Multiple AEW Stars To Challenge For Championships In Another Company

AEW

Multiple AEW stars are competing for championships in another company later this month in the United States.

For the first time this year, NJPW returns to the United States for The New Beginning USA on February 27.

The full card for the upcoming event in Trenton, New Jersey, has now been revealed, with David Finlay set to compete amid a potential WWE signing.

Already announced for The New Beginning USA is Athena, making her NJPW debut, as she sets out to dethrone IWGP Women’s Champion Syuri.

Athena isn’t the only AEW star seeking a championship, with Konosuke Takeshita also confirmed to face El Phantasmo for the NJPW World Television title.

Following the recent challenge laid out at NJPW The New Beginning in Osaka, Ricochet will put the AEW National Championship on the line against Taiji Ishimori on February 27.

Confirming the AEW championship match on the NJPW website, the official announcement for the match states:

“Along with the Gates of Agony’s challenge to the IWGP Tag team Championships came another ‘surprise’ from the Demand during New Beginning in Osaka. AEW National Champion Ricochet offered up a challenge to none other than Taiji Ishimori for Trenton, New Jersey, as he seeks to claim the eighth defence of his reign with the AEW gold.

“Although Ricochet’s career path, at least in Japan, bears similarities between NJPW and Dragongate competition to Ishimori, the two have never faced off one-on-one before. Their closest meeting was in the 2016 Super Jr. Tag Tournament, an unlikely matchup of Ricochet and David Finlay taking on Ishimori and ACH. A decade later, and the resumes of both men has only exploded, but will a new line in that resume mark Ishimori as the new National Champion, or can Ricochet extend to V8?”

Ricochet has recently expressed an interest in a return to Japan, having been a regular fixture in NJPW between 2013 and 2017.

The leader of The Demand won’t be alone, with The Gates of Agony (Bishop Kaun & Toa Liona) making an NJPW return and seeking the IWGP Tag Team Championship, currently held by Oskar & Yoto-Ice, with the preview reading:

“It was an intense and memorable battle at New Beginning in Osaka that saw OSKAR and Yuto-Ice move to V3 with a stunning defence, continuing a hot streak for incredible competition over the IWGP Tag Team Championships and cementing it as arguably the most gripping division in professional wrestling today. Teams from all over the world are taking aim at the IWGP tag titles, and in the moments after the Osaka semi-main event, the latest contenders revealed themselves.

“Bishop Kaun and Toa Liona last wrestled in NJPW back during the 2024 World Tag League, but with a hot streak of their own in AEW as part of the Ricochet-led faction The Demand, they’re looking to make a bigger mark in Trenton. The ‘We’ve become stronger, dangerous sharks’, the Gates of Agony remarked in a powerful video message, ‘and we smell blood in the water’. Their work will be cut out for them in the face of the awesome Knockout Brothers who GOA last saw while they were still Young Lions. On February 27, will it be NJPW or AEW’s tag representatives who prove stronger?”

Andrade El Idolo, himself no stranger to NJPW, returns to face Yota Tsuji, with the AEW star having recently defeated Gabe Kidd at The New Beginning In Osaka:

“Following a gripping victory over Gabe Kidd at New Beginning in Osaka, Andrade El Idolo earned his right to challenge Yota Tsuji for the IWGP Global Heavyweight Championship, opening the door for a first-time main event here in Trenton.

“During Tsuji’s post-match comments in Osaka, Andrade approached Tsuji backstage and acknowledged the double Global and Heavyweight Champion’s antagonistic attitude to Andrade’s home promotion in AEW. While Andrade is coming for every title in professional wrestling, Tsuji was fired up by the prospect of dismantling the All Elite roster, starting with El Idolo in New Jersey, setting a high-stakes scene to come.

“While champion and challenger have never faced off before, they both share the same ‘Unbound’ spirit. Many years before becoming the financial backer for United Empire, Andrade wrestled as La Sombra in CMLL, where he was a former IWGP Intercontinental Champion. In 2015, it was La Sombra who invited one Tetsuya Naito into his faction Los Ingobernables, begetting Los Ingobernables De Japon and shaping the future of Yota Tsuji when he finally joined NJPW. Now, Tsuji leads the Unbound Co., and Andrade is a CFO for United Empire in his own right. As the Unbound and the Empire continue to collide, who will leave New Jersey with a key symbol of power for NJPW on the international stage?”

Recent AEW signings Jordan Oliver & Alec Price will also be heading to NJPW The New Beginning USA to take on the team of Kushida & El Desperado:

“A unique tag team matchup sees iconic staples in NJPW’s junior heavyweight division in KUSHIDA and El Desperado face two men who may well prove to be the future of the style. Alec Price and Jordan Oliver are hotly tipped figures in the northeast scene, and the Bustah and the Brain are current holders of the GCW Tag Team Championships. Oliver has already tested himself in an NJPW ring against El Desperado himself back at All Star Junior Festival USA in 2023, and now he and Price are looking to make waves in New Jersey.”

The New Beginning USA takes place at the CURE Arena in Trenton, New Jersey, on February 27 and will be streamed on NJPW World.

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• NJPW
• The New Beginning USA
• AEW

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