NJPW Strong results: Tom Lawlor vs. Homicide

Tonight was the third week of action from NJPW’s Detonation tapings in Hollywood, California. This was another solid episode from NJPW Strong with this week’s main event well worth going out of your way to check out.

Peter Avalon defeated Keita via submission

Avalon got on the mic to address the crowd. saying that he didn’t just want to be the biggest man in NJPW Strong or in AEW, but the biggest man, period. He sounded meaner and more serious in his promo, which feels more appropriate for him here.

When Keita arrived, Avalon offered him the microphone for a rebuttal. Just as Keita was about to speak, Avalon caught him with a sudden enzuigiri kick to the back of the head.

Avalon spiked Keita with a death valley bomb as soon as the bell rang but couldn’t put him away. He went for a half crab immediately — the move he submitted Keita with the last time they wrestled. 

Keita sent Avalon over the ropes to the floor and landed on him with a tope suicida. This was fast action from the get-go with lots of big spots early on with the crowd chanting for Keita during this. 

Avalon would lock him into a cross facelock before putting him down with a back suplex for two. He later hit a suicide dive of his own later on, following it up with a slingshot knee drop into the ring on Keita.

Keita hit “Key to the City,” a tornado suplex, suddenly, for two. In the end, they traded submission holds until Avalon caught Keita in the Golden Arch single-leg crab for the win.

Bullet Club (El Phantasmo & Chris Bey) defeated Mascara Dorada & Blake Christian

“Rock Hard” Juice Robinson joined Ian Riccaboni & Alex Koslov on commentary for this match.

This was ten minutes of non-stop action.

Bey and Christian started things off and exchanged flashy offense up front. El Phantasmo and Dorada were in next and Dorada showed off an impressive rope walk dropkick. No one else moves like he does on the ropes. 

He and Phantasmo had a cool exchange while they were both tightrope walking while both holding Christian & Bey by the arms. They started trading chops while balancing on the same top rope. Dorada got the better of the exchange and knocked Phantasmo to the floor. 

Christian hit an Arabian press to the floor onto the three others in the match. He would later launch Dorada over the ropes onto Bullet Club with a back body drop. 

Christian scored a C4 off the second rope to Bey for a close two count.  Dorada landed a springboard elbow drop on Bey for another two. 

When the ten minute call sounded, Robinson, who was near ringside on commentary, stood up to flip off Christian, who was about to do something to Bey off the top rope. This caught Christian off guard which gave Bey a chance to fight back and eventually avoid any damage.

The finish came soon after when Robinson shoved Christian off the top rope straight into a cutter from Bey, leading to Bullet Club taking the victory.

Homicide defeated “Filthy” Tom Lawlor

This was really good with the crowd split between both men.

They stayed in a collar-and-elbow tie-up for about thirty seconds before they first broke. Lawlor used a waistlock takedown to ground Homicide, but it didn’t last for long. Homicide had an answer for anything Lawlor was offering up.

They traded hard slaps and chops in the corner intermittently. Lawlor kept attacking with a variety of submissions from leg locks to arm locks and anything in between. Homicide eventually caught Lawlor in an STF, but Lawlor reversed it into a sleeper. 

They ended up rolling from the ring down onto the floor where they finally were broken up. Homicide drilled Lawlor with a piledriver on the floor. When he went for another, Lawlor escaped and kicked him in the head. They took until the ref’s count of 19 to get back into the ring. They unloaded hard slaps on their knees. Homicide did some biting, later taking out a fork and sticking it into the corner turnbuckle post for safe keeping.

Lawlor caught Homicide with a giant one-armed uranage slam, like Takeshi Rikio’s MUSO finisher, which got a two count.

Lawlor had Homicide locked in a front face lock for a while, but Homicide escaped. Lawlor would slap on another sleeper, but Homicide bit his way out of it, chomping down on Filthy’s fingers to break the hold. 

In the end, Homicide went for the Cop Killer, but Lawlor backflipped out of it before locking him in a sleeper once more. Homicide rolled forward to shake Lawlor off his back and then caught him in stride with a brutal running lariat, laying him out completely. You could see the sweat explode off Lawlor’s chest. Homicide would score the upset win over the former STRONG Openweight champion.

Afterwards, Team Filthy’s Danny Limelight came out to protect Lawlor from any post-match fork attacks and to help Lawlor to the back. Limelight and Homicide had words, though, as they were both in LAX together in the past.

Backstage, Limelight talked about the history between the two and how he had watched both Lawlor and Homicide wrestle in wars, but Limelight implied that Homicide went over the line, so to speak, when he went to attack Lawlor with a fork. He put over Lawlor and listed his past accomplishments, accusing Homicide of taking the Team Filthy beef personal. 

Limelight said “Filthy” Tom had had his back for over two years, so then if Homicide still had a problem, they could settle it “like they do in New York” and then put up his fists. Limelight continued to warn Homicide: “It’s nothin’ personal. It’s just filthy business.”