Willow Nightingale Set For Title Defense Against Giulia At NJPW Independence Day

AEW star Willow Nightingale will defend her NJPW Strong Women's Championship against STARDOM's Giulia on Night 2 of the upcoming NJPW Strong Independence Day event on July 5. The match was set up after Giulia called out Nightingale at the STARDOM Sunshine event on June 25, making it clear that she wanted to head overseas and compete on the NJPW Strong brand. Subsequently, Nightingale accepted Giulia's challenge in the lead-up to AEW x NJPW Forbidden Door. 

"I woke up this morning, the morning of Forbidden Door, ready to face Toni Storm for the AEW World Women's Championship," Nightingale said. "But I log into Twitter and I saw what Giulia had to say, I saw her issue a challenge. Now, being the NJPW Strong Women's Champion is very important to me, and very near and dear to my heart, and of course, I'm gonna defend that against the very best.

"If you know anything about the Japanese women's wrestling scene, you know exactly who Giulia is," Nightingale added. "So, Giulia, I hear your challenge, and I look forward to having a fight with you and showing all the Japanese fans exactly what Willow Nightingale is about."

While Nightingale did come up short against Storm at Forbidden Door, the rising AEW star is fresh off a victory over Nyla Rose in the first round of the Owen Hart Foundation Tournament and will face Athena in the semis of the tourney. As such, the upcoming month or so could be a time for celebration for the 29-year-old Long Island native.

Meanwhile, other matches confirmed for NJPW Strong Independence Day include Jon Moxley and Homicide vs. El Desperado and Jun Kasai, Tom Lawlor vs. Kosei Fujita, and KENTA vs. Eddie Kingston. Moxley is scheduled to wrestle on both nights of the event and will wrestle El Desperado in a Final Death Match on Night 2 of the event that will emanate from the Korakuen Hall in Tokyo, Japan.