NJPW Strong results: New Japan Cup USA finals

Rocky Romero and Adrian Quest defeated The DKC and Danny Limelight

Good match. DKC and Limelight have already appeared on NJPW Strong, while this was Quest’s debut on the show.

Midway through, Limelight took Romero out with a jumping knee strike that left both temporarily KO’d. DKC tagged in next and showed lots of fire before plating Romero with an inverted Samoan Drop. The finish saw Quest do a crazy twisting plancha from the top to the floor to take out Limelight before Romero pinned DKC after using Sliced Bread #2 for the win. The three young guys were impressive in this.

Brody King and Flip Gordon defeated Jay White and Chase Owens

Gordon hasn’t been on TV since February in ROH. Neither he or King were wearing their Villain Enterprises gear.

Owens and Flip started the match off, but White intervened early on. He and Owens took turns wearing Gordon down in their corner. This was also Jay White’s first match in months, but he didn’t look to have any ring rust.

On commentary, Kevin Kelly said that Gordon changed up his in-ring style because of past knee injuries. He didn’t fly around too much tonight.

Flip was finally able to tag out to Brody King after a few more minutes. King cleaned house, laying White out with a spinning Boss Man slam. King then pinned Owens after a spike Gonzo Bomb to pick up the win.

This was really good. For some reason, White and Owens came off like they’d been a teaming forever. A rematch could be great down the road.

After the match, Jay White grabbed Gordon and went for a Bladerunner before King chased him off. Out of the post-match chaos appeared Hikuleo, younger brother to Tama Tonga and Tanga Loa, and laid out King. Looks like a program is building between these groups.

*****
New Japan announced that starting next week at the same time, the company will air NJPW Fighting Spirit Unleashed on the NJPW World streaming service.

*****

KENTA defeated David Finlay to win the 2020 NJPW USA Cup

There was no time limit in this one. The two grappled in the center of the ring for the opening minutes. The story here was that KENTA got an advantage over Finlay unless he resorted to cheating. It’s a subtle way of getting Finlay over in our minds without him having to do much. Hats off to KENTA, who relishes his 2020 heel life.

The pace of this might be too slow for a lot of people’s tastes, but I thought it was perfect for the context. KENTA worked slow and heavy over Finlay for a long five minutes or so. Finlay rallied back with a back suplex, then a knee strike and a spear only a two-count. It’s notable how much Finlay has improved a lot since his shoulder injury; his past three matches on this show have been solid. He’s crisper in the ring than before and it shows.

As Finlay went for Prima Nocta, KENTA shoved him into the referee, then kicked him low. This happened in KENTA’s match with Cobb also. The ref got back up but KENTA could only score a two-count on Finlay. The two went on to trade hard European uppercuts before KENTA was able to cinch in the GTS to put Finlay away for the win. KENTA is the first ever New Japan Cup USA winner.

KENTA was awarded a trophy and IWGP US title briefcase as his reward. He called out Jon Moxley next, shouting “Where’s Jon Moxley? What’s he doing?!”, saying he was coming for the current IWGP US champion.

KENTA switched to Japanese next and reiterated what he’d said in English until Jeff Cobb jumped into the ring. Cobb tried German suplexing KENTA, but KENTA escaped and ran out of the ring. The two jaw-jacked from a distance before the show ended.

Final thoughts: 

Another solid hour of pro wrestling from NJPW. The tag match between White/Owens and Gordon/King was good, and it’s great to see those guys getting a chance to be in front of the cameras after half a year. 

The main event was really good, though the slower, thinking-man’s pace isn’t for everyone. Regardless, both KENTA and Finlay did a great job, and it was cool to see Finlay finding his groove as a singles wrestler. Despite losing clean in the finals, he still got over.

NJPW Fighting Spirit Unleashed will air in the same time slot as NJPW Strong next week on Friday at 10 EST/7 PST on NJPW World.