NJPW announces matches for Long Beach shows

Additional notes added by Bryan Rose

New Japan Pro Wrestling has announced many of the matches for the shows in Long Beach on July 1st and 2nd.

The July 1st live show on AXS TV will be headlined by Kazuchika Okada vs. Cody for the IWGP Heavyweight title and will also feature first round matches in the United States Heavyweight title tournament. Those are: Kenny Omega vs. Michael Elgin, Jay Lethal vs. Hangman Page, Tomohiro Ishii vs. Tetsuya Naito, and Zack Sabre Jr. vs. Juice Robinson.

The semifinals and finals of the tournament will be on July 2nd, plus a weird match with Hiroshi Tanahashi defending his Intercontinental title against Billy Gunn.

The card for July 1st is —

  • IWGP Heavyweight Champion Kazuchika Okada defending against Cody
  • Michael Elgin vs. Kenny Omega in a US title first round match
  • Tomohiro Ishii vs. Tetsuya Naito in a US title first round match
  • IWGP Tag Team Champions Guerrillas of Destiny defending against War Machine
  • David Finlay, Jay White, KUSHIDA & Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. Sho Tanaka, Yohei Komatsu, Yoshitatsu & Billy Gunn
  • Juice Robinson vs. Zack Sabre Jr. in a US title first round match
  • Jay Lethal vs. Hangman Page in a US title first round match
  • Titan, Dragon Lee, Volador Jr. & Jushin Thunder Liger vs. Hiromu Takahashi, BUSHI, EVIL & SANADA
  • Roppongi Vice, Will Ospreay & The Briscoes vs. The Young Bucks, Marty Scurll, Yujiro Takahashi & Bad Luck Fale

July 2nd will have (with more matches to be announced) —

  • The semifinals and finals of the US title tournament
  • IWGP Intercontinental Champion Hiroshi Tanahashi defending against Billy Gunn
  • IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Champions The Young Bucks defending against Roppongi Vice

Before Long Beach, three Kizuna Road shows will air live on New Japan World. The June 20th card has a NEVER Six-Man tag title match pitting KUSHIDA, Juice Robinson & Ryusuke Taguchi against champions BUSHI, EVIL & SANADA. Davey Boy Smith Jr. will also make his return to NJPW in a six-man Suzuki-gun vs. Chaos tag match.

Minoru Suzuki will defend his NEVER Openweight Championship against YOSHI-HASHI on June 26th.

The final Kizuna Road show on June 27th will have KUSHIDA defending his newly won IWGP Junior Heavyweight title against BUSHI, who attacked him at Dominion.

Announcements for the G1 (participants, blocks, and matches) will be made across the three shows.