A World Championship match has been added to the Windy City Riot card.
This Saturday, New Japan Pro-Wrestling will make its return to the states and one of the big features is Hiroshi Tanahashi’s final match in the US. But the headliner for the event had yet to be determined. That changed at Sakura Genesis following Hirooki Goto’s successful title defense against David Finlay.
Goto immediately got on the mic and challenged the 2024 G1 Climax winner, Shota Umino, to a match for the title. Not surprisingly, he accepted.
New Japan has made their match official as Umino will get another opportunity to win the IWGP World Heavyweight title after failing to beat Zack Sabre Jr. at Wrestle Kingdom 19. NJPW officials have been building up the 27-year-old as the next big thing in the company and it was shocking that they didn’t pull the trigger at Wrestle Kingdom 19.
That wasn’t the only match added to the upcoming show. Tom Lawlor and TJP are scheduled to go one-on-one and Tetsuya Naito & Titan (Los Ingobernables De Japon) will team together to take on Rocky Romero and El Phnastasmo.
On paper, this card looks great, especially the NJPW STRONG Openweight Championship match and Zack Sabre Jr. vs. David Finlay. Check out the advertised line-up below:
NJPW Windy City Riot (4/11)
- IWGP World Heavyweight Championship: Hirooki Goto (c) vs Shota Umino
- Hiroshi Tanahashi vs Konsuke Takeshita
- Zack Sabre Jr. vs David Finlay
- Rocky Romero & El Phantasmo vs Los Ingobernables De Japon (Tetsuya Naito & Titan)
- NJPW STRONG Openweight Championship - Ironman Match: Gabe Kidd (c) vs Tomohiro Ishii
- NJPW STRONG Openweight Tag Team Championships: World Class Wrecking Crew (Royce Isaacs & Jorel Nelson) (c) vs. Intergalactic Jet Setters (Kevin Knight & KUSHIDA)
- NJPW STRONG Women’s Championship Number One Contendership: AZM vs Mina Shirakawa
- TJP vs Tom Lawlor