NJPW Strong: Road to Ignition Ep 44 Review

Tonight’s episode on NJPW Strong will feature Lio Rush and Rocky Romero working together as a tag team for the first time.

NJPW Strong: Alex Coughlin v. Hikuleo

Summary: My prediction: Hikuleo is going to destroy Coughlin. Coughlin stares a hole in Hikuleo. Hikuleo breaks the tie-up with a body slam. The match gets intense as Hikuleo goes full Kevin Nash on Coughlin in the corner. Hikuleo buries Alex with a standing vertical suplex for the first pin attempt. Coughlin escapes a body slam and starts painting Hikuleo with shoulder tackles and uppercuts. Coughlin hits a deadlift suplex for two. Hikuleo cuts off his momentum with a powerslam. Hikuleo ends the match with a running drop slam.

Positives: I love Hikuleo’s old-school bruiser style. This was a great stepping stone for Coughlin. Coughlin’s deadlift suplex was impressive.

Negatives: Nothing to complain about.

Winner: Hikuleo via the running drop slam.

Grade: B-

NJPW Strong: Clark Connors and The DKC v. Lio Rush and Rocky Romero

Summary: Rush and DKC start the match off. Rush gains control with an axe kick. Romero gets tagged in. Connors and DKC hit a double-shoulder tackle. Connors goes for the power strikes. Romero tags in Rush, who hits a lightning lariat. Connors goes for the spear, but Rush hits him in the face with a kick. Connors reverses direction and hits him with a large spear to the back. Rush and DKC square off. DKC gets the upper hand with a snap suplex. Connor is called in. Connors throws Rush around the ring. Connors goes for the side suplex and Lio turns it into a satellite DDT. Romero hits a standing rana on both opponents. Romero goes for the forever clotheslines. Romero goes for a running sliced bread neck breaker. Rush tries the bouncing cutter, but gets thrown out of the ring by DKC. Connors stops Romero with a full-body tackle. DKC is on fire with judo takedowns and karate kicks. Connors throws Rocky out of the ring. Connors sets up a doomsday device in the corner. Rocky breaks it up. Lio and DKC are left in the ring. Lio hits his bouncing cutter and steals the win. After the match, Romero and Connors are still fighting on the outside. The ring crew needs four guys to break it up.

Positives: Everyone brought their “A” game into this match. Lio brought speed, Connors brought strength, DKC brought judo, and Romero brought style. I was worried that Romero would not impress me, but his running sliced bread was my favorite move of the show.

Negatives: I don’t like DKC’s look. He looks like the default setting in a Create-A-Wrestler model for a WWE game. This is a strange win for Rush knowing that he is going to retire soon.

Winner: Lio Rush and Rocky Romero via the bouncing rope cutter

Grade:  B+

Backstage: Romero and Rush brag about their win. Romero chews out Connors and disses his Young Lion look. He throws the gauntlet down. Romero says that Lio and he are the best rapper-wrestlers alive.

NJPW Strong:  Misterioso and Jordan Clearwater v. Fred Yehi and Wheeler Yuta

Summary: I am suspect of this being a “main event” match. In previous matches, these wrestlers left me wanting more. Let’s hope they prove me wrong. Fred Yehi comes out with an eye patch. He owes Romero money for infringing on his look. Jordan Clearwater is sporting a man-bun. Misterioso has a Big Poppa Pump head covering. Yehi and Misterioso square off. Wheeler gets tagged. Misterioso tries a back handspring but gets tripped. Wheeler slides under Misterioso’s feet and hits him with a kick. Clearwater gets tagged in. Yehi and Wheeler work over Clearwater with stomps and leg submissions. Clearwater breaks out of a headlock but gets a German suplex for his troubles by Yehi. Clearwater continues to get pummeled. Finally, Clearwater executes a suplex on Yehi and Wheeler. Misterioso hits a double lariat.  Misterioso connects with a double knee senton from the ropes. Clearwater teams up with Misterioso to do a double flapjack on Yuta. Wheeler answers back with a German. Clearwater answers back with a running clothesline. Misterioso catches Yehi with a powerslam and then hits a moonsault. Clearwater is in. Misteriosos stops Yehi cold with a superkick. Misterioso misses an outside dive. Yuta runs back into the ring and dives on Misterioso. Clearwater tries a bulldog, but Yehi turns it into the Hammerfist submission.

Positives: These four combatants show potential. I hope they are pushed into greater matches.

Negatives: Nothing about this match screamed hype or brought the wow. Misterioso seemed sluggish when he wasn’t doing his moonsaults. Clearwater did not really shine in that match and yet the commentators think he is a triple-A star. Yehi and Yuta were fast, but their spots were not nearly as exciting as the previous matches. There was nothing here to get excited about. I think the booker got the matches out of order.

Winner: Fred Yehi, Wheeler Yuta via the Hammerfist submission

Grade: C-

Hype and story-wise, this was the least exciting episode of the tour. The only story that developed was Coughlin issuing an open challenge and (they didn’t show it, but the commentators told us it happened) Connors and Romero getting into a feud.

The main event was mediocre at best. I docked a few points because it was billed as a main event when it had no right to be. I have no idea why I should get ecstatic about Jordan Clearwater. He’s got a great look and style, but he really doesn’t do anything spectacular in the ring.

I have seen six episodes of Strong and my biggest gripe with it is that it doesn’t have a solid foundation for stories and future matches. You can tell that the show is in a purgatory between rich stories and heavy in-ring action.

NJPW has no problem keeping adrenaline in-ring with its Japanese product, because they have mastered Japanese strong style. NJPW Strong can’t mimic that in the states, sadly. They need to beef up their stories or amplify the in-ring action. My fear is that Strong has amazing talent, but instead of giving them space to shine, they created a show of filler matches.