Tag: #njpwstrong

NJPW Strong results: Fred Yehi debuts

Posted on by Justin Knipper

Hikuleo defeated Alex Coughlin

Coughlin greeted Hikuleo with an icy stare as the giant stepped into the ring. After a bit of grappling on the feet, Hikuleo overpowered Coughlin and put him down with a big bodyslam and vertical suplex. Hikuleo bullied Coughlin a bit more but Shibata’s Young Lion would mount a comeback and eventually put Hikuleo down with a jumping shoulder block before he’d lock him into a single-leg crab. It wasn’t enough to put the much larger Hikuleo away, though. Hikuleo was back to his feet soon after, then he planted Coughlin with a snap powerslam and sit-out Death Valley Bomb for the win.

Good showing from both here. Coughlin is exploding with charisma and athleticism, and Hikuleo really feels like the resident power-house of the show these days.

Lio Rush and Rocky Romero defeated the DKC and Clark Connors

“White Rhino” Clark Connors blasted Rush with a spear to the lower back midway through the match.

Rush was able to tag out to Romero after getting pummeled for a few minutes. Romero cleaned house and landed a nice tijeras on DKC and a standing Sliced Bread on the Connors for two. The White Rhino responded by launching Romero into the air with a Pounce.

The DKC’s background is in karate, and has been able to incorporate a few fancy karate-esque kicks and chops into his moveset. If anyone here is familiar with Chris Champion/Yoshi Kwan from WCW, that’s what the DKC reminds me of, a bit.

It’s a shame that Rush announced he’d be retiring this week, because he looked pretty great inside the ring with both Connors and DKC tonight, the latter whom he pinned after a bottom-rope springboard stunner.

Connors and Romero brawled outside the ring after the bell. In their post-match interview, Romero mentioned that despite Connors recently graduating from Young Lion to “White Rhino,” his new-found confidence wouldn’t matter, and that he’d eat up any one of Connors’ crew.

Fred Yehi and Wheeler Yuta defeated Misterioso and Jordan Clearwater

Wheeler Yuta has made a few appearances on Strong this year, but tonight was his partner Fred Yehi’s debut on the show. The two have teamed in the past on the indie circuit, and Yehi has appeared for companies like MLW, EVOLVE and ROH in the past, among others. He’s an excellent wrestler and is a perfect fit for both this show or for NJPW’s main roster.

Yehi and Misterioso looked good on the mat against each other. The match with Connors/DKC vs. Romero/Rush had more of an intense high-impact feel from the get-go, where this was clearly a bout centered on smooth, high-level technique.

When Yehi was in the ring with Karl Anderson-trainee Jordan Clearwater, he used fancy World-of-Sport-styled counter-wrestling and footwork. Both he and partner Yuta spent the middle part of this working over the taller Clearwater’s leg and knee, tenderizing in an attempt to keep him off his feet for more of the match.

Clearwater was eventually able to tag out to “Big Papi Pump” Misterioso, who landed a powerslam, then springboard moonsault onto Yuta upon re-entry. All four men were in the ring at this point, and Yehi used the opportunity to again go after Clearwater’s long legs, clipping one of them.

The finish saw Misterioso go for a dive to the floor but no one was there, though Misterioso landed safely. Just a second after he caught himself on the ground, Wheeler Yuta came through the middle rope and landed on top of him with a tope suicida to the floor. With Yuta holding Misterioso at bay, Yehi took the opportunity to put Clearwater away in the ring, earning the W for his team after locking Clearwater into a modified crucifix hold/Koji clutch while he laid in as many fists as he could.

Final thoughts:

Tonight’s episode of Strong was solid. The main event was most-impressive, though everything on tonight’s show was very good. Yuta and Yehi are a great tag team who look like they’ve been at this wrestling thing for a while, and they fit perfectly with the current crop on the show. I look forward to seeing more of them in the future.

On next week’s episode of NJPW Strong, we’ll see Satoshi Kojima vs. Team Filthy’s JR Kratos in a singles main event, while “Filthy” Tom Lawlor vs. Karl Fredericks for the Strong Openweight title will headline the show at the end of the month, on June 26.

NJPW Strong results: Jon Moxley interview

Posted on by Justin Knipper

“The time has come for a new beginning.” This phrase boomed over a promo early in the show before a slick montage for the New Beginning 2021 tour aired using all of the latest clips from last month’s episodes.

The DKC defeated Kevin Knight

So as an official young lion this year, The DKC dropped his old ring gear and now sports the classic black trunks and boots combo. Same with Kevin Knight, the former Jet Knight out in the Pacific Northwest, who sported the classic look as well.

Mostly technical grappling between the two from the beginning with Knight looking to have a slight advantage, working for arm submissions from the top. The Buddy Wayne-trainee later worked DKC into the corner, where the two exchanged hard kicks before Knight used a big hip toss to bring DKC back down to the “cerulean blue.” Not much hesitation between moves here, neither from Knight nor DKC, who seconds later hit an even higher angle hip toss of his own on Knight before he locked in a head-and-arm choke.

The DKC used a nice one-legged dropkick to take Knight down at around the seven minute mark before he tapped him out with a triangle choke for the win. Both of these guys are very talented and I imagine are already on a path to big things down the road this year. Nothing too flashy here, just hard-hitting fundamental wrestling.

***

A Jon Moxley interview with Kevin Kelly over a video call aired. Moxley said he had heard everything KENTA and his Bullet Club buddies said, but the key point is that he was still IWGP United States champion. He said that KENTA can play games with the red briefcase, but in the end will take him out, and that KENTA can’t just litigate his way to the title.

Mox claimed he knows what KENTA’s trying to achieve here. He was excited to see him with Katsuyori Shibata at Dominion in 2019, but ultimately he doesn’t want the Bullet Club 4-on-1, 5-on-2 nonsense — he wants the KENTA who inspired a generation, he wants that KENTA in his match on NJPW Strong.

Bateman, Jordan Clearwater, Adrian Quest & Misterioso defeated Brody King, the Riegel Twins and Barrett Brown

The Riegel Twins rocked out to Brody King’s theme music during their entrance. Should be noted that King’s theme song is performed by his own band, God’s Hate.

Brown and Quest had a quick but even exchange, both can fly around with ease and teased what they could do early on. Clearwater was next and took out one of the Riegels. King blasted Clearwater with a chop before the Karl Anderson-trainee tagged out to Misterioso, who hit a standing moonsault just after hitting the ring.

King later bodyslammed each of his tag partners on top of Misterioso, but he got so into it that he also grabbed the referee and lifted him up for a slam before he realized what was happening.

Misterioso tagged out to Bateman, who immediately slowed the pace, softening L. Riegel up for Clearwater, who planted Logan with a big spinebuster.

Riegel spiked Bateman with a DDT that Bateman sold brilliantly, basically staying planted on his head in a tripod position. L. Riegel tagged out to Brody King, who immediately took out Bateman with a lariat, then launched Quest towards the ceiling with a back body drop. You can look for that one on Twitter, I’m sure. The Riegels then did simultaneous suicide dives while King press slammed Barret Brown onto the opposing team on the floor.

Ten minutes in, Brown hit a wild modified DDT on Quest before Misteroso used a back suplex bomb before the Riegel Twins landed a top rope double blockbuster. Clearwater landed a big neckbreaker on one of the twins next before Brown took out Clearwater himself, but Bateman darted in and pinned Brown after spiking him with a spinning tombstone piledriver, picking up the win for his team. 

Impressive work from everyone, with a nice mix of big and small wrestlers that seemed to freshen up the show.

Bateman celebrated with his teammates post match and somewhat eluded to him and his three partners forming some sort of group. He showed them some sort of secret handshake and winked to the camera after mentioning being on the “winning team.”

Rey Horus defeated TJP

Pretty good high flying match to top the show off tonight. Horus used a crazy spinning armdrag early on. Later, TJP used a rolling savate kick to knock Horus off the apron. Back in the ring, Horus went for body press, but TJP caught him with a dropkick mid-air. TJP then slowed things down, working over Horus’ back.

Horus later made a big dive over the white neutral corner post, the same dive that broke Blake Christian’s nose at Super J-Cup last year. It’s the same dive Sami Zayn often uses.

Back in the ring, Horus tried pumping the crowd up with some claps before he realized no fans were there. TJP locked in a modified cobra twist, then landed a huge springboard DDT for a near-fall. This is where the match peaked, but they kept going for another few minutes. After TJP missed his signature frog splash, Horus was able to use an avalanche quesadora bomb to put down TJP in his NJPW Strong debut.

Final thoughts:

NJPW Strong delivered once again. No surprises here, but in a good way. The new faces this year have freshened things up without changing the makeup of the show, and the eight-man tag seemed to have the most variety in terms of competitors. 

The mix of giants and smaller high flyers made for an interesting and relatively exciting matchup. Again, If you’re looking for something solid to watch that’s under an hour, NJPW Strong has kept their record clean for about half a year now.

NJPW Strong results: Lion’s Break Crown tournament begins

Posted on by Justin Knipper

The Lion’s Break Crown singles tournament kicked off on tonight’s episode of NJPW Strong.

TJP joined Kevin Kelly at the top of the hour and ran down the tournament brackets. A nice promo package for all competitors aired next.

Logan Riegel defeated The DKC

NJPW made an interesting entrance video for the DKC that aired as he came to the ring.

Both are in excellent shape. Good mat work at the start from both wrestlers, fast-paced and more realistic. The DKC was especially impressive on the mat.

This was comparable only to the other recent Young Lions matches we’ve seen in Japan proper this year, ones featuring Tsuji, Ueumura and Kidd.

After about six minutes of back and forth, Riegel scored the upset victory over the more established DKC after cradling him into a schoolboy for the win here. Good, short match. Riegel sold his shoulder afterwards, icing it in his post-match promo.

Clark Connors defeated Jordan Clearwater

Slightly slower pace from the get-go, at least compared with the first match on tonight’s card. Connors isn’t the biggest guy in the word, but he always comes off like a heavyweight, like tonight with Jordan Clearwater, who towered over him (and pretty much everyone else on the NJPW USA roster). 

Clearwater looked good here, too. He used a big jumping leg on Connors minutes into the match. Connors responded later with a hard double chop across Clearwater’s back, then followed up with a tackle for two. Clearwater returned with a spinebuster for a two-count of his own.

Connors used a huge spear off the ropes to lay Clearwater out, then locked on a Boston crab for the quick tap. Hoping to see Connors vs. Gabriel Kidd in the future, as they burn the same way with the same fire.

This too ran just over six minutes. That makes it Connors vs. Riegel next week.

Danny Limelight defeated Barrett Brown

If this wasn’t the best, it was at least in the top three matches that have aired on NJPW Strong this year. Huge praise to both wrestlers here for tearing it down in this short ripper of a match.

Standing matwork early on between these two early, wrist locks and arm-wringers. Both wore intense faces and felt each other out at the top, with announcers Kevin Kelly and Alex Koslov lowering their voices while they called it. I thought it helped make this feel more intense.

Limelight did a big twisting dive to the floor midway through and jaw jacked to the camera afterwards, mostly calling out Rocky Romero.

Brown used a running busaiku knee at one point, and it turned Limelight inside out. Great visual, very GIF-able. Both with awesome but very different kinds of charisma. Brown used a snap suplex in the corner then pinned Limelight for just two.

The match built quickly, and at five minutes in, the two looked to kick things up a notch. Limelight used a wild springboard rope-walk-to-flying lariat on Brown, another GIF-able moment from this match. Brown used a half-Nelson suplex and hard low kick to a seated Limelight for a close nearfall. Limelight rallied back with a Fisherman’s Buster with an inside cradle for a two count of his own.

The finish saw Brown miss a spinning backfist while he stood on the apron near the corner turnbuckle. Limelight ducked the fist, then did a double-jump swinging DDT for the emphatic finish. 

Get in on the ground floor with both of these guys, because I have a feeling they’ll be shooting up the ranks shortly.

Blake Christian defeated Adrian Quest

All action from the get-go. These two got right into it after the bell sounded, with no feeling-out process like in other matches tonight. They traded near-falls and pin attempts before kicking the tempo up another notch. Quest caught Christian with a dropkick after he came off the roads with a springboard.

Christian returned offense with a huge lariat that flipped Quest onto his stomach. Christian won with what I’d call a twisting trust fall. This needs to be seen to be believed. Christian had Kofi Kingston-level hangtime on this. Koslov said he never saw it before and the same goes for me. Really cool.

Final thoughts:

High-quality episode of NJPW Strong tonight. The show itself ran about 45 minutes in total, and though the matches were pretty short, the quality remained high — above average, actually. After watching four straight nights of the G1 Climax tournament, I’m very impressed. That says a lot considering we’re talking the G1 here. Kudos and praise to all eight wrestlers involved tonight.

Danny Limelight and Barrett Brown had a match that is most definitely worth checking out if you have the time. And if you don’t, just keep an eye on both of them going forward.

Next week’s episode will feature the two Lion’s Break Crown semi-final matches (Connors vs. Riegel, Limelight vs. Christian), plus a special eight-man tag match with David Finlay, Misterioso, Rocky Romero, & Jeff Cobb vs. Bullet Club (Jay White, KENTA, Chase Owens, & Hikuleo

NJPW Strong results: KENTA vs. Jeff Cobb

Posted on by Justin Knipper

TJP and ACH defeated Adrian Quest and Logan Riegel

Veterans vs. young guns here. Riegel and ACH were in first and exploded into action from the bell, Riegel storming at ACH, who leapfrogged out of the way.

Quest landed a twisting springboard cross-body block on TJP next. Lots of fast and technical action between these two.

After the veteran team handled business for a few minutes, Riegel tagged out to Quest, who landed a big cross body from the top onto both TJP and ACH, shifting the momentum for a bit until ACH spiked Quest with a brainbuster, then pinned him after a diving splash off the top for the win.

Rocky Romero defeated Danny Limelight via submission

Natural chemistry between these two. Limelight got huge air when he landed a dive to the floor onto Romero early in the match.

Romero used Strong Zero for two. Limelight later went for a diving tornado ddt but Romero blocked it, then snapped a Limelight down with an armbreaker. He later put Limelight away with an arm lock submission for the win. Good match.

Between matches, they announced that the next volume in NJPW Strong starts next week with Lion’s Break Crown.

Guerillas of Destiny defeated PJ Black and Dave Finlay

Black and Finlay were stablemates for a brief time last year as a part of the Lifeblood faction. Black and Tonga were first in for their teams. Tonga rolled to the floor early on and jaw jacked with Black and later Finlay for most of the first part of this.

Finlay countered next with a high dropkick. Later, when Tonga slid to the floor again, Loa jumped in and took out Finlay while he wasn’t paying attention. He then body slammed him onto the floor as the ref started the count out call.

Loa and Black were in together late in the match. Black landed a top rope springboard moonsault for two. When he went for the Placebo Effect, Tonga crotched him on the turnbuckle. Loa went on to pin Black after using Apes**t (fire-thunder driver). Fine match.

KENTA defeated Jeff Cobb

Announcer Kevin Kelley mentioned their recent US title tournament match where Cobb scored a “visual pinfall” despite KENTA winning the actual match after a low blow behind the ref’s back.

KENTA rolled to the floor immediately and for the first few minutes stalled. When he finally got back into the ring, he laced Cobb with hard leg kicks. Cobb sold them really well, even to a point where KENTA taunted him, asking “do you give up?” While they circled each other.

Cobb launched KENTA with a front suplex and KENTA slid to the floor to gather himself. He snuck back in the ring and went after Cobb’s legs with kicks again. KENTA then took Cobb to the mat and continued working over Cobb’s leg, mixing submission holds and hard low kicks as part of his attack.

Cobb used a short lariat to put KENTA out for a bit. When he tried landing his running elbow from corner to corner, he sold his leg like it was too painful to even run across the ring. When he couldn’t make it to the corner, KENTA capitalized and took control from there, first planting Cobb with a draping DDT.

Cobb rallied back with a big Samoan drop, then went for the Tour of the Islands, but KENTA used the ref for leverage to pull himself out of the hold. Cobb almost clocked the ref, like in their previous match, but he stopped himself first. It was pointless, though, because once again, KENTA grabbed the ref, pulling in the way. Cobb accidentally punched him out as a result. KENTA then laid Cobb out with a regular DDT, then rolled to the floor to get a chair. 

When he went to smash Cobb with said chair, Cobb blocked it, then used a spin cycle suplex on KENTA for another “visual pinfall,” as the ref was still out at this point. After a few more moments, KENTA used a low blow on Cobb, but Cobb powered through the pain and planted KENTA with Tour of the Islands, though Cobb couldn’t pin KENTA because of his injured leg.

When the ref was finally back up, he started counting but only made it to two–Chase Owens dragged him out of the ring, then went after Cobb and beat on him in the ring. Cobb again powered through the ambush, taking Owens out, but KENTA found time to grab his red IWGP US title contract briefcase and hit Cobb with it before landing Go-2-Sleep to score the win.

KENTA cut a promo afterwards saying he’d win the US title soon, but didn’t mention Jon Moxley, the current champion, by name.

Final thoughts:

This was one of the weaker episodes of NJPW Strong. To be fair, they’ve set a high bar from the start, so it’s not to say tonight’s episode was bad by any means. But it definitely felt stale at times. 

The main event was the best match on the card, but the finish was weak. It was basically a rehash of their recent US tournament, and while both were good, it has me asking, “What was the point of that?” Also, NJPW’s dependence on ref bumps to protect booking plans has gone too far. We’re moving towards go-away heat at this point. These are macro-nitpicks, though, as tonight’s show was still good.

The show will host a series called Lion’s Break Crown starting next week. Stay tuned to the front page for more details.