Friday March 5th saw Revolution Pro Wrestling take over the Hilton Ballroom in Midtown New York, with NJPW’s wrestlers present and looking to make an impact ahead of G1 Supercard in Madison Square Garden.
The night opened with Katsuyori Shibata watching over proceedings from the hotel balcony as his Young Lion charges Clark Connors and Karl Fredericks took on CCK. Connors and Fredericks used their size very effectively to make the experienced team of Chris Brookes and Jonathan Gresham sweat; at one point the lions managed to sink in stereo Boston Crabs to the delight of the crowd. Ultimately though, Gresham used a series of running strikes to score the win for his team.
The fourth match of the evening saw Will Ospreay and Hiroshi Tanahashi face off against Suzuki Gun’s Zack Sabre Jr. and Minoru Suzuki. This match included a preview of G1 Supercard’s Undisputed British Heavyweight title match, where Tanahashi is set to challenge ZSJ. For the bulk of the match though, it was Ospreay, showing some effects from a war with Bandido the night prior, that was on the back foot. Suzuki and ZSJ managed to effectively suppress the Essex man before ZSJ got the win with a European Clutch. Post match, both the British Heavyweight Champion and his challenger engaged in a tense stare-down.
Rocky Romero was in singles action next on the card, facing Taguchi Japan coach, Ryusuke Taguchi. Taguchi’s rugby loving antics may have been lost on the American members of the crowd, but not the British RPW fans, who cheered Taguchi onto victory with a Dodon to Romero.
Tomohiro Ishii was in the semi-main event, in singles action against RPW’s David Starr. Starr was at times more than a match for Ishii, with hard hitting strikes including a series of brutal lariats to the Stone Pitbull. Ultimately, a Sliding Lariat led to a Vertical Drop Brainbuster, and a win for the CHAOS member.
Finally, the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Champions Roppongi 3K faced RPW favourites Aussie Open in the main event. Kyle Davis and Mark Fletcher used an expert combination of speed and power to combat SHO and YOH, coming out on top of a hard fought main event after their Fidget Spinner double team was landed on YOH. The match ended with sportsmanlike handshakes between the four, but that warm atmosphere didn’t shine through the New York rain for long. Suzuki Gun would head to the ring and brawl with Aussie Open post match, ZSJ and Suzuki stating loud and clear that Aussie Open shouldn’t get any big ideas about holding the British Tag Team Championships any time soon.
