Lowell, MA – 9.27.2019

There is no commentary for this event.

Karl Fredericks vs. Alex Coughlin

Both Fredericks and Coughlin were young lions in the LA Dojo at this time. Fredericks’ right shoulder is bandaged. Coughlin impresses the crowd with his strength when he catches Fredericks’ leaping crossbody and hardly budges. He also turned Fredericks inside out with a chop. Coughlin actually shows respect to his dojomate by attacking his uninjured arm. Fredericks however hurts himself when he throws a chop with the injured arm out of instinct, but then takes down Coughlin with a dropkick as Coughlin charges off of the ropes. After a huge Beele toss and leaping elbow drop, Fredericks looks for the Boston Crab, which Coughlin cradles his way out of. Coughlin halts Fredericks’ momentum with a chop and then fallaway slams him into a bridging pin for two. Fredericks ends a strike exchange with a spinebuster. He puts Coughlin in a half crab, nursing his injured arm, and bends further back into a Liontamer until Coughlin taps out at 8:47. A great match to show each person’s strengths – Coughlin’s strengths and Fredericks’ tenacity. The crowd was receptive to both of them, which is really what you’re hoping for when you throw a young lion out there. It’s a shame that five years later, neither are competing in a New Japan ring. **¾

Lance Archer vs. Ren Narita

Ren Narita was also still a young lion at this time, and would be the first of three consecutive singles matches against LA DOJO Young lions Archer would have on the Fighting Spirit Unleashed “tour.” Archer attacks Narita during his entrance. Narita valiantly fights back when he comes to, only for Archer to drop him hard with a running shoulder block moments later. Archer proceeds to basically assault poor Narita, with the crowd antagonizing Archer along the way. The crowd goes wild when Narita counters a chokeslam with a dropkick in mid-air and pulls off a bodyslam on Archer for one. When Narita tries an Irish whip, Archer reverses into a Black Hole Slam. Narita is able to escape a chokeslam at first, but then dives right into one shortly after. Archer however pulls Narita up by his hair when he is about to pin him, and instead pins him with the EBD Claw at 7:23. It’s great how much the crowd got into Narita, which speaks to just how great Archer is at being a bully. This was super fun, and I am really interested to see Archer’s dynamic with the other young lions is like on the other shows on this tour. ***

Juice Robinson & Mikey Nicholls vs. TJP & Clark Connors

TJP defeated Connors in the opening round of the Super J-Cup last month and are now trying their hand as a tag team. Nicholls and Robinson are teaming for the first team since unsuccessfully challenging for the IWGP Tag Titles in June. Connors finds himself beaten down by Robinson and Nicholls to start. Connors evades a drop down from Robinson and dropkicks him to get in a tag to TJP. Although Robinson cuts him off with a corner splash, TJP comes back quickly with a London Bridge that takes both opponents down. Robinson saves Nicholls from a Detonation Kick, but TJP shoves Nicholls into Robinson and tags in Connors, who wiped them out simultaneously with two single leg dropkicks. TJP then lands the Detonation Kick on Nicholls, passing him off to Connors for a Boston Crab. TJP holds back Robinson, but Nicholls is able to crawl to the ropes and escape on his own. Robinson takes out TJP on the floor, giving him and Nicholls room to maul Connors in the corner. TJP jumps back in just in time to save Nicholls from pinning Connors with a Death Valley Driver. Nicholls shoves Connors into the corner after slipping off of his shoulders. TJP crossbody’s onto Robinson, but then turns right around into a spinebuster from Nicholls. Nicholls then pins Connors with a Blue Thunder Bomb at 8:04. Not much to say about this. It was a totally solid but unremarkable tag bout. Nicholls without Haste just isn’t the same. **½

The Rock ‘n’ Roll Express (Ricky Morton & Robert Gibson) vs. BULLET CLUB (Chase Owens & Jado)

Believe it or not, this is both Morton and Gibson’s NJPW debut match. Owens is Morton’s pupil, and shows his trainer respect with a handshake to start. Owens shows his true colors when he gouges Morton’s eyes to turn the match in his favor. It doesn’t last long, as Morton armdrags Owens before clotheslining him to the floor and following that with a suicide dive. Jado surreptitiously cracks Morton in the back with a kendo stick from the floor. Owens and Jado beat down Morton (mostly Owens) until Morton gets his foot up to block a double axe handle from Jado. Owens holds onto the ropes, resulting in both Morton and Gibson to crash and burn on a double clothesline. Morton kicks out of the Jewel Heist and scores a nearfall of his own with a Frankensteiner. Gibson saves Morton from another Jado kendo stick attack, but the distraction allows for Owens to low blow Morton without the referee noticing. Owens then pins Morton with a Package Piledriver at 9:10. This may as well have been a singles match. Jado is shockingly immobile, which is even more apparent when compared to a very active Morton. This was fine for what it was, but just a strange match for a New Japan card. *½

Los Ingobernables de Japón (Shingo Takagi & BUSHI) vs. Tomohiro Ishii & The Amazing Red

The crowd loved watching Takagi and Ishii chop the crap out of each other just as much as they enjoyed BUSHI and Red trying to outpace one another. BUSHI caught Red off guard with a dropkick to the stomach, and Takagi sent Ishii into the guardrails, leaving Red to fend off both members of LIJ on his own. Red ducks a clothesline from Takagi and spikes him with a tilt-a-whirl DDT to finally create space to tag Ishii. Ishii wins the shoulder block battle against Takagi. Ishii also damn near breaks Takagi’s neck with a slam, only for Takagi to come back with a suplex and a short-arm clothesline. Red saves Ishii from a German suplex with a flying shotgun dropkick to Takagi. Red follows Takagi to the floor with an elbow suicida. A lariat and brainbuster get Ishii the pin on BUSHI at 8:48. That was a fun sprint, thanks to Ishii and Takagi not being afraid to pummel each other for our enjoyment. Red was unfortunately a non-factor – I would’ve loved to see him and Shingo interact more. **¾

CHAOS (Hirooki Goto, YOSHI-HASHI & Rocky Romero) vs. BULLET CLUB (Jay White, KENTA & Gedo)

White is the current Intercontinental Champion, having won it just five days earlier from Tetsuya Naito. KENTA is the current NEVER Openweight champion and will be defending his title against YOSHI-HASHI tomorrow night. Gedo positioned YOSHI-HASHI so that KENTA could attack him from behind to start the match. White and KENTA pull Goto and YOSHI-HASHI to the floor as Romero is giving Gedo Forever clotheslines in the corner. White then levels Romero with a chop. White and KENTA take out Bishamon, and White then slams Romero on the floor as Gedo distracts the referee. Romero’s beatdown from the BULLET CLUB ends when he lands a rewind kick and tornado DDT to White. Goto runs wild on the BULLET CLUB until he’s shut down with a DDT from White. KENTA takes YOSHI-HASHI to the floor where they slug it out, and they continue to battle when tagged in by White and Goto after their battle. YOSHI-HASHI takes down KENTA with a Head Hunter and dropkicks him as he is draped on the top rope. KENTA slams YOSHI-HASHI after escaping Kumagoroshi and tags in Gedo, who superkicks YOSHI-HASHI for two. White distracts the referee with a chair so that Gedo can pull out brass knuckles. Romero steals them from Gedo, and when White tries to steal them back, Romero pushes White into a Ushigoroshi from Goto. Goto also gives one to Gedo. Romero dives onto White as KENTA boots Goto to the floor. YOSHI-HASHI clotheslines KENTA out of the ring before dropping Gedo with the Bunker Buster. YOSHI-HASHI then submits Gedo to a Butterfly Lock at 12:28. This was a pretty standard New Japan multi-man affair that half-heartedly previewed a title bout. Watching White and Goto go at it was for sure the best part of the bout. ***

IWGP Tag Team Championship Match
Guerrillas of Destiny (Tama Tonga & Tanga Loa) vs. Roppongi 3K (SHO & YOH)

Guerrillas of Destiny have been champions since 2.23.2019 and this is their seventh defense. Jado is in their corner and Rocky Romero is in Roppongi 3K’s corner. Although R3K lost to G.O.D. in July, they did beat them in 8 man and 10 man tag team matches at Destruction in Kagoshima and Destruction in Kobe. A brawl ensues right at the start, leading to G.O.D. running roughshod on SHO, targeting his ribs and lower back. Tonga is mighty proud of himself when he mocks YOH’s outstretched hand with a middle finger, but comes to regret it when SHO knees him in the stomach and tags in his partner. YOH wipes out Tonga with a flying forearm and gets a two count with a bridging suplex. Loa strikes YOH into a jump-up neckbreaker from Tonga. YOH is then sequestered by the champions until he flips out of a back suplex from Loa and cracks him with an enzuigiri. SHO spears Loa, only for Loa to come back with a monstrous clothesline. YOH blind tags in as Tonga sends SHO to the corner. Together, Roppongi 3K dropkick G.O.D. to the floor and follow with stereo suicide dives. As YOH hit the ropes for his and SHO’s Dominator/Cutter combo, Jado cracks YOH in the back with his kendo stick. Tonga drops SHO with the Tongan Twist. SHO saves YOH from the Magic Killer, and with YOH cracks Tonga with double knee strikes. They have Tonga in their crosshairs for 3K, but when he goes for a desperation Gun Stun, they pivot to a double superkick. Tonga slides to the outside so Loa can sneak attack both SHO an dYOH from behind with clotheslines. Loa give YOH a running powerslam before he and Tonga lay him out with a Magic Killer. YOH incredibly kicks out, but is still nearly lifeless. Tonga splashes him in the corner before passing him up to Loa on the top turnbuckle. YOH surprises them with a super Frankensteiner. YOH gets a pair of quick nearfalls, and also counters the Gun Stun with a backslide for a nearfall. When Tonga kicks out of the backslide, he successfully pulls off a Gun Stun for the pin at 16:43. That last few minutes of action from YOH was white hot and had the fans believing he was going to pull off a major upset. He was unbelievably convincing and had the people in the palm of his hand. This match reiterated that the best YOH and SHO are as a pair, and I hope that one day they get back together in triumph. Even then, Loa sat back and let Tonga do all the work, which was probably the right call. This could’ve stood to lose a few minutes, but for a foreign title defense and proof of concept that SHO and YOH could be openweight, this was more than acceptable. ***¼

Kazuchika Okada, Kota Ibushi & Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. Los Ingobernables de Japón (Tetsuya Naito, EVIL & SANADA)

This match previews different singles matches coming at King of Pro Wrestling – Ibushi vs. EVIL to determine the contender for the IWGP Heavyweight Title at Wrestle Kingdom 14, and Okada vs. SANADA for the IWGP Heavyweight Title for the second time this year (their fourth singles match of the year overall.) When SANADA dropkicked Tanahashi’s knee out, and then LIJ took out his partners, I had a sense I had already seen this two or three matches earlier. When EVIL misses a senton, Tanahashi gives him a dragonscrew leg whip and tags out to Ibushi. He double Pele kicks Naito and SANADA and lands a standing moonsault onto EVIL for two. EVIL turns Ibushi inside out with a lariat to end a strike exchange, bringing us back to SANADA and Okada who began the match together. Okada shotgun dropkicks SANADA to cut off his momentum. Tanahashi knocks Naito to the floor as Okada tries to position SANADA for a tombstone. SANADA counters into a brief Skull End which Okada escapes from. He tries a Rainmaker, which SANADA counters back into Skull End, and when Okada armdrags his way out, SANADA dropkicks him. Naito follows up with Combinacion Cabron, though Okada flapjacks him moments later. Tanahashi counters Naito’s tornado DDT attempt with a Twist and Shout and gets two with Slingblade. EVIL grabs Tanahashi’s leg when he ascends to the top rope. Naito spits in Tanahashi’s face before bringing him down with a super Frankensteiner. Tanahashi rolls through for a two count. EVIL lariats Tanahashi into a jackknife pin from Naito for two. Tanahashi blocks Destino twice and pulls Naito down in a grapevine schoolboy for the pin at 20:26. Similar to the CHAOS and BULLET CLUB six man tag, this was your typical New Japan multi-man match to preview two singles matches. The difference is in the star power. Having all six of these guys in the same match was really cool to see. It didn’t necessarily make me want to see either upcoming singles match more, but it was a good time and a perfect capper to the show. ***½

Well now I can see why I wasn’t too eager to get to these shows – they’re pretty much glorified house shows. I’m sure if you’re part of the live crowd it’s super cool to see these guys come to town and you had a blast. There is nothing must see or worth going out of your way for if you’re watching at home, except maybe the last minute of that tag title match with YOH’s hot streak.