NJPW Women’s Strong Champion Willow Nightingale accepts Giulia’s challenge

  • Ian Carey
  • By 

Willow Nightingale has accepted Giulia’s challenge. 

Giulia called out the NJPW Strong Women’s Champion at Sunday’s Stardom Sunshine event. Nightingale responded to her in a promo cut backstage at AEW x NJPW Forbidden Door later that night. 

Nightingale said:

I woke up this morning, the morning of Forbidden Door, ready to face Toni Storm for the AEW World Women’s Championship but I log in to Twitter and I saw what Giulia had to say, I saw her issue a challenge. Now, being the New Japan Strong Women’s Champion is very important to me, very near and dear to my heart and, of course, I’m going to want to defend that against the very best. Listen, I’m really well known here in the United States but if you know anything about the Japanese women’s wrestling scene you know exactly who Giulia is. So Giulia, I hear your challenge, and I look forward to having a fight with you and showing all the Japanese fans exactly what Willow Nightingale’s about. 

The NJPW Global Twitter account has twice listed the Independence Day shows from Korakuen Hall on July 4 & 5 as when the match could take place. However, neither Giulia or Nightingale have mentioned this in their promos. 

Nightingale was defeated by AEW Women’s World Champion Toni Storm last night at Forbidden Door. Prior to that, she defeated Nyla Rose on Saturday’s Collision to advance in the Owen Hart Foundation Tournament. She will face Athena in the semifinals. 

NJPW Strong Independence Day night one, Tuesday, July 4, 5:10 a.m. Eastern time on NJPW World pay-per-view —

  • IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Championship: TJP & Francesco Akira defend against Drilla Moloney & Clark Connors
  • Exciting Encounter Doomsday No DQ match: Jon Moxley & Homicide vs. El Desperado & Jun Kasai
  • NJPW Strong Openweight Tag Team Championship: Hirooki Goto & YOSHI-HASHI defend against Alex Coughlin & Gabe Kidd
  • Eddie Kingston & Rocky Romero vs. KENTA & Gedo
  • Tom Lawlor vs. Kosei Fujita
  • Lance Archer, Alex Zayne & Ryohei Oiwa vs. JR Kratos, Jorel Nelson & Royce Isaacs
  • Bad Dude Tito vs. The DKC
  • Kickoff match: Ryusuke Taguchi, YOH & Oskar Leube vs. Kengo, Dragon Libre & Takahiro Katori

NJPW Strong Independence Day night two, Wednesday, July 5, 5:10 a.m. Eastern time on NJPW World pay-per-view —

  • NJPW Strong Openweight Championship: KENTA defends against Eddie Kingston
  • Final Death match: Jon Moxley vs. El Desperado
  • IWGP Tag Team Championship: Hirooki Goto & YOSHI-HASHI defend against Alex Coughlin & Gabe Kidd
  • Hiroshi Tanahashi, Tomohiro Ishii & The DKC vs. Tom Lawlor, Jorel Nelson & Royce Isaacs
  • Lance Archer & Alex Zayne vs. Bad Dude Tito & Kosei Fujita
  • Drilla Moloney & Clark Connors vs. YOH & Rocky Romero
  • Homicide & Ryohei Oiwa vs. TJP & Francesco Akira
  • JR Kratos vs. OSkar Leube
  • Kickoff match: Ryusuke Taguchi, Master Wato & Boltin Oleg vs. Dragon Libre, Takahiro Katori & Rekka