Bateman defeated Kevin Knight
This was a solid opening match. Bateman stands a good five or six inches above Young Lion Knight. In an early exchange, Knight went for a headlock but lost contact with Bateman, who then slipped around back with a waistlock on Knight. He’d later blast Knight with a hard elbow that knocked Knight off his feet.
Bateman slowly worked Knight over with a mix of fundamental wrestling and top-shelf cheap shots and holds. It was subtle, but at one point Bateman locked in a neck crank that was really made to look like a rear chinlock.
Knight landed a beautiful dropkick in an explosion of a comeback. I think “beautiful” is the correct term for this particular dropkick, too. Imagine the height that SANADA or Kazuchika Okada get with their dropkicks with a moonsault landing, a lá Paul London.
Knight landed a basement spear for two. Bateman came back moments later with a rolling elbow, then put Knight away with a tombstone piledriver for the win.
Karl Fredericks, Fred Rosser & Adrian Quest defeated West Coast Wrecking Crew (Jorel Nelson and Royce Isaacs) & Misterioso
Quest and “Big Papi Pump ” Misterioso were in first for their teams, though it was Misterioso and Fred Rosser who were the first to leave an impression. Rosser blocked a few kicks from Misterioso before NJoA’s resident luchador took Rosser out with a handspring back elbow. He then tagged out to Isaacs of West Coast Wrecking Crew, who’d face-mash Rosser a couple times upon entry; “Mr. No-Days-Off ” did not like that, and would pay it back with a couple of hip drops. These two had natural chemistry together.
Later in the match, Nelson and Misterioso darted across the ring to take out Fredericks and Rosser, knocking them off the apron. Fredericks later tagged in and cleaned house, taking out Isaacs. He did a spinebuster. Nelson dove off the ropes and kind of tagged in Isaacs on his way down onto Fredericks. Rosser broke up the pin to make the save for his team. Quest did an Asai moonsault onto the floor onto WCWC, and later Fredericks would pick up the win for his team, pinning Misterioso after Manifest Destiny in the end.
Tag Team Turbulence finals: The Good Brothers (Karl Anderson and Doc Gallows) defeated Violence Unlimited (Brody King & Chris Dickinson)
Kevin Kelly called this an “all-star match” earlier on in the night, with IMPACT’s Good Brothers taking on ROH’s Violence Unlimited inside a New Japan ring.
“Dirty Daddy” Dickinson and “Machine Gun” Anderson were in first for their respective teams. They took their time early on, both teams in no hurry to rush through the match. Dickinson scored early on after using a dragon screw leg whip and single-leg crab on Anderson before tagging out to his partner, Brody King. Anderson immediately rolled back to the blue corner and tagged in Doc Gallows. Gallows might actually be a few inches taller than the 6’5” King. They banged into each other a couple of times before they started trading blows. King landed a cross-body block off the ropes. It was around this point that Kevin Kelly made a reference to King’s band, God’s Hate, which I very much enjoyed.
Gallows and Dickinson then went at it, with Gallows working over Dickinson until Dickinson returned fire with a dropkick off the ropes. He then tagged back out to King, who came in and did a springboard double-armdrag to the Good Bros. I don’t think he’s ever done this spot on Strong, but he did bust it out a few times while on tour with NJPW in 2019 during their Best of the Super Juniors, which Milano Collection AT lost his mind for on commentary.
When Gallows and Anderson slid to the floor, King went right after them, skipping over the top corner post before launching himself onto both with a somersault cannonball, similar to what Jushin Liger often did. King moves like he’s two feet shorter and 100 lbs. lighter than he actually is, and it’s always amazing to watch. He earned a two-count after planting Anderson with a Black Hole Slam.
King tagged out to Dickinson, but when King hoisted Anderson up for another slam while still in the ring, Anderson raked King’s eyes, forcing King to let him go. From here, Anderson tagged out to Gallows and the Good Brothers went back to working over Dickinson. They used a back suplex + neckbreaker drop combo for two. Dickinson answered back with a swinging DDT that’d make El Samurai proud.
When Dickinson went for his running Death Valley Bomb finish on Anderson, Gallows broke it up. The Good Brothers then put Dickinson away with the Magic Killer to win the match and the tournament. The Good Brothers are the inaugural winners of NJoA’s first Tag Team Turbulence tournament.
Former NJPW president and current NJoA official Kaname Tezuka presented the Good Brothers their Tag Team Turbulence trophies inside the ring after the match. Anderson cut a brief promo afterwards stating that the Good Brothers want the IWGP Tag Team championships and that it didn’t matter which city they’d wrestle for them in Japan because when the Good Brothers want something, they get it.
Final thoughts:
While tonight’s episode was solid, as per usual, it didn’t have the flare NJoA might have hoped for. Each of the Tag Team Turbulence matches over the last three weeks have been very good, but none were outstanding. The tournament was essentially an interesting albeit mildly tedious way of bringing the Good Brothers back into the fold without the booking feeling too forced, but even still, in the end, that’s sort of what the tournament felt like, an angle for Gallows and Anderson to pump them up for their next tour of Japan, whenever that may be.
King shined the brightest in the main event, but the match as a whole felt sort of flat and would most definitely have benefited from having an audience.
