Following Thursday’s Game Changer Wrestling (GCW) event Josh Barnett’s Bloodsport, it was near unanimous amongst fans that the Match of the Night was the hard-hitting, catch-style shoot fight between IMPACT Wrestling‘s Killer Kross and New Japan/Major League Wrestling star Davey Boy Smith Jr. While the entire card was a fun and diverse series of combat match-ups, the pairing of Kross and Davey Boy Jr. together was a hoss fight that went beyond two big men brawling – it involved a lot of shoot-style wrestling and technical submission moves, showcasing both as the true stars they really are. And while Davey Boy Jr. was thankful for the praise post-match, he didn’t mince words when he took a moment on his Twitter to lash out at the recent booking practices of his Japanese home, NJPW (and possibly the UK’s World of Sport Wrestling).
Thanks to @GCWrestling_ for having me on Bloodsport tonight. I’m glad I got to show the fans what I think is my true style 🤛 and I’m not going to bite my tongue on this one, a much better showing than the absolute crap I’ve been put in by overseas companies lately 🥊🥋🤼♀️🤛😉 pic.twitter.com/XNFxT2gv59
— Harry Smith, “Davey Boy Smith JR” (@DBSmithjr) April 4, 2019
Since returning to North American television with MLW last year, as part of the dominating trio The Hart Foundation alongside his real-life cousin Teddy Hart and Brian Pillman Jr., Smith has shown he is still a top tier performer. While Smith had previously been seen on North American TV with the WWE, during a six-year career that featured a run as WWE Tag Team Champions in The Hart Dynasty with Tyson Kidd and cousin Natalya.
But following his departure from the WWE in 2011, Smith headed to Europe to master more catch wrestling technique, training with the legendary Billy Robinson, and signing with New Japan Po Wrestling in 2012. Paired with TNA/IMPACT cast off Lance Archer (who had a brief WWE run from 2009 to 2010), the duo became The Killer Elite and the principal tag team for Minoru Suzuki‘s Suzuki-gun faction. Over the next five years, they were one of Japan’s most dominant pairings, winning the IWGP Tag Team titles three times, as well as capturing the GHC Tag Team titles twice during a two-year “exile” to Pro Wrestling NOAH with Suzuki-gun.
But since losing their IWGP Tag Team titles to Los Ingobernables de Japon‘s EVIL & SANADA at Wrestle Kingdom 12 in January of 2018, the Killer Elite has moved further and further away from the title picture, becoming an afterthought in New Japan’s tag team division. No longer were they competing for the tag team titles, but instead working lower card tandems like Best Friends or other random CHAOS pairings. The NJPW tag team scene was now being directed by EVIL & SANADA, Guerrillas of Destiny (Tama Tonga & Tanga Loa) and even the recently promoted Young Bucks. Even within their own stable, they were being usurped by Suzuki and his protege, Zack Sabre Jr., who had won the Revolution Pro (RevPro) Undisputed British Tag Team Championship.
While his star has exploded back in North America reunited within a familiar familial faction, it seemed to be fading in Japan. For the bulk of 2019, KES has found themselves in meaningless tag matches against the likes of Great Bash Heel (Togi Makabe & Tomoaki Honma) and Toa Henare. But in New Japan, this is hardly a new practice. Prior to jumping ship to the WWE, Luke Gallows & Karl Anderson were also finding themselves out of place, not just in New Japan’s tag division, but within Bullet Club as well – they had been replaced by Guerrillas of Destiny as Bullet Club’s main heavyweight tag team candidates.
With New Japan recently cutting ties with Michael Elgin the past week – his contract expired March 31 and both sides mutually agreed to negotiate a new deal – it may just be time for both sides in this case to part ways as well. There is plenty of “new blood” gaijin that can freshen up the New Japan landscape, and there’s plenty of other opportunities for Davey Boy Smith Jr. in North America, now that IMPACT Wrestling and All Elite Wrestling (AEW) are on the upswing and agreeable to him remaining with MLW as well.
