New Japan Pro Wrestling
Lion’s Break Collision #2
July 10, 2020
Oceanville Pavillion
Port Hueneme, California

After a really fun first episode last week, highlighted by Karl Fredericks shedding his Young Lion skin, Episode 2 brings us 3 NJPW debutants. How will this weeks episode stack up? Let’s find out.

Rust Taylor Def. The DKC 

This was a good, honest fun technical wrestling match. It felt like an extended squash designed to get Taylor over and it certainly did that. Taylors offence was crisp and clean and The DKC sold perfectly for him while getting enough offence in to not look totally out of his depth. Taylor won with a brutal looking submission he calls The Gaia Lock. I’m looking forward to seeing more from Rust Taylor who also cut a pretty darn good post match promo too. The entire presentation gets a thumbs up from me. ***1/4

TJP def. Danny Limelight

Stylistically, this was a good match up and much more back and forth then the opening bout. Limelight showed off some really cool aerial offence and, love him or hate him, TJP is as well seasoned a wrestler as they come. Having a competitive 10-minute match makes for a more entertaining bout, however I don’t think it got Limelight as over as the sort of match Rust Taylor had earlier. I hope Limelight gets more of a showcase match either during these tapings or the next because he definitely has some cool and innovative offence and I’m sure he has more up his sleeve. ***1/4

Final Thoughts

This is one of the easiest half hours you could have watching wrestling. Fun, basic matches with post match promos from the winners, designed to get characters and stories over. Filthy Tom Lawlor debuts next week which I’m sure will be worth checking out as well.