Saturday’s show saw ELP & Hikuleo defeat TMDK (Mikey Nicholls and Shane Haste) to win the Strong Openweight Tag Team titles. The finish saw Hikuleo choke slamming Haste, allowing ELP to hit a splash for the win. TMDK had held the titles for only 29 days.
The Strong Openweight title changed hands, with Gabe Kidd defeating Eddie Kingston in a brutal no ropes last man standing match, finishing when Kidd gave Kingston a suplex through a table and into the barricade, failing to meet the ten count and giving Kidd his first singles title in New Japan.
This ends Kingston’s run with the Strong Openweight title after 311 days, defeating KENTA back at Independence Day Night 2 last July. With the loss, Kingston has now lost the last of three titles he had held recently that formed the Continental Crown.
It was also announced during Resurgence that Fantasticamania will be taking place in San Jose on July 13 at the San Jose Civic Auditorium. It will be a joint event with CMLL, similar to the tour that takes place each year in Japan.
The lucha libre fiesta comes to the United States!
Henare made his return to the company after being out of action since February. He issued a challenge to the winner of the NEVER Openweight title match. Shingo Takagi defeated Yuya Uemura to retain the title, setting up the next title match.
A huge challenge issued!@HenareNZ is BACK and wants to bring the Mana to whomever wins this next NEVER Openweight title match!
In the main event, Jon Moxley defeated Shota Umino to retain the IWGP World Heavyweight title. After the match, EVIL and Ren Narita attacked Moxley, with EVIL spray painting the championship black and posing over Moxley to end the show.
A double Tag Team title match has been added to the lineup for NJPW Wrestle Kingdom 18.
IWGP Tag Team Champions and World Tag League 2023 winners Hirooki Goto & YOSHI-HASHI will face Tag League runners-up and NJPW Strong Openweight Tag Team Champions Hikuleo & El Phantasmo at Wrestle Kingdom. The company made the official announcement at a Monday press conference.
Hikuleo & ELP own a victory over Goto & YH after defeating them in the block portion of the Tag League, before dropping the tournament final to them on Sunday.
Wrestle Kingdom 18 takes place Thursday, January 4 at the Tokyo Dome and streams live on NJPW World beginning at 2:30 a.m. Eastern time. The card for the show:
IWGP World Heavyweight Champion SANADA defends against Tetsuya Naito
Kazuchika Okada vs. Bryan Danielson
Inaugural IWGP Global Heavyweight Championship match: Will Ospreay vs. Jon Moxley vs. David Finlay
IWGP Junior Heavyweight Champion Hiromu Takahashi defends against El Desperado
IWGP Tag Team Champions Hirooki Goto & YOSHI-HASHI vs. NJPW Strong Openweight Tag Team Champions Hikuleo & El Phantasmo for both titles
IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Champions Clark Connors & Drilla Moloney defend against TJP & Francesco Akira
NJPW World Television Champion Zack Sabre Jr. defends against Hiroshi Tanahashi
NEVER Openweight Champion Shingo Takagi defends against Tama Tonga
Aussie Open have been forced to relinquish their IWGP Tag Team and NJPW Strong Openweight Tag Team titles due to an injury to Mark Davis.
Kyle Fletcher appeared at Sunday’s Resurgence event in Long Beach, California and revealed that his tag partner Davis had suffered an injury that has forced the duo to vacate both sets of their Tag Team titles.
New Champions will be crowned at NJPW Dominion on June 4 in Osaka. A previously scheduled three-way tag team bout between Aussie Open, House of Torture, and Bishamon will now be House of Torture (EVIL & Yujiro Takahashi) vs. Bishamon (Hirooki Goto & YOSHI-HASHI) in a tag bout for both the IWGP Tag and NJPW Strong Tag titles.
Aussie Open had held the IWGP Tag titles since defeating Goto and YOSHI-HASHI for the belts at Sakura Genesis on April 8. They then defeated Motor City Machine Guns a week later at Capital Collision in Washington D.C. to capture the Strong titles.
Kazuchika Okada & Hiroshi Tanahashi, and Aussie Open challenge Motor City Machine Guns for the Strong Openweight Tag Team titles tonight at NJPW Capital Collision.
The triple threat tag team main event will see MCMG going for their fourth defense of the Strong Tag titles, belts they have held since October. Aussie Open will look to regain those titles, and to add them to their IWGP Heavyweight Tag Team gold. Okada & Tanahashi will attempt to win their first titles as a “dream team” duo.
In the semi-main, KENTA will defend the NJPW Strong Openweight Championship against Impact’s Eddie Edwards.
The undercard:
Tetsuya Naito & Hiromu Takahashi vs. SANADA & Yoshinobu Kanemaru
Tomohiro Ishii vs. El Desperado
NJPW World TV Championship: Zack Sabre Jr. defends against “Filthy” Tom Lawlor
David Finlay vs. AR Fox
Juice Robinson vs. Fred Rosser
KUSHIDA, Volador Jr., Mike Bailey, Gabriel Kidd & Kevin Knight vs. Chuck Taylor, Rocky Romero, Lio Rush, Clark Connors & The DKC
Kickoff match: TMDK (Shane Haste & Bad Dude Tito) vs. West Coast Wrecking Crew (Jorel Nelson & Royce Isaacs)
Our live coverage begins with the kickoff show at 6:30 p.m. Eastern time.
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TMDK (Bad Dude Tito & Shane Haste) defeated The West Coast Wrecking Crew (Jorel Nelson & Royce Isaacs)
This was a fun little opening match.
TMDK started the match hot, controlling the ring for the majority of the opening. An apron suplex to Tito allowed WCWC to fight back into the match.
Haste was on the receiving end of WCWC offense for some time, before a hot tag to Tito allowed TMDK back in the match. Tito landed the F5 and secured the pin for his team.
Jet Setters (Kevin Knight & KUSHIDA), Gabriel Kidd, Mike Bailey & Volador Jr. defeated CHAOS (Chuck Taylor, Lio Rush & Rocky Romero), Clark Connors & The DKC
This was the kind of match you would expect from this lineup. Lots of action bell-to-bell.
After an extended period of traded tags, the match fell into an extended period of dives to the floor. After everyone was whipped out, KUSHIDA, Knight, and VoladorJr. isolated Romero, beating him down before a Volador backbreaker laid him out for the pin.
David Finlay defeated AR Fox
Finlay and Fox went back and forth in the opening portion of the match, but after Finlay took the match to the floor he established a strong lead. Fox fought back with a cutter, opening Finlay up for a period of offense.
Fox landed a number of dives, scoring more and more convincing near falls before a Finlay lariat flipped momentum on its head. Finlay hit Trash Panda.
After the match, Finlay called Clark Conners to the ring and added him to the Bullet Club roster.
NJPW World Television Championship: Zack Sabre Jr. (c) defeated Tom Lawlor
Another fantastic defense from ZSJ. Say what you will, but this title is the best thing in New Japan.
The match opened with a scramble on the mat. ZSJ led the exchange, but Lawlor held his own. Once standing, the pair traded strikes with Lawlor winning out before ZSJ took the mat back to the floor.
ZSJ continued to struggle for holds while Lawlor landed bombs while standing if being slightly outclassed while grappling. Lawlor’s heavy offense while standing nearly won him the match multiple times, but in the end, ZSJ was able to win out in a rolling pin exchange to retain his title.
Tomohiro Ishii defeated El Desperado
Ishii opened the match by chopping Desperado into the ground. Desperado fought back into the match by targeting Ishii’s leg.
After more chops from Ishii, the pair fought to a standstill after trading bombs in the middle of the ring. Desperado was able to chop Ishii to the mat, where he was able to focus on further damaging his leg, but a defiant Ishii continued to rise.
A quick headbutt from Ishii and a powerbomb scored him a nearfall, but Desperado was quick behind with Pinche Loco. Desperado was unable to land a second of his finishers, leading to a strike exchange. Ishii won out, landing a brainbuster and pinning Desperado to win this match.
Juice Robinson vs. Fred Rosser
As Rosser made his way to the ring, it was revealed he left a reserved seat for Robinson’s wife, Toni Storm.
Robinson jumped Rosser before the match could begin. Robinson dropped Rosser with a piledriver on the ramp and a suplex on the floor. The referee tried scolding Robinson only to also be laid out with a forearm.
Once Robinson brought the action to the ring, he grabbed the “Toni Storm” labeled chair, which he used to beat down Rosser. One last loaded punch to Rosser marked the end of the beatdown.
After destroying Rosser, Robinson grabbed a microphone. Robinson told Rosser to, “Keep my wife’s name out of your f*cking mouth”, and left.
Just 5 Guys (SANADA & Yoshinobu Kanemaru) defeated Los Ingobernables de Japon (Hiromu Takahashi & Tetsuya Naito)
Kanemaru and Hiromu opened the match, and it didn’t take long for Hiromu to establish a lead. After gaining control of the match, Hiromu knocked SANADA off the apron, being sure to taunt his upcoming opponent.
SANADA pulled Hiromu to the floor where he returned the favor, while also buying Kanemaru some much-needed time. After tagging into SANADA, the match began to turn around for J5G.
A hot tag to Naito allowed LIJ to fight back into control. Kanemaru provided SANADA a distraction, allowing him to reset momentum once more. Hiromu and SANADA came to blows again, but with Kanemaru’s help, SANADA was basically uncontested.
The match eventually broke down, leaving Kanemaru and Hiromu alone in the ring. The pair traded moves and pin attempts before a pair of rollups from Kanemaru scored him the victory.
Kanemaru pinning the junior champion before the junior champion challenges the heavyweight champion is certainly a bold call.
NJPW STRONG Openweight Championship: KENTA (c) defeated Eddie Edwards
Even if you’re nostalgic for this pairing, I’d recommend skipping this. This match was an attempt at a NOAH tribute in slow motion.
It didn’t take long for this match to spill out to the floor. Once it did, Edwards was able to take a small lead, but KENTA turned things back around once returning to the mat.
Edwards and Kenta traded momentum for some time. Edwards landed a backpack stunner for a nearfall. The pair then traded boots before a lariat dropped KENTA.
KENTA was the first to recover, allowing him to drop Edwards with a rope-assisted DDT. A dropkick in the corner led to a double-stomp for a nearfall favoring KENTA. KENTA dropped Edwards with a running knee, and Edwards kicked out again.
Edwards landed a nasty buckle bomb and a tigerdriver for a nearfall of his own. A follow-up shining wizard and die-hard flowsion left Edwards with another.
After surviving everything Edwards could throw at him, KENTA ran into the referee. With the official down, KENTA grabbed the STRONG belt. Edwards blocked the attack with a superkick and grabbed the belt himself. Edwards tried to use the belt, but KENTA reversed with a low blow. KENTA then dropped Edwards with the belt and hit the GTS for the win.
After the match, the lights went out. Instead of a run-in, a video played with Hikuleo challenging KENTA to a title match at Dontaku. KENTA accepted the challenge.
NJPW STRONG Openweight Tag Team Championship: Aussie Open (Kyle Fletcher & Mark Davis) defeated Hiroshi Tanahashi & Kazuchika Okada andThe Motor City Machine Guns (Alex Shelley & Chris Sabin) (c)
The match opened with an extended feeling-out process. Eventually, the match broke down into a brawl. After the ring was cleared, Okada was left in control over Davis. With help from Tanahashi, Okada kept control for some time.
Eventually, each team took small leads by utilizing two-on-one offense. A good portion of the match saw Aussie Open and MCMG trade control as Okada and Tanahashi watched on.
Fletcher was ultimately forced to tag in Okada, the freshest man in the match. After a double tag, Tanahashi was able to further his team’s lead.
MCMG interrupted a double submission by Okada and Tanahashi, leading to a match breakdown. Once the fog cleared, Aussie Open had a strong lead over Tanahashi, forcing Okada to make the save. Okada and Tanahashi then climbed to the top rope for an elbow drop/high fly flow combination, but Davis got his knees up to save himself.
MCMG and Aussie Open then landed dives to the floor, with Fletcher landing a nasty flip that draped him over the metal barricade. Back in the ring, Sabin was able to fight through Aussie Open control, leading into Made in Detroit for a convincing nearfall.
Okada hit the ring, making a short save, but MCMG fought him off. This distraction from Okada bought Aussie Open enough time to recover. Aussie Open landed Coriolis on Sabin and pinned him to win the match and the belts.
Aussie Open posed with their four belts, but Okada and Tanahashi made their presence felt with a staredown. Once Okada and Tanahashi left the ring, the new champions cut a promo celebrating, declaring themselves the best in the world. Fletcher acknowledged an FTR chant, announcing that they were going to assemble the best tag team belt collection of all time.
NJPW Strong’s Tag Team titles will be on the line in the main event of Saturday’s Nemesis episode.
In the headlining bout, Motor City Machine Guns (Alex Shelley and Chris Sabin) will defend the NJPW Strong Openweight Tag Team Championship against Roppongi Vice (Trent Beretta and Rocky Romero).
Also set for Saturday, AEW’s QT Marshall will face KENTA in singles competition.
In the opening match, Jorel Nelson and Royce Isaacs of Team Filthy’s West Coast Wrecking Crew will take on Cody Chhun and Guillermo Rosas in tag team action.
Strong’s Nemesis episodes were taped on December 11 at the Vermont Hollywood venue in Los Angeles, California.
The full lineup for Saturday’s show:
NJPW Strong Nemesis, Saturday, January 21, 8 p.m. Eastern time on NJPW World —
NJPW Strong Openweight Tag Team Championship: Motor City Machine Guns (Alex Shelley & Chris Sabin) defend against Roppongi Vice (Trent Beretta & Rocky Romero)
KENTA vs. QT Marshall
Team Filthy’s West Coast Wrecking Crew (Jorel Nelson & Royce Isaacs) vs. Cody Chhun & Guillermo Rosas
An Openweight Tag Team title match headlines this Saturday’s NJPW Strong: Fighting Spirit Unleashed episode.
In the show’s main event, Kyle Fletcher and Mark Davis of The United Empire’s Aussie Open will defend the NJPW Strong Openweight Tag Team Championships against Team Filthy’s West Coast Wrecking Crew, Jorel Nelson and Royce Isaacs.
In the second bout, former IWGP Junior Heavyweight Champion Robbie Eagles faces Kevin Blackwood in singles competition.
In Saturday’s opening contest, Mascara Dorada takes on Misterioso of Stray Dog Army.
Strong’s Fighting Spirit Unleashed episodes were taped on Sunday, August 21 at the Vermont Hollywood in Los Angeles. The Autumn Action series of Strong shows will be taped this Sunday, September 11 in Las Vegas, Nevada.
Here is the lineup for Saturday’s episode of Strong:
NJPW Strong Fighting Spirit Unleashed, Saturday, September 10, 8 p.m. Eastern time on NJPW World —
NJPW Strong Openweight Tag Team Championship: Aussie Open (c) vs. West Coast Wrecking Crew
An NJPW Strong Tag Team title match is one of four new bouts announced for Sunday’s Fighting Spirit Unleashed taping in Los Angeles.
Aussie Open’s Kyle Fletcher and Mark Davis will defend the NJPW Strong Tag titles against West Coast Wrecking Crew’s Jorel Nelson and Royce Isaacs in a match announced on Tuesday.
Also added to Sunday’s taping, Christopher Daniels and Yuya Uemura will tag against TMDK’s Shane Haste and Bad Dude Tito.
Additionally, “Filthy” Tom Lawlor and JR Kratos will team to face Jordan Cruz and Cody Chun.
Rounding out Sunday’s card, Kevin Knight and The DKC will face Stray Dog Army’s Bateman and Barrett Brown.
Here is the updated lineup for Fighting Spirit Unleashed at the Vermont Hollywood:
NJPW Strong: Fighting Spirit Unleashed, Sunday, August 21 —
Jay White, Juice Robinson, Chase Owens & Hikuleo vs. KUSHIDA, Trent Beretta, Rocky Romero & Taylor Rust
Robbie Eagles vs. Kevin Blackwood
Mascara Dorada vs. Misterioso
QT Marshall vs. Keita
Alan Angels vs. Taiji Ishimori
Adrian Quest vs. Peter Avalon
Aaron Solo vs. Che Cabrera
NJPW Strong Openweight Tag Team Championship: Aussie Open (c) vs. West Coast Wrecking Crew
Christopher Daniels & Yuya Uemura vs. TMDK’s Shane Haste & Bad Dude Tito
Team Filthy’s Tom Lawlor & JR Kratos vs. Jordan Cruz & Cody Chun
Kevin Knight & The DKC vs. Stray Dog Army’s Barrett Brown & Bateman
The first set NJPW Strong’s High Alert tapings from North Carolina aired tonight, which featured the finals of the STRONG Openweight Tag Team Championship tournament in the main event, with Christopher Daniels & Yuya Uemura taking on Aussie Open.
Jorel Nelson defeated Shane Haste
Good match with a nice last couple of minutes.
Haste caught Nelson with a nice basement dropkick before Nelson rolled out onto the floor. They brawled around ringside a bit before Nelson launched Haste with a back body drop onto the ring apron. Haste crashed onto the bottom rope on the way down.
Back in the ring, Nelson spun Haste with a reverse dragon screw leg whip before posing for the crowd. Nelson worked over Haste’s legs for the next few minutes. Nelson locked Haste in a Texas Cloverleaf.
Haste countered later with a DDT and later a short dive onto Nelson out to the floor. He threw Nelson back into the ring and and put him down with a big Liger Bomb for two. He dumped Nelson on his head with a backdrop suplex. Nelson came back suddenly with a Claymore Kick that spun Haste inside out.
When Nelson went to the top rope, Haste caught Nelson and perplexed him onto the Lion Mark in the middle of the ring. Shortly after this, Nelson, seemingly out of desperation, caught Haste in the back of the knee with a chop block, then school-boy’d him for the pin. Nelson clearly had a handful of Haste’s tights, too, which is illegal, but the referee missed it and counted to three.
A backstage vignette featuring Rocky Romero aired next. He talked about his three-way tag team match from AEW x NJPW: Forbidden Door in June this year, when IWGP tag team champions Roppongi Vice took on FTR and United Empire. Romero explained he couldn’t stop thinking about when he had Dax Harwood pinned in the match. Romero promised he’d get the three-count at High Alert in his singles match with Dax Harwood, which is scheduled to air in a few weeks.
Hikuleo defeated Big Damo
This was a decent but short big man brawl. It was as if Hikuleo was the de facto babyface in this match based on how the North Carolina crowd reacted to him.
The two giants traded shoulder tackles early on. Hikuleo was able to knock Damo off his feet first, but the big man from Belfast was up quickly. While Hikuleo was hyping up the audience, Damo dashed at him, taking him out of the ring with a running lariat.
They brawled on the floor for a bit. Chops flew. Back in the ring, Big Damo would flatten Hikuleo with a big running cross body block, and later a cannonball into the corner. Damo would connect with a running senton later, but he missed on the Vader Bomb follow-up when Hikuleo rolled out of the way.
Hikuleo caught Damo coming off the ropes with a powerslam, but there must have been some miscommunication because it didn’t look like Hikuleo had a proper grip on Damo. He followed that up with a high chokeslam for the win in just over six minutes. The crowd was happy that Hikuleo won, but overall the finish felt a bit flat. I imagine when they have their rematch down the road, it’ll be better, especially if they’re in a different setting and given more time.
STRONG Openweight Tag Team Championship finals: Aussie Open (Kyle Fletcher & Mark Davis) defeated Christopher Daniels & Yuya Uemura to become the first STRONG Openweight Tag Team champions
This was really good. Daniels and Fletcher were in first for their teams. Daniels and Uemura would keep Fletcher close to their red corner and work him over with a constant double-team assault.
After a few minutes, Daniels would throw Fletcher to the floor and go for a pescado dive onto both him and Davis, but he missed after they moved. Uemura came running off the apron and dove onto Davis, who caught Uemura mid-air. He and Fletcher would then slam Daniels & Uemura into each other, back-first, before dropping them.
The bout moved back into the ring, with Aussie Open now in control of offense. They isolated Daniels near their blue corner and went on the attack with a series of double-team sequences. They held Daniels in a delayed suplex, with Davis passing Daniels off to Fletcher while hanging in the air before dropping him.
At the five-minute mark, Daniels was able to surprise Davis with an inside cradle pin, but Fletcher distracted the referee and couldn’t make the count in time. Daniels later came off the second rope with a frankensteiner from out of nowhere to Fletcher before finally tagging back out to Uemura, who came in as a proverbial house of fire. He planted Mark Davis with a back suplex for a count of two. The crowd got behind Uemura. He low-bridged Davis out of the ring before launching Fletcher with a double-overhook suplex.
Uemura and Daniels would pull off the double-team elevator bulldog on Kyle Fletcher, the same move that the Steiner Brothers used as a finish. It wasn’t enough to put Aussie Open away, though.
Fletcher and Davis would soon take Uemura out with The Dental Plan and a combination spinning Emerald Flowsion + second-rope diving DDT for a close two. The crowd started chanting “This is awesome!”
When Aussie Open went for Coriolis, their finisher, Daniels made the save for Uemura, who escaped the hold and rolled Davis up for a sudden nearfall. Daniels took Fletcher out with an STO before attempting another diving frankensteiner, but Davis blocked it and power bombed the 51-year-old Daniels coming off the top rope.
Aussie Open went for another Dental Plan, but Uemura blocked it, dropkicked Fletcher out of the ring, then caught Davis with a jumping frankensteiner into a cradle pin—the same one he used on TMDK to advance from the semi-finals—but Fletcher made it back into the ring to break up the pin attempt. More than ten minutes had passed by this point.
Mark Davis was finally able to neutralize Uemura, who was on fire, with a jumping enzuigiri kick. Kyle Fletcher followed up with a jumping lariat in the corner, dizzying Uemura. They’d then spike Uemura with Coriolis to put him away; Davis pinned Uemura for three as Fletcher held Daniels from getting back into the ring. Aussie Open are your first-ever STRONG Openweight Tag Team Champions.
Retired NJPW referee Tiger Hattori presented the team with the brand new title belts, which looked to have platinum plates with cerulean blue leather straps.
Backstage after the match, the team spoke about how they’d won the titles despite only being with NJPW Strong for a couple of months. They loudly claimed to be the best in the world and said they’d take on any team at any time, in any place. West Coast Wrecking Crew’s Jorel Nelson apparently heard this and appeared on screen moments later. He told Aussie Open that it was his team, the West Coast Wrecking Crew, that built NJPW Strong’s tag team division, and according to Nelson, that meant that WCWC deserved the first shot at Aussie Open’s new tag championship. Nelson mentioned NJPW Strong’s upcoming Fighting Spirit Unleashed 2022 event in Hollywood, California this month and said that’d be a good place for both teams to square off. After some light jaw-jacking back and forth, Aussie Open agreed to the match, but said they’d still be champions afterwards.
Final thoughts:
While the openers were solid, the main event is the highlight of this week’s show. It was a very good match that highlighted how much of a wrestling wizard Christopher Daniels is while also showcasing both Uemura and Aussie Open as three of the best younger wrestlers in the game at the moment.
The first Openweight Tag Team Champions will be crowned on Saturday’s High Alert episode of NJPW Strong.
In the Tag Team title tournament finals, Christopher Daniels and Yuya Uemura will team against Aussie Open’s Kyle Fletcher and Mark Davis of United Empire. The winners will become the first-ever NJPW Strong Tag Team Champions.
Also set for Saturday, Bullet Club’s Hikuleo will face Big Damo, formerly known as Killian Dain in WWE and WWE NXT.
In another bout announced for the show, Shane Haste of TMDK will take on Jorel Nelson of the West Coast Wrecking Crew and Team Filthy.
The High Alert series of episodes were taped in Charlotte, North Carolina on July 24.
Saturday’s lineup:
NJPW Strong High Alert, Saturday, August 13, 8 p.m. Eastern time on NJPW World —
NJPW Strong Openweight Tag Team Championship tournament finals: Christopher Daniels & Yuya Uemura vs. Aussie Open
The semifinals in the NJPW Strong Openweight Tag Team Championship tournament kick off on Saturday’s episode.
In the first semifinal bout, Christopher Daniels and Yuya Uemura will team against TMDK’s Shane Haste and Mikey Nicholls on this week’s episode. The second semifinal, likely to air next week, will feature Aussie Open’s Kyle Fletcher and Mark Davis facing Stray Dog Army’s Barrett Brown and Misterioso. The tournament finals will be taped Sunday in Charlotte, North Carolina at the High Alert event.
Two other matches have been announced for Saturday’s Ignition episode.
Negro Casas’s Strong debut will air, as the Wrestling Observer Newsletter Hall of Famer teams with Adrian Quest, and Lucas Riley against Rocky Romero, Mascara Dorada, and David Finlay.
In Saturday’s opener, JR Kratos will face Jordan Cruz.
Saturday’s full lineup:
NJPW Strong: Ignition night three, Saturday, July 23, 8 p.m. Eastern time on NJPW World —
NJPW Strong Openweight Tag Team Championship tournament semifinal: Christopher Daniels & Yuya Uemura vs. Shane Haste & Mikey Nicholls
Negro Casas, Adrian Quest & Lucas Riley vs. Rocky Romero, Mascara Dorada & David Finlay
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.
A tournament to crown the first NJPW Strong Openweight Tag Team Champions kicks off on this week’s Strong: Ignition episode.
A pair of first round tournament matches have been announced for Saturday’s episode, as well as a singles bout.
In one first round bout, Christopher Daniels and Yuya Uemura will team against AEW’s The Factory duo of Aaron Solow and Nick Comoroto. That match will open Saturday’s show.
In the other first round bout, TMDK’s Shane Haste and Mikey Nicholls will face the West Coast Wrecking Crew, Jorel Nelson and Royce Isaacs from Team Filthy. That match will close Saturday’s episode.
In Saturday’s non-tournament bout, JONAH will face Taylor Rust.
The Ignition series of Strong shows was taped on June 19 in Los Angeles.
Saturday’s full lineup:
NJPW Strong: Ignition night one, Saturday, July 9, 8 p.m. Eastern time on NJPW World —
NJPW Strong Openweight Tag Team Championship tournament first round: Shane Haste & Mikey Nicholls vs. Jorel Nelson & Royce Isaacs
JONAH vs. Taylor Rust
NJPW Strong Openweight Tag Team Championship tournament first round: Christopher Daniels & Yuya Uemura vs. Aaron Solow & Nick Comoroto
NJPW Strong is introducing Tag Team Championships.
The promotion announced on Tuesday night that an eight-team single elimination tournament to crown the first NJPW Strong Openewight Tag Team Champions will begin at the Ignition taping in Los Angeles on Sunday, June 19.
The tournament will conclude and the first title holders will be crowned the following month at the High Alert taping in North Carolina on Sunday, July 24.
The NJPW Strong Openweight Tag Team titles will be the second Championship to be exclusively defended on Strong. The Strong Openweight Championship was introduced in 2021, with Tom Lawlor becoming the inaugural champ after winning the New Japan Cup USA 2021 on the April 23, 2021 Strong episode.
Here is the lineup for Ignition:
NJPW Strong Ignition, Sunday, June 19 —
Hiroshi Tanahashi & Yuya Uemura vs. Jay White & Hikuleo
Negro Casas, Adrian Quest & Lucas Riley vs. Mascara Dorada, Ren Narita & David Finlay
JONAH vs. Taylor Rust
JR Kratos vs. Jordan Cruz
Fred Yehi vs. Bateman
Barrett Brown & Misterioso vs. Kevin Knight & The DKC
NJPW Strong Openweight Tag Team Championship tournament begins
