NJPW Strong results: TJP vs. Clark Connors

This week’s New Japan Strong kicked off the most recent set of tapings from The New Beginning USA tapings in Seattle at Washington Hall, the home of super indie DEFY Wrestling.

ROH’s Ian Riccaboni joined Alex Koslov on commentary. Riccaboni, who has also appeared for both Impact Wrestling and GCW recently, was filling in for Kevin Kelly, who was overseas doing English broadcasting in Japan.

If you’ve seen the 2019 NJPW Super J Cup, which was also filmed in Washington, tonight’s production quality and overall look was similar.

Brody King defeated Yuya Uemura

The two stood face to face in the ring before the bell, King almost a full head over Uemura. There were lots of chants for King before things got started.

This was a good opener. King was on the offensive throughout most of this. He squashed Uemura with a senton early, later putting Ueumura in a seated abdominal stretch and clubbing him in the chest with his free arm as he stretched him out. 

While Ueumura took a beating, he always wrestled with fire and attempted to come back. It was King who was just too much for the recently-graduated Young Lion.

Uemura would eventually connect with a string of moves to help him put King on the defensive. They traded big elbows, but Uemura landed a nice dropkick off the ropes soon after. He caught King with a running dropkick in the corner later and somehow put King down on the mat with a backdrop Saito suplex.

King answered back, locking Uemura in a bear hug and spiking him with a piledriver for two. Uemura slapped on a desperation armbar but King was close enough to the ropes to have the referee call for the break. He then put Uemura away with a big lariat and the Gonzo Bomb for the win.

King, who has been on a roll since last year, looked great, but so did Uemura who earned a chant of his own before he exited to the back.

Lio Rush & Rocky Romero defeated West Coast Wrecking Crew

The WCWC (Royce Isaacs & Jorel Nelson) were regulars in the Seattle area for DEFY before they got to NJPW, where they wrestled under the name The One Percent. As a result, the crowd sounded familiar with them.

There was lots of action in this one. WCWC jumped Romero & Rush before the bell. Rush and Nelson fought on the floor while Isaacs worked Romero over in the ring. They did stereo delayed suplexes next, one in the ring and one on the floor. Nelson used a gourdbuster and dumped Rush face first to the mat while Isaacs dropped Romero with a suplex in the ring. WCWC then ran back into the ring to do some flexing and posing for the fans.

Romero later landed some hard chops on Isaacs and the crowd was loudly behind him. Isaacs kiboshed that and kept working him over while Nelson began tearing the red ringpost pad from the turnbuckle in the corner “Toru Yano style” as Riccaboni put it. 

Romero was finally able to swing out of Isaac’s grip with a tornado DDT and tag out to Rush. Isaacs tagged out Nelson, who caught a springboard moonsault from Rush upon entering the ring. Rush did an Asai moonsault to the floor onto Isaacs next and ran back into the ring for a flying frog crossbody attack (he did the froggy pump and a crossbody block, like Hiroshi Tanahashi does sometimes) onto Nelson. 

A proverbial “house of fire,” Rush was. This kid has so much in-ring talent alone that it’s kind of crazy he’s not in a top spot somewhere.

Nelson caught Rush with flying double knees in the corner and tagged out to Isaacs. Rush landed an enzuigiri on Isaacs and tagged out to Romero, who ran wild from corner to corner with Forever Clotheslines on both Isaacs and Nelson.

WCWC took Romero out soon after, using a running knee-to-German suplex double team spot on Romero for two. They did a cool double team slingshot-to-powerslam for another two. The match began breaking down. Rush dove onto the floor with a tope suicida as we hit the ten minute mark.

Romero caught Isaacs coming off the ropes with a flying armbar, transitioning to a triangle choke and finally to an armbar on the opposite side. He grabbed Isaacs’ left leg for more leverage and pressure, which got Isaacs to ultimately tap out. This match had really good stuff from everyone involved.

WCWC beat up Romero after the match with a black kendo stick—a message from Black Tiger and Team Filthy to Romero, who has been feuding with the new Black Tiger since early in the year. Isaacs looked to the camera and told Black Tiger they had his back.

Romero and the new Black Tiger will finally have a singles match at the upcoming NJPW Strong: Rivals tapings this month.

— Riccaboni interviewed David Finlay and Juice Robinson. FinJuice were pissed and called out JONAH and Bad Dude Tito for sticking their noses in their business. Finlay and Robinson usually come off happy-go-lucky babyfaces, but this promo had an edge to it for sure. 

The promo was short and to the point, covering all that’s happened between the four within the past month like when JONAH and Tito jumped Robinson after JONAH’s singles match against him at NJPW Strong: Nemesis. These two teams will also square off at NJPW Strong: Rivals this month.

Clark Connors defeated TJP

NJPW Strong has been slow cooking this mentor vs. mentee rivalry over the past two years or so. A video package broke down all the different stops along the way, starting with the aforementioned Super J-Cup 2019 all the way through Showdown 2021.

Connors, who comes from the Pacific Northwest, got a great reception before the match started. He slammed TJP into the corner and took his knee tape off. It’s business time. Connors next walked back to the corner and chopped the hell out of TJP, who was still reeling. He launched him with two very high angle German suplexes and went for a third before TJP escaped to the floor. Connors ran after him and pounced TJP over the guardrail onto the ring announcer’s table. This was great but also would have looked better if the lighting wasn’t so dark.

TJP locked Connors in a guillotine choke inside the ropes, his back facing the audience. He then planted him with a high back suplex with one grapevined leg for a two count. He put Connors in a chinlock for a while and the crowd got loud in support of Connors. TJP face washed him in the corner and I liked how Riccaboni said, “I don’t agree with this move” which is such an accurate take on the spot. It’s not illegal, yet there’s nothing sportsmanlike about it. Heavy boos rained down onto TJP.

Connors was able to gather up a burst of energy to catch TJP running off the ropes with a flying shoulder block. He dropped an elbow on to his former mentor just after the ten minute call sounded.

TJP tried springboarding off the ropes, but Connors caught him mid-air with a spear. Both were out for a while. TJP was back up first and gave Connors more disrespectful face washes as he pointed to those booing him in the crowd. He locked Connors in an armbar next, but Connors reversed it into a Mr. Gannosuke-style full nelson clutch. TJP escaped after grabbing the ropes for a break.

When TJP tried escaping to the floor again, Connors caught him with a spear while he was still on the apron which got the crowd to chant “this is awesome.”

Connors tried suplexing TJP back into the ring, but TJP countered and locked Connors in a triangle choke in the ropes. He let go and then dashed to the top rope to drop a flying knee across the back of Connors, who was still caught in the ropes. TJP then rolled Connors to the center and hit his Mamba Splash finisher for a really close two count. The crowd was steaming hot at this point.

TJP then hit a crazy looking cobra twist driver, but Connors kicked out at one. He landed a fireman’s carry-to-gamengiri kick but again, Connors kicked out after the count of one. If this were a video game, his spirit level would have been flashing like crazy at this moment. 

TJP did a backslide followed by a modified scorpion deathlock, wrenching on Connors’ injured knee. Connors caught the ropes for a break and then rolled TJP up for two. They then knocked each other down after a double lariat. Referee Jeremy Marcus shouted at both to get back up. When both were, TJP went for a tornado DDT but Connors instead just launched the guy forward and he went flying, landing face first onto the mat. Connors climbed to the top but TJP stopped him, again wrenching on Connors’ injured shoulder.

Moments later, Connors connected with a Mamba Splash of his own. Connors flashed the LA Dojo sign at TJP, which the crowd enjoyed, and then used a big stacked power bomb on him for two. TJP flipped Connors off and Connors powerslammed him. Then, he put his former mentor TJP away with Catch and Kill, a backdrop suplex-to-power bomb, for the emphatic win in 18:19.

This was excellent and Connors’ best match on NJPW Strong of all time, and possibly even the best match of his career so far.

Final thoughts:

This show had a big time feel and delivered with three very good-to-great matches. Each is worth going out of your way to see, and each had a different flavor than the other. King vs. Uemura was a killer hard-hitting opener while the West Coast Wrecking Crew vs. Rush & Romero was top-tier tag team wrestling. 

The main event wasn’t just Connors’ best match on the show but possibly also TJP’s as well. Actually, I can’t think of too many better TJP matches in the past few years than this one. Good on both of them for this ripper of a match.