Tag: NJPW results

NJPW Strong results: Openweight Tag Team tournament begins

Posted on by Justin Knipper

NJPW Strong: Ignition from Hollywood, California kicked off tonight, which featured two first round matches in the STRONG Openweight Tag Team Championship tournament.

Christopher Daniels and announcer Ian Riccaboni appeared at the top of the program to explain Karl Fredericks’ absence from the scheduled Openweight Tag Team Tournament. NJPW aired an angle this year which had Fredericks asking Daniels to be his tag partner in the upcoming tournament.

Daniels explained that with such a high level of talent in the tag tournament, he’d be smart to simply step aside and allow a more established unit to take his and Fredericks’ spot. He also explained that with his 29-year background in wrestling, he also knew that opportunities like this don’t often come by, and that if he’s to win the tournament, he’d need a partner who matched his drive and ambition to win.

Daniels then brought out Yuya Uemura. He told Uemura that he had the same fire and heart as he did, and that together they could surprise many teams and become the inaugural tag team champions. Uemura said “Let’s go!” and the two shook hands. Daniels is masterful at this sort of thing and did a good job of smoothing over loose ends. Simple, short, and effective.

STRONG Openweight Tag Team Championship, Round 1: Christopher Daniels & Yuya Uemura defeated The Factory (Nick Comoroto & Aaron Solo) w/ QT Marshall to advance to the semi-finals

Good opener. The crowd loved Daniels & Uemura and loved to hate The Factory. The heel team were in control early. Daniels took a beating for a bit, but when the five-minute call sounded, he was able to power up and tag out to a fresh Uemura, who re-entered the ring afire with forearms. He has a great-looking flying forearm a la Tito Santana. Uemura landed a running bulldog on Solo, which the crowd loved. He earned a close near-fall after a back suplex, but Comoroto rushed in to break up the pin. He beat on Uemura despite being the illegal man.

Uemura tagged out to Daniels and they double-teamed “The Freak Beast,” Comoroto. When Comoroto ran towards the two, Daniels low-bridged him, pulling the top rope down and letting Comoroto spill out onto the floor. The stocky Uemura followed up with a huge pescado out onto Comoroto.

Inside the ring, Daniels caught Solo with a standing uranage and pinned him after a picturesque double-jump moonsault for the win. Daniels & Uemura advance to the semi-finals of the tag tournament.

JONAH defeated Taylor Rust

Rust had trouble with JONAH’s size early on. He tried chopping him down with low kicks as they circled each other. Despite JONAH’s positioning as heel, the crowd clearly preferred JONAH to Rust, who would crush Rust with a running avalanche a few minutes into this. Rust countered quickly and continued working over JONAH’s legs. JONAH answered back with a buckle bomb.

A fan began chanting “N-X-T!” at JONAH, who pointed at the fan and took a few steps. His response is hard to catch on the broadcast, but inside the venue, it was clear as crystal: “That 2.0 s*** sucks.” The crowd went wild for the line and began chanting “JO-NAH!” over and over.

JONAH blasted Rust with chops out on the floor. Rust threw a few shots in return, but JONAH stayed in control. Back in the ring, JONAH leveled Rust with a back elbow.

After around five minutes of action, the pace began to slow, with JONAH neutralizing Rust on the mat, squeezing him with a waistlock. JONAH went for a splash but Rust moved. He caught JONAH with a scissor kick. JONAH answered with a fireman’s carry throw. Rust would lay JONAH out moments later with a Samoan drop of his own, where he carried JONAH from the corner to the middle of the ring. Rust is damn strong. He followed up with a super-shallow swanton bomb for two.

Rust would ground & pound JONAH with elbows and kicks before locking him in a modified Rings of Saturn submission. JONAH earned a rope break, and both were back to their feet. They traded big strikes. JONAH caught Rust with a lariat, then wrecked him with a spear before squashing him with a splash off the top rope for the win. JONAH remains undefeated in NJPW Strong.

STRONG Openweight Tag Team Championship, Round 1: TMDK (Shane Haste & Mikey Nicholls) defeated West Coast Wrecking Crew (Jorel Nelson & Royce Isaacs) to advance to the semi-finals

This was very good. I don’t believe Haste & Nicholls have appeared together as a single unit for a long time, maybe since their time together in NXT.

Nelson and Nicholls started things off. Nelson whipped his t-shirt at Haste, who was standing on the apron in the red corner. Since both teams play heel, I liked how Riccaboni described them as having different momentums. They do work different styles, with TMDK falling more on the high octane, high impact side, while WCWC prefers to slowly tenderize their opponents before putting them away with impressive double-team finishes.

Haste landed a nice Japanese-style armdrag. Nelson eventually out-powered Haste and slammed him into the blue corner before tagging Isaacs into the match. Isaacs held Haste in a delayed vertical suplex position for over 20 seconds before dropping him. He and Nelson then flexed for the crowd in celebration.

WCWC trapped Haste in the corner and picked him apart, pounding and stomping away. Isaacs landed a backbreaker and Nelson went in for the pin, but only for two. Later, he caught Haste with a jumping knee, then climbed to the top rope. Before he could dive, a reanimated Shane Haste dashed up to the second rope and launched Nelson with a single-arm suplex.

Isaacs and Nicholls were tagged back into the match after this. They duked it out for a few, but Isaacs would tag Nelson back in, and WCWC then laid Nicholls out with a suplex-power bomb combination for a two-count on Nicholls.

When Jorel Nelson went for a German suplex, Nicholls countered and spiked Nelson with a DDT before tagging Haste back in. Haste landed a pretty dropkick on Nelson before crashing into both members of WCWC with a leg lariat in the corner. Nicholls then powerslammed Isaacs and stayed on top of him so that Haste could launch himself off of Nicholl’s back for a cannonball into the corner onto Nelson.

TMDK connected with the Tank Buster on Nelson, but Isaacs rushed in for the save. WCWC took Nicholls out with a double-team Dominator-facebuster combo.

Isaacs caught Haste in the corner and flung him off with a spinning avalanche powerslam. Nelson followed that up with a nice diving elbow drop.

WCWC called for the finish, but when Nelson bounced off the ropes, Nicholls yanked Nelson out of the ring by his ankles, then served him a lariat on the floor. In the ring, Haste blasted Isaacs with a high roundhouse kick. TMDK then put him away with Hell in the Elevator for the win. TMDK advances to the semi-finals.

Final thoughts:

Yet another solid, watchable episode of NJPW Strong that lasted under an hour.

Next week sees Stray Dog Army (Barrett Brown & Misterioso) vs. The Midnight Heat (Eddie Pearl & Ricky Gibson) and The Dark Order (Evil Uno & Alan Angels) vs. Aussie Open (Mark Davis & Kyle Fletcher) as the STRONG Openweight Tag Team tournament continues. 

NJPW Dominion live results: Six title matches, AEW interim World title eliminator

Posted on by Chick Fritts

NJPW brings Dominion to Osaka-Jo Hall, with six title matches and an AEW interim World title eliminator match today. 

In the main event, Kazuchika Okada defends the IWGP World Heavyweight title against Jay White. White is 3-1 over Okada in career singles bouts, but Okada’s one win came for the IWGP Heavyweight title in Madison Square Garden in 2019. 

Hiroshi Tanahashi will face Hirooki Goto in the AEW interim World title eliminator, with the winner advancing to face Jon Moxley for the interim title at AEW x NJPW Forbidden Door on June 26.

SANADA faces Will Ospreay for the vacant IWGP United States title, Tama Tonga defends the NEVER title against Karl Anderson, plus Shingo Takagi defends the KOPW 2022 against Taichi in the night’s other singles title bouts. 

Bad Luck Fale and Chase Owens defend the IWGP Heavyweight Tag titles against Great-O-Khan and Jeff Cobb, and House of Torture defend the NEVER Six-Man titles against Suzuki-gun in the night’s other title matches. 

Toru Yano vs. Doc Gallows, an LIJ vs. Bullet Club trios match, and a Hontai vs. United Empire six-man round out the undercard. 

Our live coverage begins at 1 a.m. Eastern time. 

**********

Aaron Henare, Francesco Akira & TJP (United Empire) defeated Master Wato, Ryusuke Taguchi, & Hiroyoshi Tenzan

This was a pretty nothing match. Whatever. There are worse ways to start a show.

Boxer Jessie Vargas and former wrestler Manabu Nakanishi were here for some reason.

Wato, Tenzan, and Taguchi gained an early advantage by isolating TJP. Once Akira tagged in, UE was able to take control. Taguchi turned things back around with a hip attack and hot-tag to Wato, who had a strong stent of offense against UE.

UE retook the lead by rushing the ring, leading to a near fall after a TJP splash. An interruption to Akira led to a double tag. With help from his partners, Tenzan overwhelmed Henare, landing a brainbuster for a near fall. After the kick-out, Henare fought back in the match, landing a spinebuster for a near fall of his own. Henare then locked Tenzan in a full Nelson, leading to the submission victory. 

Ace Austin, El Phantasmo & Taiji Ishimori (Bullet Club) defeated BUSHI, Hiromu Takahashi & Tetsuya Naito (Los Ingobernables de Japon)

This felt like a mid-tour showcase tag.

This match opened with a brawl. Bullet Club won out early, isolating Naito. Instead of taking advantage of their situation, the Bullet Club team hit Naito with some cheesy heel offense, mostly back rakes.

Hiromu tagged in and led a back and forth sequence with Ishimori. A double tag left ELP and BUSHI in the ring for a sequence of their own. After a quick scuffle between teams, ELP hit BUSHI with CR2 to win the match. 

Toru Yano defeated Doc Gallows 

This was an awful match.

Yano tried opening the match by spraying Doc with his disinfectant; instead, Doc beat down Yano and poured the liquid across his face. Doc then led the match to the floor, where he continued his assault.

Back in the ring, Yano dodged a clothesline, sending Doc into an exposed buckle. Yano followed up with a beard yank but was met with a big boot and a choke bomb; Yano kicked out. Doc tried to close, but Yano grabbed the referee, hit Doc with a low blow, and rolled Doc up for a sudden win. 

NEVER Openweight Six Man Tag Team Championships: EVIL, SHO & Yujiro Takahashi (House of Torture) (c) defeated El Desperado, Yoshinobu Kanemaru & Zack Sabre Jr. (Suzuki-gun)

This was a by-the-numbers HoT match—quite a bit of cheating, a Togo interference, the works. 

This match opened with House of Torture rushing Suzuki-gun before they entered the ring. After a couple of minutes of chaos, HoT emerged with control. HoT used underhanded tactics to stay ahead while keeping Kanemaru away from his partners.

Suzuki-gun rushed the ring to save Kanemaru, helping him secure the figure four leglock on SHO. The match eventually broke down into another brawl. Once things calmed down, Kanemaru hit a SHO with a moonsault, leading to a near fall.

A distraction from Dick Togo let show land a kick with a loaded boot. SHO then dropped Kanemaru with shock arrow, winning the match and retaining the titles. 

IWGP Tag Team Championships: Great-O-Khan & Jeff Cobb (United Empire) defeated Bad Luck Fale & Chase Owens (c) (Bullet Club)

This was fine. I’m quite excited for Cobb and O-Khan vs. FTR, assuming that’s what we’re getting at Forbidden Door.

Owens and O-Khan opened the match with an intriguing wrestling sequence. Owens gained the lead with some help from Fale, resulting in an extended period of Bullet Club control.

Once Cobb tagged in, he ended the Bullet Club advance, but only after a struggle. Cobb tried suplexing Fale but couldn’t hit the move. Instead, Fale dropped Cobb with a tackle and passed control back to Owens.

Bullet Club maintained their newfound control by double-teaming Cobb. Cobb kicked out of jewel heist just as O-Khan hit the ring to attempt the save. Cobb blocked the follow-up C Trigger and tried for tour of the islands; Chase escaped.

After having a moment to breathe, Chase hit two C Triggers. Fale then hoisted Cobb up for a double team sequence, but O-Khan prevented the finishing rocket launcher elbow drop.

O-Khan met Owens on the top rope, delivering a perfect belly-to-belly suplex. Cobb followed up, hitting Owens with tour of the islands, winning the match and the belt.

After the match, Rocky Romero hit the ring and tried beating down O-Khan and Cobb. O-Khan and Cobb destroyed Rocky before posing on his corpse. 

G1 Climax Announcement

A video package played announcing the lineup for G1 Climax.

The lineup is Kazuchika Okada, Tama Tonga, Hiroshi Tanahashi, Tom Lawlor, Jonah, YOSHI-Hashi, Hirooki Goto, Toru Yano, Tomohiro Ishii, Jeff Cobb, Great-O-Khan, Will Ospreay, Aaron Henare, Shingo Takagi, SANADA, Tetsuya Naito, Jay White, EVIL, KENTA, Yujiro Takahashi, Bad Luck Fale, Chase Owens, Juice Robinson, TAICHI, Zack Sabre Jr., Lance Archer, David Finlay, and El Phantasmo 

Interim AEW World Title Eliminator: Hiroshi Tanahashi defeated Hirooki Goto

This was a great, de-limited match that served its purpose while not wasting your time. Good stuff. 

The match opened with a back and forth before spilling to the floor. Once outside, Goto slammed Tanahashi into the barricade, establishing control that carried over back inside of the ropes.

After surviving a bulldog and a period of ground control, Tanahashi began to turn things around. After a bit of a struggle, Tanahashi connected with a dragonscrew, setting up his offensive path for the rest of the match.

Goto stuffed the sling blade, answering with a ushigoroshi. Goto tried for a second ushigoroshi, but Tanahashi reversed, this time landing the sling blade. Goto withstood the pressure, connecting with an elbow strike to bring Tanahashi back to the mat.

Goto tried for the GTR, but, again, Tanahashi answered with a sling blade once escaping. After Goto kicked out, Tanahashi landed a crossbody and a high fly flow to win the match. Tanahashi moves on to face Jon Moxley at Forbidden Door for the Interim AEW Championship. 

NJPW King Of Pro-Wrestling Title 10 Minute Unlimited Pinfall Scramble Match: Shingo Takagi (c) defeated Taichi

I’m a sucker for cumulative fall matches. They’re such an easy way to pack a match with drama. This was fun.

This match for the KOPW title featured a ten-minute timer and a score counter. Every second you pin your opponent results in a point. The person with the most points at the end of the match wins.

After an opening strike exchange, the men traded quick rollups, leaving Shingo with a one-point lead. Shingo followed up with some groundwork and another pin, advancing to a three-point lead. Shingo continued his control through the match’s first half, running up a five-point lead.

The match slowed down for a moment, allowing Taichi to land a high kick and score two more points. Shingo tried answering with a pumping bomber, but instead, Taichi landed a big suplex, narrowing Shingo’s lead to a single point.

Taichi ripped his pants off, giving Shingo time to slow his lead. Shingo reversed Black Mephisto and backslid Taichi for a three count. With a minute left, Shingo hit a pumping bomber; Taichi kicked out at one, but he was still down a full five points.

With around ten seconds left, Taichi sparked up. After tying Shingo up for a quick three points with a clinch pin, Taichi covered Shingo for an additional point. Just as Taichi was catching up, the clock ran out of time, meaning Shingo retained with a final score of 11-10. 

NEVER Openweight Championship: Karl Anderson defeated Tama Tonga (c)

The first 8 seconds of this match were fun; the rest was kind of boring.

Tama started the match with a sudden dropkick before taking the match to the outside. The fight worked its way up the entrance ramp, where a struggle ensued, ending with Anderson being slammed into a barricade. As Tama made his way back in the ring, Anderson caught him with a gun stun into the top rope. Tama then distracted the referee, allowing Doc Gallows to choke slam Tama into the apron.

Anderson maintained his control with strikes and groundwork. Tama eventually hit a crossbody to act as a reset. Once the pair exchanged strikes, Tama landed a lariat, a splash, and a spinebuster.

Anderson took control back with a head kick and a powerbomb in quick succession. Tama didn’t let Anderson get too far, landing a Tangan Twist to reset the match once more.

Anderson tried for a gun stun, but Tama blocked it twice. Tama tried for his own gun stun, but Anderson stuffed it. Anderson landed the Bernard driver, but Tama kicked out. Anderson tried for another gun stun, but, again, Tama blocked it. Tama then landed supreme flow for a near fall of his own.

Anderson distracted the referee again. Doc hit the ring and ate a gun stun from Tama. With Tama distracted, Anderson dropped him with a gun stun of his own, pinned him, and won the NEVER championship for the Bullet Club. 

IWGP United States Heavyweight Championship: Will Ospreay defeated SANADA

This was an action-dense little match for a belt in another building. 

The match opened with a prolonged athletic sequence where neither man could gain a significant upper hand. Ospreay was the first to take control, slowing the match down for some work on the mat. Once standing, SANADA answered with light offense before tying Ospreay in the paradise lock.

Ospreay sent SANADA to the floor, buying a breather before hitting an immaculate dive. Back inside, Ospreay tried for the OsCutter, but SANADA avoided the finisher. After a back and forth, Ospreay landed a high kick before attempting the OsCutter again; this time, it landed.

Once SANADA kicked out of the OsCutter, he reversed Strom Breaker into an offensive sequence of his own. SANADA landed a tiger suplex before trying for a moonsault, but Ospreay blocked the move with his knees. Ospreay hit a pair of hidden blades and a Storm Breaker to win the previously vacant IWGP United States Championship. 

IWGP World Heavyweight Championship: Jay White(c) defeated Kazuchika Okada

White’s control segments were very compelling, but something about this match felt off. Regardless, I’m excited to see a White reign, especially with Forbidden Door right around the corner.

The feeling-out process saw Okada gain light control, sending White to the floor. Okada tried for a dive, but a strike from Gedo prevented this from happening. Another Gedo distraction allowed White to drop Okada with a DDT, establishing a lead for the challenger.

After choking Okada with the ring apron, White controlled the match on the mat. Once back to his feet, Okada dropped White with a forearm. White tried to cut off Okada’s bounceback but was met with a boot. A DDT scored Okada a near fall as he began to move towards his signature offense.

White rolled to the floor again. This time, Okada slammed White into the barricade and dropped him with a boot. Gedo then hit Okada, only to get beat down for his troubles. Okada followed up, taking out White and Gedo with a crossbody over the barricade.

Okada tried for a piledriver to the floor, but White blocked the move before driving Okada into the barricade. White then threw Okada into the barricade again, this time with a suplex. Back in the ring, White landed a brainbuster for a near fall.

White continued with uncontested offense for a while. After landing a facebuster, German suplex, and a Saito suplex to the floor, White took the fight back to the floor. White’s offense escalated even more with a uranage, but Okada blocked White’s attempt at a superplex.

Now in position, Okada lept from the top rope, delivering a dropkick to reset the match in his favor. Okada followed up with a top rope elbow drop before trying for the Rainmaker; White reversed into a dragonscrew and TTO. White was back in control. As Okada slipped free from the first hold, White transitioned into the Texas Cloverleaf, all the while eyeing down Hiroshi Tanahashi at ringside.

White tried taunting Okada with a series of slaps. Okada answered with a sudden dropkick before turning to the money clip. To escape the hold, White shoved Okada into the referee. Gedo slid White a chair, but Okada pushed it to the floor and locked the money clip back in. Gedo distracted the referee again, allowing White to escape via a low blow.

Okada maintained his control after a strike exchange, but White blocked the rainmaker attempt with a shot to the ribs. White followed up with a Regal-plex, bloody Sunday, and series of clotheslines, but Okada slipped free from Bladerunner. Okada landed a short-arm clothesline, tombstone, spinning rainmaker, drop kick, and backslide in an electric sequence, but White held on long enough to land Bladerunner before Okada could connect with rainmaker propper. White pinned Okada, winning the IWGP World Heavyweight Championship.

After his title win, White celebrated in the ring with the rest of Bullet Club. White then cut a show-closing promo, demanding the crowd to cheer. A lot of people in attendance listened to the new champion, audibly cheering for the first time in a long time. White bragged about selling out MSG and the United Center, insulted Tanahashi, and declared this the Switchblade Era. 

NJPW Strong results: Jay Lethal vs. Ren Narita

Posted on by Justin Knipper

Tonight featured the last content from the Strong Style Evolved 2022 tapings from St. Petersburg, Fla.

The DKC defeated Kevin Knight via submission

High quality opener. These Young Lions usually tag together which made the match more interesting; Ian Riccaboni even said they were “like brothers” on commentary. In many ways it was your prototypical NJPW Young Lion style match, but both DKC and Knight added their own distinct wrestling pizazz to make it stand apart from other NJPW rookie openers.

The bout became a much higher impact affair after a few minutes in. The crowd got into it as the match went on, especially towards the finish. Late in the match, the DKC fired up, shouted “DKC FIRE!!” and threw a number of knife-edged chops into Knight’s throat. Knight responded with a basement shoulder-tackle. DKC caught Knight with a flying jump kick off the ropes; it was more like a Bruce Lee type kick as opposed to the modern wrestling fare. It looked cool. He’d later tap Knight out with a crucifix Bomb that he turned into a modified crucifix/Koji clutch submission hold for the win.

Mascara Dorada defeated TJP

In related news, NJPW announced earlier today that TJP would participate in this year’s Best of the Super Juniors 29 tournament in Japan next month.

As for the match between him and Mascara Dorada, it was very good, albeit short. This was Dorada’s first time back in a NJPW ring in six years. The two complemented each other nicely and felt naturally in sync working together.

It was subtle, but on commentary, Riccaboni and Matt Rehwoldt talked about the history between these two. They didn’t mention it, but they are referring to WWE’s 2017 Cruiserweight Classic that TJP won, and Dorada (as Gran Metallik) was a part of.

Early on in the match, Mascara Dorada caught TJP with a perfectly timed Asai moonsault after TJP had slid onto the floor from the outside. His momentum was short-lived, though, as TJP would take back the reins, neutralizing Dorada in the ring with a hammerlock surfboard submission, then released the hold by falling backwards and snapping Dorada’s arm backwards. The crowd booed.

Dorada came back and in the end scored a pinfall on TJP after planting him with a spinning sit-out Death Valley Bomb.

TJP acted like a sore loser afterwards by unmasking Dorada, forcing him to throw a towel over his head to protect his identity. The crowd was heated as TJP left the ring with Dorada’s mask. I imagine we’ll see a rematch between these two down the road based on what we saw tonight.

Jay Lethal defeated Ren Narita

Retired NJPW referee Tiger Hattori joined the English broadcast team for this match.

When the bell sounded, Lethal took his time engaging Narita, instead choosing to please the crowd with his version of the Flair Strut mixed in with a couple of “Woos!” Narita didn’t look pleased. They started off with an extended exchange, going back and forth first on the mat, then running off the ropes. Lethal teased Lethal Injection, but Narita shoved Lethal away.

Ian Riccaboni put over Lethal on commentary as an unsung, underrated wrestler of the scene for years, and rightly so. I mention this because it also reminded me of how young Narita is and how he’s only been wrestling for five years. But he didn’t look out of place at all with a vet like Lethal. It’s almost as though Katsuyori Shibata fully transferred his wrestling spirit into Ren Narita’s body, and what we see now is simply that.

Speaking of Shibata-esque wrestling, Narita later caught Lethal with a few high roundhouse kicks to the chest. Lethal would recover and later attempted a springboard dropkick to Narita as Narita stood on the apron. Narita ducked, but Lethal caught him with a draping cutter which brought Narita back into the ring.

Lethal missed a diving elbow drop, allowing Narita to recover and plant Lethal with a front suplex. He earned himself a nearfall after hitting a nice bridging single-arm suplex. Narita then went for the Narita Special #3, a modified Texas Cloverhold, then transitioned from that into a figure-four leglock. Lethal was able to force the break, and when they separated, we could see Narita’s nose and/or mouth were bloodied up. The announcers weren’t quite sure what happened to cause it, and it wasn’t clear on screen, either.

Lethal used his Lethal Combination on Narita, then followed up with a deadlift brainbuster before connecting with Hail to the King, his Randy Savage-inspired diving elbow drop.

It was around the ten-minute mark when Lethal locked on his own figure four. When Narita got out of the hold, Lethal went for Lethal Injection, but Narita blocked it again, catching Lethal with a sleeper hold before transitioning into a cobra twist submission. The visual here was inadvertently amazing, with Narita’s face now pouring with blood down onto Lethal’s ribcage.

Lethal countered the hold, rolling Narita up for two. They exchanged roll-up pins before Lethal was finally able to catch Narita in rhythm with Lethal Injection and put him away for the victory in just over ten minutes.

Lethal offered Narita his hand after the match. Narita proudly accepted and shook Lethal’s hand while bowing. Both looked terrific in this.

Final thoughts:

This was a short and sweet episode of Strong, clocking in at under an hour with three very good matches that didn’t drag. This episode is the epitome of what we often call an “easy watch.”

The DKC vs. Kevin Knight is a great primer for those unfamiliar with the LA Dojo’s latest prospects. Mascara Dorada vs. TJP had natural chemistry and previewed what could become a longer rivalry down the road between the two. Jay Lethal vs. Ren Narita was one of those Strong matches that if it were in front of a different and/or bigger audience, it’d have torn the house down. Lethal is a pro’s pro, and Narita is something special, proving it all in about ten minutes with Lethal. 

NJPW Strong results: Tom Lawlor vs. Clark Connors Openweight title match

Posted on by Justin Knipper

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. 

New Japan Cup finals live results: Tetsuya Naito vs. Zack Sabre Jr.

Posted on by Chick Fritts

Tetsuya Naito faces Zack Sabre Jr. to decide the winner of the 2022 New Japan Cup today in Osaka. 

Naito defeated Kazuchika Okada on yesterday’s show to advance to the finals, while Sabre defeated Shingo Takagi. 

While not yet announced, the tournament winner will likely get a shot at Okada’s IWGP World Heavyweight Championship on next month’s Hyper Battle tour. 

Today’s undercard matches will likely hint at the key matches for Hyper Battle, as well as the Golden Fight Series tour, which culminates with Wrestling Dontaku at the Fukuoka Dome on May 1. 

Today’s full card: 

  • New Japan Cup finals: Tetsuya Naito vs. Zack Sabre Jr.
  • Kazuchika Okada, Hiroshi Tanahashi, Satoshi Kojima & Tiger Mask vs. Tatsumi Fujinami, CIMA, T-Hawk & El Lindaman
  • Shingo Takagi & Hiromu Takahashi vs. EVIL & Dick Togo
  • Hirooki Goto, YOSHI-HASHI, Tomoaki Honma & Togi Makabe vs. Great-O-Khan, Will Ospreay, Jeff Cobb & Aaron Henare
  • El Desperado & TAKA Michinoku vs. SHO & Yujiro Takahashi
  • Toru Yano, Tomohiro Ishii & YOH vs. Minoru Suzuki, Taichi & Yoshinobu Kanemaru
  • Tama Tonga, Tanga Loa, Jado, Ryusuke Taguchi & Master Wato vs. Bad Luck Fale, Chase Owens, Gedo, Taiji Ishimori & El Phantasmo
  • BUSHI vs Kosei Fujita

Our live coverage begins at 1 a.m. Eastern time.

**********

BUSHI defeated Kosei Fujita

This was a good match to open the show. Simple wrestling, done well.

Fujita gained the upper hand early with a tackle that sent BUSHI to the ground. BUSHI wasn’t on the back foot for long, however, as he used some nonchalant striking to take control from the young lion. After forcing Fujita into the ropes with a single leg Boston crab, BUSHI let his lead slip as Fujita connected with a pair of quick dropkicks. A belly to belly into a Boston crab left Fujita on solid ground.

BUSHI caught Fujita a dropkick of his own to recement his control. BUSHI locked in a deep Boston crab to force the submission. 

Bad Luck Fale, Chase Owens, El Phantasmo, Gedo & Taiji Ishimori (Bullet Club) defeated Tama Tonga, Tanga Loa, Master Wato, Ryusuke Taguchi, Jado

Not a bone in my body cares about this Bullet Club drama. Not to mention, the match wasn’t good.

After a brief brawl to open the match, the babyface squad had a short in-ring stent of offence. Bullet Club wouldn’t let this last for long, as they used their numbers and disregard for rules to isolate Wato. This led to a Tama hot tag, where he ran through all of the opposition.

Jado tagged in to face Gedo. With help from GoD, Jado scored a near fall over his former partner. At some point, an outside brawl left Jado and Gedo without reinforcement and the referee preoccupied. Jado locked in the crossface of Jado, prompting Owens to break the hold with a knee. Owens then pulled Gedo over Jado for a guileful pin. 

Minoru Suzuki, Taichi & Yoshinobu Kanemaru (Suzuki-gun) defeated Tomohiro Ishii, Toru Yano & YOH (CHAOS) 

I wouldn’t say this is worth seeking out or anything, but it had its moments.

This match opened with a brawl. Yano and Taichi, an upcoming KOPW match, found each other between the ropes. Taichi won in their exchange while the brawling cooled down, leaving Suzuki-gun free to isolate Yano.

Yano eventually tagged out, leading to a Suzuki / Ishii scrap. YOH and Kanemaru followed suit with a battle of their own. Eventually, Taichi and YOH were left alone in the ring. YOH scored a pair of near falls with a falcon arrow and schoolboy, while Taichi did the same with an axe bomber. Taichi hit YOH with a yokozuna elbow to bring this match to a close.

After the final bell, Taichi dropped Yano with another yokozuna elbow. He then taunted Yano with a sumo pose, teasing his KOPW stipulation, ‘sumo rules’.

Suzuki and Ishii continued to fight after the match’s end. These men battled for a stretch, both during and after Taichi’s theatrical exit. This seemingly was to set up an Ishii / Suzuki singles, perhaps at the upcoming Windy City Riot show. 

SHO & Yujiro Takahashi (House of Torture) defeated El Desperado & TAKA Michinoku (Suzuki-gun)

Before the match could start, SHO stormed to the back. This was so he could jump Suzuki-gun before the match began. After beating Desperado and TAKA with a wrench, HoT stood tall.

After the opening bell, SHO locked TAKA in a submission and forced him to tap out.

Once the match was over, SHO removed Desperado’s mask and hit him with Shock Arrow.

Aaron Henare, Great-O-Khan, Jeff Cobb & Will Ospreay (United Empire) defeated Togi Makabe, Tomoaki Honma, Hirooki Goto, & YOSHI-HASHI

This was not a good match, but it existed to further the Bishamon / United Empire title feud.

This match opened with a brawl. As things developed in the ring, Ospreay took control over GBH. The match continued with UE singling out Makabe for some time. Once the tag came, YH and Goto were able to overwhelm UE.

A second brawl broke out after UE broke up a pin following KoKeShi. Honma tried for a rocket KoKeShi, but Cobb caught him mid-flight. Honma managed to survive long enough to get in some more offence, but ultimately, Cobb ended the match with Tour of the Islands. 

After the match, UE beat down their opponents further, allowing Cobb and O-Khan to stand tall with the IWGP tag titles in hand. 

Hiromu Takahashi & Shingo Takagi (Los Ingobernables de Japon) defeated Dick Togo & EVIL (House Of Torture)

Hiromu launched an attack on the ramp before the match could start, but EVIL managed to withstand the assault by slamming Hiromu into the barricade and choking him with a cable.

In the ring, Hiromu landed a quick kick to tag out to Shingo. Shingo led an advance, surviving a whip into the exposed corner before dropping EVIL with a DDT and tagging back into Hiromu. This led to EVIL and Togo working together to retake their lead.

Togo tried using his cable, but the referee caught him. This distraction bought EVIL enough time to drop Shingo with a low blow. Hiromu was able to turn things back around, however, by whipping EVIL into the exposed corner. Hiromu then hit Togo with Everything is Evil and pinned him to close the match.

EVIL tried to jump Hiromu after the match, but he left with his tail between his legs. Hiromu then dared EVIL to challenge him to a match for the NEVER title.

Hiroshi Tanahashi, Kazuchika Okada, Satoshi Kojima & Tiger Mask defeated CIMA, El Lindaman, T-Hawk, & Tatsumi Fujinami

I loved everything about this match. The STRONGHEARTS are consistently one of my favourite acts, both in New Japan and elsewhere. Fujinami delivered much more than should be expected. Okada was on and Tanahashi never misses. This was outstanding.

Fujinami started the match by calling out Okada. Okada and Fujinami had a short exchange before tagging out to CIMA and TM, respectively. TM and CIMA also had a brief scuffle before tagging to T-Hawk and Kojima.

Kojima and T-Hawk traded blows before Lindaman entered the fray. Kojima withstood the double team long enough, leading to a tag back into Fujinami. Fujinami, with aid from CIMA, began to work Kojima’s leg. CIMA and Lindaman continued to focus the leg after tagging in. The STRONGHEARTS dropped Kojima with a triple dropkick to further their lead.

A Koji cutter bought a hot tag into Tanahashi. Tanahashi took out the STRONGHEARTS before teasing an interaction with Fujinami; the tease came to fruition after a Lindaman dropkick. Tanahashi escaped a Fujinami choke to deliver a dragonscrew. Tanahashi then tagged to Okada, who immediately attempted a rainmaker; Fujinami ducked. Fujinami dropped Okada with a dragonscrew and tagged to T-Hawk.

Okada hit T-Hawk hard with heavy offence, but T-Hawk answered with a remarkable sequence and believable near fall on the IWGP World Heavyweight champion. This led to a skirmish between teams, occupying everyone long enough for Okada to drop T-Hawk with a rainmaker and win the match.

After the match, Fujinami shared the ring with his opponents, striking a pose to celebrate New Japan’s 50th year. 

New Japan Cup Final: Zack Sabre Jr. defeated Tetsuya Naito

What a match. This was easily the best match of the tournament and a frontrunner for New Japan match of the year. This was a brilliant match and a superb
tournament from ZSJ.

The match opened with an impassioned wrestling sequence; it became evident that ZSJ’s focus would be on Naito’s leg. As the match developed, the groundwork moved to the floor while ZSJ started to build an early lead.

A swinging neckbreaker from Naito yielded a moment of reprieve. Combinación de Cabrón and a neckbreaker let Naito have his turn controlling ZSJ on the mat. Naito tried for Gloria and a swinging DDT, but ZSJ avoided the moves and reversed into a head crank.

ZSJ furthered his lead by tying Naito up in the ropes, contorting his arm. ZSJ tried following up with a fast sequence, but Naito caught him, connecting with a barrage of elbow strikes. A top rope rana from Naito let ZSJ slip back into control on the ground. Naito escaped by trying for a pin; this forced a stand up, allowing Naito to connect with a swinging DDT.

Naito dropped ZSJ with Esperanza. Naito in his follow-up was brought to the mat, initiating a swift succession of pin attempts. From his place of confidence, ZSJ locked in a choke that forced Naito into the ropes.

Naito reversed the Zack Driver twice, once into Valentía and once into a pseudo-Destino. Not only did ZSJ survive, he responded by hitting the Zack driver for a near fall. This was, in effect, a match reset at the twenty-minute mark.

Naito dropped ZSJ with a series of elbows, but a quick strike to Naito’s weekend leg let him slip back into control. Naito tried for a quick pin, ZSJ for a penalty kick, but neither man could close. After a second penalty kick, DDT, and Zack Driver ZSJ hooked the leg and pinned Naito to close the match and win the New Japan Cup.

After the match, ZSJ cut a promo saying he would soon be not just the best technical wrestler in the world but the best wrestler in the world and the IWGP World Heavyweight Champion. 

NJPW Strong results: Buddy Matthews vs. Ren Narita

Posted on by Justin Knipper

Tonight was the third installment of the NJPW Strong: Rivals tapings from Hollywood.

Fred Yehi, Keita & the DKC defeated Stray Dog Army (Bateman, Misterioso & Barrett Brown)

So a few of the audience members down in front thought Barrett Brown looked like Shawn Michaels and started chanting “H-B-K!” at him. Brown did the HBK pose for them and got a nice ovation for it. Barrett Brown is a man of the people.

Stray Dog Army started to double and triple team DKC halfway through the match. Respect to DKC here, as this was his second match of the night at the tapings. He was eventually able to tag out to partner Fred Yehi, who’d launch Brown with a release German suplex. Misterioso ran into the ring and Yehi gave him an exploder suplex.

Brown was back in moments later and caught Keita with a half-and-half suplex. The DKC then caught Brown with a diving crescent kick off the top rope. Yehi clipped Bateman’s knee. Misterioso landed an Asai moonsault to the floor, which the crowd followed up with a “holy shit!” chant.

Back in the ring, Yehi connected with a spinning back palm strike and a fisherman’s suplex on Brown for the pin. Bateman and Yehi clashed afterwards and had a staredown in the middle of the ring. They started jaw-jacking, then Yehi posed for the crowd and went to the back. I imagine we’ll see these two face off sometime in the near future.

Chris Bey defeated Blake Christian

Bey was pretty over with the Hollywood crowd. Christian missed a cannonball to the floor but landed on his feet. Bey dropkicked Christian into the guardrail.

Blake Christian got booed at points in the match. When Bey held him in a submission hold, they chanted at Christian to tap.

They exchanged a lot of quick combinations. Christian connected with a tilt-a-whirl gutbuster and a splash for two. Bey landed a diving elbow drop across the back of Christian, who was draped over the middle rope. Bey hit Finnex, his torture rack-to-neckbreaker, but Christian kicked out at two.

Christian used a ripcord Spanish Fly and springboard 450 splash to the center of the ring but only earned a two-count for his troubles. Christian attempted another 450 splash but landed on his feet when he saw Bey move. Bey then caught Christian with an inside cradle for another nearfall.

The finish saw Christian go for a moonsault but Bey connected with the Art of Finesse, or a cutter, for the win. I was confused at first because it sort of looked like Christian connected with a moonsault. But yes, Bey is your winner.

A Clark Connors promo aired next where he said he was going to take out STRONG Openweight Champion “Filthy” Tom Lawlor at Strong Style Evolved in Tampa, FL.

Buddy Matthews defeated Ren Narita

This was an excellent main event.

There were a couple of pockets of fans in the crowd chanting for Matthews while he was on his way to the ring. He and Ren Narita went hold for hold on the mat, which really had a cat-and-mouse dynamic, with Matthews initiating holds and Narita escaping out of them. More fans chanted “BUD-DY! BUD-DY!” as he held Narita in control in the middle of the ring.

At one point, Narita closed in on Matthews with a low kick that could have taken Matthews’ head off, but Matthews dodged it. Narita then offered his hand to Matthews, an offer to help him up. Matthews took him up on the offer, but he didn’t let go of Narita’s hand once they were up. They talked a bit of trash and got into each other’s faces until Matthews pulled Narita’s wrist in for a go-behind grab. They went through a number of standing switches. When Narita again escaped Matthews’ hold, he gave him a stiff, patronizing pat on the shoulder. Gutsy move, as Jesse Ventura would say.

Matthews approached Narita as he stood on the apron. Narita leaned over and tried headbutting Mathews in the stomach, but Matthews caught him with a front facelock and drilled him into the mat with a DDT. He stared Narita down in a patronizing pose of his own, cross-legged and arms folded, just like Narita’s mentor, Katsuyori Shibata. This looked to have fired Narita up. Matthews punted him in the back with a penalty kick. Narita insisted on another. Matthews gave him four, but Narita wouldn’t budge. Matthews smacked Narita in the back of the head. Narita responded by standing up. Matthews chopped him and stomped on his toe. Narita unloaded a combo of strikes and kicks in the corner. He caught Matthews off the ropes and threw him with an overhead suplex. Narita earned a two-count after a running elbow and single-arm suplex.

They traded forearms on the apron. Matthews lifted Narita in a fireman’s carry, but Narita slipped out the back and slapped on a sleeperhold from inside the ring; Matthews was still stuck on the apron. Narita released the hold, then blasted Matthews in the chest with hard kicks.

Matthews bounced off the ropes and went for another PK but Narita held onto Matthews’ leg and rolled through into a single-leg crab. Matthews tried kicking Narita off, but Narita held on and put him in a figure-four leglock until Matthews grabbed the bottom rope for a break. The match had just gone past the ten-minute mark by this point.

Matthews laid Narita out with a running front kick. When Matthews climbed to the top rope, Narita had already gotten up and threw elbows at Matthews, who was perched on the turnbuckle. Narita went for a superplex but Matthews escaped and landed three Cheeky Nandos kicks to a prone Narita before Matthews power bombed Narita twice for two separate nearfalls. Matthews hit a curb stomp to Narita for a very close two that the crowd gasped at, then started cheering for. They started chanting “holy shit!” and “this is awesome!”

After Matthews began laying in repeated elbow strikes, referee Jeremy Marcus stepped in to make sure Narita was all right and was able to continue the match. Before Marcus was finished checking on Narita, Matthews shoved the ref out of the way and went after Narita, who clawed at Matthews feet. The fifteen-minute call sounded. Matthews repaid Narita with a patronizing pat on the shoulder followed by a knee to the face. He then hit Murphy’s Law for the emphatic win. Great match.

Final thoughts:

Go out of your way to see the main event, if possible. Narita is advanced beyond his years. Matthews looks massive and moves like he’s Narita’s size. This was physical but also told a clear story. In the end, Narita bit off a little more than he could chew, but Matthews might have gotten a little more than he bargained for.

NJPW Strong results: Jay White vs. SW3RVE

Posted on by Justin Knipper

Tonight saw the next installment of NJPW Strong: Rivals tapings from Hollywood.

Hikuleo defeated Kevin Knight

Solid opener. Kevin Knight dashed to the opposite corner and took Hikuleo out with a dropkick as soon as the bell sounded. He landed a giant Stinger Splash and almost flew out of the ring in doing so. If you haven’t been keeping up with NJPW Strong, Knight is a Young Lion with an insane vertical leap. It’s like he has springs in his legs. When Hikuleo escaped to the floor, Knight chased after him and took him out with a plancha. The crowd loved this.

Hikuleo would come back quickly, landing a pop-up elbow. Moments later he took Knight’s head off with another vicious elbow that looked great on camera. He ragdolled Knight from corner to corner, then did a one-footed standing pin that Knight shoved off.

Hikuleo continued working Knight over in the ring. The five-minute call sounded as Knight tried making a comeback, but Hikuleo held onto control. It wasn’t until Knight landed an enzuigiri kick and another Stinger Splash that he was able to regain control on offense. He connected with his Hydraulic Dropkick that caught Hikuleo in the face—Hikuleo is 6’8”, by the way—and the crowd got loud for that. The Hollywood crowd in attendance was clearly a pro-Knight crowd.

Hikuleo later went for the Tongan Driller but Knight flipped out of it, bounced off the ropes, then took a seated Hikuleo out with a low sliding shoulder tackle. Knight then a standing frog splash for two. Hikuleo responded with a massive chop followed by a chokeslam for the victory. Again, solid opener. Knight is one to keep an eye on, but don’t sleep on Hikuleo, either.

Kevin Blackwood defeated Ariya Daivari

The “new” Ariya Daivari, who has been trying to be a good guy instead of a bad guy over the past few months, offered Blackwood his hand before the match started. Blackwood was hesitant, but shook Daivari’s hand anyway. Early on, Blackwood did his best Razor Ramon impression when he got on top of Daivari and paintbrushed the back of Daivari’s head. Daivari didn’t like that, so he did some paintbrushing of his own next.

Blackwood tossed Daivari with a wrist-clutch suplex and connected with a high kick to Daivari’s chest. Daivari later answered back with a flying shoulder tackle that laid Blackwood out on the floor outside the ring.

Daivari caught Blackwood with a snap neckbreaker that bent Blackwood’s neck across the middle rope; Daivari executed the move through the ropes and landed on the apron.

Blackwood rallied back with more strikes and a German suplex for two. He then earned another two-count for a Death Valley Bomb. Daivari answered moments later with his signature hammerlock lariat for a near fall. Daivari argued with the referee before sliding to the floor and grabbing a chair from under the ring. Daivari’s integrity was being tested again. The crowd began to hoot and holler both for and against Daivari using the chair. He reluctantly tossed the chair out of the ring and went for a vertical suplex but Blackwood, who by now had enough time to recover, used a small package cradle for the win, shocking Daivari.

After yet another loss, Ariya Daivari finally snapped, attacking Blackwood after the bell. “Nice guy” Ariya is gone, and in his place is the meaner, heelish Daivari from the past. He unloaded on Blackwood and shouted at the crowd before landing the Magic Carpet Ride splash from the top rope. He flipped off the audience before exiting.

U S of Jay Open Challenge: Jay White defeated SW3RVE

Most know SW3RVE as Shane Strickland or Swerve Strickland now in AEW. The crowd was noisy, clamoring and muttering about SW3RVE as Jay White grabbed the mic to address him inside the ring. White offered him a spot in Bullet Club. They almost did a “Too Sweet” gesture, but SW3RVE, in fact, swerved White and kicked him in the face instead.

SW3RVE went through rapid-fire offense at the start and teased a big double-stomp on White before White slipped to the floor for a breather. White does this in almost all of his matches, just like Keiji Muto does. When White tried getting back into the ring, SW3RVE trapped his arms and stomped on both of White’s hands.

There were a lot of moves or sequences of moves that SW3RVE did that don’t really have names yet. He’s unique in that so much of what he does is signature, from offensive moves to simply moving around the ring. He did a forward roll from the apron to the floor for no other reason than it looked cool. His ring style is out there, it’s distinct.

White changed the pace catching SW3RVE and throwing him to the floor to bash him repeatedly against the ring apron and guardrail. Back in the ring, the match slowed with White holding SW3RVE in a side headlock. The live crowd was actually split behind both White and SW3RVE. A handful of fans love “Switchblade” regardless of how ruthless he acts in the ring.

Whenever SW3RVE would try to get back in the game, White would bring him back to the mat with questionable tactics, like eye-gouging or hair-pulling, for example. They traded hard chops. SW3RVE landed a flying back elbow off the second rope. He earned a two-count after spiking White with a deadlift brainbuster.

After the ten-minute call sounded, White was able to plant SW3RVE with a snapping backdrop suplex. He caught SW3RVE with a flatliner, a release German suplex and a Bladebuster for two. SW3RVE tried rallying back as the crowd chanted “Who’s house? SW3RVE’s house!” over and over.

They mixed it up again and traded hard palm strikes, chops and kicks. White laid SW3RVE out with a big spinning uranage. SW3RVE was up quickly and moments later connected with the Ego Slide. The crowd was up high at this point.

SW3RVE chopped White, who was standing outside the ring on the apron. White fell to his butt, so SW3RVE kicked him low in the chest, knocking White off balance and off the apron. White tried hanging on by hooking both of his ankles to the bottom rope, so he was dangling upside from the rope to the floor. SW3RVE climbed to the top rope and crashed onto White with a diving double stomp to the floor. The fifteen-minute call sounded right after.

In the ring, SW3RVE landed another diving double stomp for two. White kicked out. SW3RVE locked in a hammerlock with his knee while snapping White’s arm by kicking his arm. On camera, it looked as though White could have separated his shoulder. Elegant and brutal.

The finish to this was a little bit wonky. White grabbed referee Jeremy Marcus and shoved him. Marcus turned his back and it looked like he thought SW3RVE was going to crash into him, but he didn’t, but Marcus flinched and looked away. With his back turned, White snuck in a low blow to take SW3RVE out. The crowd didn’t see that but saw the referee move into the corner and seemed confused and/or put off and started booing heavily. White hit a sleeper suplex followed by the Bladerunner for the win shortly afterwards.

“Who’s house?!” White cut a promo afterwards, claiming that he proved that no one messes with him in “his house.” Since this taped when White was on AEW, IMPACT and NJPW on AXS all in the same week, he mentioned that while he’d been “everywhere” lately, and that while he’d appear anywhere at anytime, you could always count on him to be in a NJPW Strong ring without surprise. He then asked who’d face him at Strong Style Evolved in Tampa coming up. It hadn’t been announced yet, but earlier this week, NJPW of America announced that White’s opponent will be Chris Sabin in Tampa.

Final thoughts:

This was a good episode of Strong that had a great main event. White and SW3RVE need to have another match down the road; this felt like a warm-up for something bigger. The finish doused cold water on the match, but the chemistry was natural between the two, and in the right setting they might have the ability to have a downright classic. But the finish here is what held the match back.

For a show that clocks in about five minutes of wrestler mic time a week, the Ariya Daivari build-up and meltdown has been textbook perfect, and he has only had to cut that one initial promo in Philly last year to set the table. I’m interested to see where he goes in NJPW Strong from here.

The opener between Hikuleo and Kevin Knight was a nice preview of two guys who’ll be on top of the card here or somewhere else in the relative future. Hoping to see them have another match when they’re both more developed, perhaps in a year or so.

NJPW Strong results: FinJuice vs. JONAH & Bad Dude Tito

Posted on by Justin Knipper

NJPW Strong: Rivals kicked off tonight in Hollywood. Ian Riccaboni is still subbing for regular NJPW Strong announcer Kevin Kelly, who is calling the New Japan Cup overseas this month.

TJP defeated Brogan Finlay via submission

TJP has a new look and vibe now since he joined United Empire. He goes by “The Public Enemy” and has longer hair and updated ring gear.

Newcomer Brogan Finlay, son of Fit and brother of David, got bullied by TJP. TJP gave Finlay a rough Otani-style face wash in the corner. Later in the match, Finlay channeled his father, Fit, and used a fireman’s carry roll on TJP, which earned him a two-count.

Towards the finish, Finlay decked TJP with a lariat, but both were down for the count. The crowd then started a 60–40 chant in favor of TJP. In the end, TJP connected with a Mamba Splash to Finlay’s back before locking in a modified STF. A number of fans were chanting “Tap! Tap!” at Finlay before he tapped out.

Afterwards, TJP got on the mic and called the crowd a bunch of “Silver Lake 5s” before stating that he is the best junior heavyweight alive. He explained how he’d already won the IMPACT X-Division and WWE Cruiserweight championships in the past, and that when he’d win the IWGP junior heavyweight title he’d be the first-ever “Triple Crown” junior heavyweight.

Before he was finished talking, a video flashed across the monitors with the phrase “KING OF THE ROPES” on it, and Mascara Dorada appeared at the ring entrance. He’s formerly known as Gran Metallik from WWE 205 Live and appeared in the WWE Cruiserweight Classic along with TJP. He got in TJP’s face. They got into it for a second, but TJP slipped out to the floor. Mascara Dorada teased diving onto TJP but instead bounced off the ropes and did a backflip onto his feet. It looks like these two will square off sometime this year on NJPW Strong.

Christopher Daniels defeated Karl Fredericks

This kicked ass. Seriously.

Fredericks was filling in for Gabriel Kidd, who was originally scheduled to wrestle Christopher Daniels.

Daniels offered his hand to Fredericks, who declined.

The crowd was pumped for this one. The two had a great exchange on the mat early on, building slowly to bigger and bigger spots. When Fredericks was gaining ground on offense, Daniels cut him off with a flapjack. He then suplexed the larger Fredericks in the air and brought him down gut-first onto his knee.

Daniels lit Fredericks up with chops. The crowd enjoyed his fire. They loved Daniels as well, and many fans kept shouting “SCU!” at him throughout the match. It wasn’t like this when Daniels faced Jay White at the same venue three months ago, there appeared to be different kinds of fans at this taping.

Fredericks landed a Shibata-style low dropkick, but Daniels responded later with a perfect Blue Thunder bomb. I don’t think I’m doing it justice in this write-up, but the smoothness and chemistry these two had with each other was excellent.

Daniels went for Angel’s Wings but Fredericks reversed it. When Fredericks missed a Stinger Splash in the corner, Daniels laid him out with a standing uranage before sticking a picture-perfect double-jump moonsault on the “Alpha Wolf” for the impressive win in just under ten minutes. For a TV match on a one-hour show, it doesn’t get much better than this. Quality stuff, people.

Daniels grabbed the mic and called Fredericks “a tough son of a bitch.” He said Fredericks had made both the LA Dojo and Mr. Shibata proud, and that if he ever wanted to run the match back he gladly would since Daniels thinks he’s “the future of this business.”

The two shook hands and Daniels thanked the crowd before both headed to the back.

JONAH & Bad Dude Tito defeated FinJuice (David Finlay & Juice Robinson)

Both teams brawled at the start. We saw a very “no-nonsense” version of FinJuice, or more so than usual, I guess. Juice connected with a big spinebuster that flattened Bad Dude Tito, then crashed into Tito with a running cannonball in the corner.

When Robinson went for a plancha onto the floor, JONAH caught him mid-air, then slammed him back-first against the ring post.

The finish saw FinJuice go for a Doomsday Device on Tito, but JONAH crotched Finlay on the top turnbuckle, then distracted referee Jeremy Marcus to keep him on the opposite side of the ring. With the ref’s back turned, Shane Haste, who is most recently known as Slapjack from WWE, dashed to the ring from out of nowhere to give Robinson a deadlift Tiger-into-backdrop suplex and disappear. Bad Dude Tito then dove off the top ropes with a frog splash that put Robinson away; Tito & JONAH are your winners.

Shane Haste came back to the ring to celebrate with the two. Haste tossed Robinson out of the ring. David Finlay ran back into the ring and started brawling with all three before they cornered him and took him out as well. Little brother Brogan Finlay, who we caught in the first match earlier on the show, arrived to help out but instead got mauled by JONAH, who crushed him with two big splashes off the top rope, as Tito and Haste held David Finlay on the ground, forcing him to watch JONAH destroy his younger brother. They didn’t formally announce it on the show but this faction seems as though it’ll be the latest iteration of TMDK, the group that Mikey Nicholls was also a member of. He’s the long-time tag team partner of Shane Haste and has been working sporadically for NJPW in recent years.

Final thoughts:

This was a great hour of pro wrestling. I thought Christopher Daniels vs. Karl Fredericks was the stand-out match, but the main event tag team brawl was really good as well and I think myself and many others would like to see more of this FinJuice vs. TMDK feud play out. But Daniels and Fredericks was outstanding, especially for a match that didn’t even go ten minutes.

Next week’s episode features another “U S of Jay” challenge match, plus Kevin Blackwood in his NJPW Strong debut vs. Ariya Daivari, and Bullet Club’s Hikuleo vs. Young Lion Kevin Knight in the opener.

NJPW New Japan Cup night one live results: Okada vs. El Desperado

Posted on by Chick Fritts

The 2022 New Japan Cup begins tonight with a show consisting of all tournament matches at the Nippon Budokan. 

In the main event, IWGP World Heavyweight Champion Kazuchika Okada will take on IWGP Junior Heavyweight Champion El Desperado. The winner will face Master Wato in round two.

In the semi-main, Tetsuya Naito and Yujiro Takahashi will face off in a singles match for the first time since 2014. The winner will take on Gedo in the second round. 

Hiroshi Tanahashi will take on YOH, with the winner facing Bad Luck Fale in round two. 

KOPW 2022 Toru Yano will face Taichi. The winner will receive a bye to the third round following an injury to Hiroyoshi Tenzan. 

Togi Makabe will take on Jeff Cobb, with the winner facing Satoshi Kojima in the second round. 

Yuji Nagata will face Hirooki Goto. The winner will take on Dick Togo in round two. 

Tomoaki Honma will take on YOSHI-HASHI, with the winner facing Kosei Fujita in the second round. 

In the opener, CIMA will face TAKA Michinoku. The winner will take on Yoshinobu Kanemaru in round two. 

Our live coverage begins at 3:30 a.m. Eastern time. 

**********

The show opened with a ceremony celebrating the launch of New Japan’s new mobile game, Strong Spirits. After generally speaking about the game, Hiroshi Tanahashi declared the digital product open, and a group of people on the dev team cut a red ribbon. 

New Japan Cup: CIMA defeated TAKA Michinoku

This match, for what it was, was enjoyable.

After a fairly even opening, CIMA sent TAKA to the floor, which he followed with an impressive dive through the ropes. Back in the ring, CIMA tried to establish control on the ground, but TAKA synched a head-scissor that forced CIMA into the ropes. TAKA continued to focus the neck while branching out to CIMA’s arm, all while on the mat.

CIMA retook the lead with a sudden lung blower. CIMA followed up heavy knee drops and some light striking. TAKA reversed momentum in a strike exchange and took CIMA back to the mat; CIMA barely escaped a deep head-scissor.

CIMA fought back into the match with a quick suplex, a sliding lariat, and a Meteora. This fast sequence left CIMA with a clean pin; he advances Yoshinobu Kanemaru in round two. 

New Japan Cup: YOSHI-HASHI defeated Tomoaki Honma

This match had absolutely no business being as good as it was.

YH and Honma opened the match by trading heavy shoulders and strikes. Honma dropped YH and tried for Kokeshi, but YH avoided the headbutt. YH took full advantage of this opening, transitioning into an extended offensive sequence. Honma began to fight back with chops and a DDT before missing Kokeshi again. This time, YH could not follow up as a missile headbutt from Honma landed flush. Honma tried a third time for Kokeshi, and this time, he hit it; YH kicked out.

Honma tried for a rocket Kokeshi from the top rope, but YH stepped aside to dodge the move. YH continued to make offensive inroads with a top rope blockbuster and a lariat, but he couldn’t connect with Kharma. After stuffing YH’s finish, Honma landed two rocket headbutts and a top rope Kokeshi for a convincing near fall.

YH squared up to Honma after surviving Kokeshi. The pair traded hefty trikes, with a lariat from YH dropping Honma. YH hoisted Honma, hit Karmah, and secured the pinfall win to advance. YH will face Young Lion, Kosei Fujita in round two.

New Japan Cup: Hirooki Goto defeated Yuji Nagata

This match had an extended opening sequence that saw both men gain small, short-lived leads. Things worked their way to the outside, where Goto tried for a lariat; Nagata avoided the move, sending Goto’s arm into the ring post. Nagata’s attention turned to Goto’s new injury as he tried for an armbar. After landing a headbutt to stun Nagata, Goto escaped blue control, but his arm was still a target.

Nagata and Goto went back outside, but Goto gained momentum on the floor this time. Goto rolled Nagata inside and climbed to the top, but Nagata met him atop the ropes. Nagata landed a suplex from the top to score a near fall. Goto continued to fight, however, as a quick lariat and ushigoroshi left him with a two count. Nagata responded with a thunder death driver, resulting in a match reset.

Goto seemingly emerged from a strike exchange with a lead, but Nagata slipped in a Nagata lock II; Goto used the ropes to escape the hold. Goto reversed a backdrop and dodged an enziguri before transitioning into Goto Ni Shiki. In a retelling of their 2016 New Japan Cup match, Nagata couldn’t escape from the cradle combination, leaving Goto with a win. In the next round, Goto faces Dick Togo. 

New Japan Cup: Jeff Cobb defeated Togi Makabe

This match was, unsurprisingly, 95% Cobb.

Cobb established control early, slamming Makabe into various objects around the ring. Back in the ring, Cobb maintained his lead with significant strikes and slams. Makabe eventually bought a moment to breathe after a clothesline. He followed this with a short sequence, but Cobb landed a back suplex to extinguish any Makabe hope.

Makabe managed to stay in the match for a while after another lariat, but Cobb continued his advance. After some more heavy strikes and a tour of the islands, Cobb pinned Makabe to secure his position in round two. Cobb is to face Satoshi Kojima, who he defeated in last year’s New Japan Cup.

New Japan Cup: Taichi defeated Toru Yano

This match was a silly Yano match, filled with silly Yano stuff.

Yano tried rolling up Taichi as soon as the match began. After Taichi kicked out, he removed a turnbuckle pad and threw him to the floor. Yano tried putting Taichi in a tarp, but Miho Abe was used as a human shield. Taichi then put the tarp over Yano, resulting in a near count-out.

Back in the ring, Yano reversed the last ride with the tarp still over his head. The referee then removed the tarp, a move Taichi wasn’t overly fond of. Taichi then placed the tarp over the official’s face, just in time for a Yano rollup attempt.

Yano tried for another rollup after he ripped off Taichi’s pants. Taichi responded by sending Yano into the exposed buckle, landing a forearm, and pinning Yano. Taichi, because of Hiroyoshi Tenzan’s withdrawal from the Cup, is advancing to the third round. 

New Japan Cup: Hiroshi Tanahashi defeated YOH

This match had a lot of little things going on that played into the final product. Overall, it came together nicely. Perhaps the match’s most powerful element was that it made a YOH victory feel possible.

A back and forth grappling sequence opened this match. YOH managed to gain an early lead with purposeful offence directed at Tanahashi’s knee. Tanahashi answered with a thrust kick and dragonscrew before locking in a Texas cloverleaf. This was a leg-based war.

YOH connected with a dragonscrew of his own and a leglock to retake control. Tanahashi transformed a YOH suplex attempt into twist and shout for another shift in momentum. Tanahashi landed another dragonscrew, but YOH dodged the follow-up sling blade and landed a German to turn the match on its head once again.

YOH landed a superplex, only for Tanahashi to answer with a sling blade; Tanahashi went for another, but YOH landed his own sling blade this time. A DMV resulted in a YOH near fall. YOH tried and tried for a dragon suplex but couldn’t connect, opening him up to another sling blade from Tanahashi. Tanahashi then landed a dragon suplex of his own and pinned YOH to close the match. Tanahashi will face Bad Luck Fale in the next round.

New Japan Cup: Tetsuya Naito defeated Yujiro Takahashi

This match did absolutely nothing for me before the HoT interfered; that only further detracted from the match. This was bad. 

Naito gained control for the first time with strikes to the back, an arm drag, and a snap mare. Yujiro stopped Naito’s advance by dropping him with a hotshot. Yujiro followed up with a plotting series of moves.

Naito turned things around again after a knee strike and neck breaker combination. Naito led Yujiro through his typical spots before a mid-match strike exchange. Yujiro won out and landed a fisherman buster to score a near fall. Naito bounced back, landing strikes to the neck to set up Destino; when Naito tried for his finish, Yujiro blocked it before landing Miami Shine.

The pair traded strikes once more, and again, Yujiro won out. Naito was able to fight off pimp juice and big juice, turning things back in his favour. Naito tried for the finish, but Yujro shoved him into the referee. Enter House of Torture.

After SHO and EVIL beat down Naito, Yujiro had second thoughts. Once he asked his faction mates to leave, he dropped Naito with a low blow. Yujiro tried hitting Naito with his stick, but Naito ducked and landed a disgusting low blow of his own. Natio secured a jackknife pin to win the match. Naito is scheduled to wrestle Gedo in the second round.

After Naito pinned Yujiro, EVIL hit the ring for a beat down. EVIL’s plan failed as Naito reversed everything is evil before dropping his former faction mate with another low blow.

New Japan Cup: Kazuchika Okada defeated El Desperado

This match, especially in its final act, was an effective rollercoaster that almost convinced me Desperado had a chance. I don’t think you could ask for more.

This match opened with a swift sequence, complete with a rainmaker attempt and a submission that forced Okada into the ropes. The action spilt to the floor as Desperado continued to focus the leg of the heavyweight champion. Desperado maintained this control until an Okada flapjack reset the flow of the match.

Okada slammed Desperado into the barricades before using a chinlock to slow the match back down. Okada connected with substantial strikes, but Desperado stayed in the match by landing a dropkick to the knee. Desperado tied Okada into a leg lock variation that forced Okada into the ropes. Even after the rope break, Desperado continued to attack Okada’s leg.

Okada sidestepped Desperado, sending him into the corner. Okada then lifted the junior champion onto the top rope and landed a dropkick, sending Desperado crashing onto the floor. Okada hit a DDT outside the ring for a near count-out. Another DDT in the ring led to a near fall.

Desperado escaped the air raid crash and landed a spinebuster for a late reset. Desperado chopped Okada’s chest—Okada answered with a picture-perfect dropkick. Okada climbed to the top, but Desperado avoided the attack, chopping away Okada’s knee before landing Guitarra de Angel; Okada kicked out. Desperado then hit a splash à la Jun Kasai for another near fall. Okada blocked Pinche Loco, leading to an air raid crash neckbreaker to reestablish Okada’s control.

Okada locked in the money clip. After Desperado escaped, Okada hit an elbow drop and tried for the rainmaker. Desperado avoided the finish, connecting with another dropkick to the knee. A dragonscrew dropped Okada. Okada tried to fight back with a dropkick, but Desperado caught him mid-jump with another dragonscrew. Desperado secured numero dos for an intense period on the mat.

Once Okada escaped numero dos, he locked in the money clip again. Desperado seemingly passed out in the hold, allowing Okada to land two uncontested rainmakers; on the third attempt, Desperado sparked up, hitting Pinche Loco. This led to an explosive sequence, ending with one more rainmaker and an Okada pinfall. Okada advances to face Master Wato in the next round of the New Japan Cup.

NJPW 50th Anniversary live results: Okada, Tanahashi & Fujinami team

Posted on by Chick Fritts

NJPW celebrates their 50th anniversary tonight with a special event at the Nippon Budokan. 

The main event will see Kazuchika Okada, Hiroshi Tanahashi, and 68-year-old Tatsumi Fujinami team against Minoru Suzuki, Zack Sabre Jr., and 72-year-old Yoshiaki Fujiwara in a generational clash. 

In the semi-main, IWGP Heavyweight Tag Team Champions Hirooki Goto and YOSHI-HASHI will square off against IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Champions Ryusuke Taguchi and Master Wato. 

Shiro Koshinaka will return to NJPW for the first time since 2016, teaming with Toru Yano, Tomohiro Ishii, Togi Makabe, and Tomoaki Honma against LIJ’s Tetsuya Naito, SANADA, Shingo Takagi, Hiromu Takahashi, and BUSHI. Norio Honaga will serve as the guest referee. 

Yuji Nagata, Satoshi Kojima, Yuto Nakashima, and Kosei Fujita will face The United Empire’s Will Ospreay, Great-O-Khan, Jeff Cobb, and Aaron Henare. 

STRONGHEARTS will be in action, as CIMA, T-Hawk, and El Lindaman face El Desperado, Yoshinobu Kanemaru, and DOUKI. 

Minoru Tanaka returns to NJPW for the first time since 2012 in the second match of the night, teaming with Taichi and TAKA Michinoku against Bad Luck Fale, Taiji Ishimori, and El Phantasmo. 

In the opener, YOH, Tiger Mask, and Ryohei Oiwa face Bullet Club’s House of Torture, EVIL, Yujiro Takahashi, and SHO. 

A parade of legends has also been announced for the show. 

Our live coverage begins at 3 a.m. Eastern time. 

**********

The show opened with, long time announcer, Kero Tanaka welcoming a cast of NJPW alumni to the ring. The list included Wataru Inoue, Jushin Liger, Kuniaki Kobayashi, Seiji Sakaguchi, Niro Honaga, Tiger Hattori, Motoyuki Kitazawa, Milano Collection A.T., Minoru Tanaka, Masahito Kakihara, Kazu Yamazaki, Yoshiaki Fujiwara, Akira Maeda, Shiro Koshinaka, Kengo Kimura, Masahiro Chono, Keiji Muto, Riki Choshu, and Tatsumi Fujinami.

The Original Tiger Mask then congratulated New Japan for reaching their 50th year via video package. Seiji Sakaguchi thanked everyone for their support. Kazuchika Okada paid thanks to the legends he was sharing the ring with and promised to continue true professional wrestling, in Antonio Inoki’s vision.

This entire ceremony was fantastic. It was simple; it was to the point; it was perfect.

SHO, EVIL, and Yujiro Takahashi (House of Torture) defeated Ryohei Oiwa, YOH, and Tiger Mask

From highs to lows, this match opened with a brawl. TM and SHO were alone in the ring, where TM gained a strong lead for his team. After YOH tagged in, HoT hit the ring, trying to stop any would-be momentum. The HoT rush was squashed, but SHO managed to take control regardless after Oiwa tagged in.

EVIL and Yujiro picked apart their young lion opponent, but Yujiro’s complacency allowed Oiwa to sneak into the match. Oiwa had a near fall rollup before barely surviving a Yujiro lariat. Yujiro followed the lariat with pimp juice to bring the opening match to an end. 

Bad Luck Fale, Taiji Ishimori, El Phantasmo (Bullet Club) defeated Minoru Tanaka, TAKA Michinoku, and Taichi 

This match was enjoyable, but it really left me starving for an Ishimori/Tanaka singles match that will probably not happen.

Tanaka came to the ring with GLEAT plastered on the entrance screens and with a LIDET UWF towel in hand⁠—a neat showcase for my favourite fledgling promotion.

Tanaka started the match with a heavy leg kick before winning out in a scrabble with Ishimori. Ishimori responded by initiating a quick sequence, but Tanaka came out on top again, landing a standing moonsault. Ishimori finally sent Tanaka to the floor, allowing Fale to steal the advantage. ELP also joined the attack, twisting Tanaka’s nipples.

Back in the ring, ELP positioned Tanaka into the tree of woe before hitting a mean dropkick. All three Bullet Club members then piled onto Tanaka, leaving them in solid position. Tanaka managed to doge a Fale elbow drop to tag Taichi into the match; Taichi wasn’t so lucky as Fale connected with the elbow drop soon after the tag. Taichi managed to turn things around with a sumo-style toss, at least long enough for a double tag.

TAKA took ELP to the mat immediately, working in strikes and submissions that forced Ishimori to break things up. ELP used this bought time to set up the superkick, but he couldn’t commit. He instead climbed to the top, and hit thunder kiss ‘86 after an Ishimori lungblower. This lead to the match ending pinfall. 

Ishimori was visibly upset with ELP’s lack of confidence, as he was over the entirety of the previous tour.

EL LINDAMAN, T-HAWK, and CIMA (STRONGHEARTS) defeated DOUKI, Yoshinobu Kanemaru, and El Desperado (Suzuki-gun)

This match was quite fun.

If Tanaka’s entrance wasn’t GLEAT enough, STRONGHEARTS came to the ring, all repping the promotion with shirts, trons, and Lindaman’s G-REX belt.

Suzuki-gun rushed T-Hawk as the opening bell rang. T-Hawk tried to fight through the numbers, leading to a one-on-one sequence with Kanemaru. T-Hawk tagged out to Lindaman, who, alongside CIMA, turned things around, favouring STRONGHEARTS. Kanemaru finally escaped STRONGHEART control after winning in a suplex struggle.

The IWGP Junior champion and G-Rex champion finally came to blows after Kanemaru tagged out. The pair went back and forth, landing heavy moves. This sequence left both men hurting, forcing another double tag.

DOUKI landed a DDT that forced T-Hawk to make a save. STRONGHEARTS took advantage of this break with a fantastic trios sequence punctuated with a Meteora on DOUKI. CIMA folded DOUKI, pinned him, and secured the win for GLEAT and STRONGHEARTS.

After the match’s end, Lindaman and Desperado had a moment of tension.

It looks like Desperado and Lindaman are set for singles action at some point, as the pair heavily teased it throughout the bout. 

Aaron Henare, Jeff Cobb, Will Ospreay, and Great-O-Khan (United Empire) defeated Yuto Nakashima, Kosei Fujita, Yuji Nagata, and Satoshi Kojima

This was another fun match.

This match opened chaotically, with the action falling outside the ropes soon after the opening bell. Once things settled in the ring, UE beat down Nakashima, with all of the faction mates getting in their offence.

Nakashima eventually dropped Henare, leading to Kojima entering the fray for the first time. Kojima, alongside Nagata, beat down UE, but the offence was short-lived.

Kojima was seemingly turning things around after a Koji cutter, but instead of finishing the bout, Kojima tagged Fujita into the match. With help from his teammates, Fujita locked O-Khan into the Boston crab, but he escaped. The young lions then tried for a double suplex but failed. O-Khan hit Fujita with the eliminator and pinned him. 

BUSHI, Hiromu Takahashi, Shingo Takagi, Tetsuya Naito, and SANADA (Los Ingobernables de Japon) defeated Shiro Koshinaka, Toru Yano, Tomohiro Ishii, Tomoaki Honma, and Togi Makabe (Great Bash Heel)

This was a feel-good match that served a purpose. Shingo and Ishii are set for the New Japan Cup, and this was just the beginning.

This match opened with a brawl. Makabe gained some advantage over Naito before tagging out to Yano. Yano slammed Naito into an exposed buckle before welcoming Koshinaka to the ring; before he could tag in, the LIJ broke things up. This led to LIJ picking apart Yano for some time.

Yano eventually tagged out to Koshinaka, who connected with a barrage of hip attacks to turn things around for GBH. Even after receiving a dozen hip attacks himself, SANADA held on, landing a suplex to end Koshinaka’s reign of terror.

Ishii and Takagi, first-round New Japan cup opponents, tagged in. The pair had a high impact sequence, with both men getting in impactful moves. After both men were exhausted, a fresh Honma tagged in and began to beat down Shingo with the rest of GBH’s help. Shingo withstood the attack long enough for the other LIJ members to make a save. Shingo hit Honma with a pumping bomber; Honma kicked out only to be finished by last of the dragon mere moments later. 

YOSHI-HASHI and Hirooki Goto (Bishamon | IWGP Heavyweight Tag Team Champions) defeated Master Wato and Ryusuke Taguchi (Six or Nine | IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Champions)

This was fine but by the books.

Goto and Taguchi opened the match with back-and-forth wrestling. The pair proved to be on near-equal footing before Wato helped Taguchi secure control with some double-team offence; this lasted until YH aided Goto in returning the favour.

Taguchi landed a hip attack before tagging in Wato, who turned the match around in drastic fashion. After a tope con hilo to the heavyweight champions, Wato scored a top rope dropkick near fall over YH. YH responded with a neckbreaker, buying him enough time to tag back to Goto.

Taguchi prevented Goto from taking a significant lead with a storm of hip attacks. Taguchi tried for three amigos, but the third suplex was reversed, resetting the match. Taguchi blocked Shoto and secured an ankle lock, forcing YH to break the hold.

Six or Nine tried to finish things, but a missed hip attack put Taguchi on the receiving end of a low bow. Bishamon hit Wato and Taguchi with violent flash before closing out the match with Shoto.

Hiroshi Tanahashi, Kazuchika Okada & Tatsumi Fujinami defeated Minoru Suzuki, Zack Sabre Jr., & Yoshiaki Fujiwara

For a match with nearly 200 years of shared experience, you couldn’t ask for much more. There was a lot of attention to detail, not to mention Fujiwara’s all-star performance.

ZSJ scored a takedown on Okada early, and only after an extended control sequence did the heavyweight champion escape. Suzuki also took Okada to the mat, leading to Fujanami tagging in for the first time. Fujinami gained ground control with head scissors, but Suzuki transitioned, trying for a leg lock. Tanahashi tagged in, but Suzuki denied the tag to Fujiwara. Fujiwara tagged himself in and slapped Suzuki for his insolence.

Fujiwara secured his namesake armbar on Tanahashi, but Tanahashi found the ropes. Tanahashi returned the favour with a leg hold before tagging back to Okada. Okada dropped Fujiwara with a forearm and tried for a headbutt, but Fujiwara’s hard skull sent Okada crashing. Fujiwara landed a headbutt of his own volition, sending Okada to the outside.

Fujiwara and Fujinami shared the ring after the Okada exchange. The veterans struggled on the mat, and Tanahashi tagged back in. Fujiwara landed a headbutt that crumbled Tanahashi, leading to a tag to ZSJ. ZSJ, with help from Suzuki, gained ground control. Suzuki, Fujiwara, and ZSJ then contorted Tanahashi in tandem. Suzuki tagged in, but fell to a Tanahashi twist and shout.

Okada tagged in, and with help from his team, retook the lead. Suzuki stopped Okada’s advance with a headbutt. Perhaps in a show of oneupmanship, perhaps in a show of teamwork, Fujiwara hit Okada with a headbutt of his own. Suzuki and Fujiwara then hit a double headbutt. All three members of the Suzuki squad then locked in Fujiwara armbars.

Okada began to rally on his own, and his team made this come to fruition. Okada landed a tombstone on Suzuki but missed the rainmaker. Okada’s dropkick hit the target, as did the landslide and second rainmaker attempt. Okada pinned Suzuki to close the main event match.

Okada followed the finish with a champion’s promo, paying homage to those who came before, especially New Japan founder, Antonio Inoki.

Tanahashi cut a promo of his own, promising to be part of the future.

Fujinami closed the show by thanking his partners and the fans before signing off with Inoki’s “Ichi, ni, san, DAAAA!”—a beautiful end to a fantastic anniversary show. 

NJPW Strong results: Tom Lawlor vs. Taylor Rust

Posted on by Justin Knipper

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.

NJPW New Year’s Golden Series live results: Okada & Tanahashi vs. LIJ

Posted on by Chick Fritts

NJPW’s New Year’s Golden Series hits Osaka today at the EDION Arena, headlined by a tag preview of next weekend’s top two title matches.

IWGP World Heavyweight Champion Kazuchika Okada and IWGP United States Heavyweight Champion Hiroshi Tanahashi team against their next challengers, Tetsuya Naito and SANADA of Los Ingobernables de Japon. Tanahashi defends against SANADA on Saturday, February 19, while Okada vs. Naito for the World title closes the tour on February 20. 

In the semi-main, EVIL will defend the NEVER Openweight Championship against Tomohiro Ishii in a lumberjack match. 

A pair of singles matches will preview the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag title match set for later this week, as Robbie Eagles faces Taiji Ishimori, while Tiger Mask takes on El Phantasmo.

In a trios match, Toru Yano, Master Wato, and Ryusuke Taguchi will face Minoru Suzuki, El Desperado, and TAKA Michinoku. LIJ’s Shingo Takagi, Hiromu Takahashi, and BUSHI take on Taichi, Yoshinobu Kanemaru, and DOUKI in another six-man. 

Great-O-Khan faces Togi Makabe in a singles match. Hirooki Goto, YOSHI-HASHI, and YOH take on Yujiro Takahashi, Dick Togo, and SHO in the main card opener. 

In a pre-show match, Hiroyoshi Tenzan, Satoshi Kojima, and Ryohei Oiwa face Yuji Nagata, Tomoaki Honma, and Kosei Fujita. 

Our live coverage begins with the pre-show at 2:30 a.m. Eastern time.

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Ryohei Oiwa, Satoshi Kojima & Hiroyoshi Tenzan defeated Kosei Fujita, Tomoaki Honma, & Yuji Nagata

This was an appealing little tag match.

Nagata and Kojima opened the match with some basic back and forth. Things turned in Kojima’s favour after Fujita tagged into, prompting Oiwa to enter on behalf of his team. The young lions traded strikes with each other, but Oiwa paid special attention to his senior opponents, throwing forearms multiple times as they stood on the apron. Once Honma and Nagata tagged in, Oiwa was punished for his petulance.

Eventually, Kojima and Nagata shared the ring again, and again the pair went back and forth; this continued with the Kojima and Honma pairing. Tenzan tagged in for the first time, coming toe to toe with Honma. Honma gained a slight lead before tagging in Fujita, who scored a near fall after a falcon arrow. After the kick-out, Fujita turned Tenzan into the Boston crab but couldn’t finish the match. Tenzan turned the bout back around with a quick lariat and a Boston crab of his own that forced Fujita to submit. 

YOH, YOSHI-HASHI, & Hirooki Goto (CHAOS) defeated SHO, Dick Togo, and Yujiro Takahashi (House of Torture)

This felt less awful than an average HoT match, so that’s something.

This match started when YOH rushed SHO, inciting a brawl. SHO and YOH were left alone in the ring early on, but SHO escaped by tagging Togo into the match. The CHAOS squad pummeled away at Togo and Yujiro before turning their attention to SHO. Once Togo and YH were left alone, the HoT used distraction to take back the lead.

YH reversed a fisherman buster before a tag to Goto that let CHAOS back into the match. HoT interfered just enough to distract Goto, allowing Yujiro to reset the match with a double lariat. Togo and YOH tagged in, but all of HoT beat down on YOH. SHO tried an attack with his wrench, Yujiro with his cane, and Togo with his wire; YOH stopped them all. A miscommunication from HoT and a well-timed CHAOS rally allowed YOH to win the match with a bridging pin on Togo.

Great-O-Khan defeated Togi Makabe

This match was fine for what it was, nothing blow away, but a strong showing for O-Khan.

Makabe and O-Khan opened the match with a typical sequence that soon spilt to the outside. After slamming Makabe into the barricade, O-Khan was in a strong position. Makabe challenged O-Khan with a lariat that led to an offensive stint of his own. O-Khan interrupted Makabe on the top rope, but slamming him to the mat had little effect. O-Khan locked in a sheep killer and dropped an elbow, but again, Makabe was unphased. Finally, O-Khan secured a face claw that turned into the eliminator; this was enough to finish Makabe. 

BUSHI, Hiromu Takahashi, and Shingo Takagi (Los Ingobernables de Japon) defeated DOUKI, Taichi & Yoshinobu Kanemaru (Suzuki-gun)

This was a by the book tag. With nothing really on the line, not much was explored with any interesting singles implications. Regardless, Shingo and Taichi seem to have something to settle.

Shingo and Taichi began by trading strikes. After Shingo won out, BUSHI tagged in, but he couldn’t maintain LIJ’s early lead. Suzuki-gun worked to cement Taichi’s control by attacking LIJ as Taichi held down BUSHI. Kanemaru and DOUKI traded tags to keep Suzuki-gun’s momentum going.

A hot tag to Hiromu led to a brisk sequence where he temporarily took out all of his opponents, but eventually, the numbers got the better of him. After escaping the DOUKI chokie, Hiromu connected with a powerbomb. A tag to Shingo prompted Suzuki-gun to hit the ring, but Shingo withstood the onslaught. A pumping bomber to DOUKI finished the match, leaving Shingo and the rest of his team with a win.

After the match, Shingo and Taichi stared each other down.

Toru Yano, Master Wato, and Ryusuke Taguchi defeated TAKA Michinoku, El Desperado, and Minoru Suzuki (Suzuki-gun)

Yano started the match by rushing Suzuki on the outside. After failing in his attempt to lock Suzuki in a dog cage, Yano returned to the ring. Yano tried to gain advantage by throwing Suzuki into an exposed buckle, but again he failed. Suzuki pulled Yano back to the outside but also failed in throwing Yano in the dog cage. Once things were back in the ring, Suzuki-gun beat down Yano. The beatdown finally ended when Yano reversed a piledriver and landed an atomic drop, allowing Wato to tag in.

Wato gained a quick lead over Desperado. Desperado responded with a spinebuster to turn things back in his favour. After a double tag, Suzuki-gun gained advantage over Taguchi. Michinoku let this lead fade. A double team facebuster allowed Taguchi to pin Michinoku to close the match.

Sometime during the last sequence, Suzuki got Yano in the cage. The ringside young lions had to save Yano. Suzuki then handcuffed Oiwa and Fujita for daring to interfere.

Tiger Mask defeated El Phantasmo

I quite liked this match. It was focused and to the point, while not forgetting its purpose of selling the upcoming junior tag title match.

TM opened the match with leg kicks that sent ELP to the outside. Back inside, a toss took ELP to the mat, allowing TM to keep working on the legs. ELP rolled to the outside again, prompting TM to attempt a tope; ELP stuffed the dive with a kick to the head. ELP landed a tree of woe for a dropkick before attempting to walk the ropes. TM sent ELP crashing into the ropes before meeting him at the top. An arm drag from the top rope left TM in control once again.

ELP landed a crossbody to send TM to the outside. ELP capitalised with a dive that slammed TM into the barricade. A pair of springboard moonsaults left ELP with a near fall. TM managed to rally with a quick kick followed by a tiger driver, but ELP stayed in the match. A tombstone piledriver led into a flying headbutt attempt from TM, which ELP avoided. ELP responded with thunder kiss ‘86, resulting in a near fall of his own.

TM ducked a lariat and transitioned into a crucifix pin. After ELP kicked out, TM turned the pin into a submission. With ELP staring down defeat, Taiji Ishimori hit the ring to beat down TM. The referee called for the disqualification. Robbie Eagles made the save just as Ishimori unmasked TM.

Robbie Eagles defeated Taiji Ishimori

This was a perfect follow-up to the previous match and a fun watch all around. 

This match started fluidly as the last ended. Ishimori used underhanded tactics to gain a quick lead and maintain it in the early going. Ishimori paid special attention to Eagles arm, slamming it into an exposed corner multiple times.

It took a while, but Eagles eventually began to rally, focusing Ishimori’s leg. Eagles tried for the turbo backpack, but couldn’t connect due to his arm. Ishimori took advantage, locking in a submission before slamming Eagles into the ring post and landing a shoulder breaker. Ishimori locked in another submission that forced Eagles into the ropes.

Ishimori paused after a forearm, prompting a strike exchange. The pair then went back and forth, trading reversals before Eagles eventually landed the turbo backpack. Eagles then landed a 450 to legs and locked in the Ron Miller special. ELP tried to break up the hold, but TM made the save; with nowhere to go, Ishimori tapped out.

After the match, Master Wato and Ryusuke Taguchi walked to the ring and began cutting a promo. Then Yoshinobu Kanemaru and Desperado walked to the ring and cut a promo of their own. Eagles then picked up the match, announcing a four-way tag team match for the junior belts. 

Lumberjack Match, NEVER Openweight Championship: EVIL (c) defeated Tomohiro Ishii

This match, unsurprisingly, was far too busy, at least for my liking. Regardless, this was significantly better than their Wrestle Kingdom match, especially in the last act.

The lumberjacks were equal parts CHAOS, equal parts House of Torture. The match opened with EVIL rolling to the HoT side, but CHAOS worked to get him back in the ring. EVIL gained advantage with help from HoT, who removed the turnbuckle pad and beat on Ishii mere moments into the match. This chicanery continued as the match developed.

Ishii eventually fought off all of HoT by himself as CHAOS distracted the referee for some reason. The CHAOS lumberjacks then helped Ishii by pounding on the back of EVIL, before sending him back into the ring. Ishii landed a big shoulder tackle before trying for a superplex, but HoT fought to stop this from happening. Yujiro power bombed Ishii from the top rope before Togo and EVIL hit the magic killer for a near fall. EVIL landed a superplex for another two count.

Ishii landed a superplex of his own for a near fall. Then EVIL threw the referee into Ishii and a spear from SHO sent the referee crashing. After a brawl with all the lumberjacks, EVIL lined up a shot with the NEVER title; Ishii saw it coming, connecting with a lariat that sent the belt flying. Ishii hit a dragon suplex and a sliding lariat for another near fall. EVIL responded with a pair of suplexes of his own.

EVIL and Ishii traded clotheslines before an Ishii enziguri dropped EVIL and an Ishii lariat yielded another near fall. As Ishii looked for a finish, EVIL reversed his brainbuster attempt and transitioned into everything is evil. EVIL then pinned Ishii to retain the belt. 

SANADA & Tetsuya Naito (Los Ingobernables de Japon) defeated Hiroshi Tanahashi & Kazuchika Okada 

Tanahashi and SANADA opened the match with some chain wrestling. After the pair proved to be on equal footing, Okada and Naito tagged in. Okada and Naito also started their exchange with grappling. Okada gained advantage by focusing the knee, and in retaliation, Naito attacked the knee of Okada. As Naito and SANADA traded tags, they continued the assault on Okada’s knee.

Tanahashi eventually got the hot tag and took control for his team. This lasted until SANADA avoided a sling blade and connected with a rana for a match reset. A neckbreaker to Naito bought Tanahashi enough time to tag back into Okada.

Naito immediately caught Okada, turning his attention back to the knee. In response, Okada landed a dropkick to create some separation, and a DDT to the floor left Okada ahead. Naito answered with a neckbreaker for another match reset. The pair then traded strikes before a rope-assisted DDT left Naito in control once more. Naito tried for Destino, but couldn’t connect; instead, Okada landed a dropkick and both men tagged out.

SANADA and Tanahashi traded dragonscrew leg whips prompting Naito to hit the ring. Naito ate a leg whip of his own before retreating to the outside. On the outside, Okada positioned Naito and SANADA, allowing Tanahashi to leap from the top rope for a high fly flow to the floor. Tanahashi then landed more dragonscrews on SANADA before locking the cloverleaf; Naito tried to make the save, but Okada caught him in the money clip. After a long struggle, SANADA found the bottom rope.

After a quick exchange, SANADA slipped Tanahashi into skull end; Okada made the save. Tanahashi avoided a follow-up moonsault and connected with twist and shout. Naito tagged in and took over the match once more. Okada made the save with a dropkick, but SANADA landed a TKO. Tanahashi landed a pair of sling blades, one on each opponent, for a near fall.

When Tanahashi tried for high fly flow to end the match Naito rolled out of harm’s way. Naito tried for Destino, but couldn’t connect. Okada hit the ring and tried for a rainmaker, but Naito avoided it. Instead, Naito hit Okada with Destino. In quick succession, Naito also hit Tanahashi with Destino to close the match.

NJPW New Year’s Golden Series night two results: LIJ trios match

Posted on by Ethan Renner

Night two of NJPW’s New Year’s Golden Series took place today at Korakuen Hall.

COVID protocols forced six wrestlers off the card, as one of the six men involved in yesterday’s Toru Yano, Satoshi Kojima and Tomoaki Honma vs. Minoru Suzuki, Taichi and TAKA Michinoku match presented with a fever before today’s show. The card was switched around as a result.

Today’s event will be available on demand on NJPW World tomorrow.

Here are today’s results:

Great-O-Khan defeated Ryohei Oiwa (5:31)

O-Khan won by submission with an arm triangle.

BUSHI defeated Yuto Nakashima (8:29)

BUSHI won by submission with a Boston crab.

Tiger Mask & Yuji Nagata defeated Taiji Ishimori & Gedo (11:28)

Tiger used a double armbar to submit Gedo.

Master Wato, Ryusuke Taguchi & Hiroyoshi Tenzan defeated El Desperado, Yoshinobu Kanemaru & DOUKI (10:55)

Wato defeated DOUKI with La Caletera

Tomohiro Ishii, Hirooki Goto, YOSHI-HASHI & YOH defeated EVIL, Yujiro Takahashi, Dick Togo & SHO (19:43)

Goto pinned Togo.

Tetsuya Naito, SANADA & Shingo Takagi defeated Kazuchika Okada, Hiroshi Tanahashi & Togi Makabe (18:44)

SANADA used Skull End to submit Makabe.

NJPW New Year’s Golden Series night one results: The tour begins

Posted on by Ethan Renner

NJPW’s New Year’s Golden Series kicked off today at Korakuen Hall.

IWGP World Heavyweight Champion Kazuchika Okada, IWGP United States Heavyweight Champion Hiroshi Tanahashi, and Yuji Nagata teamed against Tetsuya Naito, SANADA, and Shingo Takagi of Los Ingobernables de Japon in the main event.

Here are today’s results:

Great-O-Khan defeated Yuto Nakashima (5:35)

O-Khan won via submission with a cross armbreaker.

Hiromu Takahashi defeated Ryohei Oiwa (7:24)

Hiromu won by submission with a Boston crab.

Tiger Mask & Togi Makabe defeated Taiji Ishimori & Jado (8:59)

Tiger won by submission with a double armbar.

Toru Yano, Satoshi Kojima & Tomoaki Honma defeated Minoru Suzuki, Taichi & TAKA Michinoku (9:12)

Kojima pinned TAKA after hitting a lariat.

Master Wato, Ryusuke Taguchi & Hiroyoshi Tenzan defeated El Desperado, Yoshinobu Kanemaru & DOUKI (10:51)

Wato submitted DOUKI with his new Bendabar hold.

Tomohiro Ishii, Hirooki Goto, YOSHI-HASHI & YOH defeated EVIL, Yujiro Takahashi, Dick Togo & SHO (11:41)

Ishii pinned Togo after a Vertical Drop Brainbuster.

Tetsuya Naito, SANADA & Shingo Takagi defeated Kazuchika Okada, Hiroshi Tanahashi & Yuji Nagata (20:16)

Naito pinned Nagata after hitting Destino.

NJPW Strong results: JONAH vs. David Finlay

Posted on by Justin Knipper

Tonight saw the second installment of NJPW Strong: Nemesis tapings from Hollywood.

Karl Fredericks and Kevin Knight defeated Stray Dog Army (Bateman & Misterioso)

Hot start between Knight and Misterioso, who kicked the match off for their teams. Bateman later pulled Fredericks off the ring apron to the floor. He worked over Knight, who kept trying to fire up, but Bateman kept shutting him down, mainly by using barred tactics like eye pokes and gauges, and joint locks.

Misterioso missed a flying legdrop, which allowed the babyface LA Dojo team to make a comeback. Fredericks and Misterioso had a fiery exchange towards the end, but it was Fredericks who would pin Misterioso with the Manifest Destiny to pick up the win.

Brody King defeated Dave Dutra

Stiff match. “The Battle King” Dave Dutra has appeared on AEW Dark in the past. He chopped Brody King early. Both the audience and King knew that Dutra had bit off slightly more than he could chew already. The “You f*cked up!” chants began raining down. King was super over with the Hollywood crowd.

King threw Dutra to the floor and chopped him up, much to the pleasure of the audience in attendance. Dutra would come back and land a big moonsault to the floor onto King. He’d put King down with a swinging DDT at around the five-minute mark.

King fired back with a rolling lariat and a massive elbow shot and the Gonzo Bomb for the win. Dutra took a beating. Hardcore 1—Black Metal 0.

JONAH defeated David Finlay

Finlay was great. These two had their first encounter at the Battle in the Valley special in San Jose back in November. JONAH attacked both Finlay and his tag team partner, Juice Robinson, after Robinson’s match against Moose.

JONAH charged at Finlay at the bell. Finlay dodged him. Some fans booed Finlay while some in the crowd cheered him. His haters were noisy, but more liked Finlay than disliked him.

JONAH ragdolled Finlay around on the floor outside the ring after catching him mid-air. He landed a big standing senton on Finlay before abusing him some more in the corner post.

When the five-minute call sounded, Finlay had fired himself up and mounted a comeback. He’d fly onto JONAH with a pescado to the floor. When Finlay was in control, a number of fans started chanting for JONAH.

JONAH come back and put Finlay out with a backbreaker, a massive lariat that turned Finlay inside out, a power bomb, and finally a huge splash off the top rope, which would put Finlay away for good.

Final thoughts:

Tonight saw another solid section of the recent Nemesis tapings. JONAH vs. Finlay is worth checking out. I expect to see more of these two plus Juice Robinson mixing it up going forward.

Next week’s episode sees Team Filthy take on Fred Rosser, Tyler Rust, & Rocky Romero in the main event.