Sabre Jr upsets Okada! NJPW Strong Style UK – Night 1 and Night 2

Hot off of the heels of a thoroughly excellent Dominion show, where Kenny Omega finally realized his dream of becoming IWGP World Heavyweight Champion by pinning Kazuchika Okada, New Japan Pro Wrestling teamed with their British associates Revolution Pro Wrestling to give us Strong Style Evolved UK.

Focusing mainly on the rivalry between CHAOS and Suzuki-Gun, the two-night event transpired on June 30th at the Planet Ice Arena in Milton Keynes and on July 1st at the Altrincham Ice Dome in Altrincham, Greater Manchester. With Kevin Kelly spotted on commentary, it is widely believed the brace of shows will be available on the New Japan World streaming service.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4xgJO7UgsNY

Whilst night one provided thrills galore, it was what occurred twenty-four hours later that got people talking and provided the shock of the tour. Looking for redemption after dropping his coveted IWGP World Heavyweight Championship to Kenny Omega, Kazuchika Okada did battle with an old foe and Sakura Genesis opponent, Zack Sabre Jr.

A bout made following the victory of the Brit and Minoru Suzuki over Tomohiro Ishii and Toru Yano at Dominion, astonished the capacity crowd in Manchester when Sabre Jr. countered a Rainmaker clothesline for the victory. It was the last thing anyone expected and a wonderful upset to end the tour on. The man who had previously owned a near spotless singles record in the past few years had suffered two losses in less than a month.

In results from the rest of the tour:

Night 1

• Tomoyuki Oka defeated Shota Umino
• Bullet Club (Taiji Ishimori and Yujiro Takahashi) rolled over Aussie Open
• Tiger Mask best David Starr
• Suzuki-Gun (El Desperado, Taichi, and Takahashi Iizuka) routed CHAOS (Jay White, Gedo, and Toru Yano)
• Walter plowed through Yuji Nagata
• Yoshi-Hashi cracked Chris Brookes
• Will Ospreay triumphed over Yoshinobu Kanemaru
• Suzuki-Gun (Minoru Suzuki and Zack Sabre Jr.) beat CHAOS (Kazuchika Okada and Tomohiro Ishii)

Night 2

• Tomoyuki Oka overcame Danny Duggan
• Yuji Nagata crushed Shota Umino
• Suzuki-Gun (Yoshinobu Kanemura and El Desperado) thrashed CHAOS (Gedo, Toru Yano, and Yoshi-Hashi)
• Walter vanquished Yujiro Takahashi
• Taichi whitewashed Will Ospreay
• David Starr conquered Tiger Mask, El Phantasmo, and Taiji Ishimori to retain the RPW British Cruiserweight Championship
• Jay White creamed Kyle Fletcher
• Zack Sabre Jr. shocked Kazuchika Okada
• Minoru Suzuki bashed Tomohiro Ishii to capture the RPW British Heavyweight Championship

What do you think about the upset? Let us know in the comments below or on Twitter here. You can also join us on Discord to chat with Oli, Luke, the magazine team, the website writers and each other here!

• Danny Duggan
• Revolution Pro Wrestling
• Tomoyuki Oka
• new japan pro wrestling
• Yuji Nagata
• Zack Sabre Jr
• Kazuchika Okada
• Will Ospreay

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