NJPW's Gabriel Kidd & Alex Coughlin Demand Not One, But Two Tag Title Matches

This week's New Japan Road tour continues to be one of the most newsworthy in recent memory. Beyond yesterday's announcements regarding this year's G1 Climax, today's event saw a major development in regards to both the IWGP Tag Team and NJPW Strong Openweight Tag Team Championships, both of which are currently held by YOSHI-HASHI and Hirooki Goto, collectively known as Bishamon.

The official challenge was laid out by the newest members of Bullet Club, Alex Coughlin and Gabriel Kidd, to face Bishamon over both nights of the NJPW Strong: Independence Day event next month. While the cards are not yet official, this would mean that both the IWGP Heavyweight Tag Team Championships and the STRONG Openweight Tag Team Championships would be defended separately over two consecutive days rather than in a single match for both belts.

For Bishamon, the presumed two-match series against the Bullet Club War Dogs will be their first defense of both titles since winning them at NJPW Dominion earlier this month. Before their victory, the belts had been vacated by former champions Aussie Open, leaving the heavyweight tag team division in NJPW wide open for a new foreign tag team like Kidd and Coughlin. While the pair were best known for being proteges of Katsuyori Shibata in the past, they pledged their allegiance to Bullet Club following Bishamon's title victory, helping David Finlay usher in a new era of the legendary stable.

Elsewhere on the two nights of NJPW Strong: Independence Day, Jon Moxley will continue his feud with El Desperado when he tags alongside Homicide to face the junior heavyweight star and a mystery partner of Desperado's choosing. Furthermore, Eddie Kingston will make his first appearance in Japan since 2011 when he challenges KENTA for the Strong Openweight Championship.