No ground gained or given as Kidd and Ishii go the STRONG distance
Defence brings surprising main card start
Battle in the Valley’s main card got off to an explosive start when NJPW STRONG Openweight Champion Gabe Kidd defended against Tomohiro Ishii.
Kidd backed Ishii into the corner early and controlled his challenger with a headlock, but couldn’t knock the Stone Pitbull down. A southpaw lariat did the job, and Kidd drank in a mixed yet fervent reaction from the audience before charging into the corner. The champion was in cruise control before Ishii was able to tap into his patented aggression, and the Stone Pitbull rocked Kidd with a ferocious elbow and sensational tackle before unleashing a Tenryu combination. A mighty powerslam got two for the challenger as Kidd was suddenly on the back foot.
The STRONG Champion summoned up chops and elbows and beckoned Ishii in to respond in kind, the match becoming a mid ring slugfest. A massive chop exchange saw both men’s chests bruised and bloody as ‘fight forever’ chants rang out; chops turned to suplexes of the vertical and German varieties before both men slumped to the canvas among a standing ovation.
Ishii found his feet first and looked for a superples to Gabe, but the champion bit his way out of danger and hung his challenger with a front chancerie at the 15 minute mark. A rising headbutt from the Stone Pitbull and Ishii landed the move to a huge reaction, but still couldn’t put Kidd away; the champion rallied and went for a piledriver but was back body dropped away and the two men reset with yet more crunching blows exchanged.
The match now passing the 20 minute mark, Kidd went for the O-Knee and landed on his second try but could only get one. Ishii landed a brutal lariat for a one count of his own, and the match was back to square one. Neither man showing any signs of give, time was dwindling fast; a sliding lariat from Ishii got a near two, as did a Ground Cobra and piledriver on the part of Kidd. With under a minute left, Kidd landed a barrage of open hand strikes; Ishii hoisted Kidd for a Vertical Drop Bainbuster but couldn’t follow up as the time limit expired.
Wanting more, Kidd said that he would put his title on the line again at Windy City Riot April 11, this time in an Ironman Match.