Full card set for Chicago Friday
After the dramatic events of Sakura Genesis on Saturday, the full card has been revealed for Windy City Riot. The Wintrust Arena in Chicago is set for an immense night with three titles on the line and much more on the biggest US card of the year to date.
Wintrust Arena TICKETS
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Main event: IWGP World Heavyweight Championship: Hirooki Goto vs Shota Umino
Our main event sees Hirooki Goto put the IWGP World Heavyweight Championship on the line for his fourth defence in a two month span against Shota Umino.
At Sakura Genesis, Goto faced New Japan Cup winner Finlay and overcame the Rebel, finally getting well deserved revenge for a painful loss at the War Dogs leader’s hands in Ryogoku the prior October. No sooner had Goto celebrated his win, though, than he announced plans for his next challenger in Umino.
After his win over Hiroshi Tanahashi earlier in the night, Umino reasserted his allegiance with Hontai, but vowed to bring strength to the unit at its fore. Goto has said that he plans to be a needed barrier to elevate the younger wrestlers in NJPW, and that with Umino he wants to show America that Japanese Strong Style is the best wrestling in the world. The match quality will be in no doubt; but who will leave with the championship gold?
7th Match: Hiroshi Tanahashi Final Road ~Kinship~: Hiroshi Tanahashi vs Konsuke Takeshita
Singles record: 1-0 Tanahashi
Topmost in fans' minds heading into this Chicago event, along with the IWGP World Heavyweight title, will be the final ever match on US soil for the Ace, Hiroshi Tanahashi. From defending the IWGP Heavyweight Championship to winning IWGP United States gold in New Japan's return from the pandemic, to memorable outings in TNA, ROH and AEW, Tanahashi's legacy is indelible in America as it is Japan. With his last match coming up on January 4 2026 however, the final road for the Ace runs through Chicago for its last American stop, opposite the Alpha Konosuke Takeshita.
Way back in 2014, Tanahashi wrestled a then teenage prodigy Takeshita in DDT, and was far from charitable in his comments toward either Takeshita or his then home promotion following the match. The Ace's comments back then that the two 'didn't belong in the same conversation' would lit a fire that burned brightly in Takeshita, and saw his transformation from the 'The Future' to 'the Alpha' and now NEVER and AEW International Champion.
Takeshita will not let Tanahashi retire without taking out this pent up aggression on Tanahashi, and while this is a Final Road "Kinship" match for the Ace, feelings will be anything but friendly. In Chicago, Takeshita will seek to show he is everything to the modern era that Tanahashi was to his own, and perhaps more.
6th Match: Zack Sabre Jr. vs David Finlay
Singles record: 1-1
In a rematch from the New Japan Cup semifinals, Zack Sabre Jr. faces Cup winner David Finlay. It was Finlay who stopped ZSJ in his tracks during the New Japan Cup, and halted the Briton's plans of getting back to the IWGP World Heavyweight title mix as soon as possible after his defeat at the hands of Hirooki Goto in Osaka this February. Finlay and Sabre's sensational semifinal bout would be hailed by many as the match of the tournament for New Japan Cup 2025, and the competition is sure to be just as intense in Chicago.
This bout could have been set for the IWGP World Heavyweight title, had Finlay not joined Sabre in defeat to Hirooki Goto at Sakura Genesis. ZSJ was in the rare position of rooting for Finlay during the Sakura Genesis main event April 5, but with Goto still the champion, this hard fought match could see the winner reassert themselves right in the top title mix.
5th Match: Rocky Romero & El Phantasmo vs Los Ingobernables De Japon (Tetsuya Naito & Titan)
Tag team action will see Rocky Romero and El Phantasmo form a surprising combination against LIJ's Titan and Tetsuya Naito. March 6 and Anniversary saw the last vestiges of any walls between CHAOS and Hontai eliminated, as CHAOS was formally absorbed into the NJPW main group. That means CHAOS stalwart Romero is now officially stablemates with ELP, and years of hostilities that have seen multiple epic bouts will be set aside as both focus on this special tag team bout. In the opposite corner, Titan and Naito will present their own dynamic approach, and after losing the IWGP Tag titles in Ryogoku, Naito will be eager to get back on the winning horse.
4th Match: NJPW STRONG Openweight Championship Ironman Match- Gabe Kidd vs Tomohiro Ishii
Singles record: 0-0-1
At Battle in the Valley, an intense, wild fight for Ishii and Kidd saw both men at their hard hitting best, battling for the NJPW STRONG Openweight Championship. As both men went the 30 minute distance with no decision rendered however, Kidd took a draw as good as a loss. Now, it might not be one fall that decides this issue for the Mad Man and the Stone Pitbull; under the Ironman Match rules, the most decisions rendered in the 30 minute time period will settle the bout and the fate of the STRONG gold. Should the two tie again however, sudden death will mean they will go as long as it takes.
After Sakura Genesis saw War Dogs betrayed by SANADA and the fury of the group see a demand for a Dog Pound Steel Cage match, this straight ahead fight presents a welcome oasis for Kidd; not of calm, but hard hits and brutal competition.
3rd Match: NJPW STRONG Openweight Tag Team Championships: Intergalactic Jet Setters (Kevin Knight & KUSHIDA) vs World Class Wrecking Crew (Royce Isaacs & Jorel Nelson)
The STRONG Tag Team Championships will also be on the line when the World Class Wrecking Crew, Royce Isaacs and Jorel Nelson face the returning Intergalactic Jet Setters. Two time IWGP Junior Heavyweight tag Champions, we haven’t seen KUSHIDA and Kevin Knight in NJPW rings together since Wrestle Kingdom, and the Tokyo Terror Ladder Match, but that doesn’t mean they’ve been taking things easily. Knight is enjoying a breakout run of matches and a new relationship with AEW, while both men are part of the twenty man Best of the Super Jr. 32 lineup this May.
Singles and tag success are very different things however. Can the Intergalactic Jet Setters get straight back into the tag team flow against one of the most cohesive teams in the world in the form of the World Class Wrecking Crew?
2nd Match: NJPW STRONG Women’s Championship Number One Contendership- AZM vs Mina Shirakawa
Singles record: 1-0-1 AZM
The next challenger for Mercedes Mone's NJPW STRONG Women's Championship will be determined April 11, as Mina Shirakawa will be facing AZM in a number one contender's match at Windy City Riot. This meeting in the Wintrust Arena is shaped by significant defeat at the Tokyo Dome for both women. On January 4 at Wrestle Kingdom 19, AZM sought international icon status when challenging the IWGP Women's Champion Mayu Iwatani, but fell short, as did Mina, who wrestled Mone with both the NJPW STRONG and RPW Women's Championships on the line, and was defeated by the CEO.
Shirakawa has not given up in pursuing Mone, and as she moves to America, has departed STARDOM to focus on AEW full time. A victory at Windy City Riot will give her a rematch she badly wants against Mercedes. Yet a board meeting with the CEO has long been on AZM's agenda as well. Back at Sakura Genesis 2023, her first challenge for the IWGP Women's gold was while the belt still sat with Mone, but a planned singles bout was transformed into a three way when Hazuki entered the mix. Later at Strong Style Evolved in Long Beach, Hazuki got her one on one match with Mercedes for the STRONG gold in what many considered to be the best women's match of 2024, but while AZM had her own challenge to the STRONG gold against then champion Stephanie Vaquer in Chicago last year, she has still yet to take on Mone one on one. With both women having unfinished business with the champ, desire to seize the opportunity burns bright, but who will leave Chicago as number one contender?
1st Match: TJP vs Tom Lawlor
Singles record: 1-0 TJP
The main card in Chicago starts off with a singles matchup for TJP and Tom Lawlor. It was a highly successful Sakura Genesis for United Empire, with Great-O-Khan capturing the NJPW World TV Championship, and Jeff Cobb and Callum Newman seizing the IWGP Tag Team Championships. With Templario soon to challenge El Desperado for IWGP Junior gold, things are looking good for the faction. Yet with a failed challenge of his own for the TV title before O-Khan's win, and with a first round exit in the New Japan Cup, self appointed UE 'capitan' TJP needs to regain steam. His opponent is a man he faced and beat in MLW’s Opera Cup last year in Tom Lawlor, but with a big opportunity against the Japanese staple could Chicago turn Filthy at Windy City Riot?
Kickoff: NJPW STRONG Survivor- Zane Jay vs CJ Tino
A kickoff match sees Zane Jay put his status as STRONG Survivor on the line against the NJPW Academy’s CJ Tino. Jay’s STRONG Survivor status and work in the NJPW Academy has paid off with another stint training in the Noge Dojo in Japan of late, as well as the guidance of Josh Barnett along with it. He’ll be looking to put that experience to work tonight against Tino, who looks to apply his experience in the California indies on the big stage in Chicago.
