NJPW Strong results: Fred Rosser vs. Bateman

Tonight’s card was titled “FIREWORKS FRENZY.”

Lio Rush defeated Adrian Quest

Lio Rush, who recently announced his retirement, took on Adrian Quest in a good opener.

Both jaw-jacked and shoved each other at the top of the match. Quest dropkicked Rush out of the ring, then did a tope suicida through the ropes onto Rush.

Later, Rush landed a pretty springboard cross body-block off of the bottom rope to the floor. When both were back in the ring, the two spent a lot of time exchanging holds on the mat. When Quest had Rush in a sleeperhold, Rush ran backwards into the corner, slamming Quest off of his back to break the hold.

Towards the end of the match, Rush and Quest threw kicks at the same time and ended up double-KO’ing each other. The two were up quickly, though, trading elbows after a few dazed moments. Rush would go for his springboard stunner finish but Quest blocked it and landed a standing shooting star press for two, and later a Tiger Driver for two.

It looked like Quest was going for an avalanche Tiger Driver when he sat Rush on the top rope and under-hooked his arms. Rush was able to block it, then bounce back into the ring to hit his signature springboard stunner on Quest for the win in 8:19. This was probably Quest’s best match on Strong, if not one of his best.

Hikuleo defeated Jordan Clewarter

Clearwater charged Hikuleo in the corner as soon as the bell rang, but Hikuleo seemed to have things under control within a few moments. At 6’2”, Clearwater stands as one of the taller wrestlers on the show, but when he was in the ring with the 6’8” Hikuleo he looked small in comparison. Hikuleo manhandled his opponent for much of the match as Clearwater tried to crawl his way back into the match, somehow. We don’t often see this side of Clearwater, or rather we don’t see him in a position like this usually, as he’s usually the tall guy in his match.

Clearwater later used a jawbreaker to pick up the momentum he lost early on in the match. He grounded Hikuleo with a dropkick to his knee. When he went for the Midas Touch, a running big boot, Hikuleo turned that into a powerslam. When Clearwater went for a running bulldog out of desperation a few seconds later, Hikuleo reversed that into a backdrop suplex. He then put Clearwater out with The End Is Near for the win. Hikuleo continues to establish himself as the show’s resident monster.

Fred Rosser defeated Bateman

The two circled each other before locking up. Bateman locked in a mean front facelock and held it a few seconds longer than he was supposed to before letting Rosser go. When he later had Rosser in an armlock, he bent Rosser’s fingers backwards while the ref’s eyes were elsewhere.

Bateman’s ring style, “the heel’s heel,” is a perfect opposite to “Mr. No-Days-Off” Fred Rosser. Announcer Kevin Kelly nailed it tonight when he compared Rosser to Ronnie Garvin. 

Rosser held control of Bateman at points, but Bateman was just too wily for Rosser to manage. He slid out to the floor to regroup, but to also take his wrist tape off dramatically, which was cool, because it was clear that Rosser was fed up with Bateman’s foolishness. 

The naked-wristed Rosser threw some haymakers and big chops of his own back in the ring. At around five minutes in, Bateman began to target Rosser’s left knee. He used a few ankle lock variations between stomping away at Rosser’s leg. Bateman started to untie Rosser’s boots to hypothetically make Rosser’s knee more vulnerable as there’d be less support on the knee. Kevin Kelly did a good job explaining the mechanics of this.

Bateman’s punches and chops started to lose their effectiveness on Rosser, who began to fire up late in the match. Rosser lost his cool and began gouging at Bateman’s eyes, then started biting him. I feel like if this was in front of a live crowd, they’d have loved that. 

The two brawled on the apron with Bateman looking to get the better of the fight. When Bateman went for a big right hand, Rosser countered it into a falling backdrop that planted Bateman square against the ring apron. Bateman sold this like he was about to throw up; nice touch. 

Before getting back into the ring, Rosser removed his left boot completely and went back into the ring with a boot on the right foot and a black sock on the left.He caught Bateman with a low knee for two. He used two more of the same knee strikes as he couldn’t really move around with just one boot on. He DDT’d Bateman for two. 

Bateman used a fisherman’s buster on Rosser for a close nearfall. He spoke a few inaudible words to Rosser before landing two stiff elbows, but again Rosser was able to kick out. 15 minutes had elapsed at this point. Seconds later, Rosser spiked Bateman with an Emerald Frosion for the pin and the win in 15:34.

Final thoughts:

Tonight’s episode of NJPW Strong was short and sweet. The main event delivered, but it’s important to note the difference between a match like this and a match like fans would usually see on a NJPW home team show. Between the Hikuleo vs. Clearwater and Rosser vs. Bateman matches, it feels like now more than ever that the show has its strongest identity and distinct flavor.

Next week’s show will kick off NJPW’s upcoming Tag Team Turbulence tournament.