toss up which of their three matches I liked best, and it says something that this might be the one I enjoyed least when I still really liked it. ****

It was announced on February 29th that Giulia would defend the STRONG Women’s Title against CMLL Women’s Champion and Women’s Tag Team Champion Stephanie Vaquer on the March 10th STARDOM event. Vaquer has made waves in NJPW STRONG since participating in the tournament to crown the inaugural STRONG Women’s championship last May. Additionally, Tokyo Sports had reported that Giulia had reported to Bushiroad, the parent company of STARDOM, that she would be leaving at the end of March. The writing was on the wall heading into the match, but nevertheless, the behind the scenes discussion certainly added buzz to the bout.

NJPW STRONG Women’s Championship
Giulia vs. Stephanie Vaquer
STARDOM Cinderella Tournament Night 2 – Tokyo, Japan – 3.10.2024

Giulia has been champion since 7.5.2023 and this is her tenth defense. Giulia fails to get Vaquer pinned early on in a cradle. Vaquer stops Giulia with a backbreaker, but the champ fires back immediately with a Sick Kick. Vaquer traps Giulia in the corner and brings her down with a dragonscrew leg whip. Vaquer then crushes her with double knees against the turnbuckles for two. She skullf*cks Giulia before crushing her with a snap leg drop for two. Giulia turns a monkey flip attempt around, only for Vaquer to pull Giulia over the ropes and to the floor. Giulia turns things around by tripping Vaquer on the apron and repeatedly knee striking her in the face. Giulia then uses the apron to pull off a neckbreaker to the floor from the floor. Back in the ring, Vaquer surprises Giulia with Sole Food. Giulia rolls through a crossbody and applies an STF until Vaquer reaches the ropes. Incredulously, a Falcon Arrow only gets her two. Vaquer blisters Gulia with a right hand, resulting in Giulia initiating a headbutt battle. Giulia ends the exchange with a Saito suplex. Vaquer fires up with a suplex, and Giulia responds with a knee to the face. Vaquer pulls Giulia into a belly-to-back suplex. Giulia fights out of a package position and also fires up after two superkicks. Vaquer takes her down with a dropkick. Giulia gets her in an Omoplata, but once again Vaquer reaches the ropes. Gulia scores a close nearfall with a hammerlock Falcon Arrow. Vaquer evades a Northern Lights Bomb. She DDTs’ Giulia and rolls her into a clutch for the pin and the title at 11:03. The crowd was pretty silent by that ending. Either they didn’t expect it, didn’t want it, didn’t care about it, or some combo of the three. They gave Vaquer a polite applause but that’s about all. The ending was in fact anticlimactic, and while both of them put in a good performance, it wasn’t the great match I think STRONG viewers would have anticipated. Regardless, Vaquer was the right person to take the title fro Giulia and I look forward to her reign. Vaquer clobbers Giulia with the title for good measure afterwards. ***

Riddle’s second TMDK challenger for his World TV Title would arrive exactly one month after Tito’s challenge.

NJPW World Television Championship
Matt Riddle vs. Kosei Fujita
MLW War Chamber 2024 Part 1 – St. Petersburg, FL – 3.29.2024

Riddle has been champion since 2.23.2024 and this is his second defense. Fujita shows no fear, backing Riddle to the corner and delivering an overhand chop. This leads to him and Riddle trading forearm shots and ending up in a stalemate after evading each other’s kicks. Riddle takes down Fujita with a German suplex and exploder suplex before giving him a fisherman’s suplex for two. Fujita gets his knees up to block Riddle’s running senton and sends him to the floor with a headscissors. Fujita follows up with a PK from the apron. In the ring, Fujita puts on a Guillotine choke. Riddle backs Fujita to the corner, but Fujita cinches it on deeper and brings the champion to his knees.Riddle muscles Fujita into a fisherman’s buster to escape. The Bro 2 Sleep and a German suplex get Riddle a two count. Fujita halts Riddle on the top turnbuckle and brings him down with a German superplex. Riddle grabs the bottom rope just before Fujita gets a three count. Riddle cuts off Fujita with a jumping knee strike as Fujita comes off the ropes and lands the BroStone for the pin at 7:03. Another hot, fast paced title match from Riddle, and one I think leveled up Fujita in the eyes of new fans. I may not like that he’s carrying the title, or really in New Japan at all, but I did enjoy both of Riddle;s title defenses to date. ***

With two defenses against TMDK members under his belt, Riddle’s challenge to Zack Sabre Jr. turned into a demand. The match was then set for Windy City Riot.

Not the most prolific period for the STRONG titles, but noteworthy with the STRONG Women’s Title changing hands.