Fighting Spirit Unleashed (2020)

Promotional card featuring KENTA and Jeff Cobb

**Fighting Spirit Unleashed (2020)** was a two-day professional wrestling event promoted by New Japan Pro Wrestling's sub-brand New Japan Pro-Wrestling of America (NJoA). The events took place on September 4, and September 11, 2020 at the Oceanview Pavilion in California, United States, being held behind closed doors due to the COVID-19 pandemic in the United States. These were the fifth and sixth shows under the Fighting Spirit Unleashed name. The shows were also part of the *NJPW Strong* televisions series.

## Production

### Background

On August 21, 2020, during the finals of the New Japan Cup USA, NJPW announced a third event under the Fighting Spirit Unleashed name with two nights being held at the Oceanview Pavilion in California, United States. NJPW began usually promoting the Fighting Spirit Unleashed events since 2018, as part of NJPW annually promoting events in the Unied States. The shows were also part of the *NJPW Strong* televisions series and were held behind closed doors without a live audience due to the COVID-19 pandemic in the United States.

### Storylines

Fighting Spirit Unleashed (2020) featured professional wrestling matches that involved different wrestlers from pre-existing scripted feuds and storylines. Wrestlers portray villains, heroes, or less distinguishable characters in the scripted events that build tension and culminate in a wrestling match or series of matches.

In August, due to the COVID-19 pandemic in the United States, KENTA along with several other NJPW wrestlers were unable to work on NJPW events in Japan, leading him to take part in *NJPW Strong* series, in which he took part in the 2020 New Japan Cup USA, defeating David Finlay on August 21 in the finals to win the tournament. Following the match, KENTA was handed a contract, which gave him the right to challenge for the IWGP United States Heavyweight Championship, in which he would have to defend it, similar to the Tokyo Dome IWGP Heavyweight Championship challenge rights certificate. Afterwards, he was attacked by Jeff Cobb, who he had defeated in the semifinals, signaling his first challenger for the contract.

Also on August 21, Villian Enterprises (Brody King and Flip Gordon) faced Bullet Club (Chase Owens and Jay White) in a winning effort. Following the match, White tried to attack Gordon, leading King to made the save, only for Hikuleo to lay out King.

## Results

### Night 1

 2
 3
 4

* (c) – refers to the champion(s) heading into the match
* – refers to the video of that match

### Night 2

 2
 3
 4

* (c) – refers to the champion(s) heading into the match
* – refers to the video of that match

## References

1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 Knipper, Justin 2020-09-04. NJPW STRONG RESULTS: JAY WHITE VS. FLIP GORDON . *Wrestling Observer Newsletter*. Retrieved on 2020-09-04.
2. ↑ Knipper, Justin 2020-09-11. NJPW STRONG RESULTS: KENTA VS. JEFF COBB . *Wrestling Observer Newsletter*. Retrieved on 2020-09-11.
3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 3.4 Knipper, Justin 2020-08-21. NJPW STRONG RESULTS: NEW JAPAN CUP USA FINALS . *Wrestling Observer Newsletter*. Retrieved on 2020-08-21.
4. ↑ New Japan Reportedly Running Third US Show In Fall 2018 on YouTube
5. ↑ Grabianowski, Ed. How Pro Wrestling Works . *HowStuffWorks, Inc.*. Discovery Communications. Archived from the original on 2013-11-18. Retrieved on 2017-06-12.

## Notes

1. ↑ The event was held without a live audience due to the Coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic in the United States.