Alex Shelley vs Hiroshi Tanahashi Official for Multiverse United 2
Alex Shelley will defend his IMPACT World Championship against Hiroshi Tanahashi at the IMPACT x NJPW Multiverse United 2 PPV event.
Shelley challenged Tanahashi for a match at Multiverse United earlier in the week via a message on social media. Shelley acknowledged Tanahashi as the ace and referred to himself as a joker. He also confidently expressed that he would demonstrate why he considered himself the best in the world.
During the July 27 episode of IMPACT, IMPACT officially made the bout official for the IMPACT x NJPW Multiverse United 2 PPV event.
BREAKING: @fakekinkade has laid out a HUGE challenge to @tanahashi1_100 for an IMPACT World Championship match at #MultiverseUnited2 on August 20 in the 2300 Arena in Philadelphia, PA! @njpwglobal
— IMPACT (@IMPACTWRESTLING) July 26, 2023
Get tickets HERE: https://t.co/QqMDilHO7V pic.twitter.com/hvjiaqAFAe
Alex Shelley won the IMPACT World Championship at Impact Against All Odds on June 9 by defeating Steve Maclin. Since then, Shelley has successfully defended his title on four occasions. One of those defenses came at IMPACT Slammiversary main event against Nick Aldis.
During this tenure in NJPW from 2013 to 2015, Shelley teamed up with Tanahashi many times, but a single match between Shelley and Tanahashi never took place.
Tanahashi was part of the first IMPACT x NJPW Multiverse United PPV event where he defeated Mike Bailey. Tanahashi also was part of AEW x NJPW Forbidden Door 2023 event where he unsuccessfully challenged MJF for AEW World Championship.
Multiverse United 2: For Whom The Bell Tolls event is scheduled for August 20, 2023, at 2300 Arena in Philadelphia, PA. A tag team match is also set for the event where Lio Rush and Trey Miguel will face Hiromu Takahashi and Mike Bailey.
