Background

On November 5, 2017, NJPW announced the follow-up event to G1 Special in USA, the event, titled Strong Style Evolved, would take place on March 25, 2018, at the Walter Pyramid in Long Beach, California.^[3] Tickets for the event sold out within 20 minutes of being made available for purchase.^[5]

To coincide with the event, NJPW held "Strong Style Saturday" on March 24 at the newly opened NJPW LA Dojo.^[6][7] The event included a fan festival featuring autograph sessions, a contract signing for the IWGP United States Heavyweight Championship title defense, and in-ring matches.^[7]

Storylines

On January 28, 2018, at The New Beginning in Sapporo, "Switchblade" Jay White defeated Kenny Omega to become IWGP United States Heavyweight Champion.^[8] Following the match, White was challenged by Omega's Bullet Club stablemate Hangman Page. A championship match between the two was announced for Strong Style Evolved on February 26.^[9]

On February 10, 2018, at The New Beginning in Osaka, former WWE wrestler Rey Mysterio Jr. made his NJPW debut in a pre-taped video, challenging Jyushin Thunder Liger to a match at Strong Style Evolved. Liger, who was on commentary, accepted the challenge and the match was later announced for the event.^[10] On March 3, Mysterio suffered a bicep injury at a Northeast Wrestling event,^[11] leading to Mysterio being replaced by Will Ospreay at Strong Style Evolved.

In July 2008, Canadian wrestler Kenny Omega started his first Japanese tour with the DDT Pro-Wrestling (DDT) promotion, where he quickly became friends with Kota Ibushi,^[12] with the two forming a tag team named "Golden☆Lovers" in January 2009.^[13] On October 3, 2014, Omega announced he was leaving DDT and signing with NJPW, where Ibushi was already a semi-regular. However, with Ibushi having recently moved to NJPW's heavyweight division, Omega stated that the Golden☆Lovers were done as a tag team due to him wanting to remain in the junior heavyweight division.^[14] The Golden☆Lovers wrestled their final match together on October 26, 2014, when they defeated Danshoku Dino and Konosuke Takeshita in Omega's DDT farewell match.^[15] On January 28, 2018 at The New Beginning in Sapporo, the Golden☆Lovers were reformed, with Ibushi saving Omega from an attack from Cody.^[8] Omega and Ibushi teamed for the first time since 2014 at the Honor Rising: Japan 2018 events. At night two of Honor Rising: Japan, the Golden☆Lovers, after a victory over Cody and Marty Scurll, were interrupted by The Young Bucks who announced they were moving up to NJPW's heavyweight tag team division.^[16] A match between Golden☆Lovers and The Young Bucks was announced for Strong Style Evolved on February 26.^[9]