NJPW Strong Results and Grades: New Japan Cup USA Semis, ACH Debuts

TJP, ACH and Alex Zayne vs. PJ Black, Misterioso and Blake Christian

Result: PJ Black pins Alex Zayne

ACH, who had a very public exit from WWE in February of 2019 made his return in later that same year but had as of yet not returned to the place that truly propelled his name to international status, NJPW. Returned in a way that I would not think to be deserving of the name he had built for himself. ACH’s return as wished upon for many of the last nine months seemed more deserving of a grand return in Korakuen Hall or somewhere of equal esteem. But instead, we saw him return in the US dojo in front of zero fans on a show only seen by a fraction of the NJPW audience worldwide to almost no fanfare in a six-man tag match.

The end of the match came when we began moving from high impact spot to high impact spot very quickly with men from both teams flinging themselves across the ring and arena with speed and precision leading PJ Black to land a springboard 450 splash onto Alex Zayne for the pin.

Grade: A-

A hard-hitting and high-intensity match this was a great return to NJPW for ACH. As much as we may have wished for a solo return for the man behind Black Tiger this wasn’t a bad way to return.