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It has not been a great second half of the year for the STRONG titles. In case you haven't noticed, New Japan has yet to run a major show outside of Japan (apart from their cross-promotional shows like Forbidden Door, Historic X-Over, and Fantastica Mania) since Resurgence in May, and with the STRONG titles representing their foreign talent, particularly in the US, this hasn't given those titles much of a spotlight. That's not to say they haven't done anything, though. Here's a quick coverage of those titles.

STRONG Openweight Championship

Since winning the title against Gabe Kidd at Windy City Riot, and defending the title against Drilla Moloney at Resurgence, Tomohiro Ishii has done fuck-all with the belt. He had a quick tag title run with Taichi, and has spent a majority of this part of the year Conglomerating on AEW.

That said, with The New Beginning USA show coming up in 2026, maybe we'll see something from this title next year, but for this year, it's been a whole lotta nothing.

STRONG Openweight Tag Team Championship

After TJP and Templario beat the West Coast Wrecking Crew for these tag titles at Resurgence, the belts have had more of a home over in CMLL, where TJP and Templario had multiple title matches. They defended the titles against Los Hermanos Chavez (Angel de Oro & Niebla Roja), as well as Los Villanos (El Hijo del Villano III and Villano III Jr.) However, their reign came to an end in a rematch with Los Hermanos Chavez, who now hold the STRONG Openweight Tag Team Titles. The two are sure to make an appearance at next year's Fantastica Mania tour, so I think we can expect to see some action from the champions then.

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