NJPW Strong results: JONAH vs. David Finlay

Tonight saw the second installment of NJPW Strong: Nemesis tapings from Hollywood.

Karl Fredericks and Kevin Knight defeated Stray Dog Army (Bateman & Misterioso)

Hot start between Knight and Misterioso, who kicked the match off for their teams. Bateman later pulled Fredericks off the ring apron to the floor. He worked over Knight, who kept trying to fire up, but Bateman kept shutting him down, mainly by using barred tactics like eye pokes and gauges, and joint locks.

Misterioso missed a flying legdrop, which allowed the babyface LA Dojo team to make a comeback. Fredericks and Misterioso had a fiery exchange towards the end, but it was Fredericks who would pin Misterioso with the Manifest Destiny to pick up the win.

Brody King defeated Dave Dutra

Stiff match. “The Battle King” Dave Dutra has appeared on AEW Dark in the past. He chopped Brody King early. Both the audience and King knew that Dutra had bit off slightly more than he could chew already. The “You f*cked up!” chants began raining down. King was super over with the Hollywood crowd.

King threw Dutra to the floor and chopped him up, much to the pleasure of the audience in attendance. Dutra would come back and land a big moonsault to the floor onto King. He’d put King down with a swinging DDT at around the five-minute mark.

King fired back with a rolling lariat and a massive elbow shot and the Gonzo Bomb for the win. Dutra took a beating. Hardcore 1—Black Metal 0.

JONAH defeated David Finlay

Finlay was great. These two had their first encounter at the Battle in the Valley special in San Jose back in November. JONAH attacked both Finlay and his tag team partner, Juice Robinson, after Robinson’s match against Moose.

JONAH charged at Finlay at the bell. Finlay dodged him. Some fans booed Finlay while some in the crowd cheered him. His haters were noisy, but more liked Finlay than disliked him.

JONAH ragdolled Finlay around on the floor outside the ring after catching him mid-air. He landed a big standing senton on Finlay before abusing him some more in the corner post.

When the five-minute call sounded, Finlay had fired himself up and mounted a comeback. He’d fly onto JONAH with a pescado to the floor. When Finlay was in control, a number of fans started chanting for JONAH.

JONAH come back and put Finlay out with a backbreaker, a massive lariat that turned Finlay inside out, a power bomb, and finally a huge splash off the top rope, which would put Finlay away for good.

Final thoughts:

Tonight saw another solid section of the recent Nemesis tapings. JONAH vs. Finlay is worth checking out. I expect to see more of these two plus Juice Robinson mixing it up going forward.

Next week’s episode sees Team Filthy take on Fred Rosser, Tyler Rust, & Rocky Romero in the main event.