Adam Copeland vs. Minoru Suzuki on AEW Dynamite will not go to picture-in-picture.
Tony Khan has announced the match will air commercial-free on tonight’s show.
Khan wrote:
Tomorrow on Wednesday Night #AEWDynamite, the fight between international legends @suzuki_D_minoru vs @RatedRCope will have no commercial interruption!
2024 will be an amazing year for AEW! We’re off to a tremendous start to this year’s @AEWonTV, see you TOMORROW on @TBSNetwork!
Last week’s main event between AEW World Champion Samoa Joe and Hook also aired without commercial interruption.
Tonight’s AEW Dynamite takes place at the Enmarket Arena in Savannah, Georgia. 2187 tickets have been distributed to the show as of this afternoon, according to WrestleTix.
AEW Dynamite lineup for Wednesday, January 24, 2024:
AEW Trios Champions The Acclaimed & Billy Gunn defend against Brian Cage & The Gates of Agony
Hangman Page vs. Penta El Zero Miedo
Adam Copeland vs. Minoru Suzuki
Wardlow vs. Trent Beretta
Swerve Strickland vs. Jeff Hardy
Thunder Rosa vs. Red Velvet
‘Timeless’ Toni Storm & Deonna Purrazzo face-to-face
Minoru Suzuki is returning to Major League Wrestling.
MLW announced on Monday that Suzuki will wrestle at Intimidation Games on Thursday, February 29. The event will take place at the Melrose Ballroom in New York.
Regarding who Suzuki might be wrestling on the show, MLW stated that “League officials expect to announce his opponent shortly.”
Suzuki made his MLW debut at Slaughterhouse on October 14, 2023, in Philadelphia. He defeated Jacob Fatu on the show.
“With over 30 years of career experience, Suzuki shows no signs of slowing down, and seems to only get more terrifying with every year that goes by,” an MLW press release reads. “Now Suzuki looks to up the ante in his second fight in MLW.”
No matches are official for the card as of yet. Before MLW gets to Intimidation Games, however, the promotion will present Superfight at the 2300 Arena in Philadelphia on Saturday, February 3, 2024.
MLW Superfight 2024 lineup:
MLW World Heavyweight Champion Alex Kane defends against Satoshi Kojima
Mistico vs. Averno w/Salina de la Renta
Yuji Nagata vs. Jacob Fatu
Davey Boy Smith Jr. vs. 1 Called Manders
World Middleweight Champion Rocky Romero w/Salina de la Renta defends against Ichiban
A Trios title match is among new matches announced for Wednesday’s Dynamite in Savannah, Georgia.
It was announced on AEW Collision that The Acclaimed & Billy Gunn will defend their Trios Championship against Brian Cage and the Gates of Agony. Saturday’s show saw The Acclaimed, Gunn, and Bullet Club Gold officially combine forces to form a new supergroup, the Bang Bang Scissor Gang.
In a first-time ever matchup, Adam Copeland will face Minoru Suzuki. Following his TNT title loss at Worlds End, Copeland has defeated the likes of Griff Garrison and Dante Martin in open challenge matches.
Other matches added include Hangman Page taking on Penta El Zero Miedo and Swerve Strickland squaring off against Jeff Hardy. Both ended last week’s Dynamite making it clear they wanted to face AEW World Champion Samoa Joe. Wardlow, another person interested in Joe, will take on Trent Beretta.
In addition, Sting & Darby Allin will speak following their staredown with The Young Bucks two weeks ago. A face-to-face between Toni Storm and Deonna Purrazzo will also take place.
Here is the lineup for next week’s AEW Dynamite:
AEW Trios titles: The Acclaimed & Billy Gunn vs. Brian Cage and The Gates of Agony
Hangman Page vs. Penta El Zero Miedo
Adam Copeland vs. Minoru Suzuki
Wardlow vs. Trent Beretta
Swerve Strickland vs. Jeff Hardy
‘Timeless’ Toni Storm & Deonna Purrazzo face-to-face
MLW presented Slaughterhouse on Saturday night at the 2300 Arena in Philadelphia.
Two new champions were crowned, Matt Cardona came out to challenge the main event winner, and a member of the Calling was electrocuted inside Chamber of Horrors.
The Halloween-themed show kicked off with a Chamber of Horrors match pitting The Second Gear Crew against The Calling. It featured an electric chair in a caged ring, much like the original match from Halloween Havoc 91 did. The Calling’s Talon was electrocuted after being strapped into the chair by Mance Warner and Matthew Justice flipped the switch.
Rocky Romero defeated AKIRA to win the MLW World Middleweight Championship. He hit a low blow and a Sunset Driver for the win. Romero was also defending his CMLL World Historic Welterweight Championship in this title vs. title match.
In storyline, Romero was brought into the promotion by the recently returned Salina de la Renta and her Promociones Dorado faction. Jesus Rodriguez (FKA as Ricardo Rodriguez in WWE) performed as ring announcer for Romero’s entrance as well.
A video announcing TJPW’s Miyu Yamashita is coming to MLW aired.
Janai Kai won the MLW World Featherweight Championship in her debut with the promotion. She was revealed by Salina de la Renta as Delmi Exo’s mystery opponent on the show. Kai just returned from a tour with GLEAT in Japan and regularly performs with GCW. The finish of the match saw Exo tap out to a Dragon Sleeper after Kai landed a series of kicks.
Minoru Suzuki defeated Jacob Fatu in singles action. The finish saw Suzuki briefly lock in a rear-naked choke and then land a Gotch style piledriver for the win. The two shook hands and Suzuki raised Fatu’s hand after the match.
Rickey Shane Page defeated 1 Called Manders in a Falls Count Anywhere match to retain the MLW National Openweight Championship. This was a Spin the Wheel Make A Deal match. The match actually took place in two parts, as the cameras were unable to keep up with the wrestlers when their brawl made its way backstage. The two fought back to the ring area after Suzuki vs. Fatu.
The Calling’s AKIRA made his way to ringside, seemingly to help his stablemate but RSP shoved him into a lariat from Manders. RSP then hit Manders with a Raven Effect and got a three count. After the match, RSP and AKIRA got into an argument and RSP shoved AKIRA to the floor and walked to the back.
After Davey Boy Smith Jr. had to be pulled from the card due to emergency appendix and colon surgery, our own Tom Lawlor, a former MLW World Heavyweight Champion, was brought in as a last minute replacement.
Alex Kane defeated Lawlor to retain the MLW World Heavyweight Championship in the main event. It was a Roddy Piper vs. Bret Hart WrestleMania VIII finish as Lawlor had Kane in a rear-naked choke but Kane reversed it into a pinning combination for the win.
After the match, Cardona came out to the stage area along with Mister Saint Laurent. He said he should be MLW Champion and wants to save the company. Lawlor then hit Mr. Thomas from behind with a chair and the show closed with a brawl around ringside.
I won the @WSWWrestlingAUS Championship in Australia yesterday…showed up at @MLW in Philadelphia today.
Tony Khan isn’t done making announcements for Tuesday’s AEW Dynamite.
After announcing that the first 30 minutes of AEW Dynamite Title Tuesday will air commercial free on Monday, Khan followed shortly after with the announcement that there will be a 30-minute Buy In prior to Dynamite, with a match announced between Eddie Kingston and Minoru Suzuki for both the NJPW Strong and ROH World titles.
Before a HUGE timeshifted Tuesday Night #AEWDynamite is live TOMORROW Title Tuesday, with the first 30 minutes Commercial Free on @TBSNetwork starting at 8pm ET/7pm CT:
The Buy In 7:30pm ET/6:30pm CT ROH World + NJPW Strong Openweight Title Match
WWE and AEW have been stacking their cards for this week’s NXT and Dynamite, with Dynamite airing on a special night due to MLB coverage this Wednesday on TBS. NXT is set to feature appearances by John Cena, Cody Rhodes, Asuka, and Paul Heyman. It will also be commercial-free for the first 30 minutes.
Here is the current lineup for AEW Dynamite Title Tuesday:
Adam Copeland vs. Luchasaurus
Christian Cage will explain his recent actions toward Adam Copeland
TNT Championship number one contender’s match: Bryan Danielson vs. Swerve Strickland
AEW Women’s World Champion Saraya defends against Hikaru Shida
AEW International Champion Rey Fenix defends against Jon Moxley
Jay White vs. Hangman Page
Chris Jericho vs. Powerhouse Hobbs
MJF will appear
‘Timeless’ Toni Storm is ready for her close-up
Buy-In: Eddie Kingston defends the NJPW Strong Openweight and ROH World titles against Minoru Suzuki
This week’s MLW Fusion was taped at Philadelphia’s 2300 Arena with Joe Dombrowski and Matt Striker on the call.
Ichiban defeated TJ Crawford
This was Ichiban’s first match on Fusion after making his debut at Fury Road by defeating Tracy Williams. Crawford has made a few appearances for MLW so far, all losing efforts. This was a good match to showcase the ability of both and give Ichiban a solid win.
Ichiban is crisp and has a good rapport with the fans. Crawford got the heat by faking an eye injury to delay Ichiban on the top rope, followed by him then crotching the high-flying striker. He hit a nice double underhook sit-down slam but arrogantly went for a cover that Ichiban easily kicked out of.
Ichiban fought back with a stunner, handspring elbow and springboard dropkick. His momentum was stopped, but only momentarily, as he got a close nearfall after a crossbody.
They exchanged strikes until Ichiban hit a long satellite DDT before getting the crowd to chant “one” (Ichiban is Japanese for number one) as he leapt and hit his jumping downward spiral to pick up the win.
As Crawford was leaving, a hooded figure came out and whispered something in his ear before walking off together.
– Backstage, Mance Warner and the Second Gear Crew hyped up Microman and gave him their favorite weapons to use against Sam Adonis. After the match, Warner promised Coronas and “bonitas mamacitas.”
Sam Leterna then interviewed Adonis who called himself Mexico’s top box office attraction and Mexico’s top draw. He says he is going to teach Microman some respect.
B3CCA defeated Tiara James
B3CCA defeated Maki Itoh at Fury Road to become the number 1 contender to Delmi Exo’s MLW Featherweight title. Love Doug, who is smitten with B3CCA, joined the commentary team with roses for her but she brushed him off each time he tried to get her attention.
James looked good here with a crossbody, gut buster and a running senton. Later, a spinebuster got her a close two count.
B3CCA took advantage and hit a middle rope dropkick and a running big boot in the corner. Her arrogance nearly got the better of her as James was able to sneak in a schoolgirl but she came back with an eye rake and her impressive top rope 450 splash to pick up the win.
After the match, she wanted the camera to follow her and not show Love Doug as he tried to get her attention.
– Salina de la Renta returned to MLW at Fury Road and tonight, we heard from The Empresaria. She told Leterna, who she thought was former MLW interviewer Alicia Atout, that she was behind the disappearance of Cesar Duran, Taya Valkyrie and John Hennigan. She promised to continue dropping bombshells.
– Leterna was earning her keep tonight as she then interviewed Jacob Fatu about his upcoming match with Minoru Suzuki at MLW Slaughterhouse on October 14th. De la Renta interrupted and threatened Fatu after what he did to her at 2020’s SuperFight in his match against LA Park.
Microman vs. Sam Adonis went to a no contest
This had the usual Microman comedy spots with Adonis making fun of his height, plus the usual heat spots with Adonis bullying and teasing to tear off the mask.
Adonis got the heat with a big boot and brought a chair into the ring to repeat what he did last week. Instead, Microman dropped Adonis with a drop toe hold onto the chair and was closing in on victory when Snisky (the former Snitksy) ran out and pulled the referee out for the disqualification.
Snisky backed Microman into the corner and threatened to punt Microman but the Second Gear Crew ran out to save Microman for the second week in a row. They hoisted Microman to the top rope and he splashed Adonis for good measure. They all then shared a beer to celebrate getting one over MSL and his World Titan Federation.
– MLW Champion Alex Kane held a press conference where he questioned who his next opponent was, saying Tom Lawlor ignored his offer to cash in his automatic rematch clause. MSL then interrupted and Kane said he would choke out Davey Boy Smith Jr. again if he had to.
– The Calling were in the house and as Fusion was going off the air, we saw them brawling backstage with the Second Gear Crew who had a little help from Jimmy Lloyd.
Minoru Suzuki now has an opponent for his MLW debut.
MLW has confirmed that Suzuki will face Jacob Fatu at the promotion’s Slaughterhouse event in Philadelphia on Saturday, October 14. The show is airing live on Fite+.
A partnership between MLW and NJPW was announced last month. On the most recent episode of MLW Fusion, Fatu responded to the news that Suzuki would be debuting for MLW at Slaughterhouse. Fatu called out Suzuki to face him.
“Last week on Fusion Fatu laid down the challenge, calling out Suzuki — and the ‘King of Pro Wrestling’ was delighted to accept and cautions there will be no mercy as these two fight for the first time ever,” MLW wrote.
Fatu is a former MLW World Heavyweight Champion and a former MLW National Openweight Champion.
The MLW-NJPW partnership began at Fury Road earlier this month. At that show, KUSHIDA made his MLW debut by defeating Tony Deppen.
Slaughterhouse is taking place at Philadelphia’s 2300 Arena. This is the first match that’s been made official for the show.
This week’s MLW Fusion was taped at Philadelphia’s famous 2300 Arena in July with Joe Dombrowski and Matt Striker on the call.
At the end of the Kiss My Foot match at Fury Road, Mance Warner bit MSL’s foot instead of kissing it and tonight, MSL promised revenge against the entire Second Gear Crew at the hands of Matt Cardona.
Snisky defeated Yoscifer El
MSL introduced former WWE wrestler Snitsky, now going by Snisky, as the latest member of his World Titan Federation and he took no time to destroy El. A clothesline and a chokeslam was enough to put him away, but the focus was on Snisky joining forces with MSL. As EL was being stretchered out, MSL instructed his new charge to attack him again and give him another beating.
– The next big event on the MLW calendar is Slaughterhouse on October 14th which will feature the MLW debut of Minoru Suzuki. Now that New Japan talent is free to appear in MLW, Jacob Fatu called him out.
The Mane Event (Jay Lyon & Midas Black) and Microman defeated Jesus Rodriguez and The FBI (Little Guido & Ray Jazz)
The FBI and Rodriguez interrupted Matt Striker before the match to introduce themselves and to get some easy heat before the faces came out to a nice ovation from the Philadelphia crowd.
Rodriguez is the latest foe of Microman, taking umbrage at being shown up in this year’s Battle Riot. FBI had some comedy spots double-teaming Microman, but it was always Rodriguez who came in to get the real heat by flooring Microman with stiff kicks.
Black got the hot tag and both the action, and quality, increased tenfold. Black hit a spin kick and a tiger feint kick on Jazz and Lyon hit a middle rope springboard moonsault for a close two count.
Black saved Lyon from an FBI attack and then hit a 3D into an X-Factor on Guido before Microman hit a middle rope Vader bomb through a circus hoop to pick up the pinfall.
After the match, Sam Adonis came out and distracted Microman by accusing him of things from when they were both in Mexico together. But the distraction was used to bring Snisky out who chokeslammed The Mane Event, punted some dolls into the crowd and threatened to punt Microman too. The Second Gear Crew then ran out to make the save and send Adonis, Snisky and MSL (who had come out with Snisky) to the back. Adonis will take on Microman next week.
– We saw a special All Access look at the MLW Champion Alex Kane who was out of character talking through his rough childhood, emotionally talking through his earlier suicidal thoughts and telling us that wrestling saved him. His recent popularity swing was highlighted and if any doubts were remaining, this video cemented that Kane is now a babyface.
wXw Unified World Wrestling Champion Shigehiro Irie defeated Calvin Tankman to retain the title
Earlier in the night, Tankman called himself one of the biggest, baddest and heaviest hitters in MLW but he is still looking for his first singles championship.
This got some time and built to a good finish that had the crowd growing with interest throughout. I felt it had similarities to the Miro vs. Powerhouse Hobbs AEW All Out match with two big men hitting each other hard.
The hard-hitting chops and strikes began early as the action spilled to the outside. Tankman caught the champion and hit a nice powerslam on the apron as Irie had draped him backfirst across the middle rope. A big splash followed for a two count.
Irie got a boot up which seemed to rock Tankman. The match broke down into a striking battle that finished with Irie dropping a clobbering hammer first on a fallen Tankman. Tankman later found himself sitting on the apron and Irie came running and took them both to the floor with a sliding elbow.
Tankman came back with a spinning elbow and a pump handle slam to bring the momentum back in his favor. After shrugging off a rear choke attempt, Tankman hit a pop-up back elbow and a power bomb for a two-count. Tankman quickly hit his hard back elbow to the back of Irie’s head, but the champion had enough left to block a Tankman Driver.
Irie used the momentary opening to hit a hard clothesline to the back of the head, a somersault senton as Tankman was draped on the middle rope and two Beast Bomber clotheslines to put Tankman down and retain his title. Both eventually shook hands after they had recovered from the brutal match.
MLW announced a partnership with New Japan Pro Wrestling at the end of August. KUSHIDA wrestling on last night’s show kickstarted talent-sharing between the two companies. KUSHIDA defeated Tony Deppen in his first MLW match at Fury Road.
Salina de la Renta is back in MLW. She was revealed as the mystery guest during Sessions By Saint Laurent on Saturday’s show. The 26-year-old has been gone from the promotion since May 2021 after being written off television in an angle with Dario Cueto. Her Promociones Dorado stable will be starting back up as well.
“Salina de La Renta is the founder of Promociones Dorado, an organization that acts as a pipeline to the stars of Latin America for sports leagues, TV and film in the United States and abroad,” reads an MLW press release.
“In 2021, Salina brokered a deal with Cesar Duran. One which costs her dearly. For the past 2 years her whereabouts have been uncertain, but many believe “El Jefe” had something to do with it… until he himself was ruthlessly removed from power by an unknown assailant. Was it Salina? Only time will tell.”
A title change kicked off MLW Fury Road 2023 as well. Rickey Shane Page is the new MLW National Openweight Champion after defeating Jacob Fatu for the belt. RSP becomes the sixth wrestler to win the title since its inception in 2019. Fatu’s reign comes to an end after two successful defenses and 150 days spent with the title.
Also on the show, Matt Cardona won his promotional debut against Mance Warner. B3CCA has earned a shot at Delmi Exo’s World Featherweight Championship after she defeated Maki Itoh. In Saturday’s main event, the Bomaye Fight Club’s Alex Kane retained his MLW World Heavyweight Championship against Willie Mack.
MLW Fury Road 2023 results:
Rickey Shane Page defeated Jacob Fatu to win the MLW National Openweight Championship
B3CCA defeated Maki Itoh to become the #1 Contender to the MLW Featherweight Championship
Matt Cardona w/Mister Saint Laurent defeated Mance Warner
Ichiban defeated Tracy Williams
KUSHIDA defeated Tony Deppen
MLW World Heavyweight Champion Alex Kane w/Mr. Thomas defeated Willie Mack to retain his title
MLW held Fusion tapings following the show. Spoilers for the show are below, via Cagematch.net.
The Second Gear Crew (Matthew Justice & 1 Called Manders) defeated The Calling (Talon & Cannonball)
Love Doug defeated Little Guido
MLW Middleweight Champion AKIRA defeated Jimmy Lloyd in a street fight to retain his title
Matt Cardona defeated 1 Called Manders
Ichiban defeated Nolo Kitana
Alex Kane defeated Snitsky
Tiara James defeated Zayda Steel
TJ Crawford defeated Alec Price and Kevin Blackwood in a triple-threat match
Bomaye Fight Club (J Boujii & Mr. Thomas) defeated The Mane Event (Jay Lyon & Midas Black)
A match between Minoru Suzuki and Sanshiro Takagi will take place inside a bullet train.
DDT announced Monday evening that Suzuki and Takagi will wrestle in a Shinkansen, a Japanese high-speed bullet train. When the match takes place has not been announced. However, a press conference will be held at 4 am ET on Tuesday on their YouTube channel with further details.
“A wrestling event inside the Shinkansen, the world’s first high speed rail every Japanese person knows!,” Takagi wrote on X, the former platform known as Twitter. “Wrestling isn’t wrestling without dreams and romanticism! Watch today’s PressCon at 17:00 JST on YouTube for more information!”
Suzuki has spent most of the year wrestling for other promotions outside of New Japan Pro Wrestling, including AJPW and AEW. On this past Saturday’s Collision event, Suzuki made a surprise appearance losing to Darby Allin after Allin issued an open challenge at the start of the show. A week prior, he participated in the Royal Rampage battle royal, which Allin ended up winning.
Suzuki and Takagi previously wrestled in an empty Tokyo Dome arena match back in June of 2017, with Suzuki winning.
Minoru Suzuki made a surprise appearance on AEW Collision.
Saturday’s show started with Allin appearing in a backstage promo saying he was ready to fight anyone tonight in an impromptu match. After Allin came to the ring, Suzuki made his appearance, accepting Allin’s challenge. The two proceeded to have a match, the finish coming when Allin went for a coffin drop on Suzuki, who countered with a rear naked choke. However, Allin shifted his weight and pinned Suzuki’s shoulders on the mat while still in the choke hold to win the match.
At Forbidden Door back in June, Allin teamed with Sting and Tetsuya Naito to defeat Suzuki, Chris Jericho, and Sammy Guevara. Footage from that event showing Allin and Suzuki squaring off was shown on Collision prior to their match.
On this week’s Dynamite, Allin’s friend AR Fox turned on him, costing Allin a match against Swerve Strickland and joining the Mogul Embassy in the process. On last week’s Rampage, Allin won the Royal Rampage Battle Royal, earning himself a TNT title match against Luchasaurus at All Out in September.
Impact Wrestling and NJPW held their Multiverse United pay-per-view event on Thursday night in Los Angeles featuring talent from both promotions.
In the show’s main event, Hiroshi Tanahashi took on “Speedball” Mike Bailey. Three titles were also up for grabs — the NJPW Strong Openweight Championship, the Impact Wrestling Tag Team Championship, and the Impact X-Division Championship.
A spot in the Impact Knockouts Championship match at the Rebellion pay-per-view set for April 16 was also on the line at the event.
Below are results from the show at the Globe Theatre:
Hiroshi Tanahashi defeated “Speedball” Mike Bailey
NJPW Strong Openweight Championship: KENTA defeated Minoru Suzuki to retain the title
KUSHIDA defeated Lio Rush
Impact World Tag Team Championship: Chris Bey & Ace Austin defeated Motor City Machine Guns, Aussie Open, and TMDK to retain the titles
Deonna Purrazzo defeated Masha Slamovich, Gisele Shaw, and Miyu Yamashita to advance to the Knockouts title match at Rebellion
Jeff Cobb defeated Moose
Fred Rosser, Alex Coughlin, PCO & Callihan defeated “Filthy” Tom Lawlor, JR Kratos, Eddie Edwards & Joe Hendry
Impact X-Division Championship: Trey Miguel defeated Frankie Kazarian, Rich Swann, Kevin Knight, Clark Connors, and Rocky Romero in a scramble match to retain the title
Suzuki-gun will be no more by the end of this year.
Minoru Suzuki announced during Wednesday morning’s NJPW World Tag League/Jr. Tag League finals that the group would be disbanding at the end of 2022. After the group won their match on the show’s undercard, he took the time to praise each member of the group before announcing that the group will disband in order for each wrestler to embark on their own voyages.
The group currently consists of Suzuki, AEW’s Lance Archer, DOUKI, Taichi, Yoshinobu Kanemaru, Zack Sabre Jr., Taka Michinoku, and El Desperado.
Suzuki-gun’s roots originally began with Satoshi Kojima. He, NOSAWA, Michinoku, and Taichi first formed the group in early 2011. Later that year, Michinoku and Taichi turned on Kojima, instead aligning with Suzuki and forming Suzuki-gun. Over the years, people such as Davey Boy Smith Jr., Takashi Iizuka, Takashi Sugiura, and Yoshihiro Takayama were part of the stable.
In 2015, a two year-long storyline took place in Pro Wrestling NOAH where Suzuki-gun invaded the promotion, with Sugiura and Kanemaru joining the group. In early 2017, the group returned to NJPW, with Sugiura departing the group and Kanemaru jumping back with the rest of the group.
Tonight saw the next set of matches from NJPW Strong’s “Showdown” tour in Hollywood, California.
During the show introduction with announcers Ian Riccaboni & Alex Koslov, “Filthy” Tom Lawlor appeared to share some thoughts with the audience at home. He first explained how his Team Filthy teammates JR Kratos & Danny Limelight had come “within a kangaroo hair” of beating NJPW Strong Openweight Tag Team champions, Aussie Open, and that’d after they put away “two soup cans” Jordan Cruz & Adrian Quest, they would come back to Aussie Open to bring home the titles for Team Filthy.
Lawlor also talked about his match against Homicide, which will air next week, saying he’s not afraid of an “untrained street thug” and that he’d take him out in their upcoming match.
Kenny King defeated Che Cabrera
This was Kenny King’s NJPW Strong debut. To NJPW fans, he’s known as the man who eliminated both Jushin Liger & The Great Muta in the Rumble at NJPWxROH’s G1 Supercard at Madison Square Garden.
King put Cabrera down with a spinebuster for a count of two. Later, Cabrera took King out on the floor with a nice pescado dive over the ropes.
When Cabrera went to the top rope for a final attack, King caught him with an enzuigiri to the back of his head. King then put Cabrera away with the Royal Flush for the win.
Team Filthy (JR Kratos & Danny Limelight) defeated Jordan Cruz & Adrian Quest
Cruz has been on NJPW Strong in the past, but here he had more time to show off his in-ring skill. He ragdolled Limelight early on, throwing him back and forth between gutwrench suplexes & forward gutbusters. The Hollywood crowd sounded very into it.
When JR Kratos tagged in, he mowed Cruz down with a falling lariat. Him and Danny Limelight later showed off some nice tag teamwork, with Kratos popping Limelight up for a double stomp onto Cruz.
Cruz was able to power up and almost pick Kratos up with a fireman’s carry. He was able to take him out with a sliding lariat, though, and from there he was able to finally tag out to Adrien Quest. Crowd was hot by this point.
Kratos put Quest down with a big superplex for two. Limelight then put Quest away with a tornado destroyer for the win.
Bullet Club members Chris Bey, Juice Robinson & El Phantasmo appeared in a vignette next. They talked about Bey & ELP’s upcoming tag match against Blake Christian (who Bey described as looking like a Dorito) & Mascara Dorada. Robinson also talked about his match that’d be airing two weeks from today with Jake Something. Robinson said he “had something for Something.”
Minoru Suzuki defeated Fred Yehi
This was great. Suzuki & Yehi went hold for hold at the beginning, exchanging positional control without many attempts at submitting one another. When Suzuki held Yehi in a side headlock, Yehi sold his ear, as though the hold made his cauliflower ear worse. Seeing that, Suzuki immediately grabbed on to both of Yehi’s ears and yanked on them.
The two began trading hard strikes next. During their chop contest, Yehi tricked Suzuki and went for an ankle pick takedown instead of giving Suzuki another chop. The crowd booed Yehi for that.
Suzuki trapped Yehi in a triangle choke over the ropes. The fight spilled out onto the floor from here. Yehi started biting Suzuki. Suzuki grabbed a chair and brought it into the ring. Yehi stole it from Suzuki, but the referee tried grabbing it out of Yehi’s hands. While the two fought over the chair in the ring, Suzuki rolled out to the floor and grabbed another steel folding chair, brought it into the ring. While the referee was passing the first chair out of the ring to the ring announcer, Suzuki whacked Yehi from behind with the second chair, all behind the ref’s back. Suzuki then dropped to the mat and feigned injury, holding his head like he’d also just been hit by a chair. He was back up after a few moments, though, with a smirk on his face. The crowd chanted “You sick f*ck!” at Suzuki.
The match spilled back onto the floor. Suzuki teased doing a Gotch-style Piledriver on the ring announcer’s table but Yehi escaped. Suzuki Chopped Yehi up against the guardrail, practically on top of fans in the front row.
Back in the ring, Suzuki bent & twisted Yehi’s wrist and finger joints around in circles. Yehi was able to slip away and lock Suzuki in the Koji Clutch until Suzuki put his foot on the bottom rope for the break.
The two traded forearms in the middle of the ring. Suzuki caught him with a heavy shot and knocked Yehi to the mat. When Suzuki tried doing it one more time, Yehi was able to catch Suzuki again, like earlier, when Suzuki telegraphed the forearm and Yehi countered with a drop toehold. The crowd booed this, too. I thought it was really clever but I guess people just love Suzuki that much.
The finish saw Suzuki catch Yehi in a sleeperhold before cracking him once more and putting Yehi away with a Gotch-style piledriver. Suzuki terrorized the referee afterwards and teased a piledriver for him as well.
Final thoughts:
The main event on this week’s episode was great. Fred Yehi deserves a lot more credit than he gets right now, so if you’ve slept on him in the past, introduce yourself with this match he had against Minoru Suzuki. Great stuff.
Next week’s main event sees “Filthy” Tom Lawlor taking on Homicide.
NJPW has announced the full lineup for Saturday’s New Japan Showdown episode of Strong.
In the main event, Minoru Suzuki will take on Fred Yehi in the first singles meeting between the two.
In the second match of the night, Jordan Cruz and Adrian Quest will tag against Team Filthy’s JR Kratos and Danny Limelight.
In Saturday’s opener, Kenny King will take on Che Cabrera. This will be King’s first appearance on an NJPW card since the G1 Supercard event at Madison Square Garden in New York City in 2019.
Strong’s New Japan Showdown series was taped on October 16 at the Vermont Hollywood in Los Angeles.
Here is the full lineup for Saturday:
NJPW Strong: New Japan Showdown, Saturday, November 12, 8 p.m. Eastern time on NJPW World —
Minoru Suzuki vs. Fred Yehi
Adrian Quest & Jordan Cruz vs. Team Filthy (Danny Limelight & JR Kratos)
