Hamilton’s New Japan Strong (Road to Summer Struggle USA) 08.13.2021 Review

Quick Results
Barrett Brown pinned Wheeler Yuta in 7:29 (**¾)
Hikuleo pinned Fred Yehi in 9:31(**¾)
Lio Rush & Karl Fredericks pinned Danny Limelight & Tom Lawlor in 12:18 (***¼)

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Kevin Kelly and Alex Koslov are voicing over B-roll again and running down the card…

Barrett Brown vs. Wheeler YUTA
Barrett’s got someone new on board with Bateman, as Misterioso’s seemingly joined the ranks…

The early exchanges have Barrett scurrying into the corner, before a bow-and-arrow hold was eventually flipped out of by Brown into a pinning attempt. Back in the ring, Brown’s charged down before Yuta’s World of Sport-ish trickery led to a dropkick for a one-count.

Kicking the rope into Yuta’s face gets Brown an opening, landing an elbow drop amid some choking. A suplex gets Brown a two-count, before a diving kick led to another near-fall… but Brown whiffs on a senton bomb and gets crucified by Yuta for a near-fall.

A Manhattan drop and a German suplex puts Yuta ahead for another two-count as a Deathlock’d STF drew in Bateman for a distraction. As the ref was preoccupied, Misterioso came in to hit a backcracker, allowing Brown to get the win. Not quite the kind of finish you expect in New Japan openers, but at least they’re building up this group – even if beating Yuta maybe didn’t age too well by the time this aired, given how hot he’s gotten (relatively speaking. **¾

Hikuleo vs. Fred Yehi
We’ve got an obvious size differential here…

Hikuleo clubs Yehi into the corner to start with, with chops taking Yehi down as the big man was dominating proceedings. Stuffing a takedown attempt, Hikuleo stomps away on Yehi, then ran him into the corner for a clothesline. Yehi rolls away of a lock-up, going into the corner, only to get caught with a suplex anyway for a two-count.

A chinlock from Hikuleo has Yehi down, as Yehi was just struggling to get anything going here. He manages to throw some chops, but Hikuleo throws back before he was caught with some bicycle up-kicks.

Stomps to the feet stun Hikuleo, who blocked an attempt to take out his knee, only for Yehi to score with a German suplex for a two-count. Headscissors from Yehi keep the big man down, but Hikuleo countered Yehi off the ropes with a scoop slam for a two-count. From there, a big boot drops Yehi ahead of a Tongan Driller, and that’s it. A somewhat extended squash – albeit with some blistering offence from Yehi – as Hikuleo picked up a relatively straightforward win. **¾

Post-match, Hikuleo got the mic and demanded to face someone because “this was too easy.” Out comes Juice Robinson, and there’s your mystery match filled in for Resurgence.

Team Filthy (Danny Limelight & Tom Lawlor) vs. Karl Fredericks & Lio Rush
We’ve no Strong Openweight title booked for Resurgence, but with Fredericks already having had a title shot, and Lio Rush already pushing for one, it does make you think what’s coming out of this…

Fredericks attacks Lawlor and Limelight before the bell, then put the elbows to Lawlor ahead of a backbreaker as Lawlor hadn’t even taken off two thirds of his Canadian Tuxedo-inspired gear. Danny Limelight gets involved, but got taken outside for a springboard plancha by Rush, as Fredericks continued to pelt away on Lawlor.

Rush comes in to sweep out Lawlor’s leg as a fist drop and a standing splash drew a two-count. Lawlor finally gets rid of his denim vest, but got taken down for a Robinson special from Rush, before Limelight distracted Fredericks, allowing Lawlor to hang the knee up in the ropes. A DDT to the knee from Lawlor takes Fredericks to the ropes, as quick tags kept Fredericks isolated.

Lawlor’s cravat knees keep Fredericks in the middle of the ring, before he got rolled down into a calf slicer as Lawlor switching between holds managed to give Fredericks some hope, only to get caught with a Figure Four. Limelight’s briefly in to kick Fredericks into the corner, before a bulldog/leg sweep combo led to another two-count for Lawlor as Rush dove in for a save.

Body shots from Fredericks looked to give him some hope, but Lawlor kicks away at the legs before Fredericks reversed a suplex to buy him time. Finally Rush tags in, and avoids being thrown into Lawlor before a handspring kick took him down. Limelight’s taken down as a tope takes Lawlor into the barriers.

Back inside, Rush charges at Limelight with clotheslines, landing a two-count as Lawlor slid in to break it up. Lawlor corners Rush with body blows before throwing himself out of a satellite DDT, but Fredericks drags Lawlor to the outside as those two scrapped a little. Rush rolls through a frog splash off the top before Limelight hit a Project Ciampa backcracker for a near-fall.

A superkick-assisted German suplex gets Limelight another two-count as Fredericks breaks up the cover, then Cactus clotheslined himself and Lawlor to the outside. From there, Limelight and Rush trade blows, until a Rush Hour rebound stunner was hit out of nowhere for the win. A decent tag match to close out the show, as Rush picks up a win over Team Filthy to keep his claims of a title shot alive. ***¼

In the post-match comments, Rush again called out Lawlor, saying what happened to Limelight was a “preview of the future”… while Fredericks called out Alexander James for a future match.

Resurgence is on tonight – with English commentary live via Fite TV, and Japanese live on NJPW World. I’ll not be catching it live, but will be catching up once the English feed hits World in the coming days…

6.7

The final score: review Average

The 411

I’m a broken record, but as the rest of US wrestling gets back in front of crowds, Strong needs to be more than “just a solid show.” Luckily, they’re back in front of crowds today (as I write this), so let’s see how future episodes of Strong work out with the dynamics of an audience.