Team Filthy looked to rule the roost once more on NJPW Strong this week, Tom Lawlor and his crew took on Clark Connors and his team in an elimination main event.
Quick Results
Daniel Garcia submitted Yuya Uemura in 10:39 (***½)
Black Tiger pinned Rocky Romeri in 11:02 (***)
JR Kratos won an elimination match in 16:29 (***¼)
We’re back to the Vermont Hollywood in Los Angeles… Ian Riccaboni’s on the call alongside Alex Koslov, as they go through today’s card.
Daniel Garcia vs. Yuya Uemura
This was Garcia’s first outing here since November, when he teamed up with Violence Unlimited to take down the Stray Dog Army.
Things head to the mat early on as Uemura looked for a waistlock, but Garcia escaped into the ropes – and gave an ironic applause too. A side headlock on the mat from Uemura’s rolled back for a pinning attempt, before he charged down Garcia from the shove-off, while a hiptoss lead to just a one-count. Garcia pushes back in with headlock takedowns and escapes as the pair reached a quick stand-off.
Uemura hands another series of armdrags, drawing Ricky Steamboat comparisons on commentary, as he looked to stretch out Garcia with an armbar. Garcia escapes and caught Uemura between the ropes, then booted him to the floor, which gave us a count-out tease as Uemura slid back in at 16.
Garcia’s waiting with some stomps though, before he grabbed and smashed Uemura’s nose with a forearm. Some mounted punches in the corner lead to biting from Garcia, who followed up with some blistering chops, only for Uemura to return fire with a dropkick. Flying forearms follow from Uemura, then a dropkick in the corner, before a slam and a running elbow drop earned a two-count.
A back suplex from Uemura keeps him ahead, getting another near-fall before a Fujiwara armbar, then a bridging German suplex almost ended Garcia. He’s able to kick out, somehow, then headbutt his way out of a Kanuki suplex as the match descended into strikes, culminating in a rear naked choke from Garcia.
Garcia tries for a piledriver, a la Minoru Suzuki, before a Sharpshooter was rolled up for a near-fall. After some strikes, Garcia goes back to the rear naked choke, then caught Uemura with a regular piledriver for a near-fall… before hammer-fists and a Death Shooter forced the submission. A lovely sprint of a scrap, and for some reason I’m wondering if Minoru Suzuki vs. Daniel Garcia is due to be re-run on any particular line-ups after Garcia went for that finish… ***½
Black Tiger vs. Rocky Romero
This feud’s been on the back burner for a while, with Black Tiger not being on the last set of tapings… but here he’s up against Rocky Romero for the first time in a singles match.
Black Tiger went for Rocky before the bell, only to get thrown onto the apron as Rocky hit a dropkick as Black Tiger was between the ropes. The pair scrap around ringside, with a reversed Irish whip taking Rocky into the railings before he was clotheslined into the crowd. Rocky returns with a ‘rana as the match returned to the ring, with Rocky hitting a kneedrop to Black Tiger’s arm out of the corner.
An attempt at Sliced Bread is shoved away as Black Tiger went after Rocky’s neck, following with a gutwrench suplex for a two-count. A kick to the back of Rocky just seemed to wake him up, as he fires back with forearms going back-and-forth, leading to a snapmare and a kick to the back of Black Tiger.
Rocky followed up that with some back rakes as he wore down Black Tiger in the corner, launching in with Forever clotheslines and a tornado DDT. A gamengiri from Black Tiger cuts off Rocky though, with a brainbuster nearly winning things, before more kicks from Rocky looked to put him ahead.
A spinning back kick to the gut has Black Tiger ahead though, before his Tiger Driver was escaped and countered into a Diablo armbar. Black Tiger rolls Rocky up for a near-fall though, then powerbombed his way free. The pair trade forearms from there, as Rocky tries to pull ahead with a clothesline, only to go to Black Tiger’s mask. That’s pushed away as Rocky then came close with a running Shiranui.
Another Shiranui’s caught though, with Black Tiger countering into a tombstone… as a Tiger Driver then gets countered for a near-fall. More clotheslines from Rocky get stopped with a lariat, and from there it’s the matter of a Tiger Driver as Black Tiger scored a clean-as-a-sheet win over Rocky Romero to put this issue to bed. ***
Post-match, Black Tiger went to crack Rocky with a Kendo stick, but Rocky countered with the Diablo armbar… so this feud must continue!
Elimination: Team Filthy (Tom Lawlor, Danny Limelight, Jorel Nelson, Royce Isaacs & JR Kratos) vs. Clark Connors, Adrian Quest, Fred Rosser, Taylor Rust & The DKC
We’re continuing to heat up the Lawlor/Connors title match…
Lawlor and Connors start, but of course, Lawlor tagged in Danny Limelight… who took him to the Team Filthy corner as Connors was briefly swarmed. A POUNCE from Connors takes Limelight into the ropes, while a German suplex lofted Limelight into the air as Clark took his shots before Adrian Quest came in against his former tag partner, landing a corkscrew crossbody out of the corner for a two-count.
Royce Isaacs kicks Quest in the ropes, before he and Jorel Nelson combined for an assisted German suplex on Quest as all of Team Filthy swarmed the ring for a photo op. Limelight’s back on Quest, who returned with a slap and a reverse ‘rana, before tags bring in Jorel Nelson and the DKC. Chops from the DKC lead to a dropkick, while Isaacs earned some more chops to the neck as DKC looked to wear him out.
Limelight makes the save, but got some chops of his own, before a crucifix driver took care of him. Jorel Nelson’s the one who’s legal though, as he combined with Isaacs for a death valley driver onto the knees before Nelson and Isaacs press slammed DKC over the top and to the floor for our first elimination at the six-minute mark.
Quest takes over with forearms to Nelson and Isaacs, leading to a Limelight frog splash for a near-fall… as Quest then rolled up Limelight in a crucifix for our next elimination at 6:51. Fred Rosser’s in next as all hell broke loose, with Limelight running Quest into the barricades, while Isaacs ended up eating a Gut Check. A diving knee followed as Rosser eliminated Isaacs at 8:09.
Lawlor’s in, but tagged out to Jorel Nelson, then distracted the referee as a low blow allowed Nelson to chuck out Rosser at 8:44. Taylor Rust is in next on Nelson, laying in with right hands, before he rolled Nelson into a half crab. Tom Lawlor tries to break it up, but got met with a back body drop… JR Kratos tries to drag Nelson to the ropes, but Connors broke it up as Nelson tapped at the ten-minute mark.
Connors and Lawlor are in next, trading barbs as Lawlor wore down Connors in the corner. Headscissors in the corner from Lawlor has him draped across the top rope, letting go before Connors punched him onto the apron. That’s followed up as Lawlor tried to suplex Connors from the ring to the floor, but in the end Connors took a bullet as he speared himself and Lawlor off the apron to the floor as they both went out at 12:00.
Those two brawl to the back as we’re left with Rust, Quest and Kratos as our final three – but commentary forgot about Quest… Rust blasts Kratos with some right hands, but the big man fights back in kind before he caught a Rust kick and planted him with a sit-out powerbomb at 14:46. That leaves us with Kratos celebrating… and Adrian Quest rolling in as commentary’d lost track of him.
Quest hits the ropes and aimed for Kratos’ knee with dropkicks, before Team Filthy headed back… and were met with a tope from Quest. Back inside, Kratos swats down Quest with some overhand chops, before a clothesline off the ropes spins Quest to the mat for the win. ***¼
NJPW Strong takes next week off, so as not to clash with everything else going on on ‘Mania weekend, and returns on April 9… while this was another solid episode of Strong as they kept the wheels spinning ahead of the eventual Connors/Lawlor match.