NJPW has announced eight matches for the New Japan Showdown taping of Strong on October 16.
Hiroshi Tanahashi will face Gabriel Kidd in singles competition at Showdown. Tanahashi had already been announced for the card, but his opponent had not been revealed.
Minoru Suzuki will take on Fred Yehi at Showdown. Like Tanahashi, Suzuki’s appearance on the card had been announced previously, but his opponent has now been revealed.
Former NJPW Strong Openweight Champion “Filthy” Tom Lawlor will be in action at Showdown, facing former ROH World Champion Homicide.
Bullet Club’s Juice Robinson will face Jake Something at Showdown in another singles bout.
In the lone tag team bout announced for the card to this point, Mascara Dorada and Blake Christian will team against Bullet Club’s El Phantasmo and Chris Bey.
Three more singles matches round out the card, with Christopher Daniels vs. Rocky Romero, Kenny King vs. Che Cabrera, plus Peter Avalon vs. Keita Murray.
Showdown will be taped at the Vermont Hollywood in Los Angeles.
Here is the announced lineup:
NJPW Strong: New Japan Showdown, Sunday, October 16 —
Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. Gabriel Kidd
Minoru Suzuki vs. Fred Yehi
Tom Lawlor vs. Homicide
Juice Robinson vs. Jake Something
Mascara Dorada & Blake Christian vs. El Phantasmo & Chris Bey
Homicide and Wheeler Yuta will team in the main event of Saturday’s NJPW Strong episode.
The Autumn Action series of Strong shows will begin with a tag team main event, with Homicide and Yuta teaming against IWGP World Heavyweight Champion Jay White and Karl Anderson.
In another match announced for Saturday, Juice Robinson will face Ren Narita in singles competition.
In Saturday’s opening contest, AEW’s QT Marshall takes on Shota Umino in another singles bout.
The Autumn Action series of Strong shows were taped on Sunday, September 11 in Las Vegas, Nevada at the Sam’s Town venue.
Here is Saturday’s Autumn Action match lineup:
NJPW Strong Autumn Action night one, Saturday, October 8, 8 p.m. Eastern time on NJPW World —
Homicide & AEW’s Wheeler Yuta vs. IWGP World Heavyweight Champion Jay White & Karl Anderson of Bullet Club
This week’s NJPW Strong was from the final night of the Fighting Spirit Unleashed 2022 tapings from Hollywood, California, where Openweight Champion Fred Rosser took on TJP in the main event.
LA Dojo (Kevin Knight & The DKC) defeated Stray Dog Army (Bateman & Barrett Brown)
LA Dojo graduate “Wild Rhino” Clark Connors joined Ian Riccaboni & Alex Koslov on commentary for the first match.
Stray Dog Army jumped the Dojo guys before the bell rang. They threw Knight and DKC to the floor, brawling around ringside and slamming the two into guardrails. Bateman & Brown beat on DKC back in the ring next and for a good while, too. DKC had a few very vocal fans supporting him throughout the beatdown.
DKC eventually slipped out of a Bateman suplex attempt and dashed to his corner to tag in Knight, who exploded with a barrage of offense on both Army members. He landed a twisting frog splash onto Bateman. What was most impressive about that: the guy gets so much air from just a standing frog splash that he creates the illusion that he’s coming off the top rope. Knight has hops. Seriously.
Bateman collected himself and was able to put Knight down with a twisting back suplex. Brown then landed a low basement dropkick. When Bateman went for a press slam, Knight slipped out of it and tagged DKC back in. After some recovery time on the apron, DKC was back in full force and unleashed a series of strikes on Brown. Later, Knight caught Brown with a high dropkick.
The finish saw Brown and DKC trade moves and pinning attempts. Brown hoisted DKC into a fireman’s carry and DKC turned that into a crucifix bomb for the win in a good match with an excited crowd.
Aaron Solo (w/ QT Marshall) defeated Che Cabrera
When the two wrestled on the floor, Marshall interfered behind the ref’s back and attacked Cabrera. Solo did a diving foot stomp late in this for a close two count. Cabrera used an anarchy suplex for a close two of his own.
The finish saw Cabrera go for an Oklahoma Roll, but Solo blocked it and held onto the bottom rope for leverage. Despite the ref clearly seeing this, he counted to three and Solo scored the win. This wasn’t a bad match, but the finish overshadowed the rest.
NJPW Strong Openweight Champion Fred Rosser defeated TJP to retain the title
The in-ring story was that TJP would try and break Rosser down with grappling and submission holds, while Rosser would use a more explosive power-offensive approach.
Early on, TJP tried neutralizing the champion in holds on the mat. Rosser would fire back with hard shots, including a lariat sandwich of sorts where he batted TJP back and forth between both of his arms. He planted TJP with a running death valley bomb. TJP rolled to the floor, and Rosser followed, diving onto him with a flying Earthquake squash off the apron.
Back in the ring, TJP was able to put Rosser down with a big superplex from the top rope. He would later go for his Mamba Splash finish, but Rosser moved out of the way. Rosser would put TJP back into a fireman’s carry hold, but this time TJP countered into a standing crucifix and armbar which looked really cool.
He slapped on a Regal Stretch next, but Rosser broke the hold with a rope break. Rosser used a chicken wing STF on TJP, but it was TJP who grabbed the ropes for the break this time.
TJP later landed a Mamba Splash that definitely came from downtown because the guy connected with Rosser from almost halfway across the ring. He only scored a two count after hitting the impressive splash.
Rosser was finally able to land his fireman’s carry gutbuster. He followed up with an Emerald Frosion before locking TJP back into the chicken wing STF which the challenger succumbed to, giving Rosser the successful title defense.
As Rosser celebrated his win with fans in the crowd, a hooded figure appeared and whacked him with a folding chair. This figure threw Rosser into the ring and continued to beat him down. Moments later, we learned that this was the returning Chris Dickinson who has been out of action since May.
He spiked Rosser with a low angle brain buster before grabbing Rosser’s title and holding it up in the air to the crowd. The crowd booed a lot. Dickinson draped the title over Rosser before making his way to the back.
Final thoughts:
Tonight’s main event did have a sense of importance and championship feel as Rosser and TJP had a really good match. The LA Dojo vs. Stray Dog Army rivalry that has seemed to last a year or so continues to both improve and produce good matches.
An Openweight Championship match headlines this week’s NJPW Strong episode.
In the conclusion of the Fighting Spirit Unleashed series, Fred Rosser will defend the NJPW Strong Openweight Championship against United Empire’s TJP in the main event.
Also announced for Saturday’s episode, Aaron Solo of AEW’s The Factory will face the debuting Che Cabrera.
In Saturday’s opening contest, Kevin Knight and The DKC of LA Dojo will take on Bateman and Barrett Brown of Stray Dog Army in tag team action.
The Fighting Spirit Unleashed series of Strong episodes was taped on August 21 in Los Angeles at the Vermont Hollywood.
Here is the full lineup for Saturday’s show:
NJPW Strong: Fighting Spirit Unleashed, Saturday, October 1, 8 p.m. Eastern time on NJPW World —
NJPW Strong Openweight Championship: Fred Rosser (c) vs. TJP
Aaron Solo vs. Che Cabrera
LA Dojo (Kevin Knight & The DKC) vs. Stray Dog Army (Bateman & Barrett Brown)
Tonight saw the next set of tapings from NJPW Strong’s Fighting Spirit Unleashed 2022 tapings in Hollywood, California, with IWGP Junior Heavyweight Champion Taiji Ishimori defending his title against Alan Angels in the main event.
QT Marshall (w/ Aaron Solo) defeated Keita
Marshall got booed a lot, both before and during the match. It was around the time of the five-minute call that Marshall flashed the Diamond Dallas Page diamond gesture, crotch-chopped the audience, then put Keita away with a Diamond Cutter for the win.
Marshall got on the mic and talked about how Shota Umino ruined his moment at NJPW Strong in Charlotte, North Carolina recently. Knowing that Umino wasn’t in the building for this show, Marshall would challenge Umino to a one-on-one match. Suddenly, a backstage vignette of Umino aired where he answered Marshall’s challenge. He showed off his Death Rider jacket Jon Moxley gave him, then addressed Marshall before saying “See you in Las Vegas.” Marshall then started screaming to unbook the match as he exited with Aaron Solo.
TMDK (Shane Haste & Bad Dude Tito) defeated Christopher Daniels & Yuya Uemura
This match was great.
There were sporadic “TITO!” calls came from the audience before things got underway. On commentary, Ian Riccaboni explained that Haste’s usual tag partner in TMDK, Mikey Nicholls, was absent due to the birth of his child, which is why Tito was in his spot. Congratulations to Mikey Nicholls.
Uemura took a beating from TMDK until he was able to stop Haste from coming off the top rope, taking him over with a big double-overhook suplex into the ring. He then tagged out to Daniels, who cleaned house. He took Tito out with a big diving lariat from the second rope before spiking Haste with a Death Valley Bomb for two.
There came a point where Daniels hoisted Haste onto his shoulders in an electric chair so that Uemura could come off the top with a flying bulldog, Steiner Bros. style, just like they’ve used over the summer. However, Bad Dude Tito was able to shove Uemura off the top, which sent him crashing into Daniels and breaking up the spot. Daniels started yelling at Uemura, but Haste capitalized and attacked Daniels while Daniels had his back turned. Tito dragged Uemura out of the ring, and Haste put Daniels away after a fireman’s carry-to-uranage slam for the win.
Afterwards, Daniels apologized to Uemura. The two hugged, and Daniels raised Uemura’s arm . . . just before giving Uemura a low blow. Daniels kicked him in the groin, dropping Uemura immediately. The crowd booed a lot. A scowling Daniels then gave Uemura two double-jump moonsaults before telling off the crowd and heading backstage.
Next up was a short promo interview from TJP. He addressed NJPW Strong Openweight Champion Fred Rosser and the upcoming match between the two. He talked about how they’d both been champions in New Japan and at “a different company” (WWE). He told a story about the WWE Cruiserweight Championship; since he was the inaugural champion, TJP claimed wrestlers would ask him why his name wasn’t featured on the side plates of the belt with the other champions. TJP said that it was because the big part in the middle was made for him. He then said Rosser wouldn’t be “sharing” the ring with TJP but “renting” it from him, because he said without a NJPW Strong there’d be no LA Dojo, and without an LA Dojo, NJPW wouldn’t have existed, saying the he “built this dojo”. He told Rosser to remember the big centerpiece on the Strong Openweight championship before their match, because TJP is the one who “built” that championship.
Ren Narita defeated Jakob Austin Young
This was solid. Young was discovered by NJPW at one of their dojo tryouts. He’s previously worked for OWE in China. He’s very talented.
Narita would pick up the win with a bridging front suplex.
This was good, but it seemed as though it finished early because of a possible injury towards the end of the match.
Angels has good charisma and is just 24. Towards the finish, Angels did a triangle moonsault from the top rope to the floor, but on his way down, he crashed shin-first into the guardrail. It doesn’t come across that loudly on screen, but inside the venue, it was absolutely jarring; it sounded like a car crash. The crowd reaction was loud, and a number of fans unfortunately began chanting “You f****d up!” The mood changed at the venue from here. Even Ian Riccaboni hoped Angels was all right after the match.
Angels and Ishimori crawled back in the ring and went right to the finish. Angels came off the second rope, but Ishimori caught him on the way down with double-knees to the face. He’d then put Angels away with the Bloody Cross, which looked kind of bad because Angels couldn’t kick his legs up in the air for it.
Final thoughts:
Christopher Daniels & Yuya Uemura vs. TMDK was the best match of this week’s episode, with Narita vs. Austin as a short but solid runner-up.
Next week sees STRONG Openweight Champion Fred Rosser take on TJP and more.
Tonight saw the next set of NJPW Strong Fighting Spirit Unleashed 2022 from Hollywood, California.
Peter Avalon defeated Adrian Quest
It was Peter Avalon’s first appearance for NJPW Strong tonight. He can usually be seen on AEW these days as part of the Wingmen group. On commentary, Ian Riccaboni put over Avalon as a successful Celebrity Family Feud player, with his team of wrestlers defeating Pee Wee Herman, Drew Carey and others. Actually, he and his opponent, Adrian Quest, trained together in the past in California, according to Riccaboni.
Quest landed a springboard tornillo inside the ring early on. Later, Avalon caught Quest in the ropes and left Quest tangled between the top and bottom. Avalon then left the ring and ran from the entrance to the ring apron and blasted Quest with a running missile dropkick, a direct hit to Quest’s knee.
Avalon continued working over Quest’s knee in a clear attempt to ground the high flyer. He scored a count of two after a backdrop suplex.
When Avalon took Quest to the top ropes for a move, Quest countered and took Avalon down with a top rope frankensteiner. They traded shots on their feet next, but Avalon again struck low, kicking Quest’s worn-out knee. Quest fired up in response, and was able to stick a standing shooting star press before diving on top of Avalon on the floor.
Avalon once again targeted Quest’s knee, locking in a single-leg crab submission until Quest grabbed the ropes for a break. Avalon eventually scored the pinfall after double knees to the back of Quest’s head.
Team Filthy (Tom Lawlor & JR Kratos) defeated Jordan Cruz & Cody Chhun
Lawlor looked spry as hell coming off his recent G-1 Climax tour of Japan. He and JR Kratos represented Team Filthy here against the Cruz and Chhun, younger fellows who’ve made a name for themselves up and down the West Coast on the indies over the past few years.
Lawlor and Chhun started things off for their teams. They traded holds and pin attempts early on. Lawlor stretched Chhun with a modified surfboard before tagging out to Kratos, who decked Chhun with a closed fist before stomping away at him. Lawlor assisted Kratos for Kratos’ double powerslam and power bomb to both Cruz and Chhun.
After surviving a few more minutes of abuse, Chhun was able to tag out to a fresher Cruz. Chhun superkicked Lawlor before Cruz jackknifed him for two. Lawlor responded with a running uranage slam. Lawlor later jumped Cruz into his guard and locked in a guillotine choke before spiking Cruz with a TTD.
Kratos and Chhun tagged in, and Kratos blasted Chhun with a lariat. He pounced Chhun into the corner, then pinned him after a pop-up Boss Man Slam to pick up the win for Team Filthy.
Bullet Club (Jay White, Hikuleo, Juice Robinson & Chase Owens) defeated Rocky Romero, KUSHIDA, Trent Beretta & Taylor Rust
This was less a tag team match and more of an abridged preview of possible singles bouts we’ll likely see in the future. We started off with Taylor and Owens. They had a good exchange. Owens gave Taylor a crotch-chop. We’re still doing that, I guess.
Beretta & White had a good exchange and would likely be excellent together in a singles match.
The babyface team did stereo dives from each side of the ring. Later, Hikuleo launched Beretta over the corner onto the floor. “Rock Hard ” Juice Robinson landed a big senton onto Beretta later on.
Beretta was able to catch Robinson with a flying knee. Robinson went for the cannonball senton in the corner. KUSHIDA tagged in next and went wild on Robinson and Owens. The crowd chanted his name. KUSHIDA and Romero did stereo handspring dropkicks to Robinson.
Romero had all four members of Bullet Club in each ring corner and did his Forever Clotheslines to everyone. Beretta did his finisher and Taylor did a swanton, then laid Romero atop Owens for a close two.
The final spot saw White and Hikuleo miscommunicate, with the large Hikuleo almost chopping White by accident while White was holding Taylor, the original target. White shouted “Get out of my way!” and shoved Hikuleo’s arm before going at Taylor again. It’d be Hikuleo who’d put Taylor down after a big snap powerslam. When Hikuleo went to put the finishing touches on Taylor with a chokeslam, White stepped in and drilled Taylor with a half-and-half suplex, essentially spoiling the moment for Hikuleo. White then put Taylor down with the Bladerunner for the official win.
Bullet Club had a few more testy moments within their own circle before KUSHIDA got into it at ringside with IWGP Junior Heavyweight Champion and fellow Bullet Club member Taiji Ishimori. This turned into a full-on melee.
Jay White grabbed the microphone next and loudly welcomed KUSHIDA back to NJPW, and back to “his house,” NJPW Strong. White went on to discuss “cleaning up other people’s messes” and that he needs “people to do their jobs right” because they “couldn’t get the jobs done themselves.” He said that’s why he was the leader of the Bullet Club. He said he has no problem reminding others of who he is, and he especially had no problem with reminding Tama Tonga, of all people.
Final thoughts:
This was a good episode of NJPW Strong. The main event helped the show feel more big-time, but the tag team match with Team Filthy was the most entertaining.
Next week will feature IWGP Junior Heavyweight Champion Taiji Ishimori taking on Alan Angels.
An eight-man tag team match headlines Saturday’s Fighting Spirit Unleashed episode of NJPW Strong.
In the show’s main event, A Bullet Club foursome will be in action, as IWGP World Heavyweight Champion Jay White, Juice Robinson, Hikuleo, and Chase Owens will take on KUSHIDA, AEW’s Trent Beretta, Rocky Romero, and Taylor Rust.
In Saturday’s second bout, Team Filthy’s Tom Lawlor and JR Kratos will face Jordan Cruz and Cody Chhun.
In the episode’s opener, Peter Avalon will take on Adrian Quest.
The Fighting Spirit Unleashed series of episodes were taped on August 21 at the Vermont Hollywood in Los Angeles.
Strong airs Saturdays at 8 p.m. Eastern time on NJPW World, and is available on demand immediately after airing.
Saturday’s lineup:
Bullet Club’s Jay White, Juice Robinson, Hikuleo & Chase Owens vs. KUSHIDA, Trent Beretta, Rocky Romero & Taylor Rust
Team Filthy’s Tom Lawlor & JR Kratos vs. Jordan Cruz & Cody Chhun
Tonight saw the first of NJPW Strong’s Fighting Spirit Unleashed 2022 tapings from Hollywood, California.
Mascara Dorada defeated Misterioso
Dorada did a spinning rope-walk hurricanrana that took Misterioso to the floor. When Dorada went for a tope con giro to the floor, Misterioso caught him on the way down in mid-air, then slammed Dorada into the barricades at ringside.
Back in the ring, Misterioso connected with a running double-knee strike in the corner for two. Dorada would later catch Misterioso with a huge rope-walk somersault dive to the floor. “Death-defying” would be an appropriate way to describe the spot. Pretty amazing. The crowd lost it and broke out into a “LU-CHA!” chant afterwards.
Back in the ring, Dorada would connect with a flawless springboard swanton onto Misterioso. Dorada’s smoothness on the ropes is something else.
Misterioso later answered with a tope con giro of his own, though he clipped his legs on the ringside barricade on the way down. Thankfully Misterioso seemed all right, but the crowd went into a “HOLY SH*T!” chant after it happened. The impact the steel makes is so loud inside the venue, which inadvertently adds more of a dramatic effect.
Late in the match, Misterioso landed a beautiful springboard hurricanrana from the top rope. Again, the crowd went wild. Misterioso only got a two-count for his troubles, though. He then landed an electric chair-to-wheelbarrow German suplex for two. Misterioso can move like a smaller luchador, but he’s actually a muscular 230 lbs. with serious power. It wasn’t a perfect match, but this may have been his best showing on NJPW Strong since the inception of the show in 2020.
Mascara Dorada won the match with what commentator Alex Koslov called “The Guadalajara County Slam” to put Misterioso away for the win. Good opener.
Robbie Eagles defeated Kevin Blackwood
Midway into the match, Eagles lit Blackwood’s chest up with kicks. He then went for a basement dropkick into the corner, but Blackwood blocked it and returned with a flurry of strikes.
Eagles targeted Blackwood’s leg in order to soften Blackwood up for his Ron Miller Special submission. He used a springboard basement dropkick to take Blackwood out, though Blackwood wasn’t phased and immediately locked Eagles in a Texas Cloverhold until Eagles grabbed the ropes for a break.
Blackwood connected with a Buzzsaw Kick and followed up with a brainbuster—a nice little ode to TAJIRI—before Eagles answered with a Turtle Backpack driver before giving Blackwood a 450 splash from the top, one where Eagles crashed down onto Blackwood’s legs. Eagles then locked in the Ron Miller Special for the win. Eagles picked up the victory in his return to NJPW Strong.
NJPW Openweight Tag Team Championship: Aussie Open (Mark Davis & Kyle Fletcher) (c) defeated West Coast Wrecking Crew (Royce Isaacs & Jorel Nelson)
This was excellent.
Nelson and Fletcher kicked things off for their teams, but after only a few minutes into the match, things had spilled out onto the floor between Isaacs and Davis. The other two brawled around ringside. Fletcher and Nelson followed. Aussie Open did a double backdrop suplex to WCWC, dropping them back-first onto the ring apron.
Davis locked in a back face lock on Nelson back in the ring. Davis tagged Fletcher into the match, and Fletcher tried taking Nelson to the top rope for some sort of maneuver. Nelson bit Fletcher’s bicep, which forced Fletcher to lose his balance and fall off the ropes. When Nelson went for a diving crossbody bodyblock, Fletcher blocked the press by pulling his knees up.
Nelson was eventually able to tag out to Isaacs, who’d immediately cleaned house. He did a flipping lariat, then stacked Aussie Open in the corner and proceeded to give them more lariats. It was a lariat parfait. Isaacs earned a two-count after putting Fletcher down with a jackhammer.
WCWC gained much of their momentum back towards the end of the match, at one point running roughshod on Aussie Open with power moves. Isaacs & Nelson tried doing stereo deadlift German suplexes on AO, but the Aussies countered and turned it into a stereo brainbusters instead.
Both teams traded superkicks. Nelson would land a big pop-up power bomb on Fletcher before slingshotting him to Isaacs, who’d catch Fletcher, spin him around, then drive him back onto Nelson’s knees with a Death Valley Bomb—but only for two.
Aussie Open mounted a final comeback and launched the rest of whatever artillery they had in their arsenal at WCWC. After a few more close nearfalls, they’d win the match after hitting Coriolus, putting Isaacs away for the pin. Aussie Open are now two for two.
Final thoughts:
The main event was great modern tag team wrestling, and with two of the hottest teams on the scene right now. The whole show was good, the main event turned out to be this week’s highlight.
Roppongi Vice, Taylor Rust & KUSHIDA vs. Bullet Club (Jay White, Hikuleo, Chase Owens & Juice Robinson) headlines next week’s episode of NJPW Strong: Fighting Spirit Unleashed 2022.
Eddie Kingston is off this weekend’s NJPW Strong tapings due to testing positive for COVID-19.
Kingston revealed that he has COVID-19 in a tweet posted on Saturday afternoon. He was scheduled to team with Homicide & Wheeler Yuta against Jay White & The Good Brothers (Karl Anderson & Doc Gallows) at Sunday’s NJPW Strong Autumn Action tapings in Las Vegas.
In his tweet, Kingston wrote that he’s going to test again to see if he’ll be able to make this week’s AEW Dynamite/Rampage. Kingston doesn’t have a match announced for either show yet.
“So here we go, got covid won’t be able to make Strong this weekend,” Kingston tweeted. “It f*cking sucks going to test again to see if I can make tv this week.”
On the Zero Hour pre-show for All Out this past Sunday, Kingston defeated NJPW’s Tomohiro Ishii in a singles match. It was a rematch from May’s NJPW Capital Collision event. Ishii defeated Kingston in that first meeting.
The Autumn Action tapings are being held at Sam’s Town Live.
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
This week’s NJPW Strong was the last from their High Alert tapings from Charlotte, North Carolina, headlined by Openweight Champion Fred Rosser taking on Fred Yehi in the main event.
John Skyler defeated Lucky Ali
This was a good opener. Skyler is from South Carolina and has been most recently seen working for Impact while Ali is an ultra-charismatic freelancer who has worked for AEW, GCW & Deadlock Pro among others over the summer.
Ali launched Skyler with a monkey flip before putting him down with an inverted jawbreaker which I suppose could also be called a modified neckbreaker.
Skyler threw a forearm into Ali’s lower back which knocked Ali out of the ring. Any time Ali would try to counter, Skyler would block it and deliberately slow the pace.
Skyler got into it with a fan at ringside later. The crowd would then get fully behind Ali as Skyler continued to punish him. He used a stacking power bomb before transitioning into an STF hold.
Ali would kick and punch his way out of trouble, clawing his way back into the match. He landed a slingshot guillotine leg drop on Skyler before Skyler himself came back, taking Ali out with a spear on the apron and then a slingshot spear back in the ring.
When Skyler went for another slingshot spear, Ali countered with a low standing dropkick to take Skyler out. He went to the top rope next, but Skyler countered, hoisted him into a fireman’s carry, and then dove off the second rope with an avalanche fireman’s carry roll for the win.
Eddie Kingston defeated Jake Something
The larger Something took control early, chokeslamming Kingston in the first half and scoring a two count. It’s amazing to see how little value a chokeslam spot has in 2022. It’s been relegated to the swinging neckbreaker tier.
Kingston returned Something’s slow assault with a hard lariat. He would later plant Something with a DDT for another two. Something responded with a death valley bomb for a nearfall of his own.
When Kingston rolled out to the floor, Something launched himself over the top rope onto him with a tope con giro.
After rolling Kingston back into the ring, Something would attempt a power bomb, but Kingston blocked it before laying Something out with an exploder suplex. He drilled Something with a back drop driver before putting Something out with a uraken for the win.
NJPW Strong Openweight Champion Fred Rosser defeated Fred Yehi to retain
Retired NJPW referee Tiger Hattori presented the championship title belt in the ring before the match.
Yehi took Rosser to the mat early with a nice ankle pick. Yehi would out-grapple Rosser again, again targeting Rosser’s ankle. Rosser would get the better of the exchange on the next go-around, outmuscling Yehi and laying him out before dropping a few Earthquake-esque squashes on him. The story between these two was very clearly technique (Yehi) vs. power (Rosser).
Yehi kept picking Rosser apart limb by limb, this time working over his arms instead of Rosser’s legs. Yehi later locked in an abdominal stretch, but Rosser reversed it until Rosser then countered the counter.
Rosser came back and worked Yehi over in the corner with hard chops, punches, stomps and hip attacks. On commentary, Ian Riccaboni mentioned “Mr. No-Days-Off” can both squat & deadlift nearly 500 lbs which is some real hoss stuff.
Rosser went for an STF, but Yehi bit his way out of the hold. In this match, he wasn’t necessarily playing heel, but he was most definitely the aggressor, biting and fish-hooking Rosser whenever he was in hot water — a classic Lou Thesz or Bret Hart-type approach.
The questionable tactics weren’t enough to keep Rosser down, though; the champion was back up moments later and able to spike Yehi with a sidewinder for a definitive win. Hattori raised Rosser’s hand afterwards.
A new challenger emerges
Rosser cut a post-match promo explaining that Yehi laid a beating on him just now. He said that whether it was in front of either 50 or 10,000 people, wrestling was fun for him. He said NJPW Strong is home and that he was the people’s champion at NJPW Strong. He said Yehi was strong, but not strong enough before putting out an open challenge for whomever wanted to step up.
TJP then appeared, his new theme song sounding over the PA as he walked to the ring. He has been appearing more with NJPW proper this summer, and is currently one half of the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Champions with Francesco Akira under the United Empire banner.
Rosser explained that it was TJP who he contacted about coming to NJPW Strong. He said that he and TJP discussed Strong over DM on Twitter years ago, and that Rosser had wanted to make Strong his home for a long time and TJP knew all about it.
But then, Rosser said that while he respects TJP for being an OG, he also told TJP that there was no reason for him to be challenging for his title. Rosser then said, “I make the challenges. You don’t.” I swore Rosser had just put out an open challenge just moments before this but whatever.
TJP told Rosser that he is just renting the ring: the NJPW Strong ring that he claims to have built (figuratively, but maybe also literally with regard to his time at the original Inoki Dojo in Santa Monica). He wanted to take Rosser on for the title and add to his new title belt collection. Rosser offered to have a match right then and there in Charlotte, but TJP explained that he’d rather have the match in a place where there are better people in attendance than the ones at High Alert.
TJP suggested doing the match at home in Los Angeles. Rosser agreed and said he’d go home with three boots: two on his feet and one in his ass. That was good. And for the record, whenever Rosser is able to debut for NJPW proper, get ready for him to blow up over there, because I have a feeling the Japanese fanbase will fall in love with NJPW Strong’s resident super babyface.
Final thoughts:
This was a good episode of NJPW Strong although I’m sure it would have been even better if the matches between Kingston vs. Something and Rosser vs. Yehi were longer than eight or nine minutes. The final promo between Rosser and TJP was good and it’s usually intriguing whenever NJPW books a heavyweight vs. junior heavyweight program, which is what we can look forward to next month in Hollywood, California.
NJPW has announced Hiroshi Tanahashi for their New Japan Showdown taping in Los Angeles.
Tanahashi will take part in the NJPW Strong taping on Sunday, October 16 at the Vermont Hollywood in Los Angeles. The promotion made the announcement today on social media.
⚡️TALENT ANNOUNCEMENT!!⚡️@tanahashi1_100 will be in action 10/16 at The Vermont Hollywood!
Tanahashi joins a talent lineup for the Showdown taping that also includes IWGP World Heavyweight Champion Jay White, Minoru Suzuki, NJPW Strong Openweight Champion Fred Rosser, “Filthy” Tom Lawlor, Juice Robinson, and NJPW Strong Openweight Tag Team Champions Aussie Open.
Prior to Showdown, NJPW will tape the Autumn Action series of Strong episodes in Las Vegas, Nevada on Sunday, September 11.
Strong episodes are typically taped once a month, four at a time. The current series of High Alert episodes concludes this Saturday. Those shows were taped on July 24 in North Carolina. The August Fighting Spirit Unleashed taping was also held at the Vermont Hollywood, with those episodes likely to begin airing on Saturday, September 10 on NJPW World.
Strong airs at 8 p.m. Eastern time on Saturdays on NJPW World.
Four new matches have been announced for NJPW Strong’s September 11 Autumn Action taping in Las Vegas, Nevada.
AEW’s QT Marshall will face Shota Umino in singles competition at the taping. The match was set up at the High Alert taping in July after Umino answered an open challenge from Marshall.
In another singles contest set for Las Vegas, Ren Narita will take on Bullet Club’s Juice Robinson.
Kevin Blackwood will face Ariya Daivari in another new bout announced for the taping.
Additionally, LA Dojo’s Kevin Knight will take on Che Cabrera.
Eight bouts are now official for Autumn Action. Here is the updated lineup:
Tomohiro Ishii vs. “Filthy” Tom Lawlor
Bullet Club (Jay White, Doc Gallows & Karl Anderson) vs. Eddie Kingston, Wheeler Yuta & Homicide
Shingo Takagi vs. Rocky Romero
Mistico & Alex Zayne vs. Blake Christian & Mascara Dorada
Minoru Suzuki will be returning to the United States in October.
NJPW has announced that the 54-year-old will perform at STRONG Showdown on Sunday, October 16 from the Vermont in Hollywood. The event will be a taping for future episodes of NJPW Strong.
“Minoru Suzuki will be a part of the action as he makes his return to the US for the first time since the spring, while IWGP World Heavyweight Champion Jay White, STRONG Openweight Champion Fred Rosser, Juice Robinson, Team Filthy, and more will all be in action!” NJPW wrote.
Suzuki posted to social media on Monday and stated that he is looking for other bookings while he is in the United States as well.
“I am planning to go to America for a month in October. I want to fight. I have a few appointments with some worthy opponents, but there are still some dates available. I am hungry…,” he wrote on Twitter.
NJPW has a set of Strong tapings scheduled for Saturday, September 3 from the Grady Cole Center in Charlotte, North Carolina. Then on Sunday, September 11, NJPW will be in Sam’s Town Live in Las Vegas for Autumn Action 2022.
