Andrew’s NJPW Strong Ep. 14 Results & Match Ratings: 11.6.2020

Now we come to another Friday night, and another episode of NJPW Strong. Can we chalk up episode 13 to unlucky 13 and this will be better?

On paper the first two matches don’t seem to have a lot of weight behind them, but given Chase Owens is in one of them; there is high potential for some enjoyable old school southern heel tactics. The main event on the other hand, shows an interesting pairing with the current Powerhouse being challenged by big man JR Kratos.

Kratos isn’t overly familiar to me personally, but I know Adam covered a recent appearance on the UWN Prime Time Live show. Either way, a big impressive 300 pounder could be something to help mold this show into something interesting.

Let’s find out!

Ratings:

Fred Rosser vs Jordan Clearwater: Rosser wins via Sliding Kick @5:29 – ** ½

Danny Limelight vs Chase Owens: Chase wins via Package Piledriver @8:25 – ***

Rust Taylor & JR Kratos vs Rocky Romero & Jeff Cobb: Kratos wins via Wheelbarrow German Suplex @13:20 – *** ¼

Results:

Fred Rosser vs Jordan Clearwater

The match starts a little on the slow side, until Rosser starts stringing together a few repetitious but effective moves.  A big strike, a Seated Senton/Leg Drop and the old school Back Rake kept Rosser in charge for a while. Clearwater managed a timely Neckbreaker on the apron which seemed to really hamper Rosser and give Clearwater a possible avenue to victory.

Rosser ate a few strikes before winding up a few Clotheslines, but then Clearwater catches him with a Jumping Knee, looks to hit the ropes for the Midas Touch; but Rosser catches him, Gut Check and then a sliding kick of sorts, and Rosser escapes.

A decent match that didn’t have a lot of high spots, but did what it had to for being such a basic style of match. Rosser is establishing himself on Strong, but I don’t really know how his style would correlate in a real New Japan match. It still seems a little too slow and soft to be taken seriously.

Danny Limelight vs Chase Owens

This match was carried by Chase’s old school style of heel tactics. While the early pacing was deliberate, we saw a shift when Chase took advantage of Limelight’s overconfidence and literally just grabs his arms and throws him out of the ring to the floor.

That move set Chase’s plan into action since he focused his attack on the back and neck and of Limelight. Neckbreakers, a few variations of backbreakers made it look like Chase had the whole thing on lock. Limelight dodged in the corner with a rope walk and springboard counter, but the biggest issue I had was Limelight’s offense doesn’t work well with selling his back. Too many quick twisting strikes, moonsaults and jumping/running spots to validate how the match was working. Limelight even went for his Triangle spot, and it was a little clunky, but instead of selling the back afterwards, he just pops up and charges. Limelight has a ton of holes in his game, and this showed them in great regard. The match mostly gets a decent rating from Chase Owens and his heel work.

Rust Taylor & JR Kratos vs Rocky Romero & Jeff Cobb

Rust Taylor looks like an even more generic Trent Berretta, and yes I know what I said. Apparently there’s history between these two from the Lion’s Gate episodes, and that at least sets the table. Taylor starts aggressive but Rocky is able to maneuver and take advantage of the aggression. We do get a small comedy moment when Rocky tags in Cobb, Cobb slams Rocky on Taylor, Rocky tries to slam Cobb, but Cobb is too big and Taylor tries to crawl to his corner. After getting stopped once, Taylor shoots the five hole on Cobb and tags in Kratos.  Now we get the big powerhouse brawl.

We see a nice power battle between Cobb and Kratos, though Kratos has like 40 pounds on Cobb and a definitive advantage. Cobb landed a nice Dropkick, but Kratos just ran him over with power. Taylor was taking pot shots at Rocky, so when Taylor had Cobb in a compromising position, Rocky made sure to pepper in a kick for the break.

The expected pairing happens where we see Rocky get stuck in the ring with Kratos, and poor Rocky is left to the slaughter. Cobb tries to come in to stem the tide, but Kratos hits a Pounce that sends Cobb out of the ring. Samoan Driver followed up by a Wheelbarrow German Suplex and Rocky is done for.

Kratos looks like a beast, Taylor looks like the spurned partner and Cobb looks to have a new challenge in his sights. This set things up nicely.

Overall Score: 6.75/10

With the exception of the opening match, we did see some storytelling and building for the fledgling brand. Even though Chase didn’t have history with Limelight, he was on a small skid in recent matches; so this was more of a get right match. Chase has always been the perfect complimentary player to any of the Bullet Club pairings, so now could be a good time to see him break out a little. Then we get a great debut for JR Kratos who looked like a monster while protecting the other power guy on the brand.

Yes I won’t overlook the fact that Rosser’s promo after the match was awful. He tripped over what he wanted to say, didn’t say it with any real conviction and resorted to cursing just to try and save his embarrassment over a stumbled promo. It was also unoriginal leading with the “NJPW is what I’ve always wanted because no one is shoving a script at you and you speak from your heart through actions”, or some cliché anti-WWE trash.

Still though, that was the only real black eye on the episode, and the really well done main event helps this end strong and increase my interest level.