 Whitmer in his first title defense, and on the next night he and Nigel McGuinness defeated Samoa Joe and Homicide.On March 4, 2007, he successfully defended the ROH Championship in Japan, defeating Kenta in the Nippon Budokan in Tokyo.Morishima could not return to the United States until almost a month and a half later when he and Chris Hero took on Nigel McGuinness and Doug Williams, and the next night when he successfully defended the belt against McGuinness for the first time.