Strong Style Evolved was a

professional wrestling Professional wrestling, often shortened to either pro wrestling or wrestling,The term "wrestling" is most often widely used to specifically refer to modern scripted professional wrestling, though it is also used to refer to Real life, real- ...

event promoted by

New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW) is a Puroresu, Japanese professional-wrestling Professional wrestling promotion, promotion founded on January 13, 1972, by Antonio Inoki, and based in Nakano, Tokyo. It is currently majority owned by card-game company Bushiroad, with TV As ...

(NJPW). The show took place on March 25, 2018, in

Long Beach, California Long Beach is a coastal city in southeastern Los Angeles County, California, United States. It is the list of United States cities by population, 44th-most populous city in the United States, with a population of 451,307 as of 2022. A charter ci ...

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

at the

Walter Pyramid The Walter Pyramid, formerly known as The Long Beach Pyramid, is a 4,000-seat, pyramid-shaped indoor arena on the campus of Long Beach State University in Long Beach, California. It serves as home venue to the University's men's and women's ...

. The event was broadcast on

AXS TV AXS TV () is an American cable television channel majority-owned by Canadian broadcaster Anthem Sports & Entertainment. It is devoted primarily to music-related programming (such as concert films, documentaries, and reality series involving musi ...

in the United States and on

NJPW World , also referred to as NJPW World and New Japan World, is a subscription-based video streaming service owned by the Japanese professional wrestling promotion New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW). On December 1, 2014, NJPW and its minority owner TV Asahi a ...

internationally.

Production

Background

On November 5, 2017, NJPW announced the follow-up event to G1 Special in USA, the event, titled Strong Style Evolved, would take place on March 25, 2018, at the

in Long Beach, California. Tickets for the event sold out within 20 minutes of being made available for purchase. To coincide with the event, NJPW held "Strong Style Saturday" on March 24 at the newly opened NJPW LA Dojo. The event included a fan festival featuring autograph sessions, a contract signing for the IWGP United States Heavyweight Championship title defense, and in-ring matches.

Storylines

On January 28, 2018, at The New Beginning in Sapporo, "Switchblade"

Jay White Jamie White (born 9 October 1992), better known by the ring name Jay White, is a New Zealand professional wrestler. He is signed to All Elite Wrestling (AEW), where he is the leader of the Bullet Club sub-group Bang Bang Gang. White is a former ...

defeated

Kenny Omega Tyson Smith (born October 16, 1983), better known by the ring name , is a Canadian-born professional wrestler. He is signed to All Elite Wrestling (AEW), where he is the current AEW International Champion in his first reign. He also works as an ...

to become IWGP United States Heavyweight Champion. Following the match, White was challenged by Omega's

Bullet Club , stylized as BULLET CLUB and sometimes shortened to BC, is a professional wrestling Glossary of professional wrestling terms#stable, stable primarily appearing in the Japanese Professional wrestling promotion, promotion New Japan Pro-Wrestling ...

stablemate Hangman Page. A championship match between the two was announced for Strong Style Evolved on February 26. On February 10, 2018, at The New Beginning in Osaka, former

WWE World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) is an American professional wrestling promotion. It is owned and operated by TKO Group Holdings, a majority-owned subsidiary of Endeavor Group Holdings. A global integrated media and entertainment company, ...

wrestler Rey Mysterio Jr. made his NJPW debut in a pre-taped video, challenging

Jyushin Thunder Liger , better known as and later , is a Japanese retired professional wrestler and mixed martial artist, signed to New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW) as a trainer. He is the longest-tenured member of the NJPW roster, having worked for the company since ...

to a match at Strong Style Evolved. Liger, who was on commentary, accepted the challenge and the match was later announced for the event. On March 3, Mysterio suffered a bicep injury at a Northeast Wrestling event, leading to Mysterio being replaced by

Will Ospreay William Peter Charles Ospreay (born 7 May 1993) is an English professional wrestler. , he is signed to All Elite Wrestling (AEW), where he is a former two-time AEW International Champion. He is also known for his eight year tenure with New Japa ...

at Strong Style Evolved. In July 2008, Canadian wrestler Kenny Omega started his first Japanese tour with the

DDT Pro-Wrestling is a Japanese professional wrestling promotion based in Shinjuku, Tokyo, Shinjuku, Tokyo. Its name is an initialism of Dramatic Dream Team, which was the promotion's original name from 1997 to 2004. Founded in March 1997 by Shintaro Muto, the p ...

(DDT) promotion, where he quickly became friends with

Kota Ibushi is a Japanese professional wrestler and martial artist. He is signed to All Elite Wrestling (AEW). He is best known for his tenure with New Japan-Pro Wrestling (NJPW), Dramatic Dream Team (DDT) and WWE. His career began with the Dramatic Dre ...

, with the two forming a tag team named " Golden☆Lovers" in January 2009. On October 3, 2014, Omega announced he was leaving DDT and signing with NJPW, where Ibushi was already a semi-regular. However, with Ibushi having recently moved to NJPW's heavyweight division, Omega stated that the Golden☆Lovers were done as a tag team due to him wanting to remain in the junior heavyweight division. The Golden☆Lovers wrestled their final match together on October 26, 2014, when they defeated Danshoku Dino and

Konosuke Takeshita is a Japanese professional wrestler. He is signed to American Wrestling promotion, promotion All Elite Wrestling (AEW), where he is a member of the Don Callis Family and one-half of the tag team Protoshita with Kyle Fletcher. He is a former AEW ...

in Omega's DDT farewell match. On January 28, 2018 at The New Beginning in Sapporo, the Golden☆Lovers were reformed, with Ibushi saving Omega from an attack from Cody. Omega and Ibushi teamed for the first time since 2014 at the Honor Rising: Japan 2018 events. At night two of Honor Rising: Japan, the Golden☆Lovers, after a victory over Cody and

Marty Scurll Martin Scurll (born 26 July 1988) is an English professional wrestler. He is known for his work in Ring of Honor (ROH). Scurll began his career in 2005, working on the British independent circuit. In 2012, he competed on the TNA's show TNA Wres ...

, were interrupted by

The Young Bucks The Young Bucks are an American professional wrestling tag team consisting of brothers Matthew Massie and Nicholas Massie, who perform under the ring names Matthew Jackson and Nicholas Jackson. , they are signed to All Elite Wrestling (AEW), whe ...

who announced they were moving up to NJPW's heavyweight tag team division. A match between Golden☆Lovers and The Young Bucks was announced for Strong Style Evolved on February 26.

Results

Aftermath

At the show, NJPW announced there will be another G1 Special event taking place in the

San Francisco San Francisco, officially the City and County of San Francisco, is a commercial, Financial District, San Francisco, financial, and Culture of San Francisco, cultural center of Northern California. With a population of 827,526 residents as of ...

area on July 7, 2018, at the

Cow Palace The Cow Palace (originally the California State Livestock Pavilion) is an indoor arena and events center located in Daly City, California, situated on the city's northern border with neighboring San Francisco. Because the border passes through t ...

Daly City, California Daly City () is the second-most populous city in San Mateo County, California, United States. Located in the San Francisco Bay Area, and immediately south of San Francisco (sharing its northern border with almost all of San Francisco's southern ...

. The following day on March 26, NJPW announced the follow up to Strong Style Evolved,

Strong Style Evolved UK Strong Style Evolved UK was a two-day professional wrestling event promoted by New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW), in partnership with Revolution Pro Wrestling (RPW). It took place on June 30 and July 1, 2018 at Planet Ice Milton Keynes in Milton Key ...

, occurring on June 30 and July 1.

References

External links

Official sub-site
{{New Japan Pro Wrestling events New Japan Pro-Wrestling shows 2018 in professional wrestling March 2018 in the United States Professional wrestling shows in California Events in Long Beach, California 2018 in Los Angeles County, California