Andrew’s NJPW Strong Ep. 13 Results & Match Ratings: 10.30.2020

NJPW Strong starts the Showdown tour. I have no clue what that means or who that really includes, but sure, I guess it’s something.

We’re apparently building towards a KENTA versus David Finlay match and Tama Tonga will face PJ Black. KENTA feels like a stupid match since we know these have been pre-taped since he’s still rocking the crappy mop hair.

Looking at everything, I have no faith in this episode. Let’s see if I’m surprised!

Ratings:

• Sterling & Logan Riegel vs Clark Connors & DKC: Riegel Twins win via Assisted Spike DDT @10:00 – ***
• Blake Christian vs Karl Fredericks: Fredericks wins via Single Leg Liontamer @5:56 – ** ¼
• Tama Tonga, Tanga Loa, KENTA & Hikuleo vs PJ Black, Misterioso, David Finlay & Alex Zayne:  Hikuleo wins via Gunslinger @9:33 – ** ½

Results:

Sterling & Logan Riegel vs Clark Connors & DKC

Sterling finally makes it to Strong, and we get to see a tag match with Logan’s twin brother and normal tag team partner. As much as I can’t stand DKC, at least he makes sense with Clark since they have equal intensity. Granted, Clark has an athlete’s intensity where as DKC is spastic and irritating to watch.

DKC starts, but it’s not a long start, and Clark comes in showing some decent power and eating great tandem work from the twins. An interesting Slingshot Senton + Middle Rope Crossbody gave them an early near fall. Clark manages to tag in DKC and they go on the offensive, gathering up some solid momentum with a few double moves. Logan however shows that some of the singles action has helped him out, as he starts to drag the team back to the top.

So in a weird turn of blessings and curses, DKC is the member of the team to finish for the Connors squad. Good, because he eats the pin and he looks awful. Bad because…well because he was trying to wrestle. He’s too damn awkward, those running Karate Chop Lariats he does look beyond awful, and his selling is more suspect than Tyrone Biggums.

Nice to see the Riegel Twins get their first official win as a unit, and it showcased them fairly well; all while protecting Clark from eating the pin.

Blake Christian vs Karl Fredericks

This match felt like it never really got going and then it was over. Commentary tried to bring up that neither man is a technical wrestler, so we should expect more daredevil moves, but honestly it was mostly just back and forth strikes, a handful of big spots and then the end.

Blake Christian hitting the Double Stomp while Fredericks was doubled over was a neat spot, but there was no energy or heat. Once Fredericks worked his way back, it was a matter of time. Christian avoided the Manifest Destiny attempts but fell victim to the Half Liontamer.

Not an awful match, just really went nowhere, and not all that quickly. Just happened.

Tama Tonga, Tanga Loa, KENTA & Hikuleo vs PJ Black, Misterioso, David Finlay & Alex Zayne

I guess this was done to try and add some heat to Tama versus PJ Black and David Finlay against KENTA, but this was super basic and didn’t really do much. KENTA and Finlay really didn’t do a lot of work, and after starting the match, we only really saw PJ Black in a quick save spot and a few of the everyone at the same time moments.

Alex Zayne took the brunt of the punishment; no one was partaking in Baja Blasts or Crunchwrap Supremes. As we got to the end Hikuleo nearly killed David Finlay by ramming him into the corners, but the non-Bullet Club team made a late surge. Sadly for them, Misterioso was the one who was legal towards the end, so the match gets ugly.

Misterioso goes for a Running Crossbody, Hikuleo looks like he was going to catch him, but he falls back a little, rolls through, loses his grip and readjusts then hits a sloppy looking Gunslinger that even the cameras cut away from. A mediocre match, with a finish that wasn’t really Hikuleo’s fault does nothing to end this show strong.

Overall Score: 4/10

This show was short, uninteresting and the ring quality wasn’t there either. They tend to do this I’ve noticed, they end their tours well and then they start off like a wet fart. If it wasn’t for the fact that the episode is only 42 minutes and at least 5 minutes of that are new commercials with the LA Young Lions and Rocky & Koslov.

If I had to grope for a positive, it is that they showed the Riegel Twins have a solid base and seem like a tag team that could make waves. Fredericks wasn’t really challenged by Blake Christian, and the 8 man main was fairly lame. Like I said in the review, there were story points it was trying to hit, it just wasn’t interesting.

So this was the worst episode of the show to date, and it was also super short. Just imagine how much harder I’d be on it if it were 10 minutes longer.