NJPW Strong results: Will Ospreay vs. Homicide

A special edition of NJPW Strong aired tonight called United Empire Rising with members of the faction appearing in each match on the show.

United Empire (Aussie Open, Aaron Henare & Great-O-Khan) defeated TMDK (JONAH, Shane Haste, Mikey Nicholls & Bad Dude Tito)

TMTK jumped United Empire once the bell sounded. O-Khan used Mongolian chops on Haste and then sat on his head, sandwiching it between the top rope and O-Khan’s ass. O-Khan later tried knocking JONAH off the apron, but the big man wouldn’t budge.

Aussie Open double-teamed Henare for a while. Later, JONAH unloaded on Kyle Fletcher in the corner. They worked over the youngest wrestler in the match for a few minutes until Fletcher was able to roll to the opposite corner and tag Mark Davis, who cleaned house.

TMDK later used the Tankbuster, and Tito followed up with a frog splash for two. Fletcher dove to the floor. Tito connected with a blockbuster on O-Khan, but Henare returned to the ring and put Tito away with Streets of Rage for the win. United Empire kicked off the night 1–0.

O-Khan cut a promo afterwards and called the crowd peasants before reiterating that United Empire were taking over NJPW.

Jeff Cobb defeated Willie Mack

The story in this match was that Mack, between his size and high flying ability, gave Cobb a real run for his money. Cobb didn’t look as strong or dominant as he usually does in NJPW singles matches. Despite him picking up the win, he didn’t finish with an emphatic, clear victory. Mack took most of the offense throughout the match, and Cobb wasn’t able to do many of his usual power spots; no suplexes, no slams.

Cobb wasn’t able to land his standing moonsault, either. Interestingly, Mack used a standing moonsault of his own and connected for a close two. Mack ended up using a german suplex and exploder suplex back to back for another near fall. It was clear the story they were telling was Mack has Cobb’s number.

When Mack put Cobb down with a Sky High, he was able to score another two count. It was right after this that Cobb decided to schoolboy Mack, cradling him with his shoulders pinned against the mat.

This could be viewed as a hollow victory for the otherwise dominant Cobb, so I imagine we’ll see these two together in the ring sometime down the road this year. Still, United Empire moved to 2–0.

Will Ospreay (w/ Aussie Open) defeated Homicide

Eddie Kingston joined Ian Riccaboni and Matthew Rehwoldt on commentary, but he wasn’t mic’d correctly and you could hear almost nothing of what he said.

The match itself, though, was very good. It was well paced from the beginning, slower than one might come to expect from a Ospreay match. The two jaw-jacked early on. Ospreay mouthed off to Homicide and was quite loud Homicide responded by slapping him in the face, knocking him silly.

Homicide went for a monkey flip, but Ospreay landed on his feet and then hopped to the second rope and dove off, catching Homicide with a flying cross body block.

Ospreay landed a big pescado to the floor later on. The two then continued brawling around ringside. Homicide put Ospreay down with a vertical suplex on the floor and then a swinging neckbreaker on the entrance ramp.

Homicide took out a fork later and teased stabbing Ospreay with it. Aussie Open distracted Homicide, allowing Ospreay to block the fork shot. Ospreay recovered and blasted Homicide with a baseball slide dropkick between the ropes. He then teased using the fork on Homicide, but didn’t.

Later, Ospreay taunted Kingston, who was still near ringside on commentary. What’s funny was that Kingston was way more audible when he was shouting at Ospreay and Homicide in the ring than he was on the broadcast. The crowd went wild when Kingston started shouting at Ospreay.

Homicide dove through the middle rope and crashed into Ospreay with a reckless, but perfect, somersault senton.

Back in the ring, Ospreay connected with a step-up enzuigiri, but Homicide recovered fast and launched Ospreay into the corner with an overhead front suplex. Ospreay responded with a Liger Bomb for two and then an Os-Cutter for another. The crowd was wide awake at this point.

Homicide collapsed as Ospreay was winding up for his Hidden Blade elbow finish. Later, after Homicide had recovered, he was able to spike Ospreay with the Cop Killer for a very close count of two. When he went to use the fork, the referee took it from Homicide’s hands. While he was distracted with the ref, Ospreay reappeared with a roundhouse kick to the head, followed by the Hidden Blade, but only for two which got an audible gasp from the Philly crowd.

Ospreay then dumped cold water on the audience when he soon laid Homicide out with a Stormbreaker to pick up the win. United Empire finished the night 3–0.

Final thoughts:

The main event from tonight’s United Empire Rising edition of NJPW Strong is very much worth going out of your way to check out. Ospreay’s game has developed a lot in the past two years and it was on full display in his match with Homicide, who looked terrific tonight. Hopefully he shows up in NJPW more often going forward.