New Japan Pro Wrestling (NJPW) recently held night 1 of their Strong Style Evolved: United Kingdom Event which took place in Milton Keynes, England. The show was headlined by British Tag Team Champions Minoru Suzuki & Zack Sabre Jr. defending their British Tag Team Titles against Kazuchika Okada & Tomohiro Ishii in the main event. Below are the full results from the show:
– The Great O-Khan def. Shota Umino. O-Khan was Tomoyuki Oka. He requested a handshake and was rejected by Umino a number of times until Umino finally accepted. O-Khan then attacked Umino during the handshake for the heat. Umino made his comeback with a dropkick from the top rope and went for a Boston crab. It seemed like the crowd was fairly savvy regarding the place of the young lions, but they were also determined to enjoy everything on the card, so Umino got a great reaction for this submission, with the fans shouting for O-Khan to tap out. Eventually, O-Khan won with a double Mongolian chop from the second rope.
– Bullet Club (Taiji Ishimori & Yujiro Takahashi) def. Aussie Open (Kyle Fletcher & Mark Davis). Takahashi brought two women to the ring wearing the same masks as Pieter wears in Japan, although both were British. Ishimori’s height was really noticeable in this match, with Fletcher and Davis looking significantly taller than him. His speed was also noticeable as he did his in and out of the ring spot. Aussie Open got a strong reaction from the crowd, but there were dueling chants for them and Bullet Club and Aussie Open/Ishimori. The match was fairly basic, ending with Ishimori winning with the Bloody Cross.
– Suzuki-gun (El Desperado, Taichi & Takashi Iizuka) def. CHAOS (Jay White, Gedo & Toru Yano). This had the standard open to a Suzuki-gun match where they attacked The CHAOS team at the bell and brawled outside. Gedo ended up starting the match and was isolated while Iizuka did his comedy biting spots and chased the referee. Desperado did next to nothing in the match, while White took a single tag, working with Iizuka and Taichi. Taichi was the only man in the match with any real heat. Yano got a huge reaction when he tagged in but did very little, and eventually Gedo was pinned after Iizuka used the iron fist.
– Tiger Mask IV def. David Starr. This was announced as a title match for Starr’s British Cruiserweight Championship, but Starr got on the mic before the match and said that a fourth edition of an anime wrestler didn’t deserve a shot at his title. This gave the impression that Tiger Mask would be winning. Starr managed to get good crowd reactions, including being told to “Shut the f*ck up” in the middle of the match while trying to talk to Tiger Mask. Tiger Mask hit an underhook suplex from the top rope and eventually won with the Tiger Driver.
– WALTER def. Yuji Nagata. Both guys were super over here. The match was mostly striking, with WALTER’s chops predictably getting a huge response from the crowd. One memorable exchange had WALTER throwing chops while Nagata threw kicks. WALTER hit a big lariat after escaping a powerbomb before being put in the cross arm-breaker, but he escaped and hit two more lariats to win. Nagata got a standing ovation as he left.
– YOSHI-HASHI def. Chris Brookes. Brookes played the heel here despite being the clear fan favorite. The reaction to YOSHI-HASHI was so lackluster, and the crowd was still chanting for Brookes. The work was good and crisp between the two. They did early mat work that gave way to bigger moves. However, despite not going all that long, it was the first match on the card that felt like it lost the attention of the audience. YOSHI-HASHI won with Karma and got a pop for the finish, although this might have been mostly the excitement of knowing that Will Ospreay was next.
– Will Ospreay def. Yoshinobu Kanemaru. Ospreay predictably got a huge reaction for his entrance and throughout the match. The crowd even chanted “He’s coming home, he’s coming home, he’s coming, Ospreay’s coming home,” an ode to the soccer chant at English national team games. This match was a showcase for Ospreay with him taking most of the match. The typical Suzuki-gun start was even quickly turned around as Ospreay took the early advantage. Kanemaru did briefly get some heat on him. He went to use the whiskey, but Ospreay covered his mouth and hit a wrap-around kick, knocking the whiskey from Kanemaru’s mouth. Ospreay then hit a series of his signature moves: the Robinson Special, OsCutter block, backflip kick into an enziguri, Shooting Star Press onto a draping Kanemaru, and finally the Storm-breaker to end it. This was fast paced and the crowd was super hot throughout. They serenaded Ospreay all the way to the back and beyond — until the main event was announced.
– British Tag Team Champions Minoru Suzuki & Zack Sabre Jr. def. Kazuchika Okada & Tomohiro Ishii to retain their British Tag Team Titles. Every entrance was electric here, with ZSJ trying his best to get the crowd to stop chanting for him by acting disdainfully and throwing his title belt. Suzuki amped up the fans, who screamed “Kaze Ni Nare” over the top of the announcers. Ishii received perhaps the smaller of the reactions, but it was still ahead of everyone else on the card aside from Ospreay. Okada got a true superstar reaction with everyone on their feet. He was wearing different gear with new pants and had a slight alteration to his music.
Sabre and Okada opened with some great ground work before Suzuki and Ishii tagged in and had the first of many fantastic strike battles, really firing up the crowd. Ishii was isolated and, while Okada tried to enter the ring and distracted the referee, Suzuki and Sabre did their switching tandem submission spot. Okada had a comeback where he hit his standard series of moves on Sabre before going for the Rainmaker, which was beautifully blocked. The Rainmaker pose seems to have become a tell that the Rainmaker will not connect. Ishii and Suzuki ended up back in the ring together and had to wait a long time for the crowd to quiet down so they could do their hard elbow strikes spot. Ishii sold like he had been wobbled each time, and each recovery was met with an incredible explosion from the crowd before they got quiet again to hear the impact of Ishii’s next strike.
This led to a brief sequence with Ishii working with Sabre before Suzuki tagged in and faced Okada for the first time in the match, which got the loudest reaction apart from Ishii’s recoveries from Suzuki’s strikes. Ishii eventually gave up to Sabre’s Orienteering With Napalm Death submission while Suzuki held Okada in a sleeper. Most of the fans stayed around to watch Suzuki give a brief post-match promo, the usual Suzuki-gun Ichiban.
