NJPW Strong results: Road to Lion’s Break Crown

Tonight’s episode of NJPW Strong was titled “Road to Lion’s Break Crown,” a reference to the tournament the company has planned for next week. 

Danny Limelight, Clark Connors, Logan Riegel & Adrian Quest defeated The DKC, Blake Christian, Jordan Clearwater & Barrett Brown

All-action opener. This was basically a preview of the matches we will see next week on Lion’s Break Crown. Even though these are all considered to be Young Lions, each member of the match seems to have at least a few years of experience, and come off as more professional and more seasoned than a lot of other rookies you see in the United States scene at the moment.

Adrian Quest and Blake Christian were in first for their teams. Christian is extremely athletic and it shows.

Connors and Jordan Clearwater were in next. Connors was aggressive with his mat wrestling, even cradling Clearwater for a nearfall early.

Later, when the DKC put Riegel in an armbar, all of the members of the match jumped into the ring and started going at it. Quick, wild brawl for a few seconds.

Connors put Clearwater in a Boston crab, but the DKC came in to break it up. Danny Limelight came in next. Barrett Brown was next with a tope of his own, and finally Blake Christian with the flip dive.

Back inside the ring, Logan Riegel made a blind tag to Brown, putting himself in the match and putting away Jordan Clearwater with a jumping spike DDT for the win.

All eight guys got into it with each other after the match, hyping up next week’s tournament.

PJ Black and Rocky Romero defeated Fred Rosser and Misterioso

Fine match. Rosser looked huge next to Romero inside the ring. Romero tried knocking Rosser off his feet with shoulder blocks but Rosser wouldn’t budge.

Rosser and PJ Black went at it next, and this is where Misterioso entered the match. He and Black double-teamed Black on and off for a while.

When Misterioso went for a moonsault, Black put his feet up and Misterioso landed face-first into them. Black next tagged out to Romero, who used his Forever Clotheslines on both Rosser and Misterioso. Black later landed a diving crossbody block for two.

Misterioso and Rosser used a 2nd-rope superplex on Black, though he recovered quickly, which led to Romero taking Rosser out on the floor with a pescado. Black went on to pin Misterioso after the Placebo Effect (springboard 450 splash) to pick up the win for his team.  

Guerillas of Destiny (Tama Tonga & Tonga Loa) defeated ACH and Alex Zayne

ACH and Zayne were on offense for the early part of this. ACH has looked awesome on these recent episodes of NJPW Strong. He and Zayne double-teamed Guerillas of Destiny early on, but the Bullet Club brothers turned the tables not long after and went to work on ACH for a while. G.O.D slowed the pace and worked over ACH for a long while, until ACH finally rolled to his corner and tagged in Alex Zayne, who cleaned house. He’s flashy and uses innovative moves, but it’s clear he still needs those reps. That said, this was hands-down the best match I’ve seen him in ever. 

Zayne used a super Frankensteiner on Loa for a very close two-count, but a minute or so later, Loa recovered and spiked Zayne with Apesh*t to put him away and nab another win. This was really good for what it was. This was textbook heel tag team work from G.O.D, and both ACH and Zayne looked better than ever.

Final thoughts:

Another solid one in the can for NJPW Strong this week, though I anticipate next week’s Lion’s Break Crown tournament to be very interesting. All eight wrestlers looked hungry and aggressive in their tag match tonight, and I’m hoping the vibe will carry over into next week’s episode of NJPW Strong, when all eight face off in singles matches in night one of the Lions Break Crown tournament.