Tag: njpw strong

NJPW Strong results: Minoru Suzuki vs. Fred Yehi

Posted on by Justin Knipper

Tonight saw the next set of matches from NJPW Strong’s “Showdown” tour in Hollywood, California.

During the show introduction with announcers Ian Riccaboni & Alex Koslov, “Filthy” Tom Lawlor appeared to share some thoughts with the audience at home. He first explained how his Team Filthy teammates JR Kratos & Danny Limelight had come “within a kangaroo hair” of beating NJPW Strong Openweight Tag Team champions, Aussie Open, and that’d after they put away “two soup cans” Jordan Cruz & Adrian Quest, they would come back to Aussie Open to bring home the titles for Team Filthy.

Lawlor also talked about his match against Homicide, which will air next week, saying he’s not afraid of an “untrained street thug” and that he’d take him out in their upcoming match.

Kenny King defeated Che Cabrera

This was Kenny King’s NJPW Strong debut. To NJPW fans, he’s known as the man who eliminated both Jushin Liger & The Great Muta in the Rumble at NJPWxROH’s G1 Supercard at Madison Square Garden.

King put Cabrera down with a spinebuster for a count of two. Later, Cabrera took King out on the floor with a nice pescado dive over the ropes.

When Cabrera went to the top rope for a final attack, King caught him with an enzuigiri to the back of his head. King then put Cabrera away with the Royal Flush for the win.

Team Filthy (JR Kratos & Danny Limelight) defeated Jordan Cruz & Adrian Quest

Cruz has been on NJPW Strong in the past, but here he had more time to show off his in-ring skill. He ragdolled Limelight early on, throwing him back and forth between gutwrench suplexes & forward gutbusters. The Hollywood crowd sounded very into it.

When JR Kratos tagged in, he mowed Cruz down with a falling lariat. Him and Danny Limelight later showed off some nice tag teamwork, with Kratos popping Limelight up for a double stomp onto Cruz.

Cruz was able to power up and almost pick Kratos up with a fireman’s carry. He was able to take him out with a sliding lariat, though, and from there he was able to finally tag out to Adrien Quest. Crowd was hot by this point.

Kratos put Quest down with a big superplex for two. Limelight then put Quest away with a tornado destroyer for the win.

Bullet Club members Chris Bey, Juice Robinson & El Phantasmo appeared in a vignette next. They talked about Bey & ELP’s upcoming tag match against Blake Christian (who Bey described as looking like a Dorito) & Mascara Dorada. Robinson also talked about his match that’d be airing two weeks from today with Jake Something. Robinson said he “had something for Something.”

Minoru Suzuki defeated Fred Yehi

This was great. Suzuki & Yehi went hold for hold at the beginning, exchanging positional control without many attempts at submitting one another. When Suzuki held Yehi in a side headlock, Yehi sold his ear, as though the hold made his cauliflower ear worse. Seeing that, Suzuki immediately grabbed on to both of Yehi’s ears and yanked on them.

The two began trading hard strikes next. During their chop contest, Yehi tricked Suzuki and went for an ankle pick takedown instead of giving Suzuki another chop. The crowd booed Yehi for that.

Suzuki trapped Yehi in a triangle choke over the ropes. The fight spilled out onto the floor from here. Yehi started biting Suzuki. Suzuki grabbed a chair and brought it into the ring. Yehi stole it from Suzuki, but the referee tried grabbing it out of Yehi’s hands. While the two fought over the chair in the ring, Suzuki rolled out to the floor and grabbed another steel folding chair, brought it into the ring. While the referee was passing the first chair out of the ring to the ring announcer, Suzuki whacked Yehi from behind with the second chair, all behind the ref’s back. Suzuki then dropped to the mat and feigned injury, holding his head like he’d also just been hit by a chair. He was back up after a few moments, though, with a smirk on his face. The crowd chanted “You sick f*ck!” at Suzuki.

The match spilled back onto the floor. Suzuki teased doing a Gotch-style Piledriver on the ring announcer’s table but Yehi escaped. Suzuki Chopped Yehi up against the guardrail, practically on top of fans in the front row.

Back in the ring, Suzuki bent & twisted Yehi’s wrist and finger joints around in circles. Yehi was able to slip away and lock Suzuki in the Koji Clutch until Suzuki put his foot on the bottom rope for the break.

The two traded forearms in the middle of the ring. Suzuki caught him with a heavy shot and knocked Yehi to the mat. When Suzuki tried doing it one more time, Yehi was able to catch Suzuki again, like earlier, when Suzuki telegraphed the forearm and Yehi countered with a drop toehold. The crowd booed this, too. I thought it was really clever but I guess people just love Suzuki that much.

The finish saw Suzuki catch Yehi in a sleeperhold before cracking him once more and putting Yehi away with a Gotch-style piledriver. Suzuki terrorized the referee afterwards and teased a piledriver for him as well.

Final thoughts:

The main event on this week’s episode was great. Fred Yehi deserves a lot more credit than he gets right now, so if you’ve slept on him in the past, introduce yourself with this match he had against Minoru Suzuki. Great stuff.

Next week’s main event sees “Filthy” Tom Lawlor taking on Homicide.

Full lineup announced for NJPW Strong Detonation taping

Posted on by Bryan Rose

The full card for NJPW’s upcoming Detonation taping at the Vermont Hollywood on November 20 is now set.

Two title matches are set to take place. Fred Rosser will defend the Strong title against JR Kratos. Meanwhile, The Motor City Machine Guns will defend the Strong Tag Team titles against Barrett Brown and Misterioso of the Stray Dog Army.

A lucha tag rules match has been added to the show, with CMLL’s Atlantis Jr. and Virus taking on Rocky Romero and Adrian Quest. Lince Dorado will also be on the show, teaming with former WWE tag team partner Mascara Dorada against the team of Cody Chhun and Guillermo Rosas.

Here is the full card for Detonation:

  • NJPW Strong title: Fred Rosser defends against JR Kratos
  • NJPW Strong Tag Team titles: Motor City Machine Guns defend against Stray Dog Army (Barrett Brown and Misterioso)
  • Tama Tonga, Hikuleo, Alan Angels, and David Finlay vs. Jay White, ELP, and the West Coast Wrecking Crew
  • Lucha libre rules: Rocky Romero and Adrian Quest vs. Atlantis Jr. and Virus
  • Bad Dude Tito vs. KENTA
  • Mascara Dorada and Lince Dorado vs. Cody Chhun and Guillermo Rosas
  • Homicide vs. Danny Limelight
  • Blake Christian vs. Juice Robinson
  • DKC vs. Christopher Daniels
  • Jakob Austin Young vs. Bateman
  • Gregory Sharpe vs. Kenny King

Minoru Suzuki vs. Fred Yehi set for this week’s NJPW Strong

Posted on by Ethan Renner

NJPW has announced the full lineup for Saturday’s New Japan Showdown episode of Strong. 

In the main event, Minoru Suzuki will take on Fred Yehi in the first singles meeting between the two. 

In the second match of the night, Jordan Cruz and Adrian Quest will tag against Team Filthy’s JR Kratos and Danny Limelight. 

In Saturday’s opener, Kenny King will take on Che Cabrera. This will be King’s first appearance on an NJPW card since the G1 Supercard event at Madison Square Garden in New York City in 2019. 

Strong’s New Japan Showdown series was taped on October 16 at the Vermont Hollywood in Los Angeles.

Here is the full lineup for Saturday: 

NJPW Strong: New Japan Showdown, Saturday, November 12, 8 p.m. Eastern time on NJPW World —

  • Minoru Suzuki vs. Fred Yehi
  • Adrian Quest & Jordan Cruz vs. Team Filthy (Danny Limelight & JR Kratos)
  • Kenny King vs. Che Cabrera

NJPW Strong results: Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. Gabriel Kidd

Posted on by Justin Knipper

NJPW Strong returned to Hollywood, California for the first of their “Showdown” tapings.

At the top of the show, while announcers Ian Riccaboni & Alex Koslov ran down today’s event, West Coast Wrecking Crew appeared and talked about their upcoming four-way tag team match vs. Stray Dog Army, TMDK, & Kevin Knight & the DKC from the LA Dojo. Both Royce Isaacs & Jorel Nelson had a good promo talking about how they’d soon end up with Aussie Open’s STRONG Openweight Tag Team titles.

Christopher Daniels defeated Rocky Romero

Bateman of Stray Dog Army joined Riccaboni & Koslov on commentary for this match.

Daniels recently turned heel on his former partner, Yuya Uemura, and was showered in boos from the Hollywood crowd upon his return.

Romero also got a huge response from the crowd. Loud “RO-CKY!” chants broke out early, though as the match went on, there were a number of “Fallen Angel” chants for Daniels, too.

Overall, this was really good. Daniels pinned Romero with his feet on the ropes for leverage to pick up the win.

Four-way tag team match: Stray Dog Army defeated LA Dojo (Kevin Knight & the DKC), TMDK (Shane Haste & Bad Dude Tito), West Coast Wrecking Crew (Royce Isaacs & Jorel Nelson)

The winning team of this four-way match would become #1 contenders to the tag team titles.

The match itself was pretty much non-stop action. I thought everyone looked terrific in this. These matches can sometimes turn into a train wreck but this one had a clear rhythm and flow to it.

Bad Dude Tito press slammed Kevin Knight onto the floor before landing on three or four of his opponents with a tope suicida. Misterioso followed that up with a springboard corkscrew moonsault onto everyone.

The finish saw Misterioso lay the DKC out with a lungblower before Barrett Brown drilled him with a Claymore kick for the clean win; Stray Dog Army are now the #1 contenders to Aussie Open’s STRONG Openweight Tag Team titles.

Bateman, who was still on commentary, left the announce booth to celebrate with his team in the ring. This was put over as a huge win because, for the most part, many of SDA’s victories on NJPW Strong came from bending the rules or even cheating. Brown & Misterioso earned a clean, emphatic win here. Good booking.

Hiroshi Tanahashi defeated Gabriel Kidd

Great to see Gabriel Kidd back in the ring, whom we haven’t seen since earlier this year. A promo and video package aired with him explaining that even though he’d break bread with Tanahashi after tours, tonight would not be the same; tonight would be a scrap, in his words.

Kidd also described himself, Clark Connors & Alex Coughlin as his generation’s “Three Musketeers,” and that every set of musketeers had an ace, and that was him.

There were loud chants for Tanahashi early on. He and Kidd went hold for hold at the top of the match. Kidd’s chain wrestling is clever and impressive.

When Kidd had Tanahashi against the ropes, referee Jeremy Marcus called for a break, but Kidd stung Tanahashi with a few cheap chops. The crowd booed. Kidd nailed Tanahashi with a nice dropkick next, and Kidd followed that up with some air guitar of his own. The crowd ate that up and booed some more. Kidd looked really confident out there tonight.

Tanahashi didn’t appreciate Kidd’s air guitar shredding and let him know with a dragon screw legwhip that forced Kidd out onto the floor. Tanahashi hi-fived fans while he worked Kidd over. Kidd was able to reverse Tanahashi’s momentum and whipped him into the ring post before rolling him back into the ring.

Kidd slowed the pace and worked over Tanahashi’s knee and lower back. He locked Tana in a cobra twist and played some more air guitar, or rather torso guitar, on Tanahashi. Big Pete Townsend-esque strums. The crowd continued to boo, which looked to have fueled Kidd up.

Tanahashi put Kidd down with a slingblade before his signature second-rope somersault senton.

Kidd answered with a lariat from the left side before earning a two-count with a nice second-rope moonsault. The two then traded hard shots before Kidd dropped Tana with a basement dropkick to his knee.

Kidd dropped Tanahashi with a straight right. The crowd began chanting for Tanahashi even more, and it was even louder this time. Kidd told off the crowd which elicited lots of boos. Both wrestlers did a great job playing off the crowd.

Kidd and Tana traded more hard slaps before Tanahashi put Kidd down with two more sling blades. The finish saw Tanahashi stick the High Fly Flow off the top rope and score the three-count

Excellent main event that I’m sure will be revisited down the road. Kidd hasn’t lost a step after being gone for a couple of months, and Tanahashi worked his usual magic and had the Hollywood crowd fully behind him in a match that was under 15 minutes. The two shook hands and hugged afterwards.

Final thoughts:

Top-notch episode tonight. Each match was very good, but the main event was outstanding, as you’d expect from a match with Hiroshi Tanahashi in it. Gabriel Kidd’s return was a success, as well, and I hope to see him more regularly with NJPW Strong going forward.

Next week sees Fred Yehi take on Minoru Suzuki in the main event of NJPW Strong: Showdown night two. 

Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. Gabriel Kidd announced for this week’s NJPW Strong

Posted on by Ethan Renner

Hiroshi Tanahashi will battle Gabriel Kidd in the main event of this week’s NJPW Strong: New Japan Showdown. 

NJPW revealed the full card for Saturday’s show on Monday, with Tanahashi vs. Kidd set to headline the episode. 

Also announced for the show, Christopher Daniels will take on Rocky Romero in singles competition. 

In Saturday’s opener, four tag teams will square off to determine number one contenders to Motor City Machine Guns and their NJPW Strong Openweight Tag Team Championship. The four-way competitors will be Stray Dog Army (Misterioso & Barrett Brown), TMDK (Shane Haste & Bad Dude Tito), LA Dojo (Kevin Knight & The DKC), and Team Filthy’s West Coast Wrecking Crew (Jorel Nelson & Royce Isaacs). 

Here is Saturday’s card: 

NJPW Strong: New Japan Showdown, Saturday, November 5, 8 p.m. Eastern time on NJPW World —

  • Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. Gabriel Kidd
  • Christopher Daniels vs. Rocky Romero
  • NJPW Strong Openweight Tag Team Championship number one contenders match: Stray Dog Army (Misterioso & Barrett Brown) vs. TMDK (Shane Haste & Bad Dude Tito) vs. LA Dojo (Kevin Knight & The DKC) vs. Team Filthy’s West Coast Wrecking Crew (Jorel Nelson & Royce Isaacs)

NJPW Strong results: Tomohiro Ishii vs. Tom Lawlor

Posted on by Justin Knipper

Tonight’s episode of NJPW Strong saw the last set of New Japan’s Autumn Action tour tapings from Las Vegas, Nevada. This week had a nice variety of styles packed into this 55-minute episode.

Ari Daivari defeated Kevin Knight

This was a good opener. Daivari (fka Ariya Daivari) appeared at the top of the show with announcers Ian Riccaboni & Alex Koslov, bragging about coming into his trust fund recently and explaining that he is scouting for new talent to recruit into his Trustbusters group in AEW.

Daivari plays the classic heel role better than anyone else who has come through NJPW Strong in recent years. He’s not reinventing the wheel, but his timing and delivery in the ring plus his relentless dickishness toward the crowd played perfectly. Knight was just the right type of high impact aerial babyface Daivari needed to create a nicely balanced dynamic. 

The crowd was enthusiastic in getting behind Knight, and loud and boisterous whenever Daivari insulted them or did something that went against the rules.

Knight is pretty brilliant as a flyer. I continue to believe he has the highest vertical leap dropkick in the business at the moment. He also landed an impressive springboard bodypress and a leg lariat that had such hangtime it made Knight look like he hung in the air for a split second. You can bet the house on this guy.

Toward the end of this, Daivari went to the floor to grab the ring bell, presumably to smash Knight in the face. The referee immediately ripped it from Daivari’s hands and handed it back to the ring announcer. Daivari then whipped Knight into the corner and almost crashed into the referee, but Knight stopped himself last second. 

The ref ducked, so no contact was made. When the ref wasn’t looking, though, still crouched in a defensive position, Daivari “trust busted” Knight’s nether regions and scored a pinfall victory after the referee missed the low blow.

Alex Zayne & Mistico defeated Blake Christian & Mascara Dorada

Mistico and Dorada had a fast, flashy exchange before Christian and Zayne had an even flashier and more hard-hitting exchange. Christian landed a handspring tumbleweed kick and a springboard lariat on Zayne who answered back with a basement dropkick to Christian’s back.

Mistico tagged in and peppered Christian with stomps before catching him with a low superkick while Christian was seated in the corner. Dorada tagged in later and came off the top with a diving hurricanrana that Riccaboni called smooth as butter which was absolutely the right call.

Dorada’s silky smooth way of moving around the ring is distinct and very easy to notice. He quickly hopped back onto the second rope, almost tap dancing from one side to the other, before flying back off with another diving hurricanrana that sent Mistico to the floor. Within seconds, Dorada crashed onto Mistico with a tope con giro. 

Back in the ring, Dorada traded a springboard splash for a Mistico springboard bodypress. Both tagged out, leading to Christian landing a springboard 450 splash onto Zayne. He landed a rolling cutter before going to the top, but Mistico would catch Christian on the top rope Spanish Fly for the win.

**********

“They’ll all bend a knee to the K-I-N-G.” 

Impact Wrestling’s Kenny King appeared in a backstage vignette, saying he was going to bring “pizazz, flash and style” to NJPW Strong and that he’ll take on anyone in New Japan, be it someone from the LA Dojo or one of NJPW’s top stars. 

**********

Tomohiro Ishii defeated Tom Lawlor

This was the first bout ever between these two. 

Former Strong Openweight champion Lawlor went in on for a double-leg takedown, but “Tom” Ishii dropped his weight across Lawlor’s back with a heavy sprawl, then locked on a waistlock from behind. Lawlor used a Kimura grip to break the hold, and the two traded standing switches before they were forced to break when they were on the ropes.

Lawlor and Ishii next had a contest of wills via Greco-Roman knuckle lock, testing each other’s upper-body strength. The smaller, more compact Ishii would slam his chest into Lawlor, taking him to his knees. Lawlor broke the hold with a boot to the stomach. He tried knocking Ishii off his feet with a running shoulder block and another takedown attempt, but the “Stone Pitbull” wouldn’t budge. They traded hard forearm shots next with Ishii ordering Lawlor to come at him harder and harder.

Lawlor locked on an achilles hold momentarily, neutralizing Ishii to the mat. He caught Ishii with a few hard low kicks to the back. This seemed to have charged Ishii up, because he responded immediately with a vertical suplex. He caught Lawlor with a quarter-side suplex next. 

The two traded even more shots in the corner, primarily chops (legal) and closed fist jabs (illegal). Ishii exploded from the corner to catch Lawlor with a big lariat, again shifting the momentum of the match. 

When Ishii attempted a superplex from the top rope, Lawlor slipped out of Ishii’s grasp and planted him with a one-armed uranage slam. He blasted Ishii with running knees and elbows and went for a tornado guillotine choke, but Ishii blocked it and set him atop the ropes again, catching Lawlor with a jumping vertical headbutt before finally sticking the superplex he initially went for. Ishii earned a close near fall from this.

Lawlor responded with a flurry of rolling elbows with the last one connecting against the back of Ishii’s head. Lawlor went for an Inoki-esque enzuigiri kick but Ishii blocked it with his forearm, then dashing at Lawlor with a basement lariat. Lawlor ducked out of the way, then quickly locked him into a stretch muffler submission. Lawlor would transition to a standing sleeper before spiking him with a TTD for two. 

When Lawlor went for a penalty kick, Ishii caught it and stood up. Lawlor then caught Ishii with the aforementioned Inoki-esque enzuigiri to the back of Ishii’s head, taking him back to his knees. “Filthy” Tom fired up and went for a wrist-clutch knee strike, but Ishii blocked that, launching Lawlor with a release German suplex. 

They traded even more elbows with each other. Just before the 15-minute call sounded, Ishii was able to lay Lawlor out with a big power bomb. When Ishii came running out of the corner with a lariat, Lawlor caught him mid-stride and threw him with an exploder suplex. Ishii ate the pain, clenched his fist and shouted in the air before turning Lawlor inside out with a running Riki lariat and pinning him.

Final thoughts:

The opener was short & sweet and offered a nice dose of “orthodox” North American-style pro wrestling. The tag team match had enough aerial action for an entire show, and it felt like a quick breath of air before the main event — a fantastic 15+ minute brawl between two tough guys. 

If you can only watch just one match from tonight’s episode, the main event is worth your time, especially if you enjoyed Ishii vs. Ren Narita from earlier in the week. 

NJPW Rumble on 44th Street notes: Title change, Ken Shamrock, Battle in the Valley

Posted on by Ethan Renner

The Motor City Machine Guns are the new NJPW Strong Openweight Tag Team Champions. 

MCMG’s Chris Sabin and Alex Shelley defeated Aussie Open, and Kevin Knight and The DKC in a triple threat match at Friday’s Rumble on 44th Street pay-per-view to capture the titles, dethroning Aussie Open. 

Other notes from Friday’s show: 

  • Ken Shamrock made a surprise appearance, cornering Clark Connors in his match against Minoru Suzuki. 

  • NJPW announced Battle in the Valley for San Jose, California on Saturday, February 18, 2023. 
  • Lio Rush returned to the promotion, aligning with YOH in an angle after the opening match. 
  • Our full report on the show can be found here. 

Results: 

  • Jay White & Juice Robinson defeated Kazuchika Okada & Eddie Kingston
  • KOPW 2022 New York City Street Fight: Shingo Takagi defeated El Phantasmo to retain
  • SWA World Championship: Mayu Iwatani defeated KiLynn King to retain
  • Minoru Suzuki defeated Clark Connors (w/Ken Shamrock)
  • Shota Umino, Wheeler Yuta & Homicide defeated Tom Lawlor, Jorel Nelson & Royce Isaacs
  • NJPW Strong Openweight Championship: Fred Rosser defeated Jonathan Gresham to retain
  • NJPW Strong Openweight Tag Team Championship: Motor City Machine Guns defeated Aussie Open, & Kevin Knight & The DKC to win the titles
  • Yujiro Takahashi & SHO defeated YOH & Rocky Romero
  • Kylie Rae & Tiara James defeated Waka Tsukiyama & Mina Shirakawa

Tomohiro Ishii vs. ‘Filthy’ Tom Lawlor headlining this week’s NJPW Strong

Posted on by Ethan Renner

NJPW Strong’s Autumn Action series wraps up this Saturday with three matches, headlined by Tomohiro Ishii vs. “Filthy” Tom Lawlor. 

Ishii, a six-time former NEVER Openweight Champion, faces Lawlor, a former NJPW Strong Openweight Champion in the main event of this Saturday’s episode in a match officially announced Monday night on social media. 

Also set for Saturday’s episode, Blake Christian will team with Mascara Dorada against Alex Zayne, and CMLL’s Mistico. 

In Saturday’s opener, AEW’s Ari Daivari will take on Kevin Knight of NJPW’s LA Dojo in singles competition. 

The Autumn Action series was taped on September 11 in Las Vegas, Nevada at the Sam’s Town venue. The show will air at 8 p.m. Eastern time on NJPW World, and will be available on demand after airing.

Here is Saturday’s lineup: 

NJPW Strong: Autumn Action, Saturday, October 29, 8 p.m. Eastern time on NJPW World —

  • Tomohiro Ishii vs. “Filthy” Tom Lawlor
  • Blake Christian & Mascara Dorada vs. Mistico & Alex Zayne
  • Ari Daivari vs. Kevin Knight

NJPW Strong results: Shingo Takagi vs. Rocky Romero

Posted on by Justin Knipper

This week’s NJPW Strong opened with a good tag team match. In all, this was one excellent hour of pro wrestling. Each match was high quality, but the two singles bouts on tonight’s episode were really good.

West Coast Wrecking Crew (Royce Isaacs & Jorel Nelson) defeated Jakob Austin Young & Gregory Sharpe 

This marked Young & Sharpe’s debut on Strong, but they have teamed together in China in the past. West Coast Wrecking Crew picked up the win with a finishing sequence that went like this: Nelson caught Sharpe with a pop-up power bomb, slingshotted him to Isaacs who hoisted Sharpe into a death valley bomb, dropping Sharpe onto Nelson’s knees, adding a backcracker effect. West Coast Wrecking Crew looked strong here.

– Alex Zayne talked about his upcoming match in New York against Blake Christian & Mascara Dorada and announced that Misitico would be his tag team partner in their match at next week’s Rumble on 42nd St.

Yuya Uemura defeated Christopher Daniels

A package aired explaining the backstory in this grudge match, looking back at how those two had partnered together over the summer in the NJPW Strong Openweight Tag Team Tournament but lost in the finals to Aussie Open. It was when Daniels & Uemura lost to TMDK at Fighting Spirit Unleashed 2022 that Daniels turned his back on the former LA Dojo Young Lion as after their bout, Daniels attacked Uemura and left him flattened in the ring after two double-jump moonsaults.

Before the match, Daniels got on the mic and said he would speak slowly “for all the morons & meth heads in Las Vegas.” He said he was the king of Southern California and that he is the most important professional wrestler to ever come out of Southern California. 

“Los Angeles is the City of Angels—my city!” Daniels complained that the LA Dojo wasn’t putting out great talent like him. He said he’s at a point in his career where he should not have to “put up with failure,” and that no one was a bigger failure than Uemura. He said that even though he didn’t want anything to do with Uemura, he would gladly fight him in a singles match. 

Uemura’s music sounded and he appeared at the entrance ramp. He then dashed to the ring and went right at Daniels, taking him down with a double leg before raining fists down on him. Uemura came off like a real bad ass. He continued running roughshod over Daniels, blasting him with a high dropkick in the corner.

Uemura then slipped off his trunks, the ones that Daniels had given him that were said to be a gift. I appreciated Ian Riccaboni’s quick explanation because otherwise I would have thought Uemura was about to go full-on Danshoku Dieno. (Uemura had another pair of regular trunks on under his black striped ones for the record.) Uemura began choking Daniels with the gifted trunks. 

Uemura continued to punish Daniels, battering him on the floor at ringside. When Uemura went to suplex him back into the ring off the apron, Daniels blocked and raked Uemura’s eyes. This shifted the momentum in Daniels’ favor. 

Later, when Daniels had Uemura facing the corner, he climbed atop Uemura and did the ten punches spot, but the brilliant part of this spot was that Uemura was facing away from Daniels so that Uemura had no way to block his punches. Why doesn’t anyone else do this? It’s the logical fix to a historically silly spot, plus the crowd can still chant numbers if they want to.

Uemura came back with a missile dropkick off the second rope, then a flying bulldog off the opposite second rope. When Uemura whipped Daniels into the ropes, he went up for a leapfrog, but Daniels caught Uemura mid-air and spiked him with a death valley bomb. 

Uemura would attempt a sudden frankensteiner, but Daniels had that scouted and dropped him mid-air with a power bomb. Daniels didn’t go for a pin and was slow to get up. After a few moments, he was back on his feet and called for Angel’s Wings, but Uemura, too, had Daniels scouted and was prepared to block Daniels’ finisher. Uemura pulled his back to the mat, and then scooped and stacked Daniels into a pin for a three count. Uemura earned a huge surprise win over Daniels.

Daniels attacked Uemura after the match, clobbering him with an forearm before dropping him with a tombstone piledriver and then an Angel’s Wings onto a chair. The crowd booed as Daniels celebrated his attack while he exited to the back. Uemura was helped to the back by NJPW Strong staff.

Shingo Takagi defeated Rocky Romero

Takagi is the current King of Pro Wrestling champion, but he didn’t bring the trophy to the ring with him tonight. The two opponents elicited dueling chants from the crowd. 

Romero caught Takagi with two suicide dives just a couple minutes in. Back in the ring, Romero unloaded a variety of hard kicks onto Takagi, who ate all of them before asking for more. Takagi walked over to the corner and slammed his head into the turnbuckle pads repeatedly, essentially telling Romero that it’s going to take more than low and middle kicks to break him down. Takagi would lay Romero out with a standing lariat and then a lariat that took Romero over the top rope out onto the floor. The crowd chanted, “This is awesome!”

Later, Takagi put Romero down with a big vertical suplex. Takagi began peppering Romero with haughty kicks; short, disrespectful ones. This fired Romero up and led to him slapping Takagi in the face. They traded slaps and chops before Romero was able to knock Takagi off his feet with an enzuigiri to the back of the head. 

Romero caught Takagi with his Strong Zero missile dropkick for two. Romero shouted something at Takagi, something along the lines of “Come on, Takagi!” with a few stronger words included, but it was bleeped on NJPW World. Whatever it was he said had the crowd going “Oooooh!”

Romero hit a modified falcon arrow before locking in an armbar submission until he was forced to break. Takagi came back later with a sliding basement lariat, then Made in Japan for a count of two. The crowd was hot by this point.

Takagi went for Last of the Dragon, but Romero slipped out and caught Takagi with a sunset cradle for two. He connected with a Rewind Kick. Romero avoided a Pumping Bomber before catching Takagi with Shiranui. Takagi answered with a death valley bomb as the crowd got hotter. He caught Romero with a few lariats before a big Pumping Bomber. 

He didn’t want to pin Romero, though, and got the crowd more into the match, enticing them to keep the chants going. When he finally lifted Romero into Last of the Dragon, Romero countered with a frankensteiner for two. Romero caught Takagi with a rolling armbar and transitioned into a triangle for a few moments. Takagi powered out and then finally drilled Romero with Last of the Dragon for an emphatic win in just over 15 minutes. 

  • Next week: Tomohiro Ishii vs. F4W’s very own “Filthy” Tom Lawlor.

NJPW Strong returning to Los Angeles in November

Posted on by Ethan Renner

NJPW Strong will return to Los Angeles in November for the Detonation 2022 taping. 

The promotion has announced a Sunday, November 20 return date for The Vermont Hollywood, the company’s home base for Strong tapings throughout 2022.

Tickets for Detonation go on sale this Friday, October 21 at 10 a.m. Pacific time, with prices ranging from $25 to $90. 

Strong Openweight Champion Fred Rosser, IWGP World Heavyweight Champion Jay White, David Finlay, and Hikuleo are the talent currently listed as appearing at Detonation. Match announcements are expected to made in the coming weeks.

Detonation will be the sixth set of tapings held in Los Angeles this year, with Rivals in February, Mutiny in April, Ignition in June, Fighting Spirit Unleashed in August, and New Japan Showdown in October also taking place at The Vermont Hollywood. 

Last year’s Detonation taping was headlined by “Filthy” Tom Lawlor defending the Openweight title against Rosser.

Shingo Takagi’s NJPW Strong debut set for this week’s episode

Posted on by Ethan Renner

Shingo Takagi’s NJPW Strong debut is set for Saturday’s Autumn Action episode. 

In the show’s main event, Shingo will take on Rocky Romero in singles competition. Shingo is the provisional KOPW 2022 trophy holder, plus a former IWGP World Heavyweight Champion. 

Also announced for Saturday, Christopher Daniels will take on Yuya Uemura. Daniels and Uemura had been temporarily aligned as partners in the NJPW Strong Openweight Tag Team title tournament, but Daniels turned on Uemura after the pair lost in the tournament. 

In Saturday’s opening contest, Jorel Nelson and Royce Isaacs of West Coast Wrecking Crew and Team Filthy will take on Jakob Austin Young and the debuting Greg Sharpe. 

Strong’s Autumn Action episodes were taped in Las Vegas on September 11. 

Saturday’s lineup: 

NJPW Strong: Autumn Action, Saturday, October 22, 8 p.m. Eastern time on NJPW World —

  • Shingo Takagi vs. Rocky Romero
  • Christopher Daniels vs. Yuya Uemura 
  • Jorel Nelson & Royce Isaacs vs. Jakob Austin Young & Greg Sharpe

NJPW Strong Showdown spoilers: Jay White, Tanahashi, Suzuki in action

Posted on by F4W Staff

Results: PWInsider

NJPW was back at The Vermont Hollywood in Los Angeles on Sunday night for its New Japan Showdown set of Strong tapings. Here are the results from the show:

– NJPW paid tribute to Antonio Inoki before the taping got underway.

– Peter Avalon defeated Keita

– Team Filthy (JR Kratos & Danny Limelight) defeated Jordan Cruz & Adrian Quest

– Kenny King defeated Che Cabrera

– Aussie Open (Mark Davis & Kyle Fletcher) won a tag team match

– Christopher Daniels defeated Rocky Romero

Daniels got a cheap win where he had his feet on the ropes while pinning Romero.

– Barrett Brown & Misterioso defeated The DKC & Kevin Knight, Shane Haste & Bad Dude Tito, and Royce Isaacs & Jorel Nelson in a four-way tag match

– Juice Robinson defeated Jake Something

– Homicide defeated “Filthy” Tom Lawlor

– Bullet Club (Chris Bey & El Phantasmo) defeated Mascara Dorada & Blake Christian

– Minoru Suzuki defeated Fred Yehi

– Hiroshi Tanahashi defeated Gabriel Kidd

– Jay White defeated Fred Rosser

JR Kratos appeared after the match and made it known that he wants Rosser’s Strong Openweight Championship.

NJPW Strong results: Fred Rosser vs. Chris Dickinson

Posted on by Justin Knipper

Tonight saw the next set of matches from NJPW Strong’s Autumn Attack tapings in Las Vegas, Nevada.

Ian Riccaboni and Alex Koslov were running down tonight’s card when Young Lion Kevin Knight appeared, albeit briefly. He wanted to let both STRONG Tag Team champions Aussie Open and Team Filthy know that he was going to be scouting their match tonight, because Knight and his tag team partner, The DKC, are looking to challenge for the tag titles in the near future.

Doc Gallows defeated Che Cabrera

“Wild Rhino” Clark Connors was on commentary for a few of tonight’s matches.

Cabrera’s nickname is “Latino Meat” and the crowd sounded to have had a good time chanting “Beat That Meat!” at Gallows, who pinned Cabrera in a little over five minutes with an Anarchy Suplex.

STRONG Openweight Tag Team Championship match: Aussie Open (Mark Davis & Kyle Fletcher) (c) defeated Team Filthy (JR Kratos & Danny Limelight)

This was really good.

When Kratos and Davis were in together early on, we had a mini-hoss battle on our hands. Davis is deceptively big and is about the same height as Kratos, actually. They crashed into each other with shoulder blocks. Team Filthy later stood over Davis and posed with “The Filthy Flex.”

Kratos later held Fletcher in a stalling suplex before slamming him into the mat. Limelight tagged in and worked Fletcher over for a bit, at one point connecting with a flying lariat into the corner.

Davis and Kratos went at it again later in the match. Both traded forearms and palm strikes. Kratos tossed Davis with a big release German suplex; Davis answered back with a flying harpoon elbow smash in the corner to a seated Kratos.

Aussie Open attempted to hoist Kratos up for Coriolis, their double-team finisher, but they weren’t able to get Kratos in the air. Limelight broke up the hold, and Kratos connected with a jumping back enzuigiri to Davis’ head. Limelight then bounced off the middle rope and caught Fletcher with a springboard Canadian Destroyer, or the Puerto Rican Destroyer, as Riccaboni called it. I don’t think I’ve ever seen one before, it looked wild. Kratos immediately dashed off the apron onto the floor, somersaulting onto Davis. We’ll call this spot the “Liger XXL.”

Limelight landed a frog splash back in the ring but only scored a count of two. The crowd ate this up and were chanting “This-is-awe-some!” by this point in the match.

Fletcher took Limelight out with a 360 tombstone piledriver. Aussie Open then used a creative double-team power offense to neutralize Kratos. Davis & Fletcher then locked the double-pumphandle clutch on Limelight and finally put him away with Coriolis; Aussie Open retains. Again, really good stuff from both teams.

STRONG Openweight Championship match: Fred Rosser (c) and Chris Dickinson wrestled to a count-out

Rosser was fired up before the match got underway. He even attacked Dickinson before the bell rang while he was still wearing his STRONG Openweight championship belt. Dickinson was able to throw Rosser with a release German suplex, which halted Rosser’s sudden onslaught. Dickinson was away from NJPW for a few months and is now a bitter, nasty heel, which turned out to be the perfect complement to Rosser’s no-BS-tough-guy approach. Dickinson paintbrushed Rosser’s head while he was down and smack-talked him as he tried getting up. Dickinson threw a hard kick into Rosser’s chest; Rosser ate it and went back for seconds. He threw elbows from the right and left side. He finally took Dickinson down with a running shoulder tackle.

Rosser tried backdropping Dickinson onto the apron, but Dickinson blocked the move, then caught Rosser with a running, diving lariat from the apron onto the floor.

Back in the ring, Rosser slapped on the cross-face chicken wing, but Dickinson countered it with a backdrop suplex. Dickinson connected with a big axe bomber for another two.

Rosser would answer back later with a running powerslam from out of the corner, reminiscent of the late, great Davey Boy Smith’s finish. He tried locking in the chicken wing STF next, the submission hold that won him the title from “Filthy” Tom Lawlor, but he couldn’t fully clamp down on it. Dickinson was able to inch his way to the bottom rope for a break.

Rosser returned to the ring apron and dropped Dickinson back-first onto it. Dickinson fought through the pain, flipped Rosser the double bird, kicked him in the chest, then took him over the guardrail with a big lariat. The two landed in the front row on the side of the commentator’s table.

Both collected themselves after a few moments, though it was Rosser who’d be back on the attack first; he put his arms through the guardrail and grabbed Dickinson by the face and began yanking on it. Bar room brawl stuff. He landed more shots with Dickinson still against the guard, proof that the champ is willing to “go there” regardless of his opponent. Both men prevented one another from re-entering the ring, eventually causing the referee to call for a twenty count and ending the match via double count out. The crowd let out a loud “Boooo!”

The two continued going at it at ringside, enough that the ring staff had to break the two up. Rosser tried strangling Dickinson with a green video cable. Dickinson attempted to grab Rosser’s title belt. Ring security would pull them apart, but they’d go right back at it a number of times. Rosser went back into the ring to pose for the crowd, but again Dickinson went after Rosser. He even looked to have bit Rosser’s leg or boot while the two were being pulled apart.

This was great. It was short, but that’s fine because these two are clearly building to a rematch. Both Rosser and Dickinson have distinct kinds of charisma and powerful presences. They could end up being perfect rivals down the road.

Final thoughts:

This was one of the better episodes of Strong in a few weeks. Both title matches are well worth going out of your way to see this week.

Next week sees Rocky Romero vs. Shingo Takagi in the main event.

Two title matches set for this week’s NJPW Strong

Posted on by Ethan Renner

Two title matches are set for Saturday’s NJPW Strong Autumn Action episode.

In the main event, Fred Rosser will defend the NJPW Strong Openweight Championship against Chris Dickinson. 

In Saturday’s second title match, Aussie Open’s Kyle Fletcher and Mark Davis of United Empire will defend the NJPW Strong Openweight Tag Team Championships against JR Kratos and Danny Limelight of Team Filthy. 

In Saturday’s opener, Doc Gallows will face Che Cabrera. Gallows made his return to WWE alongside NJPW’s current NEVER Openweight Champion Karl Anderson on Monday’s Raw. 

Strong’s Autumn Action episodes were taped on September 11 at Sam’s Town in Las Vegas, Nevada. 

Here is Saturday’s lineup: 

NJPW Strong: Autumn Action, Saturday, October 15, 8 p.m. Eastern time on NJPW World —

  • NJPW Strong Openweight Championship: Fred Rosser (c) vs. Chris Dickinson
  • NJPW Strong Openweight Tag Team Championship United Empire’s Aussie Open (Kyle Fletcher & Mark Davis ) (c) vs. Team Filthy (JR Kratos & Danny Limelight)
  • Doc Gallows vs. Che Cabrera

NJPW Strong results: Jay White & Karl Anderson vs. Wheeler Yuta & Homicide

Posted on by Justin Knipper

Tonight saw the first of NJPW Strong’s Autumn Attack tapings from Las Vegas, Nevada.

Shota Umino defeated QT Marshall

Umino got his full-on babyface crash course from QT Marshall in tonight’s opening bout, babyface vs. heel 101 between these two.

Usually, Marshall doesn’t do anything in the ring that I’d call out of the ordinary, but he is consistently good at eliciting negative responses from crowds. Though this always comes across better live, and it always seems to drag on television because NJPW’s production quality isn’t able to capture how loudly the crowd reacts. This style of wrestling is better in a live setting than on NJPWWorld, for sure.

Marshall earned a close two-count after a Golden Star Bomb, just like Kota Ibushi does. I’m sure people will love to read that. Umino hit a tombstone piledriver and later, he’d pick up the win after hitting the Death Rider on Marshall.

*****

JR Kratos and Danny Limelight from Team Filthy came out next. Limelight got on the mic and trashed the people of Vegas and called out “cherry boys” Aussie Open, who are current STRONG Openweight Tag Team champions. The crowd gave them a lot of heat during the promo. When Kratos grabbed the mic to speak, the mic seemed to have been cut out, so the fans started chanting “We can’t hear you!” What’s funny was that Kratos has such a powerful voice that I did, in fact, hear him, even though it was through the screen.

Kratos eventually got the mic working again and re-emphasized what Limelight said, that they essentially were owed a shot at the titles since they were in NJPW Strong and grinding far longer than some outsider team. Aussie Open then appeared on the entrance ramp and nodded in approval of they and Team Filthy squaring off for the titles in the future.

Ren Narita defeated Juice Robinson via disqualification

The “Rock Hard” one ambushed Narita on the entrance ramp as he was on his way to the ring. The ring announcer was barely into his match call when Robinson appeared, so Narita took a lengthy pre-match beating.

When the bell rang, Robinson continued beating the hell out of Narita at ringside. He even at one point grabbed the ring bell and hit Narita with it. Actually, right before that, the referee tried taking the bell out of Robinson’s hands but Robinson shoved him into the guardrail.

Soon after all this, the ref called the match and awarded the win to Narita via disqualification. Narita was covered in blood by this point.

“You shouldn’t have called me out on the internet, Narita!” Robinson said. He then proceeded to cut a pretty blue promo on Narita for calling him out (despite being a lower ranked wrestler in the NJPW system), and at the end of it, he basically offered Narita to restart the match, but as a no-DQ match. A bloodied-up Narita demanded the ref restart the match, and we were back on. Bloody Narita vs. “Rock Hard” Robinson in a no-disqualification rules match.

Ren Narita defeated Juice Robinson via submission in a no disqualification match

There was a great visual of Narita having Robinson locked in a figure four, all blood all over his face. Robinson hit Narita with a kendo stick a number of times, to the point where the stick split apart and hit the announcers at the commentary table. Ian Riccaboni even mentioned he got hit by a piece of the stick, and both announcers claimed they got some of Narita’s blood on them.

Robinson later started biting Narita’s bloody head. People in the crowd began chanting “You sick f*ck!” at Robinson, who pointed out a fan and mouthed “This is YOUR fault” before removing his belt and whipping Narita with it. Robinson is damn good in this role.

Robinson hit the Left Hand from God for two. Narita responded later by tossing Robinson a chair, then using a single-foot dropkick into the chair, smashing Robinson in the face with the chair he was holding. Narita laid in a number of elbows before Robinson was able to reverse the offensive momentum. He then grabbed a chair and stuck it in between the middle and top rope in the blue corner, but when he tried to throw Narita into it, Narita reversed the Irish whip and slammed Robinson head first into it instead.

Narita unfolded the steel chair next and used a single-arm suplex on Robinson, sending him crashing onto the chair. Narita continued hitting Robinson with the chair, but Robinson was able to catch Narita with a low blow before spiking him head-first onto the mangled chair for a very close count of two. Ten minutes had passed at this point, and the pace slowed between spots.

Finally, Robinson power bombed Narita through a table on the outside, which got a “Holy shit!” & “This is awesome!” chant from the crowd. Robinson rolled Narita back into the ring for a pin but only scored another two-count. The house energy dipped a lot from here. The crowd started chanting about wanting tables. Robinson obliged and grabbed the ring announcer’s table and threw it into the ring.

When Robinson attempted an avalanche Death Valley Bomb through a table, Narita was able to slide out of the fireman’s carry hold and slapped on a sleeper lock. This forced Robinson to come down from the top rope to attempt blocking the submission hold. Narita eventually transitioned from a sleeper to an escalera double-shoulder lock from standing rear mount, which he cranked on until Robinson tapped. Narita grabbed the win and looked awesome in doing it. Despite this going a little too long, both Robinson and Narita did a hell of a job, and I think both came out of this looking stronger and more interesting.

Bullet Club (Jay White & Karl Anderson) defeated Homicide & Wheeler Yuta

“Filthy” Tom Lawlor joined the English announce team for this one. He ended up getting into a scuffle with Homicide a few minutes into the match, with Homicide spitting water in Lawlor’s face.

White got a bloody shiner in this, with some blood visible from under his left eye.

Yuta tagged back in at around the ten-minute mark and cleaned house. Minutes later, the finish saw White hit Homicide with a Blade Runner while Homicide was distracted by Tom Lawlor, who jumped the guardrail. Doc Gallows kept referee Jeremy Marcus distracted as White laid the aforementioned Bladerunner on Homicide for the win.

After the match, chaos ensued: Lawlor came into the ring and attacked Homicide. White joined in. Yuta beat on Lawlor to defend his partner. Soon after, West Coast Wrecking Crew arrived and began beating on Yuta. Shota Umino also arrived too and would end up getting beaten on. White got on the microphone and asked Tim Filthy to “remove the trash from the ring,” referring to Homicide. He scolded fans for chanting for Jon Moxley and said he wouldn’t be showing up tonight. He also said that Eddie Kingston, who was supposed to face White in Las Vegas, got “butterflies” which is why Kingston didn’t appear (Kingston actually contracted COVID-19, which is why he had to miss the show). White hinted that maybe he’d come to meet him instead, at NJPW’s upcoming event there, Rumble on 44th St.

Afterwards, “Filthy” Tom got on the mic and addressed his hometown crowd in Las Vegas. He said Team Filthy has been carrying NJPW Strong. He then got the audience to do a “NJPW Strong” call-and-response before saying “Ganbatte! [Do your best]”! A pretty babyface promo considering what’s just gone on in the ring. Will this lead to more Bullet Club + Team Filthy team-ups in the future?

Final thoughts:

This was a decent episode of Strong, though it did feel like it dragged at times. The hardcore match was good, but it could have been chopped by five minutes; also, while the main event was good, the crowd sounded exhausted. If this were in front of a NJPW crowd in Japan, or on an AEW taping, this would have turned out much differently, and the energy would have been a lot higher. Like with any other promotion taping a series of shows in a row at a single event, NJPW Strong tapings exhaust fans, and that often impacts the overall perception of the show itself and its main events. Fussiness aside, this was a fine extended edition of NJPW Strong.