NJPW Strong results: Road to Fighting Spirit Unleashed

Kevin Kelly and Jay White appeared at the top of the show together from behind the broadcast table. White talked about how he planned on taking out Flip Gordon later on in the man event.

Danny Limelight defeated Jordan Clearwater

Clearwater, the young Karl Anderson trainee, towered over Limelight, the latter of whom dominated the first match on tonight’s episode. He put Clearwater away in five minutes or so with a pretty springboard tornado DDT for the win. 

Limelight cut a quick promo calling out Rocky Romero afterwards.

Misterioso, Blake Christian, Barrett Brown, & Adrian Quest defeated TJP, Karl Fredericks, ACH & Clark Connors  

This was nonstop action for ten minutes. Fredericks and Misterioso were in early together. Both move like they’re much smaller than they are, especially Fredericks, who moved no slower than a junior heavyweight tonight.

ACH looks like he hasn’t lost a step since his time off. He and Blake Christian looked great together and traded aerial moves for a minute before TJP tagged in for ACH. Brown and Connors later had a great exchange, too. Both bring serious energy into their matches. Connors used a huge hip toss on Brown, launching him into his team’s corner.

Quest looked good in the ring with TJP, who was on fire. Christian landed a Lionsault onto ACH before Brown used a triangle moonsault from to the floor onto Fredericks. ACH hit a pescado onto the floor and actually looked like a fish on his way down. Christian did a springboard 630 senton onto everyone on the floor. NJPW really needs to make use of instant replays, because this match was basically a highlight reel.

Misterioso pinned Connors after a superkick and a backcracker to pick up the win for his team. Misterioso and Fredericks got into it after the match. The two will have a match on the upcoming Fighting Spirit Unleashed tour.

Chase Owens defeated PJ Black

Black was on offense for much of this. Owens played sneaky heel and would do things like roll out of the ring to stall and used closed fists behind the ref’s back. Late in the match, Black landed a springboard moonsault for two. When he tried it again, Owens got his knees up, then put Black away with a package piledriver for the win.

Final thoughts:

Another solid episode of Strong tonight, albeit shorter than usual. The main event was good, but the eight-man tag was most memorable, with Karl Fredericks vs. Misterioso taking segmentsof the night.