Tonight saw the final set of tapings from NJPW Strong’s Detonation series. This was also the final episode of 2022, with STRONG Openweight Champion Fred Rosser defending against Team Filthy’s JR Kratos, a match Kratos received as a “gift” from Jay White to thank Team Filthy for helping Bullet Club out earlier in the year.
Mascara Dorada & Lince Dorado defeated C4 (Cody Chhun & Guillermo Rosas)
Before the match, Mascara Dorada and Lince Dorado spoke to announcers Ian Riccaboni & Alex Koslov. The former WWE tag team expressed their excitement to wrestle for New Japan and against C4.
C4 are regulars on the Pacific-Northwest scene and are regulars at DEFY in Seattle. Cody Chhun has competed on NJPW Strong previously, but both Guillermo Rosas and Lince Dorado are making their debuts.
Dorada and Rosas had a nice exchange up top. The crowd chanted for Dorada. When Chhun tagged in, Dorada and Lince Dorado unloaded some double team offense. Dorada hit a spinning rope-walk dropkick.
Later, C4 put Dorada down with a double backdrop suplex. The crowd kept chanting for Dorada. Lince Dorado finally tagged back in and cleaned house. He put Chhun down with a brainbuster for two before taking him down with a diving body press. He’d then lock in an armbar, but Rosas dropped a senton onto Dorado to break the hold.
C4 put Lince Dorado down with an assisted Liger Bomb for two. Dorado responded by taking both C4 out with a double Lethal Injection. Mascara Dorada did a flip dove onto Rosas on the floor. Lince then jumped off the top rope and caught Chhun with a frankensteiner while Chhun was standing on the apron. That was wild.
The finish saw Lince Dorado catch Chhun with a shooting star press while Mascara Dorada would land a diving elbow drop off the ropes for a stereo pin. The crowd loved this one.
Bobby Fish defeated Kevin Blackwood
Fish made his official in-ring return to New Japan on this show. He recently won his boxing debut on the Floyd Mayweather card in Dubai back in May, defeating Boateng Prempeh via TKO.
The two had a nice back-and-forth exchange early on. The crowd gave Fish a hard time.
When the match spilled to the floor, Blackwood caught Fish with a diving double foot stomp on the apron. Fish responded later with an Eddy Guerrero-style slingshot somersault senton. Parts of the crowd started chanting “Let’s go, Bobby!” and “BOB-BY FISH!”. Fish then won with a falcon arrow.
After the match, Homicide ran in and the two brawled. David Finlay ran in for the save on Homicide, carrying a shillelagh. Finlay and Homicide shook hands.
STRONG Openweight Championship Match: Fred Rosser (c) defeated JR Kratos
Rosser and Kratos charged at each other just as the bell sounded. They crashed into each other with a ton of big shoulder blocks; neither would go down. The energy & tension was great.
Rosser caught Kratos with an Earthquake splash before pummeling him with front forearm shots to the chest and back.
They traded arm locks on the mat as the pace slowed. Rosser put Kratos in the corner and battered him with forearms and hip attacks. Kratos almost powered out, but Rosser shut Kratos down with a relentless non stop barrage of hard strikes.
When Kratos tried power bombing Rosser off the apron onto the floor, Rosser countered it with another Earthquake splash, sitting straight down onto Kratos’ neck and shoulders. Nice reversal.
Rosser dove off the apron, but Kratos caught him in mid-air, then ran him back-first into the ringpost on the floor. He then launched Rosser with a front suplex onto the floor mats.
Kratos then ripped the mats off the concrete floor, then grabbed the guardrail and attempted to throw it or hit Rosser with it. Rosser had enough time to stop the attack with a kick, forcing Kratos to drop the weapon. Before Kratos got back into the ring, Kratos threw a NJPW staffer onto the exposed floor.
The crowd started chanting “FRED! FRED!” as the match went on. Rosser put Kratos down hard with a neckbreaker onto the ring apron. When Rosser went to move Kratos back into the ring, Kratos locked Rosser in a headlock as he lay on the apron. Rosser then showed amazing strength and dragged the larger Kratos off the apron and into a tombstone piledriver position. He then put Kratos down hard onto the exposed floor.
Kratos sold as though he was dead. Referee Jeremy Marcus began counting Kratos out and got very close to 20, but Rosser actually stopped Marcus from making the call, shoving him into the corner. He peeled his wrist tape off and called for Kratos to come back into the ring.
Rosser started boxing Kratos’ head in as Kratos attempted to pick himself back up to his feet. Rosser peppered him with short shots. Kratos took Rosser down with some fluid judo trips, but Rosser was back to his feet immediately. Rosser’s “fighting spirit” is infectious.
As Rosser climbed to the top rope for another attack, Kratos suddenly met him with a jumping enzuigiri kick to the back of Rosser’s head. At this point, the 15-minute call sounded.
Kratos put Rosser down with a big superplex before decking him with a lariat that shot Rosser over the top onto the floor again. It was the exposed-concrete side of the ring.
Kratos stood in the ring with a pensive look on his face. He’d then stare out into the crowd, teasing a tope. The crowd bit. Kratos hit the opposite ropes for a running start, then skyrocketed himself over the top rope onto Rosser, crash-landing on the concrete floor, way past where the guardrail would have been if Kratos hadn’t removed it earlier. Air Kratos. The crowd lost it. It looked amazing.
Back in the ring, Kratos used a giant lariat and falcon arrow on Rosser, but just for two. The crowd began chanting for Kratos at this point.
Rosser clipped Kratos’ leg and slapped on a step-over toe hold before locking in a sleeperhold. Kratos would passed out, Rosser wins via TKO.
Afterwards, Peter Avalon appeared from behind the commentary table (which he’d been on earlier), grabbed a mic, and said to Rosser that he was the next in line for a shot at his STRONG Openweight title. Rosser didn’t say it into the mic, but he did tell Avalon he’d face him anytime and anywhere before raising his championship belt high above his head.
When Rosser turned around, Avalon pummeled Rosser, stomping into the corner without stopping. Blake Christian and C4 then appeared to make the save, but then they were followed by others from the NJPW Strong locker room. The show ended with dozens of wrestlers brawling in the ring as the show faded to black.
Final thoughts:
This was a nice eclectic edition of NJPW Strong, with three very different matches from beginning to end. Rosser vs. Kratos was very good, but the post-match chaos that ensued afterwards wasn’t entirely explained. Regardless, it was a fun episode to watch because of the variety.
