Eddie Kingston Title Defense Announced For NJPW Fighting Spirit Unleashed In Las Vegas

Following his victory over Katsuyori Shibata at AEW WrestleDream over the weekend, Eddie Kingston's next title defense has been announced by New Japan Pro-Wrestling. Kingston will defend his NJPW STRONG Openweight Championship against United Empire member HENARE on Saturday, October 28 at NJPW Fighting Spirit Unleashed in Las Vegas, Nevada.

HENARE was one of Kingston's opponents during the annual G1 Climax tournament over the summer. In that bout, Kingston came out on top after a little over 10 minutes of action. Neither of the two men would go on to win the tournament, however, as Tetsuya Naito was able to claim his third G1 Climax victory.

After being eliminated from the tournament in August, the animosity between Kingston and HENARE continued, with HENARE attacking the STRONG Openweight Champion during one of the final G1 Climax shows and Kingston getting revenge the following night. Kingston challenged HENARE to a match back then, and NJPW has finally made things official for later this month.

Kingston has held the NJPW STRONG Openweight Championship since he defeated KENTA on July 5. Since then, Kingston has defended the title against Wheeler Yuta, Claudio Castagnoli, Rocky Romero, and Shibata. As a result of his victory against Castagnoli, Kingston also captured the Ring of Honor World Championship for the very first time.

In addition to Kingston vs. HENARE, NJPW announced that Fighting Spirit Unleashed will feature a NJPW STRONG Women's Championship defense from Giulia, who will put her title on the line against Hyan, a veteran of the Texas independent wrestling scene.