Filthy Four Daily with Bryan Alvarez and Filthy Tom Lawlor is back with tons to talk about including Bryan’s success in getting Tom two straight wins in G-1, Tom opens his big mouth and writes a check his ass cannot cash, oh, and Smackdown. A fun show as always so check it out~!
Tag: filthy tom lawlor
Filthy Four Daily: Tom going 0-2 in the G-1, Smackdown, Stardom
Figure Four Daily with Bryan Alvarez and a very depressed Filthy Tom Lawlor is back today to talk Tom’s last two losses, his 0-2 record, his next match with Yano, how he needs to turn this all around, plus Smackdown and Stardom and some notes from other shows this weekend. A fun show as always so check it out~!
Filthy Four Daily: First post-Vince Smackdown, first Filthy Tom G-1 block match, NJPW Strong, Stardom!
Filthy Four Daily with Bryan Alvarez and Filthy Tom Lawlor is back with tons to talk about including Tom’s first-ever G-1 block match tonight, the first-ever Smackdown post-Vince McMahon, New Japan Strong, Stardom and tons more. A fun show as always so check it out~!
Filthy Four Daily: Smackdown, New Japan Strong, Stardom, G-1 kickoff
Filthy Four Daily with Bryan Alvarez and Filthy Tom Lawlor is back with tons to talk about including full reviews of Smackdown, New Japan Strong and the last Stardom PPV, plus tons of thoughts on Tom’s trip to Japan for the G-1 which kicks off at the airport tomorrow! A fun but slightly inhumane show, so check it out~!
Filthy Four Daily: Tom’s G-1 block and most wanted match, Smackdown, NJPW Strong
Filthy Four Daily with Bryan Alvarez and Filthy Tom Lawlor is back with tons to talk about including Tom’s G-1 Block, who he is most excited to face, Smackdown with Riddle vs. Roman Reigns, New Japan Strong, and tons more. A fun show as always so check it out~!
Wrestling Observer Live: Rampage, Smackdown, Filthy Tom meets his match, tons of news and more
Wrestling Observer Live with Bryan Alvarez and Mike Sempervive is back with tons to talk about including Rampage and Smackdown from Friday night, FILTY TOM FINALLY MEETS HIS MATCH, tons of news on Hacksaw Duggan and Cain Velasquez and RAW tonight and so much more. A packed show as always so check it out~!
F4D: Bryan Alvarez and Filthy Tom Lawlor talk Smackdown with Roman and Nakamura, New Japan Strong, more!
FILTHY FOUR DAILY with Bryan Alvarez and Filthy Tom Lawlor is back with tons to talk about including a full recap of Smackdown this week, thoughts on New Japan Strong both this week and last week with Tom vs. Clark Connors, WHO WILL BEAT TOM FOR THE TITLE, and tons more. A fun show as always so check it out~!
NJPW Strong results: Tom Lawlor vs. Clark Connors Openweight title match
Tonight saw the first installment of tapings from NJPW Strong’s Strong Style Evolve 2022 tour in Tampa. Ian Riccaboni and Matt Rehwoldt were on the call as Kevin Kelly is still overseas doing commentary for NJPW proper.
Team Filthy (JR Kratos & Black Tiger) defeated CHAOS (Rocky Romero & Wheeler Yuta)
Team Filthy jumped Romero and Yuta before they even stepped into the ring. Once the match got underway, Romero took Tiger over with a headscissors. Romero tagged in Yuta, who was impressive in his quick exchange with Black Tiger. This featured some cool British escapist-style wrestling and counter-wrestling.
Yuta and Kratos started jaw-jacking. Yuta challenged Kratos to get into the ring, but before Kratos could get in, Black Tiger pounced and took Yuta out from behind. Kratos then powerslammed Yuta for a two count.
Kratos pounded on Yuta from corner to corner with chops, lariats and fists. Yuta would try and fight back but Kratos was just too much for him. Team Filthy would continue double-teaming him but he wouldn’t quit. Kratos barked at the crowd for supporting Yuta and told them to shut their mouths.
Yuta caught Kratos with a short missile dropkick from the second rope and tagged out to a fresh Rocky Romero. Kratos tagged out, too. Romero and Black Tiger got into it with Romero landing Sliced Bread for two. He used a few Forever Clotheslines until Kratos reappeared and hit Romero with a pounce as he was mid-ring.
Romero later caught Kratos with a satellite DDT for two. Kratos returned the attack with twice the power, laying Romero out with a wild pop-up spinning side-slam for the win.
Kratos grabbed the mic afterward and called out Alex Coughlin, who pinned Kratos to graduate from Young Lionhood a few months ago. Kratos wants revenge and compared Coughlin to “that p***y Tom Brady,” a famous NFL player who also plays in Tampa.
Coughlin appeared at the entrance. He ran to the ring and got into it with Kratos, exchanging a few hard elbows before catching the larger man mid-air and launching him over his head with a front suplex. Coughlin was amped and rightfully so. If you could suplex Kratos like that, wouldn’t you get hyped, too?
But during Coughlin’s proverbial touchdown celebration, Kratos got back up and laid him out with a falling lariat while he wasn’t paying attention. Coughlin recovered and went after Kratos again. He threw elbows until NJPW staff entered the ring to break things up. Coughlin scooped up one ring security in a bodyslam and launched him at Kratos, effectively weaponizing a human being. After the fight was broken up, Kratos chuckled on the apron and walked to the back while fans booed. These two are going to have a great rematch.
FinJuice (David Finlay & Juice Robinson) defeated TMDK (JONAH & Shane Haste) via disqualification
FinJuice has been feuding with JONAH and his friends for the past few months, and took on JONAH and Bad Dude Tito twice already this year. Haste actually debuted at the end of their last tag match from NJPW Strong: Rivals where he assisted JONAH and Tito by sneaking into the ring and laying out Finlay to earn the hollow victory. This marked Haste’s official in-ring debut for NJPW.
When Finlay and Robinson appeared on the ramp for their ring entrance, instead of high fiving fans, they charged TMDK. Haste and JONAH met them near the ramp in the aisle between the guardrails. Chaos ensued. They brawled into the crowd and around the ring. The match hadn’t even started yet when FinJuice sat TMDK on two folding chairs and nailed them with stereo running cannonballs. Haste would later back body drop Robinson over the guardrail onto the ringside floor. Finlay caught Haste with a lariat soon after and knocked him over the guardrail, too.
Finlay and Haste finally made it into the ring, and from there, the bell sounded and the match was officially underway. Haste connected with a high dropkick and backdrop suplex before tagging out to JONAH.
TMDK double-teamed Finlay in the blue corner for a while. Fans started chanting “WE WANT JUICE!” We saw a delayed suplex next, where JONAH held Finlay in the air for about 20 seconds before dropping him. When Haste tagged in, Finlay was able to counter his offense with a satellite DDT and finally tag out to Robinson.
Robinson went to town on JONAH, lighting him up with a couple jabs before trapping him in the corner and punching him some more. He even started biting JONAH in the corner. It’s clear how no nonsense FinJuice is these days and it helps make their feud with TMDK feel more important and more serious.
FinJuice took JONAH out with a double flapjack. When Robinson went for Pulp Friction, Haste came into the ring with a steel chair and jabbed Robinson in the stomach with it. He wasn’t discrete about it, either, which meant TMDK had to be disqualified.
FinJuiced score the win via DQ, and we’re inching closer and closer to a clean FinJuice win over TMDK. When we do eventually get to that point, it will be that much sweeter.
TMDK would continue battering Robinson until Finlay returned to the ring with a foreign object of his own: a sheleighleigh, the Finlay family heirloom.
Robinson grabbed the mic and said he wanted to end the feud between TMDK and FinJuice. He proposed they end it at NJPW’s sold-out Windy City Riot event on April 16. And to avoid another DQ finish, Robinson insisted on a having a street fight. JONAH, Haste and Bad Dude Tito would take on FinJuice and a mystery partner. TMDK accepted.
NJPW STRONG Openweight Champion “Filthy” Tom Lawlor defeated Clark Connors to retain
Connors came to the ring wearing new ring gear: a pink shirt, pink shorts and pink wristbands with white boots & kneepads. He resembled a young, hip Bjorn Borg.
“Filthy” came to the ring with Kratos and Black Tiger. After he got into the ring, Lawlor took a moment to strip down from his regular jorts to his ring jorts. Connors then took a pause to reveal that under his chic pink shorts, he was wearing his own pair of short jorts: white ones to match the boots.
Lawlor wasn’t impressed. The two trash-talked some more until Lawlor insisted on showing off his signature “Filthy strut.” Connors would catch Lawlor mid-strut with a spear for two. He scored a German suplex for two and then a backdrop suplex for two. Lawlor slipped out to the floor for a breather, but Connors chased after him, landing on the champion with a pescado to the floor.
Connors got in Kratos’ face at ringside. Connors then removed his white jorts to reveal that he was wearing his usual “White Lion” trunks all along. He threw the white jorts at Kratos and dashed around the corner to catch Lawlor with a running pounce that sent Lawlor flying into the guardrail.
Connors and Kratos exchanged more words at ringside, which gave Lawlor enough time to recover and trap Connors in a guillotine choke as he stood on the ring apron. He planted Connors with a big one-armed uranage for a two-count.
When the ring announcer made the five-minute call, Lawlor and Connors were trading hard chops in the corner. When Connors went for a Northern Lights suplex, Lawlor again caught him in a guillotine choke. He earned a two moments later after putting Connors down with an exploder suplex.
Connors kept giving Lawlor a hard time. He would eventually rally back and superplex Lawlor off the second rope. He’d finally reversed the momentum of the match in his favor. He slapped on a Mr. Gannosuke-style full nelson camel clutch but Lawlor escaped. When Connors went to spear Lawlor through the ropes to the floor, Lawlor sidestepped so Connors flew threw the ropes and right onto Kratos, who was standing in the line of fire. Connors hopped back onto the apron and speared Lawlor off of it onto the floor.
Lawlor got Connors in a sleeperhold from out of nowhere. Connors shucked him off and went for a spear, and Lawlor sprawled and blocked it, then jumped into closed full guard and once again sunk in a guillotine choke. Fans chanted for Connors to recover. He eventually muscled out of the choke and slammed Lawlor back first into the corner, hitting a snap powerslam for two.
Both went for submissions with Lawlor trying the sleeper again and Connors trying to reapply the full nelson hold. Lawlor would backdrop Connors onto the turnbuckle to break the full nelson, then spiking him with a Tenzan Tombstone Driver (TTD). Connors kicked out at one and laid Lawlor out with a lariat for two.
When they were back on their feet, they traded even more heavy shots. When Connors went for his finish, Lawlor countered it by rolling through while holding onto Connors’ wrists. He then stood up and, still holding Connors’ wrists, delivered two kamigori knee strikes, one to the front of Connors’ head and one to the back as he held Connors in a straightjacket hold for the win. Lawlor retained and is now 8–0.
Afterward, Lawlor got on the mic and got into it with a heckler before saying that he didn’t care who his next challenger would be, whether it was “Tom Ishii,” the Great O-Khan or “Blue Justice” Yuji Nagata himself. No matter who it was, it would be an opponent of Lawlor’s choosing, so in the meantime, he’d be going on vacation.
Then Fred Rosser’s music hit. “Mr. No Days Off” is the only wrestler to have pinned Lawlor in NJPW.
“I’m not out here to whoop that ass. I’m here to challenge that ass!”
Rosser went on to explain that between 2003 and 2009, he was told “no” by WWE over 40 times until May 4, 2009, when WWE told him “yes,” and in Tampa, Florida, to boot. He told Lawlor that despite what the champion said, Rosser’s story does matter. He said he knows he can beat Lawlor and has been the only one to do so on Strong in the past.
Rosser then said he wasn’t asking Lawlor for a title shot — he was telling Lawlor that he would be the next contender for his title. Lawlor grabbed the mic and told Rosser he’d give him a shot at the belt when Rosser proves that he’s ready for it. “My answer? Hell no!”
Final thoughts:
Tonight’s episode of NJPW Strong was solid. “Filthy” Tom Lawlor, who has held onto the Strong Openweight championship for close to a year now, continues to prove he’s one of the top main eventers in wrestling right now based solely on match quality and consistency.
Connors looked great, too, but the crowd seemed exhausted. While the match was excellent, the crowd wasn’t able to match the energy and take it to the next level.
‘Filthy’ Tom Lawlor on NJPW Strong, going to Japan, his goals in wrestling
NJPW Strong is holding their Strong Style Evolved tapings in Tampa, Florida on March 20th. Ahead of the show, I spoke with ‘Filthy’ Tom Lawlor who is defending the NJPW Strong Openweight Championship against Clark Connors in his eighth title defense.
Lawlor made his New Japan Pro Wrestling debut during the summer of 2020 on an episode of Lion’s Break Collision. However he kicked his wrestling career into high gear when he competed in the 2021 New Japan Cup USA tournament, defeating The DKC, Ren Narita, Hikuleo and Brody King to win the tournament and become the first inaugural Strong Openweight Champion.
“I think this has clearly been the best my professional wrestling career has ever been,” Lawlor said.
He has defended the title successfully against Chris Dickinson, Karl Fredericks, Satoshi Kojima, Ren Narita, Fred Rosser and Taylor Rust. As of this writing, he has held the title for over 328 days.
I asked Lawlor what it meant to him to be the first Strong Openweight Champion given that he is tasked with establishing the belt.
“I bust my ass to be honest,” Lawlor said. “I wrestle a really hard style and I am willing to take as much as I give out and I think that’s what New Japan is all about. And really I am lucky to have been given the opportunity. But once I got that ball, I wasn’t going to slow down. I am not the fastest guy, but I am willing to run through whoever is in front of me.”
Lawlor also expressed to me that while he takes everything he does in the ring very seriously, he’s also having a good time.
“I take all that stuff very seriously to a certain degree because I am having a blast, believe me. I try to make every match as good as it can be. I try to mix my style and not compromise what I think professional wrestling should be with what the other guy is gonna do.”
Additionally, I asked Lawlor what his interest is in regards to going to Japan and wrestling there.
“I have a deal with New Japan Strong, so I am very happy with where I am,” Lawlor said. “If I end up over in Japan, that’s cool. If not, then I am more than happy being here in the U.S.A. I am not an idiot, I read the news, I understand what’s going on overseas, I mean when there’s an entire month of flights not going into the country…I am more than happy being in the USA and being the face of New Japan Strong and being on the roster. I’d love to be over in Japan, I never got to fight over there, I haven’t had a chance to compete over there, I’ve been there but that’s my goal. and if it means I get to take the New Japan Strong belt over there and defend it, even better.”
Lawlor also explained how he sees New Japan Strong in a similar fashion as WWE’s developmental brand NXT, however with some exceptions.
“I like to equate New Japan Strong to NXT, for the New Japan audience. A lot of times guys just get stuck in NXT and right now if you look at NJPW Strong, we’re stuck there, but it’s a different situation. I think once I go over there, and some of the other guys from New Japan Strong go over there, you’re gonna see a lot more wrestlers in the U.S in the independent scene who want to be part of the New Japan Strong roster. I think you’re gonna see professional wrestlers take the same path that I am gonna take over there. “
One of the hot topics in wrestling right now is the concept of the ‘forbidden door,’ seeing companies work together and exchange talents for fans to experience never before seen matches, dream matches, and so on. I asked Lawlor who he would like to see walk through the forbidden door and step into the NJPW Strong ring. He brought up Bryan Danielson, saying he is someone he would love to face. Following Danielson, other names Lawlor wants to fight include Jon Moxley, Jonathan Gresham, and Josh Alexander.
Before we wrapped up our conversation, I also asked Lawlor about both his short and long term goals in pro wrestling.
“I’ll be 40 next year, which sounds kinda old, but physically I felt worse when I was doing MMA,” Lawlor said. “I was more beat up, so this is being a little easier on my body right now, and when I look at guys like Minoru Suzuki, Yuji Nagata, Satoshi Kojima, these are guys who are in their fifties, and Suzuki is huge star over here he just had an awesome match with Hiromu Takahashi and you wouldn’t know that this is a guy in his fifties. So when I look at that I don’t think I’ve even come close to overstaying my welcome in the pro wrestling world, because I’ve only been here a few years. My long term goal is to still be wrestling when I am 55, traveling the world. In the short term, my goal is to take the NJPW Strong Openweight title to Japan and in the shorter term it’s to kick Clark Connors’ ass on Sunday at Strong Style Evolved.”
You can listen to the full conversation with myself and Tom Lawlor below.
Filthy Four Daily: Bryan and Filthy Tom talk Smackdown and New Japan Strong!
Filthy Four Daily with Bryan Alvarez and Filthy Tom Lawlor is back with tons to talk about in our weekly look at Smackdown and New Japan Strong! All the matches and angles, LIVE FROM HAWAII, so don’t miss out! A fun show as always so check it out!
Filthy Four Daily: Bryan Alvarez and Filthy Tom Lawlor talk Smackdown and New Japan Strong!
Filthy Four Daily with Bryan Alvarez and Filthy Tom Lawlor is back with tons to talk about in our weekly look at Smackdown and New Japan Strong! Lots of great matches, including the Smackdown main event, and since it’s Valentine’s Day we have a special surprise at the end. A fun show as always so check it out~!
WOL: Sempervive and ‘Filthy’ Tom on Wrestle Kingdom day 3, WWE Raw, AEW Battle of the Belts rating
Wrestling Observer Live with Mike Sempervive and pro wrestling champion “Filthy” Tom Lawlor is back on a Tuesday with tons to talk about including Saturday’s AEW Battle of the Belts rating, incredible NFL booking and day three of Wrestle Kingdom 16 featuring New Japan-NOAH.
We also give an update on the Punk Pops box for sale on eBay and our brief thoughts on Monday’s edition of WWE Raw.
A fun show as always so check it out~!
F4D: Filthy Tom on Stardom PPV, recent WWE, more
Figure Four Daily with Bryan Alvarez and Filthy Tom Lawlor is back with tons to talk about including some catching up after three weeks off, some WWE notes, and then a full review (and we’re talking thirty minutes here) of last week’s Stardom pay-per-view with Utami vs. Syuri in the main event.
A fun show as always so check it out in beautiful HD at video.f4wonline.com. Click JOIN and become TOP TIER today!
‘Filthy’ Tom Lawlor becomes free agent as MLW deal expires
Image: MLW
“Filthy” Tom Lawlor is officially a pro wrestling free agent as his MLW contract expired Monday.
Both sides talked about a new deal, but couldn’t come to an agreement.
Lawlor, co-host of the weekly Filthy Four Daily podcast with Bryan Alvarez on this website, took to Twitter to announce the news, thanking the company, management and fellow wrestlers for the last four years.
As of today, I am a free agent in the world of professional wrestling. Thank you to @mlw@courtbauer@MSL@beINSPORTSUSA for the time & effort they put in with me. But mostly I’d like to thank the MLW staff, wrestlers past & present, and fans for the 4 years of memories! #mlw
— FILTHY (@FilthyTomLawlor) November 1, 2021
Despite being the current New Japan Strong Openweight Champion, the 38-year-old is not under a contract there either. He will defend that title on November 15th against Fred Rosser.
He has remained active on the indies and was recently part of the latest Bloodsport show for GCW. He is slated to take on Jon Moxley later this month for Seattle-based Defy Wrestling.
Lawlor made his MLW debut in 2017 and defeated Low Ki for their World title in February 2019. He defended their title three times before losing it to Jacob Fatu in July 2019.
The former Opera Cup winner last appeared at their October TV tapings, losing in the first round of this year’s tournament against Davey Richards and then losing to Caribbean Champion King Muertes in a casket match.
A former MMA fighter, Lawlor retired from the cage this past June after a run with the PFL.
NJPW Strong results: Team Filthy vs. West Coast Wrecking Crew
Tonight marks 52 episodes of NJPW Strong, which premiered on NJPW World almost a year to the day last August.
Alexander James defeated Kevin Knight
James has wrestled for wXw in Germany and Beyond Wrestling , plus has been featured on a few of Josh Barnett’s Bloodsport cards. On commentary, Kevin Kelly mentioned that he trained at the same school as Adam Cole did in Maryland and was a student of WWE’s Drew Gulak.
For those who haven’t seen Alexander James wrestle yet, know that he’s a perfect fit for Strong. From his in-ring wrestling style to body size to overall demeanor, James seems to fit like a glove here in NJPW. He wrestles a hard-hitting, classical style of pro wrestling, something more in line with coach Katsuyori Shibata’s “realistic” vision of what wrestling should be, a style adjacent to how Young Lions wrestle these days.
James worked Knight over for the first five minutes of the match, slowly grinding down on Knight’s shoulder with a series of standing arm and wristlocks. Knight was able to swing the momentum back his way after connecting with a high dropkick. He later locked on a Boston Crab which quickly turned into a single-leg crab, but James escaped and went after Knight’s shoulder again. He then climbed to the top and dove onto Knight with a flying headbutt and landed onto Knight’s shoulder. James locked in a modified cobra clutch, then lifted him and did something I’d call a Rainmaker Judas Effect, or a spinning wrist-drag into a back elbow, before pinning Knight with a gutwrench powerbomb to win his first match on the show. Nice showing for James. Knight continues to impress, as well.
Rocky Romero and Fred Rosser defeated Ren Narita and Alex Coughlin
Rosser and Narita were first for their teams. I like the way Rosser has adapted his ring style to New Japan without having to compromise much, if anything, and actually being able to stand out in a very different way among a high-end, generally younger roster. Don’t sleep on Mr. No-Days-Off.
Alex Coughlin and Rocky Romero were in together next after a short exchange between Rosser and Narita. Coughlin is another of the Young Lions who, along with classmates Karl Fredericks and Clark Connors, should be due for a bump up the roster sooner rather than later. Coughlin used a big deadlift German suplex on Romero.
Coughlin and Rosser later brawled on the floor while Narita attempted a single-leg crab on Romero inside the ring. Romero avoided any damage and enzuigiri’d his way out of Narita’s attack to tag back out to Rosser, who cleaned house. After ragdolling Narita around the ring a bit, he placed him on the top rope for a possible superplex, but Narita escaped and landed a spinning wheel kick that dazed Rosser. Coughlin tagged in and did some ragdolling of his own, using a deadlift gutwrench suplex for two. Remember, Rosser is 6’1″, 238 lbs, not exactly the size of someone that can be ragdolled around. The two traded hard elbows before Rosser got the better of the exchange and tagged out to Romero.
When Romero went for Sliced Bread #2, Coughlin caught him mid-air to block, then hoisted him atop his shoulders into a fireman’s carry-to-gutbuster, a lá Dean Malenko. Coughlin earned a two-count for that plus a bridging fall-away slam afterwards. Romero persisted, kicked out, and was eventually able lock in a cross-armbreaker. He’d finally tap Coughlin in the armbreaker with an assist in leverage from Rosser.
Afterwards, with a giant smile across his face, a happy Fred Rosser went over to shake Narita’s hand again, just as he did before the match. This time, though, Narita shot Rosser a cold glare and exited without shaking Rosser’s hand. Rosser looked to enjoy the tension building between the two since his smile seemed to get wider as Narita got angrier. Romero stepped in to separate them before Narita was finally out of the ring. I anticipate a singles match between the seasoned Rosser and rookie Narita on the show this summer.
Team Filthy (JR Kratos & Danny Limelight) defeated West Coast Wrecking Crew (Jorel Nelson & Royce Isaacs)
Isaacs and Limelight entered first for their teams. Isaacs showcased both his amateur style skills and overall power, using one huge powerslam early on. It didn’t hold Limelight down for long, and he was running the ropes just moments later, exploding with offense that was cut short when Jorel Nelson tagged in and took Limelight’s head off with a dropkick.
Limelight eventually slipped away to tag Kratos into the match. Kratos ran roughshod on WCWC, cleaning the ring out quickly. He launched Isaacs from post to post with a vertical suplex, and later would do a similar deadlift vertical suplex on Nelson. Kelly called him a one-man wrecking crew. Isaacs threw a proverbial hail mary late in the match and put Kratos down with a deadlift suplex of his own, exhibiting serious strength.
Isaacs tagged out to a fresher Nelson who cleared the ring of both Limelight and Kratos quickly. They did a jumping knee to German suplex and then a super power bomb on Limelight, both for two. When the WCWC tried lifting Kratos onto the top rope for a double-team finish, Kratos was able to interrupt and block his way out of their clutch, then used a jumping knee of his own. Kratos is around 260 lbs., by the way. He used another vertical suplex variation before Limelight dropped two knees on Nelson from off the top rope for two. Kratos is reinventing the vertical suplex.
When Nelson was back inside, he did some “lucha things” to take care of Kratos, like landing a frankensteiner to Kratos to put him on the floor, then diving onto him with a tope suicida. Back in the ring, he connected with a diving elbow drop off the top that’d make Randy Savage say “Ooh yeah.”
In the end, it was Team Filthy who’d come out victorious: Kratos launched Nelson into the air with a flapjack before Limelight delivered a pretty double-jump tornado DDT, spiking Nelson head-first before picking up the three-count.
The teams got into a post-match dust-up before STRONG Openweight champion (and F4W’s own) “Filthy” Tom Lawlor got into the ring. After calming his crew down, he told the WCWC that he liked what he saw and offered his hand. “It looks like a deal has been made!” The West Coast Wrecking Crew is now a part of Team Filthy, along with Lawlor, Kratos and Limelight.
Final thoughts:
Tonight’s show was really good. The first singles and second tag team match were solid, but the main event was a hell of a tag match. I enjoyed the slight twist-ending tonight, too, with WCWC joining up with Team Filthy. It didn’t seem like Nelson or Isaacs gave much thought to it—they decided within about five seconds. With such power of persuasion, I think Lawlor should try his hand in politics someday.
This is the penultimate episode of NJPW Strong before NJoA Resurgence, which airs live from Los Angeles, California on August 14.