{"id":25300,"date":"2021-11-29T08:00:50","date_gmt":"2021-11-29T08:00:50","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/backbodydrop.com\/blog\/?p=25300"},"modified":"2021-11-28T16:34:22","modified_gmt":"2021-11-28T16:34:22","slug":"njpw-strong-e68-showdown-2021-november-27-2021","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/backbodydrop.com\/blog\/reviews\/njpw-strong-e68-showdown-2021-november-27-2021\/","title":{"rendered":"NJPW Strong E68 &#8211; Showdown 2021 (November 27, 2021)"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Jon Moxley returns to NJPW Strong as he teams up with Lance Archer to take on Suzuki-gun in a Philly Street Fight.<\/p>\n<p><!--more--><\/p>\n<p><strong>Quick Results<\/strong><br \/>\nJonathan Gresham pinned Alex Coughlin in 9:51 (***\u00bd)<br \/>\nRocky Romero, Fred Rosser, Karl Fredericks, Ren Narita &amp; The DKC defeated Danny Limelight, Tom Lawlor, JR Kratos, Royce Isaacs &amp; Jorel Nelson via disqualification in 10:52 (***)<br \/>\nBrody King, Chris Dickinson &amp; Daniel Garcia pinned Misterioso, Bateman &amp; Barrett Brown in 8:10 (***\u00bc)<br \/>\nPhiladelphia Street Fight: Lance Archer &amp; Minoru Suzuki pinned Eddie Kingston &amp; Jon Moxley in 14:23 (***\u00bc)<\/p>\n<p>It\u2019s the show that\u2019s being treated with such importance that neither of New Japan\u2019s websites had the results up for this\u2026 so let\u2019s buckle in for ninety minutes of Strong from the 2300 Arena in Philadelphia. Alex Koslov and Matt Rehwoldt are on the call&#8230;<\/p>\n<p><strong>Alex Coughlin vs. Jonathan Gresham<\/strong><br \/>\nIt\u2019s another entry in Coughlin\u2019s ongoing challenge series as Jonathan Gresham appears in New Japan for the first time in over two years &#8211; last time beating Clark Connors via stoppage in late 2019.<\/p>\n<p>Philadelphia can\u2019t pick a side, as we have a tentative opening spell. Gresham looked to pull ahead with a wristlock into a headlock takedown, before a neckbreaker gets an early two-count. Gresham stays with a side headlock to get some two-counts, then caught Coughlin with another set of side headlock takedowns as he looked to keep it simple. Coughlin eventually headscissors his way free, before Gresham\u2019s attempt to float free ended up with Coughlin just stuffing him ahead of a deadlift gutwrench suplex. A bear hug from Coughlin just fires up Gresham, who went back to the side headlock, before a leapfrog from Gresham just earned him one more bear hug.<\/p>\n<p>A reverse bear hug has Gresham down as he tried to break the hold, eventually doing so as he got to the rope, then rolled through a knuckle lock as Coughlin muscled in with a backslide and some inside cradles, trolling the ref as they rolled around the ring like a ball. More pinning exchanges add two-counts as they up the pace, which led to the flash pin as Gresham rolled up Coughlin while he\u2019d applied headscissors\u2026 and that\u2019s the win! A lovely sprint of a match that\u2019s well worth your ten minutes. This was a breath of fresh air from pretty much anything else on these shows. ***\u00bd<\/p>\n<p><strong>Team Filthy (Tom Lawlor, Danny Limelight, JR Kratos, Royce Isaacs &amp; Jorel Nelson) vs. Fred Rosser, Karl Fredericks, Ren Narita, Rocky Romero &amp; The DKC<\/strong><br \/>\nWe\u2019re building up to Rosser vs. Lawlor for the STRONG title at some point in the future\u2026 Lawlor\u2019s still wearing scissors around his neck, with a necklace made out of Fred Rosser\u2019s hair. Harsh.<\/p>\n<p>All hell breaks loose as Team Rosser charges the ring to start, and we open with Rosser and Lawlor trading shots as Lawlor\u2019s taken to the corner. Kratos leaps into Rosser with clothesline, as Team Filthy pose around Rosser\u2026 only to stop and clear the ring as things finally settle down. Kratos\u2019 gutwrench suplex leaves Rosser down for a two-count, while the rest of Team Filthy cleared the apron ahead of an assisted German suplex on Rosser as Limelight\u2019s thrown up for a stomp to Rosser. Things spill outside as Kratos targeted Rosser with a deadlift suplex, but Rosser escapes and posts Kratos before back body dropping Limelight into the big man.<\/p>\n<p>Rosser manages to hit a Gut Check to Lawlor for good measure on the outside, before tags get us to Isaacs and Narita. A half-hatch suplex gets Narita a two-count, before DKC ran in with a dropkick to Jorel Nelson as chops wore down Isaacs\u2026 leading to an overhead belly-to-belly from Narita for a two-count as Isaacs was taking some of Team Filthy\u2019s own tricks. Fredericks is in for a leaping elbow drop, but the pin\u2019s easily broken up before Danny Limelight came in to take some shots. His kick has Fredericks down, but a spinebuster turned it back around as Rocky Romero came in to light up Danny with chops. The DKC returns with a crucifix driver to spark a Parade of Moves, featuring Nelson dumping Narita with a Saito suplex, before Lawlor blocked a Manifest Destiny and hit an Angle Slam.<\/p>\n<p>Rosser dives in to put a beating on Lawlor, clubbing him with clothesline to the front and back before Kratos\u2019 attempt to break it up saw him get clotheslined to the floor. Lawlor capitalises with a rear naked choke which sparks another Parade of Moves until Rocky Romero hit a Diablo armbar on Danny Limelight\u2026 except a masked man comes out from the back and hits Rocky with a Kendo stick for the DQ. ***<\/p>\n<p>The masked man takes off his hoodie to reveal himself as a Black Tiger. He looked to be a real Havana pitbull, tombstoning Rocky as the Philly crowd didn\u2019t seem to know what to make of it. They eventually patch in Lawlor\u2019s mic into the TV feed as he tells us he\u2019s fed up of Rocky Romero and \u201cDarren,\u201d before telling Rocky that Black Tiger was his past \u201ccoming to end him.\u201d It\u2019ll be the eighth Black Tiger, following after the likes of Rocky Romero and Tomohiro Ishii\u2026<\/p>\n<p>Tom Lawlor continues to berate \u201cDarren Young,\u201d in the post-match backstage promos\u2026<\/p>\n<p><span class=\"embed-youtube\" style=\"text-align:center; display: block;\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" class=\"youtube-player\" width=\"788\" height=\"444\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/WiOkpVs1yHA?version=3&#038;rel=1&#038;showsearch=0&#038;showinfo=1&#038;iv_load_policy=1&#038;fs=1&#038;hl=en-GB&#038;autohide=2&#038;wmode=transparent\" allowfullscreen=\"true\" style=\"border:0;\" sandbox=\"allow-scripts allow-same-origin allow-popups allow-presentation allow-popups-to-escape-sandbox\"><\/iframe><\/span><\/p>\n<p>After the break, we then get the return of Gabriel Kidd &#8211; his first appearance on a New Japan show since May. They edited away the long speech of Gabe pouring his heart out (which I strongly suggest you watch above,) and instead goes straight to the chase &#8211; him calling out Jonathan Gresham for the Detonation tapings. Gresham\u2019s told to watch some more Steve Grey tapes, as Gresham then accepted the challenge before he warned Kidd he\u2019d not fought as long as he had to lose the opportunity he\u2019s now got.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Stray Dog Army (Barrett Brown, Bateman &amp; Misterioso) vs. Violence Unlimited (Brody King &amp; Chris Dickinson) &amp; Daniel Garcia<\/strong><br \/>\nWell, this is quite the cut. The Stray Dog Army don\u2019t have their own entrance video yet as they\u2019ve got a pretty stern test opposite them today.<\/p>\n<p>Dickinson and Brown start us off, but Garcia\u2019s quickly in to trip Brown ahead of a pair of low dropkicks, before a straitjacket choke kept Brown down ahead of a trip into the corner. Brody King\u2019s in to slam Barrett, before Bateman caught Brody in the ropes. Misterioso\u2019s in with a \u2018rana before some kicks leave the big man down ahead of a Quebrada and a standing moonsault for a two-count. Bateman\u2019s in for a slam, but King pushes free as Brown hit his own man, while Dickinson came in to clear house. A clothesline traps Bateman in the corner, while a missile dropkick puts him down for a near-fall. Brown and Misterioso try to intervene, but Garcia\u2019s in to fire away with uppercuts, before a Saito suplex dropped Bateman for a two-count.<\/p>\n<p>Dickinson\u2019s back for a Hart Attack dropkick on Bateman, who takes a knee drop too as Misterioso and Brown failed to make the save. A trio of submissions have the Stray Dog Army down, but Bateman got to the ropes for a break, before a Snow Plow planted Brody for a near-fall as Bateman struck back hard. Brown\u2019s back, but gets charged through by Brody King after Dickinson and Garcia evened things up, before a Splash Mountain threw Brown into his partners on the outside. Brown\u2019s thrown back in, as were Bateman and Misterioso as piledrivers and a Ganso bomb get the win. They kept it short as the Stray Down Army were sent to the shelter without much in the way of resistance. ***\u00bc<\/p>\n<p>We get footage of Minoru Suzuki in AEW from not too long ago, and the stuff that set up Moxley &amp; Kingston vs. Suzuki and Archer on Rampage. Clips of that give way to the challenge for a rematch\u2026 and that\u2019s next! Yes, it\u2019s weird hearing Lance Archer talk about \u201cour ring\u201d given that he works for AEW&#8230;<\/p>\n<p><strong>Philadelphia Street Fight: Suzuki-gun (Minoru Suzuki &amp; Lance Archer) vs. Jon Moxley &amp; Eddie Kingston<\/strong><br \/>\nTiger Hattori\u2019s back on commentary for this, and we\u2019ve got plenty of plunder around ringside. Oh boy. Imagine being told a few years ago this match was going to happen, for New Japan, in Philadelphia, by the way. You\u2019d be mocked.<\/p>\n<p>This one ignites almost instantly as Moxley and Suzuki went at each other, while Kingston and Archer spill outside. Archer\u2019s back with a Kendo stick to the back of Moxley, which he then drove into Mox\u2019s throat, before Eddie Kingston broke it up and used the Kendo stick himself. Suzuki\u2019s in as he and Kingston went at it, trading chops before Suzuki clonked Eddie with an elbow. Suzuki grabs a Kendo stick as Kingston pled for mercy\u2026 Suzuki ignores him and lands a shot anyway as Moxley returned to bite Minoru and throw him outside, only to get hit with a traffic cone. I\u2019m feeling very Alan Partridge here. They fight backstage, where they\u2019re picked up brawling around a scissor lift and into the loading area, where there\u2019s a random shopping trolley before you see two New Japan staffers running to try and clear some fans away from the area.<\/p>\n<p>Archer lawndarts Moxley into the side of a truck, while Suzuki choked him with a chair as Eddie Kingston reappears with a breeze block. Archer sidesteps Kingston throwing the block at him, before they brawled back to ringside &#8211; with the crowd having booed missing the breeze block shot. Suzuki\u2019s got the cone as he proceeds to wallop Kingston with the Kendo stick, while Archer uses a shovel to shove Kingston with. Back in the ring, Kingston blocks a Gotch piledriver, so he\u2019s met with more Kendo stick shots, before an ankle lock and an armbar led to Moxley coming back to ringside\u2026 with a Forbidden Door! A dive from Moxley took Archer out into the aisle\u2026 and Moxley into the commentary table too. Someone in the crowd smuggled a stop sign into a sign for Moxley, which he finds and pulls out, before the Kendo stick wore out Archer some more.<\/p>\n<p>Moxley throws Suzuki into the rails, then slides the door into the ring. It\u2019s propped up into the corner as Moxley teases a death valley driver, only for Suzuki and Kingston to intervene as everyone gets a Kendo stick shot, before Moxley dropkicked Archer through the door. Archer\u2019s back as he teases a double chokeslam, but instead gets sandwiched with clotheslines from Moxley and Kingston, before Suzuki dragged Moxley outside. Kingston eats a chokeslam instead, then returned with backfists and a DDT for a near-fall. That sparks a brief Parade of Moves as we clear out to Kingston getting charged into the corner ahead of a Blackout\u2026 but Suzuki delays it so he can put Kingston through a bin and a traffic cone\u2026 doing so for the win. A wild brawl that actually translated fairly well to TV, but man that finishing bump could have gone so much worse with that cone! ***\u00bc<\/p>\n<p>Post-match, they leave in Archer\u2019s promo for his match with Eddie Kingston in AEW &#8211; a match that didn\u2019t end well for Lance thanks to an injury &#8211; before Suzuki wagged his finger at Kingston to close out the show.<\/p>\n<p>With Strong, you know what you\u2019re getting these days &#8211; a solid, consistent show\u2026 but sadly one that seems to lack focus and one that really is just a portion of a house show. The Strong of old is long gone, and it\u2019ll be interesting to see if they stick with this going into 2022 and beyond. If you don\u2019t usually swing by Strong these days, make sure you drop in for the opener &#8211; particularly if you\u2019re a fan of the mat-based style.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Jon Moxley returns to NJPW Strong as he teams up with Lance Archer to take on Suzuki-gun in a Philly Street Fight.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":25172,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"NJPW Strong E68 - Showdown 2021 (November 27, 2021) review - #njpwstrong - Jon Moxley returns to NJPW Strong as he teams up with Lance Archer to take on Suzuki-gun in a Philly Street Fight.","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[688,6],"tags":[4682,5312,5401,4511,2589,5769,4163,4200,1854,990,292,5345,2176,348,4310,6067,5346,991,5466,5313,2876],"class_list":["post-25300","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-japan","category-reviews","tag-alex-coughlin","tag-danny-limelight","tag-fred-rosser","tag-jon-moxley","tag-jonathan-gresham","tag-jorel-nelson","tag-jr-kratos","tag-karl-fredericks","tag-lance-archer","tag-minoru-suzuki","tag-new-japan","tag-njpw-strong","tag-ren-narita","tag-rocky-romero","tag-royce-isaacs","tag-showdown-2021","tag-strong","tag-suzuki-gun","tag-team-filthy","tag-the-dkc","tag-tom-lawlor"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p73vbt-6A4","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/backbodydrop.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/11\/njpw-showdown2021-logo.jpg?fit=1200%2C673&ssl=1","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/backbodydrop.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25300","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/backbodydrop.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/backbodydrop.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/backbodydrop.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/backbodydrop.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=25300"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/backbodydrop.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25300\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":25302,"href":"https:\/\/backbodydrop.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25300\/revisions\/25302"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/backbodydrop.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/25172"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/backbodydrop.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=25300"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/backbodydrop.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=25300"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/backbodydrop.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=25300"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}