Resurgence is aiming to be exactly what the US branch of NJPW needs. With so much promise after G1 Supercard and the Tiger Hattori retirement tour, hell even the first G1 shows in the states, the pandemic crippled their Western expansion. The Strong tv show is pretty awful and the no fans just makes it worse, it’s like watching a super indy.

This show has the promise to be what Strong should’ve been. A lot of Western talent with some decent NJPW talent coming over to help elevate. Tomohiro Ishii, Hiroshi Tanahashi…maybe now we can see what Strong should’ve been.

Let’s get to it.

Ratings:

• Alex Coughlin vs Karl Fredericks: Karl wins via Manifest Destiny – *** ¼
• Fred Rosser, Wheeler Yuta & Rocky Romero vs Clark Connors, TJP and Ren Narita: Clark Connors via Mamba Splash – ***
• Lio Rush, Chris Dickinson, Fred Yehi, Adrian Quest & Yuya Uemura vs Tom Lawlor, JR Kratos, Jorel Nelson, Royce Issacs & Danny Limelight: Uemura wins via Frontlock Armlock Belly to Belly – ** ¼
• Juice Robinson vs Hikuleo: Juice wins via Cradle – **
• Tomohiro Ishii vs Moose: Ishii wins via Vertical Spike Brainbuster – ****
• Yuji Nagata & Jon Moxley vs The Good Brothers: Good Brothers win via Magic Killer – ** ½
• NEVER Openweight Championship: David Finlay vs Jay White (c): White retains via Blade Runner – *** ¾
• IWGP US Heavyweight Title: Lance Archer (c) vs Hiroshi Tanahashi: Tanahashi wins via High Fly Flow – *** ½ – TITLE CHANGE!!!

Results:

Alex Coughlin vs Karl Fredericks

Early on, you could see the gap in where they are on the card; but almost as if Sexy Karl was taking things lightly, Coughlin started to put a few things together. This is one of Coughlin’s Challenge Matches, which we know from New Japan proper it’s basically the gauntlet they go through to move up to the main roster or to go on excursion.

Karl had a few quick but cocky spots, and when he goes for a corner splash, Coughlin catches him and hits a really nicely executed Release Belly to Belly Suplex. This helped Coughlin keep his confidence, so even when Karl tried to do something, Alex countered, rolled through and utilized a Gut Wrech Side Suplex. Coughlin fights out of the STF after Karl starts realizing this will be a little more difficult, but then we see Coughlin hit a desperation Saito Suplex.

From there he pulls of a Bridging Fallaway Slam for a near fall, levels Karl with a big Lariat, but Karl refuses to stay down. They clash, the back and forth seems a little more even with Fredericks trying to Suplex Coughlin, but Coughlin counters, Karl floats through, hits a snapping Randy Orton style Neck Breaker over his back, and then finishes things with Manifest Destiny.

Fred Rosser, Wheeler Yuta & Rocky Romero vs Clark Connors, TJP and Ren Narita

So apparently Fred Rosser and Ren Narita have issues. I’m gonna assume this has been building on Strong, which I haven’t watched since December of last year, because it sucks. Maybe if they can get through episode tapings with fans and do like what this show has; which is a combination of decently established Japanese names mixed with western wrestlers, then I’ll care.

Either way, this was a surprisingly decent match. TJP and Yuta had their moments trying to out-wrestle one another, Clark went right after Rocky as a bit of a master/student proving ground. Rosser and Narita definitely did help push this match intensity. We did get the usual signature spam moment, and then as we see Rocky pulling off the Forever Lariats, it starts looking like the more veteran team will win. But Rocky hits Sliced Bread #2 for a near fall, goes for the classic Shiranui, but Clark fights it off, TJP hits Rocky with the Mamba Splash and Clark pins Rocky for the win!

Lio Rush, Chris Dickinson, Fred Yehi, Adrian Quest & Yuya Uemura vs Tom Lawlor, JR Kratos, Jorel Nelson, Royce Issacs & Danny Limelight

This was a typical 10 man tag. A lot of action, a lot of spots for spots sake coupled with spill outs and slide ins just for everyone to get their stuff in. I mean thankfully Danny Limelight ate the pin and Yuya got to look solid pulling off his Armlock Belly to Belly.

Juice Robinson vs Hikuleo

Juice took the whole underdog chopping down the tree approach. Hikuleo managed to impose his size and power advantage, and Juice sold being dazed on the top ropes like a million bucks. But Juice kept fighting through, lands the Left Hand of God, follows it with a Lariat, which just pisses off Hikuleo.

Hikuleo goes for a Samoan Driver, but Juice counters it with a sloppy Cradle, but it does the job.

Tomohiro Ishii vs Moose

This match gets a lot of early mileage out of trading shoulder blocks. Moose shows the size difference, Ishii comes at him head on. So Ishii bounces off the ropes about 7 times and Moose barely moves and knocks the Stone Pitbull back. After a few more strikes get traded and Moose gets rocked, Ishii goes back to running the ropes with the Shoulder Blocks. This time he staggers Moose twice, Moose swings wildly with a Lariat, but Ishii ducks, comes back with a Shoulder Tackle, but Moose stabilizes and drops Ishii.

A common thread that seems to slowly do Moose in is when he goes for spots on the outside, but ends up crashing into the guardrail or over it. After Moose crashed and burned attempting a Cannonball, Ishii started a stick and move kind of offense. Strike trades, Suplex exchanges, Ishii kicks out at 1, Moose kicks out at 0. Big moves, Moose hits beautiful Dropkicks, Ishii connects with Headbutts and keeps the exchange going.

Moose hits Go to Hell, tries Game Changer twice, but Ishii ducks it both times. Ishii fought from underneath, started rocking Moose gradually, a Sliding Lariat followed by a Vertical Spike Brainbuster (with some struggle) helps Ishii win the match.

Will Ospreay shows up, starts spitting facts. Points out he only needed 4 months to recover and they stripped him, whereas Moxley had the US title for a year before defending it. Pulls out his copy of the World Title, says he’s gonna stay on Strong and he’s still the real undefeated champion. Runs down the LA Dojo, Karl, Clark and TJP come out, a little back and forth, but Ospreay gets the last weasely word before running out of the ring and mocking them.

Ospreay being the “World Champion” on Strong will help to make Strong suck less. Could also eventually get Shingo to come to Strong or some kind of culmination.

Yuji Nagata & Jon Moxley vs The Good Brothers

Meh, I mean I think everyone and their cousin wanted Sami Callihan as the tag partner. But I guess this builds on their US Title match from a few months ago on Dynamite as a “respect” building thing. Nagata is great, just not who I would’ve picked.

Was anyone overly surprised with how this match went? Moxley and Nagata got most of their stuff in, but a real tag team versus a random mix isn’t really something that normally goes the “mystery” way. Moxley tried to make a comeback, but he got dumped Magic Killer into a chair. Nagata tried to fight off the first attempt at another Magic Killer. Nagata kicks off Karl, chops down Gallows, but the numbers get him. A Gun Stun, then a Magic Killer, and we get a 1-2-3.

Good Brothers start talking crap about the Elite being the reason for the draw, then the mics die so it gets awkward…but you don’t need words when G.o.D. shows up and has a standoff with the Brothers. Brothers bail, G.o.D. is left holding the ring to applause.

NEVER Openweight Championship: David Finlay vs Jay White (c)

Early on Jay dominated. So much so he was just kicking and dumping Finlay out saying “get out of my ring”. It took a while for Finlay to mount a comeback, and that didn’t do much to help the pacing of the match. When Finlay started to find spots for offense, it seemed more like desperation about halfway through the match.

When Finlay catches Jay in his Ground Double Fujiwara submission, that’s where we see the most believable moment for Finlay. Finlay still gets a Trash Panda, Prima Nocta and attempts an Acid Drop, but Jay manages to get out of that. Jay continues to absorb Half Hatch Suplexes and seem like things are slipping from his clutch. Finlay goes for another Acid Drop, but Jay blocks, counters quickly into a Blade Runner and the match is over.

Early pacing made this drag a bit, and even with Finlay’s last 3 or 4 minutes of dominance, I don’t think anyone really expected Finlay to win a singles title any time soon.

IWGP US Heavyweight Title: Lance Archer (c) vs Hiroshi Tanahashi

This whole match was built around the concept of Tanahashi never tiring. So Archer took it to Tanhashi often and brutally. Throwing him into the outside, slamming him into the apron, the ring, and just generally tossing Tanahashi around.

Due to the fact that this was built as one of those “Tanahashi has more heart” matches, it was paced a little slow and definitely easy to zone out for. Every time you’d blink Archer had him in the EBD Claw, hit a Blackout, attempted a Blackout from the corner perch, but Tanahashi countered that with a Slingblade. So that began the build of Tanahashi finding openings, dodging charges and using the veteran savvy and his “never tired” persona to just outlast Archer.

Suplexes, Slingblades and 2 High Fly Flows get the job done for Tananhashi. Within the framework of how they wanted the story, it was alright, but it definitely wasn’t the easiest match to sit through.

After the match Archer shows him respect and invites him to AEW as long as he gets the first shot at Tanahashi. This also makes Tanahashi the second ever Grand Slam Champion in NJPW.

Overall Score: 6.25/10

Well this was a little underwhelming but better than the average Strong show. Jay and Tanahashi’s matches underperformed a little even though they were still pretty good. Moose and Ishii was the match of the Night with Ospreay’s return being a nice little wrinkle I don’t think many expected. What does that mean for the United Empire?

Aside from that, not a ton to really extrapolate beyond maybe trying to watch Strong again and Ospreay playing up the “I’m still champion cause I never lost it and beat who has it” kind of angle. There’s plenty of things that could turn out really good, I’ll just be the first to admit that NJPW in the last 2 years, ESPECIALLY with Strong, has lost some booking confidence in many eyes.

So a slightly above average show, but nothing really to write home about.