New NJPW Strong Openweight Champion Crowned

And NEW...

by Andrew Pollard
NJPW Strong Fred Rosser
NJPW

Fred Rosser is your new NJPW Strong Openweight Champion.

In a brutal, bloody war, Rosser defeated 'Filthy' Tom Lawlor in the main event of last night's Strong outing from Philadelphia's 2300 Arena. That bout and show were taped back on 15 May, with the 2300 Arena also famously known as the ECW Arena.

Featuring the brilliant pairing of Ian Riccaboni and Matt Rehwoldt on commentary, Rosser picked up the win after forcing Lawlor to tap out to a Chicken Wing STF. That brings Filthy Tom's reign as the inaugural Strong Openweight Champion to a close at an impressive 397 days.

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For Fred Rosser, this marks his first piece of NJPW gold and also his first major singles title. Going into this match, the stipulation was that the former Darren Young would have to leave New Japan Pro-Wrestling completely if he lost to Lawlor.

Elsewhere on this Philly show, Minoru Suzuki bested Tony Deppen, and David Finlay beat Danny Limelight. Of course, Suzuki will be in action a little later today, with him set to team with Chris Jericho and Sammy Guevarra to take on Eddie Kingston, Wheeler Yuta and Shota Umino at tonight's AEW x NJPW Forbidden Door.

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Senior Writer
Senior Writer

Once described as the Swiss Army Knife of WhatCulture, Andrew can usually be found writing, editing, or presenting on a wide range of topics. As a lifelong wrestling fan, horror obsessive, and comic book nerd, he's been covering those topics professionally as far back as 2010. In addition to his current WhatCulture role of Senior Content Producer, Andrew previously spent nearly a decade as Online Editor and Lead Writer for the world's longest-running genre publication, Starburst Magazine, and his work has also been featured on BBC, TechRadar, Tom's Guide, WhatToWatch, Sportkskeeda, and various other outlets, in addition to being a Rotten Tomatoes-approved film critic. Between his main day job, his role as the lead panel host of Wales Comic Con, and his gig as a pre-match host for Wrexham AFC games, Andrew has also carried out a hugely varied amount of interviews, from the likes of Robert Englund, Kane Hodder, Adrienne Barbeau, Rob Zombie, Katharine Isabelle, Leigh Whannell, Bruce Campbell, and Tony Todd, to Kevin Smith, Ron Perlman, Elijah Wood, Giancarlo Esposito, Simon Pegg, Charlie Cox, the Russo Brothers, and Brian Blessed, to Kevin Conroy, Paul Dini, Tara Strong, Will Friedle, Burt Ward, Andrea Romano, Frank Miller, and Rob Liefeld, to Bret Hart, Sting, Mick Foley, Ricky Starks, Jamie Hayer, Britt Baker, Eric Bischoff, and William Regal, to Mickey Thomas, Joey Jones, Phil Parkinson, Brian Flynn, Denis Smith, Gary Bennett, Karl Connolly, and Bryan Robson - and that's just the tip of an ever-expanding iceberg. Where his beloved Wrexham AFC is concerned, Andrew is co-host of the Fearless in Devotion podcast, which won the Club Podcast of the Year gong at the 2024 FSA Awards.