Chicago, IL – 4.11.2025

Commentary is provided by Walker Stewart & Veda Scott.

Kickoff Match
Zane Jay vs. CJ Tino

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 tenth STRONG Survivor Match, with Jay winning the previous two installments. Tino has been on two NJPW Academy Showcase shows, but this is his first NJPW STRONG event. Since the last event, Jay has become an official NJPW Young Lion, coming out to the generic dojo music and wrestling in plain black trunks and boots. Tino surprises Jay with a slap to the ear after they break-up and lock up in the ropes. Jay almost gets on the signature young lion Boston Crab after catching Tino’s dropkick off of the middle rope, but Tino scurries to the ropes before it is applied. Tino also springboard dropkicks Jay to the floor and wears down his neck. Jay cuts off Tino with a bodyslam and hip toss, but is then taken back down with a dropkick. Tino impresses with a deadlift German suplex for two. Jay cuts off Tino’s attacks to his lower back with a back body drop. He dropkicks Tino before successfully applying the Boston Crab for two. I get that in the New Japan universe the Boston Crab is a calling card, but Tino more or less rolling Jay for the majority of the bout and then losing to that was not very believable. I thought both guys looked good, but this was an oddly constructed match. *½

After the match, Jay shakes Tino’s hands. Jay then says he will be relinquishing the STRONG Survivor “title.” He has been training at the Noge dojo in Japan and must put all of his focus into that right now. He is going to prove why he belongs in Japan, and allow for the hungry LA DOJO students to fight for the STRONG Survivor moniker. I’m good with that.

Tom Lawlor vs. TJP

Lawlor and TJP spend time fighting for control over the other’s leg. TJP snaps Lawlor’s right shoulder, and the former STRONG Openweight champion bails to the floor to recover. When he gets to the apron, he baits TJP to where Lawlor snaps his arm and shoulder onto the top rope. Not only does Tom continue attack TJP’s arm, but mocks TJP’s facewash kick with some facewash forearms. TJP evades a corner attack and missile dropkicks Lawlor in the back of the head, sending him to the floor. TJP follows that with a slingshot dropkick. He gives Lawlor his facewash kick to stick it right back to him. Lawlor evades the Mamba Splash. TJP is able to land on his feet and throw some kicks. Lawlor cuts him off with a single knee facebreaker, and TJP spin kicks Lawlor to reset the bout. TJP running boots Lawlor in the side of the head after moving out of the way of Lawlor’s diving spear. Lawlor counters TJP’s Cobra Twist into a kneeling tombstone piledriver. He superplexes TJP into the Kamigoye and still only gets a two count. Lawlor wants the NKOTB, but TJP rolls him forward. TJP tornado DDT’s Lawlor and cracks him with a running knee to the side of the head. TJP connects with the Mamba Splash for the pin at 12:13. This was very reminiscent of one of TJP’s EVOLVE matches, which makes complete sense given the opponent. But I also think it’s because I felt a sense of confidence from TJP. No Aswang shtick or other gimmicks were utilized – just straight wrestling and counter wrestling with a dash of high flying. It’s what I want to see more of from TJP as he continues to dip his toe into Openweight waters. On the flip side, it seems like Lawlor is stuck in second gear. He needs something to sink his teeth into or he’s in danger of just being fodder. **¾

NJPW STRONG Women’s Championship #1 Contendership Match
AZM vs. Mina Shirakawa

The winner of this match will challenge Mercedes Moné for the STRONG Women’s Championship on May 9th at “Resurgence.” Shirakawa stuns AZM’s opening momentum by figure sevening her legs and then giving her a dragonscrew leg whip. AZM takes a Sankakugeri, but then pulls Shirakawa to the mat with her legs and roundhouse kicks her in the side of the head. Shirakawa’s strike exchange win is nullified when she takes too long in a suplex position and AZM takes over with Three Amigos. Shirakawa ducks out of a double stomp out of a tree of woe, and AZM hurts her knee upon landing on the mat. Shirakawa follows with a flying Sling Blade for two. AZM gets the ropes to escape a figure four leg lock, though the damage has clearly been done. She does however headscissors Shirakawa into a modified cradle for two, and then transitions into an arm snap. She wraps her leg around Shirakawa’s shoulder and back as she continues to hyperextend Shirawkawa’s shoulder and wrist behind her back. Shirakawa gets her foot on the bottom rope to escape. Shirakawa also backfists AZM to block a Code Red. AZM roundhouse kicks Shirakawa on the apron, resulting in both women ending up on the floor. Shirakawa drops AZM knee first onto the floor. Shirakawa tries to throw her into the ring, but AZM uses the apron and bottom rope to hit a tiger feint kick. Shirakawa stops AZM from getting into the ring by giving her a DDT. As Shirakawa looks to enter the ring, the twenty count is called by the referee at 11:43, resulting in a double count out. This felt like a tried and true STARDOM match – quickly paced and hard hitting. The multiple pin attempts and big moves also made it seem like this title opportunity was important to both competitors. The boos at the ending felt more like the crowd was unhappy the match ended more than the result. Really good stuff. ***¼

NJPW STRONG Openweight Tag Team Championship
The World Class Wrecking Crew (Jorel Nelson & Royce Isaacs) vs. Intergalactic Jet Setters (Kevin Knight & KUSIDA)

The World Class Wrecking Crew have been champions since 12.15.2024 and this is their second defense. This is Knight’s first NJPW match since losing the IWGP Jr. Tag Titles at Wrestle Kingdom, and KUSHIDA’s since Battle in the Valley. Knight also is now co-signed to AEW and New Japan. Isaacs blindsides KUSHIDA with a forearm from behind from the apron, so Knight retaliates by tripping Nelson from the apron. KUSHIDA dropkicks Nelson in the side of the head. Nelson rakes KUSHIDA’s eyes and takes him back to the corner. Isaacs tags in, but falls victim to a drop toe hold/back splash combo from the Jet Setters. TJP takes a seat ringside just in time to see the Jet Setters take out the WCWC with double pescado’s. Back in the ring, Isaacs throws Knight chest first into the middle rope. Nelson pounces Knight, and then on the floor, Isaacs pounces KUSHIDA into the guardrails. With KUSHIDA wiped out, the WCWC freely wear down Knight in their corner. Knight eventually cuts off Isaacs with his signature dropkick, and by this time, KUSHIDA is ready to accept his tag. KUSHIDA has Nelson ready for a super Frankensteiner. Nelson holds on when he tries to execute, and while Nelson is holding on, Knight jumps up from the mat and brings down Nelson with a Frankensteiner for two. Nelson fights out of the Doomsday Dropkick. The WCWC cut off KUSHIDA”s double back handspring elbow. Nelson pops Knight up into a knee strike to the face. The WCWC’s powerbomb/Falcon Arrow combo only gets them two. Isaacs muscles out of the Hoverboard Lock, but Knight then helps KUSHIDA with a tornado DDT. The Doomsday dropkick connects on Isaacs for two. Nelson shoves Knight off of the top turnbuckle when the Jet Setters look for Skull & Bones They low blow KUSHIDA as referee Kevin Pierce is distracted, and Nelson pins him with Hush Money at 11:05. The crowd was pissed at that ending and rightfully so. It felt cheap in a bad way, which you could argue was the point, but it soured an otherwise very good tag match. Two actual teams with tandem offense and chemistry in this environment rarely disappoint. Again, with a better finish, this would’ve been a great defense. ***

NJPW STRONG Openweight Championship
Gabe Kidd vs. Tomohiro Ishii

Kidd has been champion since 5.11.2024 and this is his seventh defense. Last month, Kidd and Ishii wrestled to a thirty minute draw, and this rematch was immediately set by Kidd. The first ten minutes were more or less an endurance test, to see who could inflict and take the most damage. Kidd entered the second third of the match on top with a double open hand chop. Kidd took time to taunt the crowd and also bite Ishii’s head in the process. Ishii comes cloe to a pinfall after turning Kidd’s superplex into a sunset powerbomb. Kidd decides to take the fight over the guardrails where he DDT’s Ishii onto a pile of chairs. Ishii is able to kick out of a superplex, and an uncharacteristic moonsault from Kidd. Kidd haymakers Ishii when Ishii begins to throw headbutts, and then earns the first fall of the match with a piledriver. Kidd was already pretty arrogant, but with a one fall advantage, he began playing around too much with Ishii. He gets himself caught in a cross armbreaker when attempting his rebound lariat. He’s turning purple as he reaches for the ropes, and then decides to try and powerbomb his way free. Ishii refused to let go and Kidd had no choice but to tap out, tying the match at one fall a piece. Ishii continued attacking Kidd’s arm as he looked for the brainbuster. Kidd cut off his momentum in a small package, and then lands a lariat. The 30:00 time expires with a draw. Kidd rolls to the floor and smiles, knowing that the title remains in his grasp on a draw, but that is taken away when the referee calls for sudden death. Kidd errantly pins Ishii lackadaisically after both a rebound lariat and piledriver. Ishii gets up at two. They both fire up after suplexes and lariats to one another. Kidd kicks out of a lariat at one, and Ishii kicks out of a brainbuster at one. Kidd also pops up after Ishii gives him a piledriver. When Kidd goes for his own, Ishii blocks it. Ishii then ends a strike exchange with a headbutt to the chin, and finally lands the brainbuster to win the match at 4:05 (34:05 total.)

I have mixed feelings about the match. The set up of Kidd challenging for this match after the draw in January baffled me, but the execution of the story of this match was good. Kidd got cocky (or confident) when he took Ishii off of his feet, and even cockier when he scored the first fall. When Ishii tied things up close to the end of the match, Kidd thought he only had to outlast the time limit, but when sudden death came into play, it was curtains for the mad man. The match was a bit of bore for the first ten minutes, got a bit interesting in the second half, and then the overtime was on fire. It’s the big issue with an Iron Man match, where it feels like you’re more or less killing time until the clock begins to countdown. They did a solid enough job filling the time and not making it feel as if the half hour dragged. It did, however, feel like more of a forced epic than a truly “great” match. For me this lands exactly where their first match did, and I give the same “mileage may vary” warning once again as well. ***½

Los Ingobernables de Japón (Tetsuya Naito & Titán) vs. El Phantasmo & Rocky Romero

ELP and Romero were learning to be a team as the match progressed. Sometimes what they did worked, other times it did not. When it did not, that was when the more well-oiled LIJ tandem could turn the match in their favor and maintain an offensive stride. ELP looked to save Romero from Titán, but ended up accidentally hitting Romero with Sudden Death. Naito delivered Destino to ELP. When he rolled to the floor, Titán followed up with a suicide dive into the barricades. Meanwhile, Naito had dropped Romero with a neckbreaker, and Titán re-entered the ring with a super double stomp to Romero for the pin at 11:04. There really isn’t much to say other than that this was a competent, good match. Fans were happy to see Tetsuya Naito, and unbeknownst to them, it might be the last time they got a chance to see him. **½

Naito and Romero had a strange post match interaction with Naito rubbing his wrist band into Romero’s eyes after the bell. Two developments would occur with both men in the following week. On the following weekend’s AEW Collision, Romero turned on Tomohiro Ishii and the rest of the Conglomeration to join the Don Callis Family. Romero would be paired with fellow Don Callis Family member Konosuke Takeshita during Wrestling Dontaku weekend.

The bigger story came the day before Collision, when NJPW announced that Tetsuya Naito (as well as BUSHI) would be exiting the company. Yes, Tetsuya Naito, physically, is not what he once was. Despite this, he still has tons of fans who came to shows to see him and was the most popular wrestler in all of Japan for many years. It would’ve been great to have a more extended farewell tour and to give the fans the chance to digest and accept the news. Instead, like we did with Okada, we get about a month’s notice and a bittersweet send off. By pure coincidence, the show that was advertised as Hiroshi Tanahashi’s last U.S. match ended up being the final U.S. match for both him and Tetsuya Naito (in NJPW at least.)

Zack Sabre Jr. vs. David Finlay

This is a rematch from the New Japan Cup semi-final round, where Finlay pinned the former IWGP World Heavyweight Champion with Overkill. Sabre attacks Finlay’s left shoulder right away, manipulating his fingers in the process. After Finlay misses a senton splash, Sabre quickly uses his feet to twist Finlay’s neck. Finlay cuts off Sabre with a modified Hot Shot and a back suplex. They get into an uppercut battle, which Finlay ends using the Irish Curse backbreaker, and then violently sends Sabre back first into the corner. Sabre counters a suplex with one of his own into the corner. Sabre also catches Finlay in another neck twist when Finlay attempts a baseball slide. Finlay defiantly flips off Sabre from the mat as Sabre kicks him with his kick pads. Finlay also spits at Sabre. Sabre angrily kicks him and then comes running, but Finlay sweeps him up into a backbreaker. Sabre counters the Dominator into a cradle, which leads to them switching pin attempts rapidly. Sabre gets close with a crucifix. Finlay turns Sabre’s front chancery into Into Oblivion for two. Sabre maneuvers Finlay from an O’Connor Roll into a double arm stretch. Finlay powerbombs Sabre, and then gives him a buckle bumb and second powerbomb. Sabre counters the pin into a double shoulder stretch. Finlay gets his foot on the bottom rope to escape. Sabre pesters Finlay with kicks to the head as they both are seated, which turns into both men booting one another in the chest. Sabre kicks Finlay in the arm and gives him the Zack Driver for a two count so close that the crowd was angry at the referee. As they maneuvered each other looking for a kill shot, Sabre blocked Into Oblivion and delivered a second Zack Driver for the pin at 15:20. Maybe the referee should’ve just counted that close pin as the pin if they were just going to re-do it sixty seconds later. That hiccup aside, this was excellent. It was well paced with no down time and there were clear objectives (neck work vs. back work) that paid off for one of them. It was engaging, easy to watch, and just plain good. It’s the best match on the card before our double main event, easily. ***¾

IWGP World Heavyweight Championship
Hirooki Goto vs. Shota Umino

Goto has been champion since 2.11.2025 and this is his fourth defense. This is Goto’s first U.S. appearance since competing in AEW in 2022, and first non-Forbidden Door NJPW U.S. show since November of 2019. Goto actually made the challenge to Umino for the title after defeating David Finlay at Sakura Genesis, feeling that Umino had shaken off the doubts he had after losing to Zack Sabre Jr. at Wrestle Kingdom and later Great-O-Khan by making it to the finals of the New Japan Cup and also defeating Hiroshi Tanahashi at Sakura Genesis.

Umino worked over Umino’s left knee, both taking out his base and theoretically weakening Goto’s signature Ushigoroshi. Funny enough, it was an Ushigoroshi that Goto used to halt Umino, but with his right knee. Goto got in a spin kick in the corner and had Umino reeling with several forearm shots when he went for a lariat. As he came off of the ropes, Umino popped him up for a powerbomb. A second powerbomb doesn’t do the trick, and Goto fights off a Northern Lights Bomb. Goto ducked a lariat and locked Umino in a sleeper hold. Goto busts out the PK, a calling card of his former tag team partner Katsuyori Shibata, before dropping Umino with the GTW for two. Umino headbutts Goto to block a GTR and blasts the champ with a Shining Wizard for two. Goto quickly goes from a sleeper into a crucifix pin for two. Goto kicks out of one at a clothesline, so Umino turns him inside out with a lariat. That gets Umino a very close nearfall, so he tries again for the Northern Lights Bomb. Goto counters that with Shouten Kai for two. Umino schoolboys Goto to once again block a GTR. Goto headbuts Umino several times and takes him down with a lariat before finally pulling off the GTR for the pin at 20:00. Turns out Umino matches have the same problems in the U.S. that they do in Japan – the crowd just is not into him as a main event wrestler. He’s very good, and capable of having incredible matches with the right person, but the audiences have a hard time buying him as a world champion caliber competitor. That made it tough to get the crowd really into this match. They loved Goto, as evidenced by the reception he got in his intro and outro. They just couldn’t get beyond respectable feedback or jeers towards Umino when Umino came close to winning. That said, this was a good match, and I am glad to see more coherence between tried and true New Japan shows and the U.S. events. ***½

Veda Scott informs that Rocky Romero has decided that as a result of the earlier #1 Contender’s match, both Mina Shirakawa and AZM will challenge Mercedes Moné for the STRONG Women’s Championship on May 9th at “Resurgence.” I am guessing that just like she did for the IWGP Women’s Title, Moné will lose the match and her title without being pinned or submitted. Super!

The lights then go out and The Young Bucks appear on the screen. They’re in their private jet and challenge the War Dogs to a match at “Resurgence.” They know the War Dogs have them outnumbered, but they just so happen to have a couple of “old OG friends” who are always willing and up for the fight. Matthew Jackson promises to take their private jet for a five minute flight to Ontario just to put more emissions in the air. That sounds to me like the Good Brothers (ugh) are returning but it’d be very cool if they weren’t. (Ron Howard Narrator voice – it was the Good Brothers.)

Konosuke Takeshita vs. Hiroshi Tanahashi

This is Tanahashi’s final match in the United States. Takeshita challenged Tanahashi to this match after defeating KUSHIDA at “Battle In The Valley.” Eleven years earlier, Tanahashi defeated Takeshita at DDT’s Peter Pan event. One year later, Tanahashi defeated HARASHIMA at the same event and refused to shake HARASHIMA’s hand after the match. Tanahashi bad mouthed DDT in the post-match press conference, and Takeshita blames Tanahashi’s words for making DDT more closed off and isolated, and thus stunting Takeshita’s career growth until he came to the U.S. in 2022. Takeshita is also much bigger in 2025 than he was in 2014, as evidenced by his manhandling of Tanahashi in the early going. As confident of a wrestler Takeshita has become, it’s clear Tanahashi’s thoughts still shook him. Tanahashi took out his knee. Tanahashi countered a lot of his offense. Takeshita would mock Tanahashi and it would backfire, such as Tanahashi defiantly kicking out at one after taking a High Fly low. Takeshita finally thought he had Tanahashi down for good after he got his knees up to block a High Fly Flow and blasted the Ace with several forearm shots. Tanahashi was just playing possum, and schoolboyed Takeshita for two. The mental games weren’t down, as after five Power Drive Knees, Tanahashi STILL found it in him to kick out. Takeshita’s confidence had visibly been shaken, but even Tanahashi’s might had its limits. A forearm shot, a running Meteora, and the Raging Fire, which Tanahashi had previously been able to counter, finally earned Takeshita the pin at 20:37. The story of the match was incredible and exactly what I want out of my pro wrestling. I can’t conceive of a better last U.S. match for Tanahashi, because to a U.S. audience that has grown to know and really like Takeshita for the past three years, this meant more to a lot of the people in attendance than it would’ve putting him against a different NJPW roster member – save those for Japan. This was also a nice reminder that Tanahashi can absolutely still produce a high quality match with the right opponent and circumstances. ****¼

Takeshita shakes Tanahashi’s hand as Tanahashi lay on the mat. Tanahashi gives Takeshita some words we cannot hear as their hands remain interlocked. Takeshita bows to Tanahashi before leaving, with many NJPW roster members having now surrounded the ring. El Phantasmo and Takeshita exchange words and Takeshita even gives him a light shove. Takeshitathen exits to the back as KUSHIDA checks on Tanahashi. Tanahashi gets on the microphone and says while he wants to wrestle forever, he is retiring next year. He says do not worry about NJPW, and points to the wrestlers around ringside, indicating the future is in good hands. Tanahashi says he will make New Japan number one in the world. He thanks the crowd and says he will miss them. He gives the crowd a passionate “Aishitemasu”, waves to them from all four corners, and takes photos with fans ringside. When he makes it to the stage, he gives one last pose to the crowd.

This show had a memorable and excellent main event, but overall was a step down from last year’s Windy City Riot. I do appreciate that these U.S. shows aren’t so bloated anymore. Looking forward to “Resurgence.”