Former WWE star Cody Rhodes, already set to challenge Christopher Daniels for the ROH championshp at their 6/23 Best in the World PPV, will also challenge IWGP champion Kazuchika Okada in the main event of the 7/1 New Japan Pro Wrestling debut in Long Beach, California at the Long Beach Convention Center. The 7/1 event will air live on AXS TV with Jim Ross and Josh Barnett on commentary and will stream live on New Japan World outside of the United States.
Rounding out the 7/1 debut in California will be:
*IWGP Tag Team champions The Guerillas of Destiny, Tama Tonga & Tanga Loa vs. War Machine, Ray Rowe & Hanson
*IWGP U.S. Championship First Round match: Tetsuya Naito vs Tomohiro Ishii
*IWGP U.S. Championship First Round match: Kenny Omega vs. Michael Elgin
*IWGP U.S. Championship First Round match: Jay Lethal vs. Adam Hangman Page
*IWGP U.S. Championship First Round match: Juice Robinson vs. Zack Sabre Jr
*IWGP Intercontinental champion Hiroshi Tanahashi & IWGP Junior Heavyweight champion KUSHIDA & Jay White & David Finlay vs. Yoshitatsu & Billy Gunn & Yohei Komatsu & Sho Tanaka
*Jushin Liger & Volador Jr & Dragon Lee & Titan. vs BUSHI & EVIL & SANADA & Hiromu Takahashi.
The 7/2 event in Long Beach, which will air on 7/7 on AXS TV, features:
*IWGP Intercontinental champion Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. Billy Gunn
*IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team champions The Young Bucks vs. Roppongi Vice
*IWGP U.S. championship tournament finals.
***
New Japan also announced they would live stream three events from Korakuen Hall in Tokyo on New Japan World later this month:
June 20th:
*Tomoyuki Oka vs. Tetsuhiro Yagi
*Jushin Thunder Liger, Tiger Mask IV & Shota Umino vs. TAKA Michinoku, El Desperado & Yoshinobu Kanemaru
*Yuji Nagata & David Finlay vs. Manabu Nakanishi & Katsuya Kitamura
*Hiroyoshi Tenzan, Satoshi Kojima & Togi Makabe vs. Tomohiro Ishii, Toru Yano & Jado
*Hiroshi Tanahashi & Hirai Kawato vs. Tetsuya Naito & Hiromu Takahashi
*Kazuchika Okada, Hirooki Goto & YOSHI-HASHI vs. Minoru Suzuki, Davey Boy Smith Jr & Taichi
*NEVER Openweight Six Man Tag Team Championship: KUSHIDA, Juice Robinson & Ryusuke Taguchi vs. EVIL, SANADA & BUSHI
June 26:
*Shota Umino vs. Tetsuhiro Yagi
*Tomoyuki Oka vs. Katsuya Kitamura
*Jushin Thunder Liger, Tiger Mask IV & Hirai Kawato vs. Yoshinobu Kanemaru, Taichi & TAKA Michinoku
*Satoshi Kojima, Hiroyoshi Tenzan, Yuji Nagata & Manabu Nakanishi vs. Tomohiro Ishii, Hirooki Goto, Toru Yano & Jado
*Kazuchika Okada & Gedo vs. Davey Boy Smith Jr & El Desperado
*Hiroshi Tanahashi, Togi Makabe, Juice Robinson, David Finlay & Ryusuke Taguchi vs. Tetsuya Naito, SANADA, EVIL, BUSHI & Hiromu Takahashi
*NEVER Openweight Championship: Minoru Suzuki vs. YOSHI-HASHI
June 27th:
*Tetsuhiro Yagi vs. Shota Umino
*Tiger Mask IV & Hirai Kawato vs. Yoshinobu Kanemaru & TAKA Michinoku
*Hiroyoshi Tenzan, Satoshi Kojima & Jushin Thunder Liger vs. Yuji Nagata, Manabu Nakanishi & Tomoyuki Oka
*Togi Makabe & Katsuya Kitamura vs. Tomohiro Ishii & Toru Yano
*Hiroshi Tanahashi, Juice Robinson, David Finlay & Ryusuke Taguchi vs. Tetsuya Naito, EVIL, SANADA & Hiromu Takahashi
*Kazuchika Okada, Hirooki Goto, YOSHI-HASHI & Gedo vs. Minoru Suzuki, Davey Boy Smith Jr, Taichi & El Desperado
*IWGP Jr Heavyweight Championship: KUSHIDA vs. BUSHI
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