At the end of Strong Style Evolved, Mina Shirakawa answered Mercedes Moné’s Wrestle Dynasty challenge. Moné accepted and put her NJPW STRONG Women’s championship, but also wanted Mina’s RevPro Women’s title to be on the line as well. The two agreed, and the match was set:

NJPW STRONG Women’s Championship & RevPro Undisputed British Women’s Championship
Mercedes Moné vs. Mina Shirakawa
NJPW Wrestle Dynasty – Tokyo, Japan – 1.5.2025

Moné has been NJPW STRONG Women’s champion since 6.30.2024 and this is her fourth defense. Shirakawa has been the RevPro Undisputed British Women’s champion since 8.24.2024 and this is her third defense. Multiple members of Shirakawa’s STARDOM stable Empress Nexus Venus are ringside. Shirakawa avoids the Statement Maker early on. She brings Moné down from the middle rope with a dragonscrew leg whip and further damages the knee with a ring post aided sharpshooter. Monné fought through the pain to pull off a Meteora, but Shirakawa dropkicked her bad leg out from under her upon recovering. Mone also rolls through a kneebreaker and delivers a grounded Meteora. Moné sacrifices her own knee for a backbreaker in order to wear down Shirakawa’s spine. Moné does more damage to the spine by draping Shirakawa on the middle turnbuckle and driving her knees into her midsection. Shirakawa rolls through a Meteora and repeatedly slams Moné’s leg into the canvas until she gets to the ropes. Moné blocks a tombstone by cartwheeling Shirakawa into the Tenchi Crash. Shirakawa fights out of the Moné Maker and spikes Moné with a tornado DDT. Moné escapes a figure four leg lock and uses Shirakawa’s momentum to roll them to their feet for the Three Amigos. Shirakawa brings Moné off the top with a super DDT to stop her from delivering a frog splash. Shirakawa finally gets the figure four leg lock applied. Moné eventually rolls through the ropes to escape. Shirakawa climbs to the top turnbuckle and takes down Moné with a flying Sling Blade. An Implant DDT then gets her a two count. Shirakawa’s Glamorous Driver also has the same result, much to Shirakawa’s dismay. Moné evades a second Glamorous Driver and takes down Shirakawa with a Code Breaker. Shirakawa blocks another Moné Maker attempt and drops her with a Gory Special. She then locks Moné in a modified figure four leg lock, which Moné turns into a pin to escape. She small packages Shirakawa to stop another figure four leg lock. Shirakawa throws a kick, which Moné catches. Moné then pulls Shirakawa up into the Moné Maker for the pin at 14:06. That was a well wrestled match with a simple, effective story to follow. They made you believe it was either competitor’s match for the taking, even though we knew deep down the result wasn’t really in doubt. I like Shirakawa not shaking hands and showing that the loss affected her emotionally as she was walked to the back by her partner – it added to the gravitas of the bout. This will sadly be forgotten because of the Omega/Kidd spectacle, but it was very good. ***½

San Jose, CA – 1.11.2025

Commentary is provided by Walker Stewart & Veda Scott.

Kickoff Match
Zane Jay vs. Viento

This match is billed as a “STRONG Survivor Match”, pitting prospects from the NJPW Academy against one another on a bigger, more visible stage. This is the ninth STRONG Survivor Match. Jay ended Matt Vandagriff’s seven match winning streak last month. Viento made their NJPW debut back in July, and this is their first match since. Unfortunately for Jay, the San Jose crowd was not as into him as the Long Beach crowd last month. Viento’s more flashy offense did not help. Jay kind of came off as an angry guy in tighty whities for most of the match, truthfully, according to my wife anyways. The last few minutes were good, with Jay landing a top rope elbow drop and submitting Viento to the Noge Dojo’s signature Boston Crab in 6:23. Jay’s intensity was leaning into inauthentic territory, but otherwise he had a good showing and worked well with someone who has a totally different style than him. I am interested in watching him evolve. In the post-match promo, KUSHIDA invites him back to Japan, which makes me even more interested. **¼

Kickoff Match
Fred Rosser & Matt Vandagriff vs. TMDK (Bad Dude Tito & Shane Haste)

Last month, Tito pinned Rosser’s regular tag team partner, Tom Lawlor, to win a six man tag team match. The TMDK tandem easily manhandled the first time tandem of Rosser and Vandagriff in the early going. This was partially due to Vandagriff bailing early when Tito was beating him up and TMDK getting the opening to isolate Rosser in their corner. Rosser eventually cracks Haste with a lariat to end TMDK’s momentum and tag in Vandagriff, whose speed gives him the room to get in some strikes. He even uses Haste to roll himself into a spear to Tito. Rosser gives Haste a back suplex onto the ring apron, and Vandagriff corkscrew moonsaults onto both Haste and Tito on the floor. Rosser then gets two on Haste back in the ring with the Gut Feeling. Rosser accidentally pump kicks Vandagriff. Haste tornado DDT’s Rosser and gets two with a scissor PK. Rosser sends Haste to the floor and clotheslines Tito, but Vandagriff decides to bail on Rosser when Rosser looks to tag out. Rosser still manages to lock a crossface chicken wing on Tito until Haste rescues his partner. TMDK tandem offense leads to Tito pinning Rosser with a Death Valley Complete Shot at 10:23. Vandagriff’s offensive stride in this match was better than anything he did in his STRONG Survivor run. You could see the dissension between Young and Vandagriff coming for a mile away and still the crowd reacted when Vandagriff jumped off the apron. I do think interaction between the LA Dojo trainers and the pupils makes for interesting stories (see: Jay and KUSHIDA), so I am interested in what’s next for Rosser and Vandagriff. Let’s actually do something with the new crop of trainees! **½

NJPW STRONG Openweight Championship
Gabe Kidd vs. Tomohiro Ishii

Kidd has been champion since 5.11.2024 and this is his sixth defense. Kidd challenged Ishii to this bout after retaining the title against Ryohei Oiwa last month. I’m of two minds about this match. The story I really liked – two guys who are too stubborn for their own good fight to a 30 minute draw. Because neither of them stayed down, neither of them could gain much ground either. Kidd then challenges Ishii after the match to a 30 Minute Iron Man match in Chicago, and they strike each other after in a weird way of agreeing to the fight. In that match, the two of them will have to put stubbornness aside for tunnel vision, and focus on accruing falls (or even just getting one and making sure the other doesn’t get any) and avoiding yet another draw, especially Ishii. They made a clear division as to who was to be cheered (Ishii) and who was to be rooted against (Kidd), and Kidd’s early cockiness ensured that whatever goodwill he may have earned in the Omega match wouldn’t ruin that dynamic. However, the thirty minutes dragged on and lacked direction. They just filled it with stuff. Chop exchanges went long because they had to, and there were multiple. The various fire-ups and hard shots grew tiresome to me because we saw them so many times. One throughline was Ishii’s inability to deliver a brainbuster, and once he did, the 30:00 time limit expired before he could even attempt a pin. I’m glad they started the show off with a draw because it would’ve been a bummer of an ending to the night. As negative as I sound, this was a heck of a fight, and achieved what it was as a set-up match, but not the best in a vacuum. Mileage may vary. ***½

NJPW STRONG Openweight Tag Team Championship
The World Class Wrecking Crew (Jorel Nelson & Royce Isaacs) vs. Roppongi ReVice (Rocky Romero & YOH)

The World Class Wrecking Crew have been champions since 12.15.2024 and this is their first defense. Romero challenged the WCWC right after they won the titles last month, and WCWC attacked Romero after accepting. This is also their first match after changing their name from West Coast Wrecking Crew to World Class Wrecking Crew. They are still carrying around the straps from the Dirty Work match two months ago around their necks. Man, putting the two STRONG titles up top does kind of make it seem like we’re getting them “out of the way” before the “real” New Japan titles are defended. The challengers enjoyed an advantage over the champions until their tandem suicide dives turned into double suplexes onto the floor. YOH saves Romero from being pinned by the Dominator/Ace Crusher combo from WCWC and is then immediately pitched to the floor by Isaacs. Romero DDT’s Nelson to block a powerbomb and also spikes Isaacs with a tornado DDT and tags in YOH officially. YOH cleans house until Romero is recovered enough to assist with tandem offense on Nelson. After YOH fails to pin Nelson with a basement dropkick, Isaacs once again tosses him outside. Romero’s Forever clotheslines are interrupted by a springback Ace Crusher from Nelson. He puts Romero in a crossface, and Isaacs slaps on a sharpshooter on YOH when YOH tried to make the save. When Nelson pivots to an ankle lock, Romero rolls forward to send Nelson crashing into Isaacs. Isaacs is able to jump in and break up a pin when YOH Falcon Arrows Nelson into a sit-out powerbomb from Romero. YOH accidentally superkicks Romero. YOH however is able to standing switch with Isaacs so that Nelson takes out his own partner with a springback Ace Crusher. Nelson, though, kicks out of ReVice’s 3K finisher, so Romero calls for the Strong Zero. Isaacs throws a title belt into the ring to distract the referee. Isaacs takes out YOH with Hush Money. Romero O’Connor Rolls then Nelson. Nelson pushes him into a belt shot from Isaacs. WCWC’s modified Shooty McGee (called No Vaseline?) get them the pin on Romero at 11:21. This was very fun. I appreciate when openweight titles are actually competed between different weight classes. The two teams worked well together, and YOH and Romero looked like Roppongi 3K never disbanded. A rock solid first defense for WCWC. ***¼

Elimination Match
Anna Jay, AZM, Johnnie Robbie & Trish Adora vs. Empress Nexus Venus (Maika, Mina Shirakawa & HANAKO) & Viva Van

The powerhouse of ExV, HANAKO, scored the first fall of the match, pinning Robbie with a sit-out Death Valley facebuster at 5:20. AZM would then take out of the powerhouse with a La Mistica into a folding pin at 6:25. Jay and AZM double dropkicked Van to the corner. Jay would sneak into the Queen Slayer choke hold on Van after evading a Japanese Ocean Cyclone suplex and Van tapped out at 7:25. The crowd had been wanting to see Mina since the start of the match, and were delighted to see her fight off Jay and AZM on her own. Maika then helped Shirakawa throw Adora over the top rope and to the floor at 8:33. AZM tried her cradle pin on Shirakawa, but Maika made the save. AZM then lined up Maika and Shirakawa for a double running grounded blockbuster from Jay. Shirakawa cut off AZM with a pop-up enzuigiri and grounded her with a flying Sling Blade. AZM escaped the Glamorous Driver. Shirakawa pushed AZM over the top rope but she landed on the apron. Jay then pushed Shirakawa to the apron. Shirakawa and AZM ended up both rumbling to the mat at 10:57, eliminating both of them from the match. Jay almost had Maika pinned on a couple of occasions during their exchange, but in the end, Maika would send Jay over the top rope and knock her off the apron with a rolling forearm to win the match at 13:37. This was well wrestled and the action moved fast and hot. Two big problems were that there wasn’t any sort of backstory to sink your teeth into, and the crowd only seemed interested in seeing Mina. Maika rules, but didn’t get much to do, so I hope this win leads to a title match against Moné where she gets the chance to show out. **¾

NJPW World Television Championship
El Phantasmo vs. Jeff Cobb

El Phantasmo has been champion since 1.4.2025 and this is his first defense. Cobb, a former champion, failed to recapture the title in a four way at Wrestle Kingdom 19, the same match ELP won the title. The two exchanged some words after a ten man tag at New Year’s Dash and this match was made. Both of them know that they only have a 15 minute time limit to play with, and went for their finishers early because of it. Cobb would overpower the champion, but when he tried Tour of the Islands again, ELP countered into a DDT. ELP impresses by tightrope walking on the top rope to pull off both a headscissors and a moonsault. He can’t get Cobb up for a cutthroat Driver, and Cobb ends up dropping him with the Spin Cycle for two. ELP gets his knees up to block a standing moonsault. ELP successfully pulls off the spin-out cutthroat neckbreaker and Sudden Death before landing Thunder Kiss ‘86 for two. Cobb surprises ELP with a quick jump-up dropkick from the apron. Cobb rolls to the floor to avoid a lionsault, but ELP follows him out with a suicide dive that sends Cobb tumbling into the crowd. ELP climbs to the top of the nearest turnbuckle post and dives over the guardrail and onto Cobb! Both Phantasmo and Cobb fight their way back to ringside. Just when it looks like ELP is about to get back in the ring, Cobb Beele tosses a dojo student from the crowd and onto ELP! Both of them end up being counted at 10:40. Doing a draw and a double count on the same show is bold. Here I think the double count out makes sense, because Cobb’s challenge to ELP came from him thinking that ELP could not beat him one on one, and ELP winning by count out in Cobb’s eyes would still not count as an actual defeat. Running this match back with a no count out or some other stipulation should be really good. ***¼

Sumie Sakai Retirement Match
Sumie Sakai & House of Torture (EVIL & SHO) vs. Hiromu Takahashi, Mayu Iwatani & Yuka Sakazaki

Sakai hand picked Takahashi to captain a team and find two other women wrestlers to team with him. Sumie chose EVIL and SHO, as along with Hiromu, they were two people Sumie helped acclimate to the U.S. when they were on excursion during their Young Lion days. She noted that she still sees goodness in the both of them, remembering who they were during those days. They do not show that side of them early on, with EVIL attacking the opposing team from behind. Iwatani and Sakazaki take out the HoT leaving Sakai and Takahashi to square off. Sakai uses her emotions to bait Takahashi into an attack. She grabs an armbar and the crowd boos when Takahashi chops her upon escape. EVIL trips Takahashi and jabs him in the stomach with a chair. EVIL tries encouraging Sakai to use the chair but she refuses. EVIL and SHO continue to disappoint Sakai by cheating. Takahashi gives them a taste of their own medicine with an abdominal stretch that includes his partners, Sakai, and fans in the crowd creating a chain with Takahashi to add more pressure to the hold. Iwatani and Sakazaki take them out with double top rope dropkicks back in the ring. Sakai ends an exchange with Iwatani with a swinging neckbreaker. Sakai takes the tail off of Iwatani’s attire, and Iwatani makes her pay with a roll into a single leg dropkick and then a hesitation dropkick against the ropes. Sakazaki saves Iwatani from Sakai’s Smash Mouth and they double superkick her to the outside. They snapmare SHO into a double dropkick to the back, and double suplex EVIL after a superkick from Takahashi! Takahashi looks from Timebomb II, but Sakai counters into Smash Mouth. However, SHO pulls out the referee to disrupt Sakai’s pin! Sakazaki prevents SHO from using his wrench and hits him with it. Iwatani avoids being sent into a turnbuckle the HOT exposed, sending EVIL crashing chest first into it. She then German suplexes EVIL into Takahashi, who uses EVIL’s own Everything is EVIL on him. This leaves Sakai to fight off the entire opposing team on her own. She begins to fade as she throws strikes at everyone. They want her to keep fighting, but Sakai’s body gives out. All three of them get in strikes, ending with a lariat from Takahashi. They all pin her, and Sakai kicks out! Takahashi smiles. Sakazaki slams Sakai off of her shoulders, leading to a top rope moonsault from Iwatani and finally Time Bomb from Takahashi put down Sakai at 14:42. This was a total blast. For as much crap as the HoT get, they are really good at being shit stirring rule breakers who are not at all against showing ass when the time calls for it. Commentary, the participants, and the fans all made this match feel important, emphasizing just how important Sumie has been to so many. As someone who has watched her for over twenty years, it was neat seeing her get such a grand send off. ***¾

The locker room surrounds the ring to show their respect for Sumie. Both Sakazaki and Iwatani thank Sakai, and Hiromu gifts her his entrance jacket as a thank you for all she has done for him. Sumie then thanks the crowd, then everyone enters the ring for a photo op. They also toss her in the air a few times in celebration. This was very sweet and well done.

NEVER Openweight Championship
Konosuke Takeshita vs. KUSHIDA

Takeshita has been champion since 1.4.2025 and this is his second defense. KUSHIDA made the challenge to Takeshita at New Year’s Dash this past Monday. It takes KUSHIDA having the wherewithal to drive Takeshita stomach first into the ring apron to get any semblance of control in the match. He places Takeshita in an armbar on the apron, and then hyperextends and attacks Takeshita’s left arm back inside of the ring. KUSHIDA also tries attacking Takeshita’s left knee which is bandaged, but what that does is put KUSHIDA in a position where Takeshita can use his other leg to stomp KUSHIDA’s head into the mat. Takeshita also uses his leg to pull KUSHIDA out of an ankle lock and lariat him from the mat. His arm gives out when he goes for the Blue Thunder Bomb. KUSHIDA kicks at Takeshita’s left arm and left knee. KUSHIDA’s Tanaka Punch and fallaway enzuigiri leave Takeshita dazed. Takeshita does manage to take the momentum of KUSHIDA’s back handspring elbow and counter it into a Blue Thunder Bomb for two. KUSHIDA catches Takeshita as he lands from a super senton and grabs a cross armbreaker. Takeshita muscles KUSHIDA into the Hitodenashi Driver for two. KUSHIDA side steps an apron attack, resulting in him pulling Takeshita off of the apron and driving his knee into the floor. KUSHIDA locks him in a figure four leg lock to try and earn a count out victory, releasing at 18, but Takeshita rolls in right at 20. KUSHIDA busts out a springboard huracanrana to get two, and then also gets two with Back To The Future (small package driver.) Takeshita blasts KUSHIDA with a forearm strike to block another Tanaka Punch. KUSHIDA shotei’s Takeshita, but Takeshita roars right back with a clothesline for a one count. Takeshita pulls KUSHIDA to his feet. KUSHIDA’s open hand slap is answered with a hard forearm shot. Takeshita then pins KUSHIDA with Raging Fire for the pin at 15:08. To nobody’s surprise, this rocked. KUSHIDA got so much more offense than I expected and the match was very good because of it. Him attacking Takeshita’s arm and leg neutralized much of Takeshita’s size advantage, but Takeshita was smart enough to use KUSHIDA’s momentum against him when he could. I hope KUSHIDA continues to dabble in both weight classes. ****

Takeshita grabs a microphone after the match. He challenged Hiroshi Tanahashi to a match in Chicago on April 11th, Tanahashi’s last U.S. match. He says that the end of “the Ace” will be the rise of “the Alpha.” Sign me the f*ck up.

Zack Sabre Jr. vs. Hechicero

Hechicero defeated Sabre in CMLL in June, and Sabre defeated Hechicero in RevPro in August. This is considered a threematch match on neutral territory, although their first singles match was also in California (PWG in October 2018) and Sabre won that match. You hear the style of match featured in the UK show “World of Sport” referred to as “a human chess match.” That is pretty much exactly what we got out of Sabre and Hechicero. They spent a considerable amount of time on the mat. As the match progressed, Hechicero honed in on Sabre’s ankle while Sabre went after Hechicero’s left arm. Hechicero would also use his size and power to get the upper hand, such as a spin-out face first slam and splashing Sabre stomach and throat first against the ring ropes. When they fought on the top turnbuckle, Hechicero won the exchange by bringing Sabre down with a Frankensteiner. Sabre rolled Heichcero into a PK, and moments later, Hechicero rolled Sabre into a knee strike to the chest. Sabre went for a cross armbreaker after delivering a Zack Driver. As he looks to convert into a full body stretch, Hechicero grabbed the bottom rope. Hechicero gets a bust of energy, dropkicking Sabre to the corner and following him in with a step-up knee strike. Hechicero’s damaged Sabre’s back with a spin-out backbreaker, an inverted Gory Stretch, and a rolling elbow drop to the spine. Sabre fought back with multiple dropkicks and running boots to even things out. Hechicero used his legs to launch Sabre into a rear-naked choke, which Sabre turned into a European Clutch for two. They exchange pinning combinations until Sabre catches Hechicero in a jackknife pin at 23:43. Smooth, intricate, and easy to watch. This was only a few minutes shy of the opening match and felt lightyears shorter. I think their CMLL bout is still the best of the bunch, as it was more heated, but this was terrific. ***¾

IWGP Junior Heavyweight Championship
El Desperado vs. Taiji Ishimori

Desperado has been champion since 1.4.2025 and this is his first defense. This is also the first defense of the title in the United States since G1 Supercard. Ishimori earned this title match by winning a “Lucha Gauntlet” match at Wrestle Dynasty the following evening. This is also a rematch from last year’s Best of the Super Juniors finals, which Desperado won. Ishimori cuts off a suicide dive attempt from Desperado with a mid-air gamengiri, and then sends Desperado shoulder first into the ring post. He continued his attack on the shoulder back in the ring. When Desperado rolled under the ropes to escape a kimura lock, Ishimori sent him shoulder first through the top and middle turnbuckle (I guess they never fixed the exposed corner from the six man tag.) Desperado snatches Ishimori out of mid-air to turn a back handspring into a back suplex. Desperado goes after Ishimori’s legs, starting with a dragonscrew leg whip. Ishimori blocks a double upkick from the corner and swings Desperado onto the ropes where he then slides through with a German suplex. Ishimori sacrifices his own knee for a Tenchi Crash to get a nearfall. Desperado rolls out of the way out of a 450 Splash. Ishimori lands on his feet, so Desperado immediately chop blocks his leg out and goes for Numero Uno. Ishimori counters that into a crossface attempt and Desperado gets the ropes. Ishimori goes for the Bloody Cross. Desperado denies it and double underhooks his arms. Ishimori turns that into a pin attempt, but Desperado recovers and drops Ishimori with Pinche Loco. Delighted, Desperado picks up Ishimori and attempts a second, which Ishimori turns into a sunset flip and then another crossface. Due to Desperado’s continuous attempts to escape, he decides to transition into the Bloody Cross. Desperado gets his foot on the bottom rope to avoid being pinned. Ishimori then is pushed hard back first into the exposed turnbuckles. Desperado counters La Mistica into a Blue Thunder Bomb. However, Ishimori counters Pinche Loco into another crossface. Desperado rolls that into Numero Uno. He muscles Ishimori over his shoulders into Guitarra de la Muerta. A Tiger Driver and Pinche Loco then get Desperado the pin at 20:44. While this wasn’t at the level of their Best of the Super Juniors match, it was close. They had a tough task following the previous two bouts and still managed to get the crowd into the bout through the momentum swings and counters and Desperado fighting for Pinche Loco. If this means we’re going to see more focus on Juniors and have Desperado on more U.S. shows, I am for it. ***¾

A little too much set up for future shows for my liking, but still a very good show all around.