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8/16 NJPW Strong taping spoilers: Pruett’s report on the tapings for upcoming editions of the New Japan World show (spoilers)

August 17, 2021

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CategoriesARENA REPORTS MISC live events MUST-READ LIST NEWS TICKER NJPW News

By Will Pruett (@itswilltime), ProWrestling.net Co-Senior Staffer)
NJPW Strong television taping
Long Beach, California at Thunder Studios
Report by ProWrestling.net Co-Senior Staffer Will Pruett1. Tomohiro Ishii defeated Alex Coughlin in 9:13. This was a great and intense opening match for the night. Coughlin Is going to be a major player in NJPW.

2. Chris Dickinson defeated Royce Isaacs in 11:08. This match was a let down after the opener. Of particular note were how soft Isaacs’ strikes looked after watching Ishii and Coughlin. The match was not bad, just not great.

3. Hikuleo beat Juice Robinson in tables match in 9:57. This was fun. Juice is great at interacting with a crowd, no matter how small it is. There was a slightly scary spot, with Juice doing a senton onto a table that did not break. He may have hit his head. Hikuleo drove him through the table immediately after that to end the match.

5. Yuji Nagata and Yuya Uemura beat The DKC and Kevin Knight in roughly 9:00. This was a fun tag with the crowd excited for both Yuji and Yuya. The DKC and Kevin Knight were fun heels for the match.

6. Hiroshi Tanahashi, Clark Connors, and Karl Fredricks beat Bateman, Barrett Brown, and Misterioso. This match was all about getting to see Tanahashi in a super small room. It was fun. Fredericks ended up getting the win for his team, which lead to the next segment.

Karl Fredricks cut a promo challenging Will Ospreay. Ospreay come out and they brawled. Ospreay hit the Hidden Blade and said he’ll see Fredricks in Dallas. This was effective.

7. JR Kratos beat Fred Yehi in 9:04. This match belonged earlier in the show, as it felt like a let down here.

8. Ren Narita beat Fred Rosser in 15:11. This was a longer match than expected. It was pretty good. Narita won with a roll up. After the match, Rosser gave Narita some respect.

9. Jay White beat Wheeler Yuta in roughly 12:00. White won a fun match.

Jay White delivered a promo and proceeded to call out Tomohiro Ishii. Once Ishii came from the back, White said they could fight right now, but they won’t. Ishii replied with “f— you” which brought Jay back. They fought until White laid Ishii out with the Switchblade.

10. “Filthy” Tom Lawlor beat Lio Rush in 16:19 to retain the NJPW Strong Openweight Championship. Lawlor won with a rear naked choke. Rush had some great hope spots in this one and the crowd behind him. It’s always a joy to see Rush in person.

Tom Lawlor then asked who his next challenger could be, asking anyone to come out. Ren Narita answered the call, eventually kicking Lawlor in the face. Lawlor then closed the tapings thanking everyone for coming.

Notes: Overall this was a fun show to attend live. It was in a small space that was a little warm, but the show was worth it. Hopefully NJPW doesn’t have to film in studios too often anymore and can tape matches for Strong in front of real humans at real venues.

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