Tonight’s episode was titled Road to TAG TEAM TURBULENCE, ahead of the upcoming tournament.
Barrett Brown defeated The DKC
Brown came out alone tonight, without Bateman, like he has been doing recently. Brown and DKC were even as they worked on the mat early on. Brown was able to get the upper hand, but only by using dirtier tactics, like his new mentor Bateman does.
The DKC tried using an armbar on Brown, but Brown yanked on DKC’s fingers and forced him to break the hold. Another play out of Bateman’s handbook. The DKC came back with leg sweep, a bulldog, and a running Baba chop to a seated Brown. Later, he flew off top rope with a jump kick, but Brown school boy’d him and pulled tights for leverage to pick up the win, ”Bateman-style.” Brown had a crazed look in his eye after the match and cackled his way to the back. What a heel.
PJ Black defeated Alex Coughin
This match was part of what NJPW is calling the “Alex Coughlin Challenge Match Series.” It’s similar to what both Yota Tsuji and Yuya Uemura are going through in NJPW proper right now, facing bigger starts on the roster with the idea that once they make it through the gauntlet, they’ll “graduate” onto the main roster, shedding their Young Lion personas.
ROH’s PJ Black was a regular on NJPW Strong last year, though we have not seen much of him on the show in 2021. He locked Coughlin in an abdominal stretch early. The high flyer spent most of the time working over Coughlin on the mat with fundamentals. Black started to fly a few minutes in, landing onto Coughlin with a top rope quebrada.
Coughlin with a school boy and small package attempt for two, but Black put the brakes on quickly and grounded Coughlin with a couple hard stomps. Coughlin returned with a flying shoulder block and a deadlift gut wrench suplex. Announcer Kevin Kelly called Coughlin’s strength “freakish” in a good way, and he’s right. One of the consistent highlights on the show this year is seeing what kind of ridiculous raw strength we’re going to get out of Coughlin in his matches.
Black landed a Spanish Fly off the top for a two-count. He climbed to the top again to put Coughlin away for good, but Coughlin shuffled over to the opposite corner and out of harm’s way. Black chased after him and landed an avalanche in the corner, but when he went back to the top rope for a cross bodyblock, Coughlin caught Black in the air and rolled through to break his fall, then, without breaking his grip, Coughlin stood up and did a bridging fall-away slam for a two of his own. Black is an aerial wrestler, but that’s not imply he’s small. He’s one of the bigger, taller wrestlers that have been on the show. Coughlin’s a big, strong boy, indeed.
They traded a few stiff elbows before Black put Coughlin away with a new finisher, something I would describe as an inverted crucifix slam, in 9:33.
Black offered his hand to Coughlin, but Coughlin refused it. Black didn’t seem bothered and raised his arms in the air as he exited ringside. Good match.
Josh Alexander defeated Rocky Romero
This was good, but the last two minutes or so were great. The first few minutes of this were evenly matched. The bigger Alexander had the advantage at first, but Romero was in control of the match on the mat within minutes. He used a frankensteiner on Alexander to put him onto the floor, then followed it up with a tope suicida through the middle ropes onto Alexander.
Alexander picked up the advantage soon after this, though. At five minutes in, Alexander was able to slow things down, neutralizing Romero by keeping him grounded with various submission holds and locks. Romero eventually answered back with a spike DDT. He landed a missile dropkick to Alexander’s neck while he was draped across the ropes later.
Towards the end of the match, Alexander tried going for a standing ankle lock but Romero was able to roll through and whip Alexander into the corner, knocking him off balance. After some more action, Romero landed a frankensteiner into an armbar, but Alexander escaped. As the ten-minute call sounded, Alexander used a rolling German suplex on Romero for a close nearfall.
Alexander stomped Romero’s ankle, then re-applied his ankle lock. Romero escaped and landed Sliced Bread for two. Alexander was again able to put Romero in the ankle lock, but again Romero was able to counter, this time into the cross armbar he had on Alexander moments earlier. Alexander avoided that by standing up, and with Romero’s legs still clutching onto Alexander’s body, Alexander hoisted him in the air and power bombed him—onto his own knee. That looked brutal/great. Alexander then put Romero away with a Jaydriller for the win.
The Impact star spoke afterwards and explained how it took him 15 years to get to NJPW, a wrestling company that referred to itself as a sport, and that he wasn’t going anywhere now that he’d arrived. He apologized to Rocky Romero for what he said he had to do to him tonight. “I’m sorry you had to suffer for what I want most,” was the direct quote. He said that now everyone has a target on their back in NJPW and that he was coming for them, whether they’re in the States or overseas.
Final thoughts:
Another solid show with a nice main event. This was a short episode with heavier emphasis on NJPW’s younger talent, or what I assume is their attempt at building momentum towards the Tag Team Turbulence tournament that kicks off on Strong next week.
