Since 2020, New Japan Pro Wrestling have been running tapings for a weekly show known as NJPW Strong. This has led to some incredible matches, some big PPV events, and the creation of two belts – the Strong Openweight Champion and Tag Team Championships, held by Fred Rosser & Motor City Machine Guns respectively. However, the future of the brand in 2023 is now in question – after an announcement from NJPW star and Strong commentator Hiroshi Tanahashi.
NJPW Strong Comes To An End With Latest Tapings
In a blog post, Tanahashi would have the following to say about the future of NJPW Strong as a brand.
“NJPW Strong, which has been going on for over two years, will come to an end with this recording. It seems that overseas tournaments will be announced in a different form in the future.”
The timing of this is interesting, with NJPW promoting NJPW Battle in the Valley for next month. It seems likely that show will come with an announcement of future plans of NJPW in the United States. Only one match has been announced for that show as of the time of writing, that being Mercedes Mone (fka Sasha Banks) vs. Kairi for the IWGP Women’s Championship.
Working Strongly With Ring Of Honor Instead?
Another strong possibility here is that NJPW will be relying on the upcoming Ring of Honor weekly show as a replacement for NJPW Strong. It was already stated that there will be heavy NJPW involvement with that show, and with a likely similar taping format being used – there might have been a deal set up to simply merge the two companies. An announcement on the future of ROH TV is set for January, with fans knowing that it will come as part of the HonorClub streaming service.
If NJPW Strong will be combined with Ring of Honor, it seems like fans might be able to catch a version of the show on NJPW World, likely with Japanese commentary. Should things work out in this way, we can expect the NJPW Strong championships to be unified with the ROH Championships, essentially meaning Claudio Castagnoli vs. Fred Rosser & The Briscoes vs. Motor City Machine Guns are potential matches.
Do you think NJPW & ROH will combine their shows like this? Will we simply see a rebranding of NJPW Strong instead? Let us know what you think in the comment section down below.
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