Resurgence (2021)

Resurgence was a professional wrestling pay-per-view (PPV) event produced by New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW). It was held on August 14, 2021, at The Torch at LA Coliseum in Los Angeles, California. Wrestlers from U.S. partner promotions All Elite Wrestling (AEW), Impact Wrestling, Major League Wrestling (MLW), the United Wrestling Network's Championship Wrestling from Hollywood (CWFH), and Ring of Honor (ROH) appeared on the card.

Resurgence
Promotional poster featuring several NJPW wrestlers
Promotion	New Japan Pro-Wrestling
Date	August 14, 2021
City	Los Angeles, California
Venue	The Torch at LA Coliseum
Attendance	2,222[1]
Event chronology
← Previous Wrestle Grand Slam in Tokyo Dome Next → Fighting Spirit Unleashed
Resurgence chronology
← Previous First Next → 2023
New Japan Pro-Wrestling of America event chronology
← Previous Fighting Spirit Unleashed Next → Battle in the Valley

In the main event, Hiroshi Tanahashi defeated Lance Archer to win the IWGP United States Heavyweight Championship. In other prominent matches, Jay White defeated David Finlay to retain the NEVER Openweight Championship, The Good Brothers (Doc Gallows and Karl Anderson) defeated Jon Moxley and Yuji Nagata, and Tomohiro Ishii defeated Moose.

Former IWGP World Heavyweight Champion Will Ospreay made an unannounced surprise appearance at the event announcing himself to be medically cleared to complete and yet out of the G1 Climax, calling current IWGP World Heavyweight Champion Shingo Takagi an “interim” champion and revealing a separate identical IWGP World Heavyweight Championship belt. He also announced himself to not be returning to Japan and instead said he would be competing on New Japan Pro-Wrestling of America (NJoA)'s streaming show, NJPW Strong.

Production

Other on-screen personnel

Role:	Name:
English Commentators	Kevin Kelly
	Alex Koslov
	Matt Morris
Japanese Commentators	Shinpei Nogami
	Milano Collection A.T.
	Katsuhiko Kanazawa
	Kazuyoshi Sakai
	Togi Makabe
	Miki Motoi
	Jushin Thunder Liger
	Masahiro Chono
Ring announcers	Makoto Abe
	Kimihiko Ozaki
	Adnan Kureishy
Referees	Kenta Sato
	Marty Asami
	Red Shoes Unno

Background

In October 2019, NJPW announced their expansion into the United States with their new American division, New Japan Pro-Wrestling of America.^[2] In June 2021, NJPW announced Resurgence would take place on August 14 of that year, at The Torch at LA Coliseum in Los Angeles, California, a concert theater located within the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum.^[3][4] This event will mark the first NJPW has held in the United States with fans in attendance since February 2020, due to restrictions imposed by the COVID-19 pandemic.^[5]

Storylines

Resurgence featured professional wrestling matches that involve different wrestlers from pre-existing scripted feuds and storylines. Wrestlers portrayed villains, heroes, or less distinguishable characters in the scripted events that built tension and culminated in a wrestling match or series of matches.^[6]

LA Dojo Young Lion Alex Coughlin had been challenging many competitors from NJPW and other promotions for a number of weeks, including the likes of Rocky Romero and Josh Alexander on New Japan's American based show, NJPW Strong. It was announced that at Resurgence, he would challenge fellow LA Dojo student Karl Fredericks.

Following weeks of attacks on himself and most of the AEW and Impact Wrestling roster, Jon Moxley would challenge The Good Brothers to a tag team match and would claim to have a mystery partner to tag with at the event.^[7]

NEVER Openweight Champion Jay White would suffer a quarter final loss against David Finlay in the New Japan Cup in March. After the win, Finlay was granted a future shot at the NEVER Openweight Championship. After White debuted at Impact Wrestling's Slammiversary, there were weeks of assaults between the two on Impact. The match for the title was announced shortly after the events original announcement.^[8]

At night 2 of AEW's Fyter Fest, Hiroshi Tanahashi appeared on a vignette challenging the winner of the later IWGP US Heavyweight Championship match to a future championship match. After Lance Archer beat then champion Jon Moxley at the event, a match between Tanahashi and Archer was made at Resurgence.^[9]

Results

No.	Results[10][11]	Stipulations	Times[1][12]
1D	Barrett Brown, Misterioso and Bateman defeated Jordan Clearwater, The DKC and Kevin Knight[note 1]	Six-man tag team match	9:32
2	Karl Fredericks defeated Alex Coughlin	Singles match	10:48
3	TJP, Clark Connors and Ren Narita defeated Fred Rosser, Rocky Romero, and Wheeler Yuta	Six-man tag team match	11:19
4	Lio Rush, Fred Yehi, Yuya Uemura, Adrian Quest and Chris Dickinson defeated Team Filthy (Tom Lawlor, JR Kratos, Danny Limelight, Jorel Nelson and Royce Isaacs)	Ten-man tag team match	12:45
5	Juice Robinson defeated Hikuleo	Singles match	9:00
6	Tomohiro Ishii defeated Moose	Singles match	16:07
7	The Good Brothers (Karl Anderson and Doc Gallows) defeated Jon Moxley and Yuji Nagata	Tag team match	10:33
8	Jay White (c) defeated David Finlay	Singles match for the NEVER Openweight Championship	22:59
9	Hiroshi Tanahashi defeated Lance Archer (c)	Singles match for the IWGP United States Heavyweight Championship	19:26
(c)  – the champion(s) heading into the match D  – this was a dark match

Notes

1. The match was later aired on an episode of NJPW Xtra.

References

1. "2021.08.14 RESURGENCE". New Japan Pro-Wrestling. Retrieved August 15, 2021.
2. "NJPW ANNOUNCES NEW JAPAN PRO WRESTLING OF AMERICA SUBSIDIARY". f4wonline. October 21, 2019. Retrieved October 21, 2019.
3. "Resurgence Welcomes US Fans August 14! 【NJoA】". New Japan Pro-Wrestling. June 20, 2021. Retrieved June 25, 2021.
4. "The Torch". thetorch.la. Retrieved June 25, 2021.
5. Guzzo, Gisberto (June 19, 2021). "NJPW Announces 'Resurgence' Event On 8/14 In L.A., Jon Moxley, Jay White, And More Advertised". Fightful. Retrieved June 25, 2021.
6. Grabianowski, Ed (13 January 2006). "How Pro Wrestling Works". HowStuffWorks, Inc. Discovery Communications. Retrieved April 10, 2017.
7. "Jon Moxley challenges the Good Brothers to NJPW Resurgence match". 30 July 2021.
8. "Jay White vs. David Finlay set for NJPW Resurgence". 30 June 2021.
9. "Lance Archer Vs. Hiroshi Tanahashi Set for NJPW Resurgence". 29 July 2021.
10. Klyn, Parker (August 14, 2021). "NJPW RESURGENCE LIVE RESULTS: LANCE ARCHER VS. HIROSHI TANAHASHI". f4wonline.com. Retrieved August 15, 2021.
11. Powell, Jason (August 14, 2021). "8/14 NJPW Resurgence results: Lance Archer vs. Hiroshi Tanahashi for the IWGP U.S. Championship, Jay White vs. David Finlay for the Never Openweight Championship, Jon Moxley and a mystery partner vs. Doc Gallows and Karl Anderson, Tomihiro Ishii vs. Moose". Pro Wrestling Dot Net. Retrieved August 15, 2021.
12. "RESURGENCE – アメリカ・The Torch at LA Coliseum（カリフォルニア州・ロサンゼルス） 2021/8/14". www.njpw.co.jp (in Japanese). Retrieved 2021-11-01.