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What's the story?
History was once again made at tonight's NJPW: Fighting Spirit Unleashed when Cody Rhodes won his first ever championship belt in New Japan Pro Wrestling by winning the prestigious IWGP US Heavyweight Championship off Juice Robinson.
In case you didn't know...
Former WWE NXT star Juice Robinson won the IWGP US Heavyweight Title back at this year's G1 Specials at the Cow Palace in San Francisco when The Flamboyant defeated Jay White to become the first ever American to win the IWGP US Championship.
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Despite not having made a single title defense during his reign, Juice shortly afterward, inserted himself in contention of winning this year's G1 Climax Tournament, where the IWGP US Heavyweight Champion (now former) was defeated and pinned by the likes of Zack Sabre Jr., Tama Tonga, Tetsuya Naito, and even Kota Ibushi.
The heart of the matter
Coming into his IWGP US Heavyweight Title match against Juice Robinson at Long Beach, Cody Rhodes had already made history by winning the prestigious NWA World Heavyweight Championship earlier in the month at his inaugural, self-financed Pro Wrestling event, All In.
And, earlier today at Long Beach, California, Cody surprisingly won the IWGP US Heavyweight Title and marked his first championship win in New Japan Pro Wrestling, as he defeated Juice in a match that was quite full of drama and action throughout the entirety of it.
With Cody's historic win in Long Beach, The American Nightmare is now only the second American superstar in NJPW history to win the IWGP US Heavyweight Title and the very first superstar to hold both the NWA Worlds Heavyweight Title and the IWGP US Title at the same time.
What's next?
As noted, in the closing moments of Fighting Spirit Unleashed, following the Golden Lovers' massive win over the team of Kazuchika Okada and Tomohiro Ishii, IWGP Heavyweight Champion Kenny Omega challenged his fellow tag team partner Kota Ibushi to a title match at King of the Pro Wrestling.
However, much to everyone's surprise, Cody Rhodes once again made his presence known when he eventually made his way out to the ring, with both his titles and subsequently added himself to the IWGP Heavyweight Title match at KOPW, making it a triple threat match in the process.
