New Japan Pro Wrestling issued the following press release announcing that NJPW STRONG Openweight champion Tom Lawlor will defend the gold against the legendary Yuji Nagata at the April 16th Windy City Riot event from the Odeum Expo Center in Chicago, Illinois. Full details, including an updated look at the show card, can be found below.
With a successful eighth defence over Clark Connors this week on STRONG, Tom Lawlor has assured that he will pass one year as STRONG Openweight Champion,. New Japan’s longest current reigning champion by along margin, Tom Lawlor seems all but invulnerable, but he will have to make his next defence in short order.
After a video challenge issued this week, Lawlor will be putting his title on the line at Windy City Riot in Chicago against Blue Justice, Yuji Nagata. The Third Generation member will be hunting for his first singles championship in six years on April 16. While last summer saw Satoshi Kojima come close to the gold only to fall short, can Lawlor’s second Japanese challenger end up taking the STRONG gold out of the Filthy One’s hands?
-Yuji Nagata vs. Tom Lawlor
-Minoru Suzuki vs. Tomohiro Ishii
-Jon Moxley vs. Will Ospreay
-Jay White open challenge
-Fred Rosser/Chris Dickinson/Alex Coughlin/Ren Narita/Josh Alexander vs. Danny Limelight/JR Kratos/Black Tiger/Royce Isaacs/Jorel Nelson