Rosser the second STRONG Champion
The main event of NJPW STRONG this week saw Fred Rosser put his career on STRONG on the line in exchange for a shot at Tom Lawlor’s STRONG Openweight Championship, the ultimate gamble ultimately paying off as Rosser would be crowned the second ever STRONG Openweight Champion.
The hatred between these two men, having grown for two years, was on full display from the open as both men brawled in and around the ring. The match was intense as it was dangerous, and it would be Rosser scoring the first big hit of the match; as Lawlor wanted a powerbomb from the apron to the floor, Rosser was able to counter with a senton all the way to the outside.
Yet it was on the outside that Lawlor hatched a devious plan. Fighting with Rosser to the back, the challenger would be met with a beating that left him bloody and only barely able to get back into the ring at the count of 19. The champion would keep piling the most intense of pressure, with repeated suplexes on Rosser, but the challenger abjectly refused to lose, repeatedly kicking out before finding a repsonse with a vicious Tombstone on the floor.
Rosser would withstand Lawlor’s attacks, including a straightjacket kamigoye to the back of the head, staying in the hunt the whole while. When Lawlor found a rear naked choke, Mr. No Days Off faded, but had the will to muscle his foe to the top rope and then drop straight south. Rosser followed with the Crossface Chikenwing, and then a Chickenwing STF for a historic victory.
In a clash of former ROH Television Champions, Minoru Suzuki took on Tony Deppen on STRONG this week. Deppen hung with Suzuki on the mat in the early going, and was just as salty as the King when striking, but he could not fend off the Gotch Style Piledriver as Suzuki racked up a convincing win.
David Finlay started the action on STRONG with a win over Danny Limelight. After running down his opposition and the Philadelphia crowd, Limelight set to work on the legs of Finlay, but the former tag champion would battle back, and ultimately ended the Team Filthy member’s night with the Trash Panda. After the bell, Finlay would offer a hand, but when the show of sportsmanship was shunned by Limelight, Finlay decked him with a shillelagh instead.
