NEVER Openweight Champion victorious on Saturday night
The main event on NJPW STRONG this week saw Brody King do battle with recently crowned NEVER Openweight Champion Tomohiro Ishii in a first time ever battle. It wasn’t long before the match turned into a slugfest, with heavy strikes exchanged, as Ishii used pure strength and will to battle back with a big vertical suplex.
King would find a cannonball in response, and maintained control until a slingshot German suplex gave the Stone Pitbull space. Ishii’s cement hard head would ring off King’s jaw to send him to the mat, but Big Bad Brody would deny the sliding lariat, instead landing a Chris Dickinson style DVD. A lariat followed, and King went for the Gonzo Bomb but would be countered with a sliding lariat and a huge Vertical Drop Brainbuster.
Six man tag action saw the United Empire continue their campaign against the LA Dojo. Karl Fredericks, Ren Narita and Clark Connors wasted no time in going after TJP, Jeff Cobb and Will Ospreay. Fredericks dove with a tope con giro to Ospreay before TJP was isolated, but after a trip from Cobb, Narita was trapped in the wrong part of the ring.
Narita would endure the strength of Cobb and stinging chops from Ospreay before a front suplex brought Connors back in, the Wild Rhino on fire with a pounce to Ospreay, and a powerslam and spear on TJP. Yet his momentum would be completely halted as Ospreay hooked Connors’ leg, and TJP came off the top with a dropkick. Fredericks would do all he could against his three opponents, but as the match broke down, Connors knee buckled on a save and the Alpha Wold would go on a Tour of the Islands as United Empire continued to punish Connors’ knee after the bell.
Kicking off the night, the returning Gabriel Kidd took on Jonathan Gresham. The former ROH Pure Champion would maintain the Code of Honor with his opponent, before the two engaged in perfectly matched chain wresting. Kidd would target the arm of his opponent and scored repeated armdrags as Gresham was slightly frustrated, and after a series of takedowns, the Octopus was in decidedly less of a sporting mood than when he started.
Gresham would accidentally poke the eye of Kidd as the two men grew more intense. The Octopus would grapevine the legs of Kidd, driving him to the ropes, and the Briton responded with a shoulder tackle, leading to the first strikes of the match to be thrown. Forearm shivers were traded before a dropkick sent Kidd off the apron; as Kidd got back in a hurricanrana from Gresham sparked a series of roll-ups from both men before a ground headscissors gave Gresham victory.
