Giulia Defeats Willow Nightingale For The NJPW Strong Women's Championship

Today's NJPW STRONG Independence Day show, the second part of a two-night event, saw two title changes, including STARDOM's Giulia defeating AEW star Willow Nightingale for the NJPW STRONG Women's Championship (via Twitter). The end of the match saw the two exchanging slaps and strikes, with Nightingale gaining the upper hand before Giulia was able to counter some of her opponent's offense. Giulia was then able to land a Glorious Driver for the win.

Following her victory, Giulia is now the second-ever NJPW STRONG Women's Champion. Nightingale won the belt in the culmination of a tournament at NJPW STRONG Resurgence in May, with Mercedes Mone as her opponent in the finals. Mone was reportedly supposed to win the match, but the former WWE star injured her ankle during the bout. Mone is still out of action from the injury.

In addition to Giulia's victory, NJPW STRONG Independence Day saw AEW star Eddie Kingston defeat KENTA to become the new NJPW STRONG Openweight Champion. Kingston is set to compete in the upcoming G1, continuing his association with NJPW.

As for Giulia, it seems likely the former World of Stardom Champion will compete on North American soil in the coming weeks or months. AEW has previously expressed interest in using talent from STARDOM, and the NJPW STRONG brand is the company's North American branch. With NJPW/STARDOM and AEW seemingly intent on continuing their partnership, it remains possible that Giulia could appear at the upcoming AEW All In event next month, which recently passed 74,000 tickets sold.