NJPW Fighting Spirit Unleashed 2023 Match Card, Date, Time

NJPW Strong presented Fighting Spirit Unleashed 2023 event on October 28, 2023. This was the ninth event from NJPW in US in the year 2023. The show aired from Sam Town’s Live in Las Vegas, NV.

Strong Openweight Championship match between Eddie Kingston and Henare, Strong Women’s Championship match between Giulia and Hyan, NEVER Openweight title match between Tama Tonga and Shingo Takati were three of the title matches on the card.

MATCH CARD

• Pre-Show – Matt Vandagriff vs Buck Skynyr – Singles Match
  • Winner: Matt Vandagriff
• Pre-Show – Team Filthy (Jorel Nelson, Royce Isaacs & Danny Limelight) vs Baliyan Akki, Titus Alexander & Jakob Austin Young
  • Winner: Team Filthy (Jorel Nelson, Royce Isaacs & Danny Limelight)
• Fred Rosser & Alex Coughlin vs Satoshi Kojima & Jeff Cobb – Tag Team Match
  • Winner: Satoshi Kojima & Jeff Cobb
• Stephanie Vaquer & Zeuxis vs Lluvia & Johnnie Robbie – Tag Team Match
  • Winner: Stephanie Vaquer & Zeuxis
• Tom Lawlor vs Gabe Kidd – Singles Match
  • Winner: Tom Lawlor
• Atlantis, Hiroshi Tanahashi, Mistico & Atlantis Jr. vs Rocky Romero, Tiger Mask, Soberano Jr. & Adrian Quest
  • Winner: Atlantis, Hiroshi Tanahashi, Mistico & Atlantis Jr.
• Giulia(c) vs HYAN – NJPW Strong Women’s Championship
  • Winner: Giulia(c)
• El Phantasmo & Hikuleo vs Alex Zayne & Lance Archer – Tag Team Match
  • Winner: El Phantasmo & Hikuleo
• Eddie Kingston(c) vs HENARE – NJPW Strong Openweight Championship
  • Winner: Eddie Kingston
• SANADA & Yuya Uemura vs Tetsuya Naito & Hiromu Takahashi – Tag Team Match
  • Winner: Draw
• Shingo Takagi vs Tama Tonga(c) – NEVER Openweight Championship
  • Winner: Shingo Takagi

NOTES & STORYLINES

NJPW started producing Fighting Spirit Unleashed event in 2018. The events under the series have taken place from 2018 to 2021 every year. NJPW Strong, NJPW’s US arm, presented the event in 2023. This was the first time the event will air from Las Vegas, NV.

Eddie Kingston vs Henare: Henare attacked Eddie Kingston after 8-man tag team match on the semifinal event of G1 Climax 33 series on August 12, 2023. Later, Kingston challenged Henare to face him at Fighting Spirit Unleashed with his Strong Openweight title on the line.

Guilia vs Hyan: Hyan challenged Guilia for the Strong Women’s title match. Guilia accepted the challenge the match was later announced for this event.

IWGP World Heavyweight Champion Sanada and Tetsuya Naito will clash in the main event of Wrestle Kingdom 18. They were clashing in a series of tag team matches in the build-up to that match. One such match was be at this event where Sanada would team up with Just 5 Guys teammate Yuya Uemera while Naito would team up with LIJ teammate & Junior Heavyweight Champion Hiromu Takahashi.

Tama Tonga won the NEVER Openweight title from David Finlay at Destruction in Ryugoku. He was later announced to defend his title against Shingo Takagi at this event as his first defense.