NJPW has revealed details on this year’s G1 Climax tournament.
The tournament, which begins on July 20, will return to a 20-man A & B block format. The participants will be revealed during the New Japan Soul tour on June 16. However, only eighteen of the twenty participants will be announced. A participant selection tournament will determine the final slot of both blocks, with the finals of that tournament taking place on July 5.
Another change to this year’s tournament is how the block champions will be determined. NJPW’s website writes:
This year though, it will be the top three finishers that advance. Second and third place finishers will face off in Makuhari August 15, with the top point scorer receiving a bye to Ryogoku August 17. There, semifinals will determine an overall winner for each block, to compete in the grand final August 18.
Last year’s tournament was split into four blocks featuring 32 different wrestlers. Tetsuya Naito ended up winning the G1 Climax 33, defeating Kazuchika Okada in the finals.
Hiroshi Tanahashi made a surprise appearance on Saturday’s Collision.
Earlier in the day, it was announced that Lance Archer and The Righteous would face Daniel Garcia, Claudio Castagnoli, and a mystery partner. After it was teased that they would fight 2 on 3, Tanahashi came out as their surprise tag team partner, with announcers pushing that the Forbidden Door had opened early. Tanahashi ended up getting the win for his team, pinning Vincent with the High Fly Flow.
On X, Tony Khan thanked Tanahashi for appearing and posed with him in a photo. He noted that Tanahashi had given him a Jushin Thunder Liger jacket.
Thank you Mr President @tanahashi1_100 for this amazing @Liger_NJPW jacket + thank you for flying to Vegas #AEWDoN weekend on behalf of @njpw1972 to stand up for @AEW vs the hired guns of The Elite on Saturday #AEWCollision on TBS TONIGHT!
“Thank you Mr President @tanahashi1_100 for this amazing @Liger_NJPW jacket + thank you for flying to Vegas #AEWDoN weekend on behalf of @njpw1972 to stand up for @AEW vs the hired guns of The Elite on Saturday #AEWCollision on TBS TONIGHT!,” he wrote.
Tanahashi most recently wrestled at NJPW Resurgence earlier this month, losing to Zack Sabre Jr. At Wrestling Dontaku, he was unsuccessful in defeating Nic Nemeth for the IWGP Global Heavyweight title.
The Best of the Super Juniors continued on Monday at Korakuen Hall.
Following night two of the tournament, only Blake Christian and Titan are sporting 2-0 records in A Block. TJP and BUSHI are the only two wrestlers in the block yet to get in the win column and six wrestlers are tied with 1-1 records.
In B Block, KUSHIDA improved his record to 2-0 with a win over SHO on tonight’s show. Ninja Mack and Blake Christian are also undefeated after two matches. DOUKI picked up a win over Hiromu Takahashi with a DOUKI-chokey in the main event on Monday, improving his record to 1-1 and dropping Takahashi to 0-2. Dragon Dia and Drilla Maloney are also at 0-2 and the other four wrestlers in B Block sit tied with 1-1 records.
NJPW Best of the Super Juniors 31 night two quick results —
Six title matches will take place at Osaka-jo Hall.
NJPW has confirmed that Jon Moxley will defend the IWGP World Heavyweight title in Japan on June 9 against EVIL. The end of NJPW’s Resurgence event saw EVIL attack Moxley, defacing the IWGP title in the process. In a post-match promo, Moxley promised to rid NJPW of The House of Torture, who are sure to play a part in the match.
Shingo Takagi meanwhile, will defend the NEVER Openweight title against Henare, who returned in a video that aired at Resurgence and challenged the winner between Takagi and Yuya Uemura. Takagi retained the title, setting up the match for Dominion. Uemura, meanwhile, will defend the KOPW 2024 title against Great-O-Khan. The rules for the match have yet to be announced.
Other title matches will see Jeff Cobb defend the New Japan World Television title against Tomohiro Ishii and a four-way tornado elimination match for both the IWGP and New Japan Strong Tag Team titles pitting ELP & Hikuelo and KENTA & Chase Owens putting up their titles against TMDK and Bishamon.
Here is the updated lineup for Dominion:
IWGP World Heavyweight title: Jon Moxley defends against EVIL
NEVER Openweight title: Shingo Takagi defends against Henare
KOPW 2024: Yuya Uemura defends against Great-O-Khan
NJPW World Television title: Jeff Cobb defends against Tomohiro Ishii
Four-way tornado elimination match for IWGP & NJPW Strong Tag Team titles: ELP & Hikuelo (NJPW Strong Tag Team Champions) vs. KENTA & Chase Owens (IWGP Tag Team Champions) vs. TMDK (Shane Haste & Mikey Nicholls) vs. Bishamon (Hirooki Goto & YOSHI-HASHI)
Thoughts on the Cung Le lawsuit settlement, and meaningful changes in business and what this closes the door on in MMA
Why TKO paid $335 million and considered this as a win
Why the stock market thought the same
UFC & WWE financials
Changes in television and Smackdown plans going forward
The crazy story of WWE losing more money in this quarter than they made in virtually any year of its existence and multiples of the total losses of AEW since its inception and why there is nothing to worry about
How the interest on loans for TKO alone is more than WWE ever made until the Austin era
Complete coverage of WWE Backlash
The business numbers both good and bad
Notes from the French crowd
Next year’s WrestleMania
A look at the departures of Gable Steveson and Drew Gulak Ric Flair talks heart attack
Saudi Arabia getting more traction in WWE & UFC business
New Japan Dontaku coverage
UFC 301 coverage
Final Dark Side of the Ring episode on Black Saturday looked at
Coverage of three other major shows this week
Next TripleMania show
Arena Mexico heats up
Champion Carnival coverage
International Pro Wrestling Hall of Fame
Ric Flair incident
MLW looking at expanding into new markets
Wrestler song makes U.K. charts
NBA rights and how this affects AEW
Chuck Taylor career legit in jeopardy
Update on Double or Nothing
Advance ticket sales for AEW & WWE upcoming shows
Art Jimmerson remembered
Canelo Alvarez along with WWE, AEW and TNA PPV number updates
– We have three weekend shows already up on the site. We did two shows on Friday, one with Jim Ross talking about his new book, his career, Bill Watts, Black Saturday, Sting, Tony Schiavone, and tons of other topics, and then Garrett and I went through a show talking about all the news of the week including things that needed to be said regarding the dichotomy of wrestling media.
Last night’s show with Bryan focused on New Japan Resurgence, Smackdown, and Collision as well as the rest of the news.
– We don’t have more of an update on Eddie Kingston. The only thing we heard today is that they were crossing their fingers and hoping he’d be okay. There was no word whether he’d be able to do Anarchy in the Arena past they were hoping he could. In the last move of his last man standing match with Gabe Kidd, Kidd suplexed Kingston off the apron through a table and Kingston’s leg crashed hard on the guard rail. He wasn’t able to get up for a long time. It was scary but it did make the angle when Jack Perry & The Young Bucks attacked him even more of a heel deal.
We did hear from people at the show who said the issue was the crowd micing in Ontario and not that the crowd was dead.
– I want to wish every mother out there a Happy Mother’s Day. For those of you who have mothers, cherish them and make it a special day for them. For those who don’t, please remember them because you wouldn’t be here without them.
– It was announced at Resurgence that the first Fantastica Mania show ever in the U.S. will be on 7/13 at the San Jose Civic Auditorium.
– We’re looking for reports on tonight’s WWE house show in Macon, GA which has a King of the Ring and Queen of the Ring tournament match with Kofi Kingston vs. Rey Mysterio and Shayna Baszler vs. Maxxine Dupri in tournament matches. The Kingston-Mysterio winner faces Gunther on Raw on Monday while the Baszler-Dupri winner faces Iyo Sky tomorrow.
– Also on tomorrow’s show is Jey Uso vs. Ilja Dragunov and Zoey Stark vs. Lyra Valkyria in tournament matches. We’re looking for results, finishes, and highlights to [email protected]. We’re also doing polls for New Japan Resurgence so you can leave a thumbs up, down or middle, best and worst match to [email protected]
– WWE from last night in Chattanooga:
Miz & R-Truth retained the Raw tag titles over JD McDonagh & Finn Balor
LA Knight b Santos Escobar to advance in the King of the Ring tournament. He faces Tama Tonga on Friday.
Austin Theory & Grayson Waller b Tommaso Ciampa & Johnny Gargano to retain the Smackdown tag titles
Liv Morgan b Nia Jax in a street fight
Damian Priest b Jey Uso to keep the world title
Tiffany Stratton b Michin to advance in the Queen of the Ring tournament. She faces Bianca Belair on Friday.
– There were only two Google search items that made the top 20 this week related to boxing, wrestling, and MMA, both from yesterday. The Vasiliy Lomachenko vs. George Kambosis fight was No. 3 with 100,000 searches. Derrick Lewis from yesterday’s UFC show was No. 12 with 50,000.
– If you watched the New Japan show last night and noted Ian Riccaboni talking about the Young Bucks being in Vancouver and then being at the show, it was just an honest mistake. Before the show, he was watching a feed of the show and a taped segment with the Young Bucks aired and he wasn’t aware it was taped, so when they did arrive, he assumed they must have flown in from Vancouver.
– There will be another three-hour AEW block this coming Saturday night but back on TNT with Collision at 8 p.m. and Rampage at 10 p.m.
– Kento Miyahara beat Jun Saito today in Yokohama to win the AJPW Champion Carnival tournament. They also announced EC 3 would be defending his NWA world title on 5/29 at Korakuen Hall. The hope is that will start an All Japan/NWA relationship.
I haven’t heard anything on the Miyahara-Saito match although Miyahara singles matches are usually great. As far as big matches people have noted to us, Shuji Ishikawa vs. Kazusada Higuchi in the King of DDT tournament was recommended. AJ Styles vs. Randy Orton on Smackdown and most of Collision was very strong in the ring. The two best bouts were Kingston vs. Gabe Kidd and Jon Moxley vs. Shota Umino for the IWGP title. The latter was great and I’ve had people say it was Moxley’s best singles match ever, which covers ridiculous ground. The crowd micing hurt it but it was an exceptional match.
– Another big match this weekend was the Joey Janela vs. Nick Wayne Iron Man Match from Defy on Friday night in Seattle. That can be found in full here.
– Sami Zayn did a comedy show in Los Angeles last night at the Vermont Hollywood. Here is a report on it from Chris Campol:
It was a great time. He opened with a twenty-minute stand-up set. Told some really funny wrestling stories. Then he brought out a few comics who are wrestling fans one at a time for a chat. They had a couch and chairs on stage. At one point someone started heckling Sami, and after some back and forth he was invited on stage. After some more insults, the guy took off his wig, glasses, and fake mustache, and it was Johnny Knoxville. They acted like they were gonna fight, and then Becky Lynch came out to be the peacemaker. She was absolutely hysterical. Becky stuck around for the rest of the show.
They brought up a few volunteers from the crowd to see who could cut the best promo. Cathy Kelley was there to give them prompts, which she totally improvised on the spot. She was great. Eventually, Knoxville came back out with flowers trying to make up with Sami. They hugged but then Wee Man came out and low-blowed Sami, then gave him a frickin bodyslam. Holy s*** chants. He sold it like he was dead and that was the end of the show.
For someone who, by his own admission, had no idea what he was doing, Sami was awesome here. As seen in WWE, his comic timing is really spot on. Hopefully, he does more of this kind of thing. He really has a knack for it.”
– A&E tonight has WWE Rivals with Ric Flair vs. Dusty Rhodes at 8 pm. and Most Wanted Treasures on Ultimate Warrior at 9 p.m. I don’t know if they’ve done a WWE Rivals using an NWA feud before, as Flair vs. Rhodes wasn’t even WCW, it was NWA and Jim Crockett Promotions.
– The death of entertainment news host Sam Rubin of KTLA in Los Angeles does have a pro wrestling connection. When he was a kid, Mike Lano, Mark & Gary Dawson (sons of Richard Dawson of Family Feud fame), and Rubin would go every Saturday to the newsstands together to read the wrestling magazines from the 70s. They’d also at times go to used magazine stores to try and buy old wrestling magazines. He also did backyard wrestling matches at Emerson Junior High and University High in Santa Monica.
Rubin was 64. He was on TV Thursday morning but called in sick Friday and had a heart attack. He was a lifelong fan and would interview wrestlers on his newcast. All the major stations in Los Angeles covered his death, showing him interviewing everyone from Hulk Hogan to Prince Harry to Presidents Clinton, Obama, and Bush. (thanks to Mike Lano)
– Best of the Super Juniors at 5:30 a.m. Eastern from Korakuen Hall tomorrow morning
A block-Kevin Knight vs. Blake Christian
B block-Francesco Akira vs. Ninja Mack
A block-Hayata vs Clark Connors
B block-Robbie Eagles vs. Drilla Moloney
A block-TJP vs. Yoshinobu Kanemaru
B block-Taiji Ishimori vs. Dragon Dia
A block-Titan vs. Bushi
B block-Sho vs.Kushida
A block-Desperado vs. Kosei Fujita
B block-Hiromu Takahashi vs. Douki
– Derrick Lewis, who knocked out Rodrigo Nascimento in UFC’s main event last night, took off his shorts and fanned Nascimento as he was trying to revive him. He then took off his cup and threw it to the media table and then pulled down his underwear to moon the crowd. He then said he appreciated the crowd in St. Louis for letting him show them his naked ass.
– Dani Mo will wrestle Bhagawati Khadka on Mount Everest on 5/23. They are attempting to say it’ll be a world record for a match held at the highest elevation. I don’t know what the record is but Mexico City is 7,349 feet.
– When Mercedes Mone threw out the first pitch at the Boston Red Sox game yesterday, the PA announcer first called her Sasha Banks and claimed she was the first woman to main event WrestleMania. I thought that was Ronda Rousey, Charlotte Flair, and Becky Lynch. But then he called her Mercedes Mone from Boston (thanks to Ron Lemieux)
– Jerry Lawler was inducted into the Indiana Sports Hall of Fame on Friday night.
– TV Guide lists “Iron Claw” as one of the best things to stream this month. It debuted on MAX on Friday night. They wrote that people who thought this was a pro wrestling movie and skipped it missed out on a tear-jerker family drama. (thanks to Matt Schreiner)
– Kurt Angle will make an appearance for Absolute Intense Wrestling on 5/24 in Cleveland at Temple Live. He will have a meet and greet at the show.
– Defy from Friday night in Seattle: Nick Wayne b Joey Janels 5 falls to 4 in a 60:00 Iron Man match, Marina Shafir b Vert Vixen to win the Defy women’s title, Big Damo & Axel Tischer (Sanity) b Ricky Gibson & Eddie Parl to keep the Progress world tag titles, Danhausen b Randy Myers, KENTA b Bryan Keith to retain the Defy title.
Saturday’s show saw ELP & Hikuleo defeat TMDK (Mikey Nicholls and Shane Haste) to win the Strong Openweight Tag Team titles. The finish saw Hikuleo choke slamming Haste, allowing ELP to hit a splash for the win. TMDK had held the titles for only 29 days.
The Strong Openweight title changed hands, with Gabe Kidd defeating Eddie Kingston in a brutal no ropes last man standing match, finishing when Kidd gave Kingston a suplex through a table and into the barricade, failing to meet the ten count and giving Kidd his first singles title in New Japan.
This ends Kingston’s run with the Strong Openweight title after 311 days, defeating KENTA back at Independence Day Night 2 last July. With the loss, Kingston has now lost the last of three titles he had held recently that formed the Continental Crown.
It was also announced during Resurgence that Fantasticamania will be taking place in San Jose on July 13 at the San Jose Civic Auditorium. It will be a joint event with CMLL, similar to the tour that takes place each year in Japan.
The lucha libre fiesta comes to the United States!
Henare made his return to the company after being out of action since February. He issued a challenge to the winner of the NEVER Openweight title match. Shingo Takagi defeated Yuya Uemura to retain the title, setting up the next title match.
A huge challenge issued!@HenareNZ is BACK and wants to bring the Mana to whomever wins this next NEVER Openweight title match!
In the main event, Jon Moxley defeated Shota Umino to retain the IWGP World Heavyweight title. After the match, EVIL and Ren Narita attacked Moxley, with EVIL spray painting the championship black and posing over Moxley to end the show.
After Eddie Kingston lost a brutal no ropes Last Man Standing match at NJPW Resurgence, Jack Perry walked out and the two had a staredown. The distraction allowed Nicholas and Matthew Jackson to enter the ring and attack Eddie Kingston from behind, eventually giving him the EVP trigger.
Just moments after losing a war over the #njpwSTRONG Openweight Championship, now he's being attacked by Matthew and Nicholas Jackson!
Nicholas and Matthew Jackson haven’t been seen in NJPW since they left the company shortly after the formation of All Elite Wrestling. In recent weeks, they have been feuding with Kingston, who lost the Continental title to Kazuchika Okada, who did not appear at Resurgence.
Wednesday’s AEW Dynamite event ended with Kingston and Bryan Danielson revealing themselves as FTR’s tag team partners for Double or Nothing, where they will face The Elite in an Anarchy in the Arena match. The show ended with the two teams having to be separated by security.
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’s episode of NJPW Strong was also the final installment of their New Beginning USA 2022 tapings from Seattle.
Karl Fredericks defeated Ethan HD
Good opener. Ethan HD is a 16-year Pacific-Northwest indie veteran. Seattle fans know him as one half of former DEFY Wrestling Tag Team champions, the Amerikan Gunz, alongside Mike Santiago.
This was a competitive match from beginning to end. They went hold for hold early on. Lots of chants for Fredericks from the crowd. Ian Riccaboni made a pretty brilliant point on commentary when he compared Karl Fredericks to a young Sting.That’s a perfect way of viewing him, from the athleticism to the charisma, there are lots of clear similarities.
Fredericks landed a Stinger splash before connecting with a Shibata-style running dropkick and jumping elbow for a two-count. Announcer Alex Koslov called HD “Ethan Page” by accident. When Ethan HD connected with a sudden springboard moonsault midway through the match, it jolted the crowd, who sounded like they went from 0–90 mph at this point. The venue was much louder from here on out.
Ethan HD earned a close two-count after using a Death Valley Bomb on Fredericks. They traded forearms. Fredericks caught Ethan HD with a spinebuster off the ropes, then spiked him with Manifest Destiny to put him away.
El Phantasmo defeated Matt Rehwoldt
If Taylor Rust wasn’t so damn good in the main event coming up after this, I’d have said Matt Rehwoldt was the MVP of the episode based on his performance here. This was a fun match made that much more interesting by Rehwoldt leaning into the heel role and letting El Phantasmo shine as an antihero.
Rehwoldt, who has both wrestled on and done commentary for Strong in the past, referred to Seattle as a “fog-covered craphole,” which set the crowd off. Boooo. Rehwoldt then said “Cobain had the right idea,” and that he couldn’t wait to get out of the region.
El Phantasmo grabbed the mic. “Watch your mouth! No one makes fun of this s***hole but me!” The crowd went wild. He called himself the King of the Pacific-Northwest and said it was “ELP Day” before Rehwoldt cut him off and attacked ELP, starting the match.
El Phantasmo used a smooth springboard hurricanrana that took Rehwoldt to the mat. ELP flashed his headbanga’ pose for the crowd, who ate it up. Rehwoldt answered back later with a Eddie Guerrero-style slingshot senton onto ELP. He flashed a pose of his own next, conducting the air and infuriating the crowd. Phantasmo became the de facto babyface. Rehwoldt took a bow in the middle of the ring while ELP caught his breath in the corner. The crowd began chanting “YOU SUCK!” at Rehwoldt. Phantasmo landed a Lionsault for two and the crowd chanted “EL-P” over and over.
Rehwoldt used a backrake on Phantasmo. That’s been Phantasmo’s recent specialty attack, so Rehwoldt gave him a taste of his own backrake medicine. He then connected with a swan dive from the top rope across the ring and scored a close nearfall. ELP fired back with his Sudden Death superkick, then planted Rehwoldt face-first with a CR II before pinning him after a swan dive of his own—a receipt for the backrake, no doubt!—and a double-jump moonsault. El Phantasmo picks up the win in just under ten minutes in a really fun match.
A quick vignette.of Team Filthy’s JR Kratos aired next. He called out Alex Coughlin, saying that if Coughlin thought that their last match on NJPW Strong was simply a one-and-done, he was wrong. Specifically, Kratos said Coughlin had “f*cked up.” He told Coughlin to watch his back before fading to black.
NJPW Strong Openweight Championship: Tom Lawlor (c) (w/ West Coast Wrecking Crew) defeated Taylor Rust
This match was blow-the-bloody-doors-off good. If you watch the show regularly, you’d expect this to be good, but I don’t think many could have expected this match to be as intense and high-level as it was.
A promo package aired before the match explaining the feud between Lawlor and ex-Team Filthy member Rust. When Rust signed with WWE, Lawlor “fired” him from Team Filthy, particularly for his “white belt performance” loss to Jeff Cobb on the show in 2020. Rust returned to NJPW Strong late last year in Philadelphia looking for revenge on his ex-captain.
Tom Lawlor’s racking up a number of matches that are both really good but also all different. He doesn’t repeat himself or have a go-to schtick that we’re all waiting to see in every match. It makes writing about his matches a bit more exciting.
The first five minutes of the match were pretty much even on offense. Neither could get more leverage over the other until Lawlor dragon screwed Rust off the top turnbuckle to the middle of the ring. Lawlor slapped on a figure-four leglock, but Rust broke the hold with a rope break.
The match spilled out to the floor. Lawlor did the Filthy Strut before smashing Rust’s knee into the ring apron. Rust slammed Lawlor into the ring post.
Back in the ring, Lawlor locked on a sharpshooter until Rust grabbed the ropes for the break again. Rust connected with a jumping back enzuigiri at around the ten-minute mark. Both were knocked cold for a few moments.
When Lawlor escaped to the floor, Rust chased after and caught him with a tope suicida. Rust would later block Lawlor from coming off the top rope with a big pump kick before superplexing Lawlor from the top back into the ring. You could hear the crowd boiling.
The two got back to their feet and traded big forearm shots for a minute or so. The crowd loved it. Lawlor locked Rust in a standing triangle choke where Lawlor used the turnbuckle for support. Rust reversed it with a sit-out powerbomb for two. The crowd started chanting “This is awesome!”
Rust connected with his finish, The Perfect Circle, but Lawlor kicked out. Lawlor slammed Rust and showered down more forearms while he was still on the mat. Rust caught Lawlor with a flying armbar but Lawlor would quickly reverse. They kept reversing submission holds on the mat, with Rust catching Lawlor in armbars at different angles as Lawlor kept trying to escape.
Lawlor caught Rust with a low push-kick from behind that took out Rust’s sore knee. He then locked Rust in a straight jacket hold from behind before KO’ing him with a knee to the back of the head. Lawlor cinched in a sleeper, and after a few moments referee Jeremy Marcus called the match. Lawlor walked away victorious once again, retaining the Strong Openweight championship.
After the match, Lawlor got on the house mic and opened a challenge to anyone in the back for his next championship match. No one came out initially, but then PNW native and LA Dojo representative Clark Connors’ music hit.
Connors got right into Lawlor’s face and challenged him to a match right then and there. Lawlor got on the mic and called for a referee. They were going to do this right now. A ref came out and was handed the Strong Openweight title. Connors whipped off his Shawn Kemp jersey and looked ready to challenge for the title right then and there in khakis. When the new referee held the title belt in the air, Lawlor grabbed it from his hands and hopped out of the ring, then headed towards the exit with the West Coast Wrecking Crew. Jorel Nelson jacked Connors’ Shawn Kemp jersey wearing it and Connors’ beanie as Team Filthy left.
Final thoughts:
The New Beginning USA 2022 was one of the most effective series of shows the brand has had since forming. Having a live audience has made a world of difference, too, and it really showed at these tapings in Seattle.
Matt Rehwoldt and El Phantasmo had a really entertaining match where both were able to showcase more aspects of their craft because of how good the crowd response was. Rehwoldt has the capacity to be a really good heel if he wants to go that route.
The main event was another one of those matches where if more people watched, it would be the most talked about match of the week. Rust can be a big-time player in NJPW or probably anywhere. And Lawlor is becoming a main event machine, a Filthy Flair, you could say. His matches are always different and he somehow brings out the best in all of his opponents without compromising anything about himself or his wrestling. Or his shorts. But yeah, go out of your way to see this one.
It’s a special Sunday edition of Speak Now Pro Wrestling as I review not one but two shows in a super fun, lively and opinionated podcast.
At the top of the show, I recap Saturday’s AEW Battle of the Belts followed by a review of Wrestle Kingdom 16 night three which featured matches between New Japan Pro Wrestling vs. Pro Wrestling NOAH.
I will return for my normal slate of shows this week which includes NXT 2.0 on Tuesday, AEW Dynamite on Wednesday and joint AEW Rampage/WWE SmackDown coverage on Friday.
Coughlin greeted Hikuleo with an icy stare as the giant stepped into the ring. After a bit of grappling on the feet, Hikuleo overpowered Coughlin and put him down with a big bodyslam and vertical suplex. Hikuleo bullied Coughlin a bit more but Shibata’s Young Lion would mount a comeback and eventually put Hikuleo down with a jumping shoulder block before he’d lock him into a single-leg crab. It wasn’t enough to put the much larger Hikuleo away, though. Hikuleo was back to his feet soon after, then he planted Coughlin with a snap powerslam and sit-out Death Valley Bomb for the win.
Good showing from both here. Coughlin is exploding with charisma and athleticism, and Hikuleo really feels like the resident power-house of the show these days.
Lio Rush and Rocky Romero defeated the DKC and Clark Connors
“White Rhino” Clark Connors blasted Rush with a spear to the lower back midway through the match.
Rush was able to tag out to Romero after getting pummeled for a few minutes. Romero cleaned house and landed a nice tijeras on DKC and a standing Sliced Bread on the Connors for two. The White Rhino responded by launching Romero into the air with a Pounce.
The DKC’s background is in karate, and has been able to incorporate a few fancy karate-esque kicks and chops into his moveset. If anyone here is familiar with Chris Champion/Yoshi Kwan from WCW, that’s what the DKC reminds me of, a bit.
It’s a shame that Rush announced he’d be retiring this week, because he looked pretty great inside the ring with both Connors and DKC tonight, the latter whom he pinned after a bottom-rope springboard stunner.
Connors and Romero brawled outside the ring after the bell. In their post-match interview, Romero mentioned that despite Connors recently graduating from Young Lion to “White Rhino,” his new-found confidence wouldn’t matter, and that he’d eat up any one of Connors’ crew.
Fred Yehi and Wheeler Yuta defeated Misterioso and Jordan Clearwater
Wheeler Yuta has made a few appearances on Strong this year, but tonight was his partner Fred Yehi’s debut on the show. The two have teamed in the past on the indie circuit, and Yehi has appeared for companies like MLW, EVOLVE and ROH in the past, among others. He’s an excellent wrestler and is a perfect fit for both this show or for NJPW’s main roster.
Yehi and Misterioso looked good on the mat against each other. The match with Connors/DKC vs. Romero/Rush had more of an intense high-impact feel from the get-go, where this was clearly a bout centered on smooth, high-level technique.
When Yehi was in the ring with Karl Anderson-trainee Jordan Clearwater, he used fancy World-of-Sport-styled counter-wrestling and footwork. Both he and partner Yuta spent the middle part of this working over the taller Clearwater’s leg and knee, tenderizing in an attempt to keep him off his feet for more of the match.
Clearwater was eventually able to tag out to “Big Papi Pump” Misterioso, who landed a powerslam, then springboard moonsault onto Yuta upon re-entry. All four men were in the ring at this point, and Yehi used the opportunity to again go after Clearwater’s long legs, clipping one of them.
The finish saw Misterioso go for a dive to the floor but no one was there, though Misterioso landed safely. Just a second after he caught himself on the ground, Wheeler Yuta came through the middle rope and landed on top of him with a tope suicida to the floor. With Yuta holding Misterioso at bay, Yehi took the opportunity to put Clearwater away in the ring, earning the W for his team after locking Clearwater into a modified crucifix hold/Koji clutch while he laid in as many fists as he could.
Final thoughts:
Tonight’s episode of Strong was solid. The main event was most-impressive, though everything on tonight’s show was very good. Yuta and Yehi are a great tag team who look like they’ve been at this wrestling thing for a while, and they fit perfectly with the current crop on the show. I look forward to seeing more of them in the future.
On next week’s episode of NJPW Strong, we’ll see Satoshi Kojima vs. Team Filthy’s JR Kratos in a singles main event, while “Filthy” Tom Lawlor vs. Karl Fredericks for the Strong Openweight title will headline the show at the end of the month, on June 26.
Misterioso, Adrian Quest & Rocky Romero defeated Barrett Brown, Rey Horus & The DKC
Barrett Brown and Adrian Quest were in together first. Brown with a big lariat. The DKC is still sporting the traditional Young Lion look with the black trunks and boots. He and Misterioso got into it next, but Rocky Romero’s team quickly isolated DKC on their side of the ring and worked him over for a few minutes. At five minutes in, Romero had DKC locked in a single-leg crab before he landed his patented Forever Clotheslines in the corner. DKC rallied back with a high jumping roundhouse kick. DKC then escaped and tagged out to Rey Horus, who looked good in the couple minutes he was in the ring.
Quest, Horus, and DKC continued their momentum, later triple-teaming their opponents. At one point, Quest and Horus did a double dive to the floor, which left Brown and Romero together in the ring. The veteran Romero scored the submission win when he tapped Brown following a suplex into an armlock. Good opener.
Afterward, an exasperated Brown explained how important it was to make it in NJPW to his teammates. He said he hadn’t picked up a win yet this year, plus he wasn’t even in the Super J Cup nor did he make it past the first round of Lion’s Gate Crown. His partners consoled him, but Brown was still unsatisfied with his performance.
Fred Rosser defeated Hikuleo
On paper, this felt like a natural monster heel vs. experienced but smaller babyface. This was at a much slower pace than the first match, a nice switch in tone.
Rosser jumped on Hikuleo’s back and attempted a sleeper hold, but it was just that—an attempt. The two were soon brawling outside the ring on the floor. Hikuleo snapped Rosser over with a power slam at one point, then picked him up and bent him back-first against the ring post. Hikuleo feels like more and more of a threat each time he does a single match. On commentary, Kevin Kelly said that there’s no one like Hikuleo in the US or Japan. I think that’s fair to say. Much of this had a fundamental old-school American wrestling feel.
Hikuleo had Rosser locked in a king cobra twist, which looked pretty impressive, before later landing the chokeslam on Rosser, however, Rosser was able to kick out. Rosser’s function in this match was to be a Ricky Morton-type, basically getting mauled but hanging in there because he’s double-tough.
After Rosser kicked out of the chokeslam, which no one had done on the show up until this point, he fought for a backslide on the much larger Hikuleo and ended up scoring the upset win. Nice finish that will surely lead to a rematch in the next few weeks.
Hikuleo complained in his post-match promo afterward claiming that he, in fact, was the bad guy, he’s the one who’s supposed to be pulling hair, and that Rosser had pulled on his “beautiful” hair in the finish which is why he is now demanding a rematch. He screamed that Rosser cheated and the ref was slow and that a rematch was in order.
El Phantasmo defeated Lio Rush
These two had a match at the Super J Cup 2020 show which El Phantasmo won. Tonight’s main event had a slow build at the beginning as the two sporadically jaw-jacked at each other. These two guys are among the best talkers in NJPW, so despite the empty venue, it never came off awkward or out of place.
After about four minutes of back-and-forth grappling on the mat, the pace quickened a bit and we saw some ropework from the two. After they came to another stalemate, Rush talked more trash at ELP, which added to the atmosphere. The NJPW neophyte Rush took control on offense as the match got faster. This led to El Phantasmo rolling to the floor and calling a time-out for himself. Before the ref counted him out, he rolled in and out of the ring again, breaking the count and extending ELP’s initial breather.
El Phantasmo eventually made his way back into the ring and took control of the match. He spiked Rush with a DDT, and later on in the bout he started using the dreaded back-scratch attack, scraping Rush from the top of his back all the way down. ELP took some time during the match to take shots at announcer Alex Koslov, mocking him while he had Rush in the corner.
After ten minutes passed, Rush slid out of El Phantasmo’s grasp and finagled his way into a swinging DDT coming off the ropes, planting ELP skull-first on the mat. Rush took control of the match, but Phantasmo kept throwing attacks at Rush, once even landing a springboard cross body-block for two. Rush responded with his own springboard offense, bouncing from the bottom rope into ELP to wrench him down with a stunner.
In the last moments of the match, El Phantasmo went for a low blow, but Rush blocked it by catching ELP’s arm and cradling him into a la magistral pin for a very close two-count. When they were back on their feet, Phantsmo shoved Rush and referee Jeremy Marcus, giving Phantasmo a chance to “load up” a superkick for Rush as he turned back around. ELP connected, knocking out Rush to score the pinfall. Really good match.
In his promo afterward, El Phantasmo bragged about his win and continued insulting Rush, claiming if he ever wanted to make it in the junior heavyweight division he’d eventually have to go through ELP himself. He mentioned the annual Best of the Super Juniors tournament that’s coming up soon, which gives us reason to believe we’ll be seeing both Phantasmo and Rush in the round-robin this spring.
Final thoughts:
This week’s edition of NJPW Strong was an easy watch, and I think it’s because all three of this week’s matches were so different in flavor. The opening six-man was no better or worse than any of the other good matches we’ve seen from all those involved tonight (sans Rey Horus), while Hikuleo vs Fred Rosser provided a simple and well-executed David vs Goliath type of match. The main event junior match was very good, though it was well-tempered because I’m sure these two will have yet another bout or two with each other later this year.
Next week’s episode has IWGP US Heavyweight champion Jon Moxley defending his title against KENTA.
“The time has come for a new beginning.” This phrase boomed over a promo early in the show before a slick montage for the New Beginning 2021 tour aired using all of the latest clips from last month’s episodes.
The DKC defeated Kevin Knight
So as an official young lion this year, The DKC dropped his old ring gear and now sports the classic black trunks and boots combo. Same with Kevin Knight, the former Jet Knight out in the Pacific Northwest, who sported the classic look as well.
Mostly technical grappling between the two from the beginning with Knight looking to have a slight advantage, working for arm submissions from the top. The Buddy Wayne-trainee later worked DKC into the corner, where the two exchanged hard kicks before Knight used a big hip toss to bring DKC back down to the “cerulean blue.” Not much hesitation between moves here, neither from Knight nor DKC, who seconds later hit an even higher angle hip toss of his own on Knight before he locked in a head-and-arm choke.
The DKC used a nice one-legged dropkick to take Knight down at around the seven minute mark before he tapped him out with a triangle choke for the win. Both of these guys are very talented and I imagine are already on a path to big things down the road this year. Nothing too flashy here, just hard-hitting fundamental wrestling.
***
A Jon Moxley interview with Kevin Kelly over a video call aired. Moxley said he had heard everything KENTA and his Bullet Club buddies said, but the key point is that he was still IWGP United States champion. He said that KENTA can play games with the red briefcase, but in the end will take him out, and that KENTA can’t just litigate his way to the title.
Mox claimed he knows what KENTA’s trying to achieve here. He was excited to see him with Katsuyori Shibata at Dominion in 2019, but ultimately he doesn’t want the Bullet Club 4-on-1, 5-on-2 nonsense — he wants the KENTA who inspired a generation, he wants that KENTA in his match on NJPW Strong.
Bateman, Jordan Clearwater, Adrian Quest & Misterioso defeated Brody King, the Riegel Twins and Barrett Brown
The Riegel Twins rocked out to Brody King’s theme music during their entrance. Should be noted that King’s theme song is performed by his own band, God’s Hate.
Brown and Quest had a quick but even exchange, both can fly around with ease and teased what they could do early on. Clearwater was next and took out one of the Riegels. King blasted Clearwater with a chop before the Karl Anderson-trainee tagged out to Misterioso, who hit a standing moonsault just after hitting the ring.
King later bodyslammed each of his tag partners on top of Misterioso, but he got so into it that he also grabbed the referee and lifted him up for a slam before he realized what was happening.
Misterioso tagged out to Bateman, who immediately slowed the pace, softening L. Riegel up for Clearwater, who planted Logan with a big spinebuster.
Riegel spiked Bateman with a DDT that Bateman sold brilliantly, basically staying planted on his head in a tripod position. L. Riegel tagged out to Brody King, who immediately took out Bateman with a lariat, then launched Quest towards the ceiling with a back body drop. You can look for that one on Twitter, I’m sure. The Riegels then did simultaneous suicide dives while King press slammed Barret Brown onto the opposing team on the floor.
Ten minutes in, Brown hit a wild modified DDT on Quest before Misteroso used a back suplex bomb before the Riegel Twins landed a top rope double blockbuster. Clearwater landed a big neckbreaker on one of the twins next before Brown took out Clearwater himself, but Bateman darted in and pinned Brown after spiking him with a spinning tombstone piledriver, picking up the win for his team.
Impressive work from everyone, with a nice mix of big and small wrestlers that seemed to freshen up the show.
Bateman celebrated with his teammates post match and somewhat eluded to him and his three partners forming some sort of group. He showed them some sort of secret handshake and winked to the camera after mentioning being on the “winning team.”
Rey Horus defeated TJP
Pretty good high flying match to top the show off tonight. Horus used a crazy spinning armdrag early on. Later, TJP used a rolling savate kick to knock Horus off the apron. Back in the ring, Horus went for body press, but TJP caught him with a dropkick mid-air. TJP then slowed things down, working over Horus’ back.
Horus later made a big dive over the white neutral corner post, the same dive that broke Blake Christian’s nose at Super J-Cup last year. It’s the same dive Sami Zayn often uses.
Back in the ring, Horus tried pumping the crowd up with some claps before he realized no fans were there. TJP locked in a modified cobra twist, then landed a huge springboard DDT for a near-fall. This is where the match peaked, but they kept going for another few minutes. After TJP missed his signature frog splash, Horus was able to use an avalanche quesadora bomb to put down TJP in his NJPW Strong debut.
Final thoughts:
NJPW Strong delivered once again. No surprises here, but in a good way. The new faces this year have freshened things up without changing the makeup of the show, and the eight-man tag seemed to have the most variety in terms of competitors.
The mix of giants and smaller high flyers made for an interesting and relatively exciting matchup. Again, If you’re looking for something solid to watch that’s under an hour, NJPW Strong has kept their record clean for about half a year now.
Really good match. Connors picked up the win after catching Riegel off the ropes with a sudden spear, then forced him to tap with a Boston crab in just under seven minutes. Connors moves on to the Lion’s Break Crown finals.
Quick interview with Blake Christian and Kevin Kelly before the next match. Kelly revealed that Christian was his pick to win the tournament this year.
Danny Limelight defeated Blake Christian
Limelight went after Christian from the bell with hard strikes, mostly elbows and stomps. Kevin Kelly said he was going for the early stoppage. Whenever Christian would fire up with a move off the ropes, Limelight shut it down. Christian rallied back and planted Limelight with an STO that took a lot out of both wrestlers.
Crazy finish to this. First, Christian did a 450 splash to Limelight while he was draped over the top rope, face-down, so Christian landed across Limelight’s back. I hadn’t seen that before tonight. Both sold for another few moments before Christian climbed to the turnbuckles, but Limelight suddenly kicked up from the mat, ran up the ropes and superplex’d Christian down to the mat, then rolled through and spiked Christian once more with a cradle Fisherman’s buster for the impressive win. That was a heck of a match. Limelight will take on Connors in the Lion’s Break Crown finals.
Brody King and Flip Gordon defeated TJP and Karl Fredericks
Awesome tag match. TJP and Flip Gordon were in first. Gordon looks massive now. He and TJP looked really good together, but Fredericks and King were something else when they entered next. It’s hard to believe Fredericks was a Young Lion just last year. He and King were moving around just as smoothly as wrestlers half their size.
King slowed the pace down later in the match after decking him with a sharp chop that reddened up TJP. Fredericks was about to explode on the ring apron waiting for the tag. When TJP landed a swinging DDT out of nowhere to neutralize King for a moment, he made the tag, and in came Fredericks like the proverbial house of fire. He almost had Flip finished with a single-leg crab until King broke it up. TJP went for the Mamba splash but Flip got his knees up and cradled him for a two until Fredericks broke it up.
King then entered and laid Fredericks out with a monstrous lariat that turned him inside out. This allowed Flip to land a fireman’s carry cutter on TJP for the win in eleven minutes. High-quality match.
Bullet Club (Jay White, KENTA, Chase Owens & Hikuleo) defeated Jeff Cobb, Misterioso, Rocky Romero & Dave Finlay
Nonstop action throughout all of this. Bodies flying everywhere only a few minutes into the match. Bullet Club played bullies in this and laughed at Rocky at the top of the match when he stepped into the ring with Hikuleo, who proceeded to tower over everyone in this match.
While the rest of the teammates brawled on the floor, Misterioso used a backcracker on Chase Owens. Hikuleo stepped in and planted Misterioso with a giant reverse uranage. Owens pinned him, picking up the win for Bullet Club. This felt like something we’d see on a NJPW house show in Japan but with more intensity. Everyone shined in this, but Jay White, KENTA and Jeff Cobb were especially great.
Final thoughts:
Everything on tonight’s episode is worth checking out. The first two Lion’s Break Crown matches were exceptional, especially Danny Limelight vs. Blake Christian, but TJP and Karl Fredericks vs. Brody King and Flip Gordon was on par with most TV tag matches you’d see this week. High quality show from NJPW, once again.
The Lion’s Break Crown singles tournament kicked off on tonight’s episode of NJPW Strong.
TJP joined Kevin Kelly at the top of the hour and ran down the tournament brackets. A nice promo package for all competitors aired next.
Logan Riegel defeated The DKC
NJPW made an interesting entrance video for the DKC that aired as he came to the ring.
Both are in excellent shape. Good mat work at the start from both wrestlers, fast-paced and more realistic. The DKC was especially impressive on the mat.
This was comparable only to the other recent Young Lions matches we’ve seen in Japan proper this year, ones featuring Tsuji, Ueumura and Kidd.
After about six minutes of back and forth, Riegel scored the upset victory over the more established DKC after cradling him into a schoolboy for the win here. Good, short match. Riegel sold his shoulder afterwards, icing it in his post-match promo.
Clark Connors defeated Jordan Clearwater
Slightly slower pace from the get-go, at least compared with the first match on tonight’s card. Connors isn’t the biggest guy in the word, but he always comes off like a heavyweight, like tonight with Jordan Clearwater, who towered over him (and pretty much everyone else on the NJPW USA roster).
Clearwater looked good here, too. He used a big jumping leg on Connors minutes into the match. Connors responded later with a hard double chop across Clearwater’s back, then followed up with a tackle for two. Clearwater returned with a spinebuster for a two-count of his own.
Connors used a huge spear off the ropes to lay Clearwater out, then locked on a Boston crab for the quick tap. Hoping to see Connors vs. Gabriel Kidd in the future, as they burn the same way with the same fire.
This too ran just over six minutes. That makes it Connors vs. Riegel next week.
Danny Limelight defeated Barrett Brown
If this wasn’t the best, it was at least in the top three matches that have aired on NJPW Strong this year. Huge praise to both wrestlers here for tearing it down in this short ripper of a match.
Standing matwork early on between these two early, wrist locks and arm-wringers. Both wore intense faces and felt each other out at the top, with announcers Kevin Kelly and Alex Koslov lowering their voices while they called it. I thought it helped make this feel more intense.
Limelight did a big twisting dive to the floor midway through and jaw jacked to the camera afterwards, mostly calling out Rocky Romero.
Brown used a running busaiku knee at one point, and it turned Limelight inside out. Great visual, very GIF-able. Both with awesome but very different kinds of charisma. Brown used a snap suplex in the corner then pinned Limelight for just two.
The match built quickly, and at five minutes in, the two looked to kick things up a notch. Limelight used a wild springboard rope-walk-to-flying lariat on Brown, another GIF-able moment from this match. Brown used a half-Nelson suplex and hard low kick to a seated Limelight for a close nearfall. Limelight rallied back with a Fisherman’s Buster with an inside cradle for a two count of his own.
The finish saw Brown miss a spinning backfist while he stood on the apron near the corner turnbuckle. Limelight ducked the fist, then did a double-jump swinging DDT for the emphatic finish.
Get in on the ground floor with both of these guys, because I have a feeling they’ll be shooting up the ranks shortly.
Blake Christian defeated Adrian Quest
All action from the get-go. These two got right into it after the bell sounded, with no feeling-out process like in other matches tonight. They traded near-falls and pin attempts before kicking the tempo up another notch. Quest caught Christian with a dropkick after he came off the roads with a springboard.
Christian returned offense with a huge lariat that flipped Quest onto his stomach. Christian won with what I’d call a twisting trust fall. This needs to be seen to be believed. Christian had Kofi Kingston-level hangtime on this. Koslov said he never saw it before and the same goes for me. Really cool.
Final thoughts:
High-quality episode of NJPW Strong tonight. The show itself ran about 45 minutes in total, and though the matches were pretty short, the quality remained high — above average, actually. After watching four straight nights of the G1 Climax tournament, I’m very impressed. That says a lot considering we’re talking the G1 here. Kudos and praise to all eight wrestlers involved tonight.
Danny Limelight and Barrett Brown had a match that is most definitely worth checking out if you have the time. And if you don’t, just keep an eye on both of them going forward.
Next week’s episode will feature the two Lion’s Break Crown semi-final matches (Connors vs. Riegel, Limelight vs. Christian), plus a special eight-man tag match with David Finlay, Misterioso, Rocky Romero, & Jeff Cobb vs. Bullet Club (Jay White, KENTA, Chase Owens, & Hikuleo
