FinJuice was an American professional wrestling tag team consisting of David Finlay and Juice Robinson. The team name consists of Finlay's surname and Robinson’s first name Juice. Trained in the dojo of the New Japan Pro-Wrestling promotion, the two came together as a team, in August 2017. In December 2019, the duo won the 2019 World Tag League, followed by the IWGP Tag Team Championship in January 2020 at Wrestle Kingdom 14. FinJuice have also worked for Ring of Honor and Impact Wrestling, where they are former Impact World Tag Team Champions. As of 2023, both Finlay and Robinson are currently members of Bullet Club branches in different promotions, with David Finlay being currently signed to New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW) as the leader of Bullet Club and BC War Dogs and Juice Robinson to All Elite Wrestling as a member of Bullet Club Gold.
| FinJuice | |
|---|---|
Robinson (left) and Finlay (right) | |
| Tag team | |
| Members | Juice Robinson David Finlay |
| Name(s) | FinJuice David Finlay and Juice Robinson |
| Billed heights | Robinson: 6 ft 3 in (1.91 m)[1] Finlay: 6 ft 0 in (1.83 m)[2] |
| Debut | August 2017 |
| Years active | 2017–2022 |
| Trainer | NJPW Dojo |
History
editNew Japan Pro-Wrestling (2017–2022)
editBoth David Finlay and Juice Robinson, entered the New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW) dojo in 2015 and made their debuts for the promotion during the same year. After Finlay and Robinson joined the Taguchi Japan stable in January 2017, Finlay and Robinson formed a tag team named "FinJuice", consisting of Finlay's surname and Robinson’s first name Juice. FinJuice worked mostly on the mid-card during the year, sometimes in tag team or multi-man tag matches. On July 7, 2018 at G1 Special in San Francisco, Robinson defeated Jay White to win the IWGP United States Heavyweight Championship.[3] On September 15 at Destruction in Hiroshima, FinJuice teamed with their Taguchi Japan stablemate Ryusuke Taguchi unsuccessfully challenging Bullet Club (Taiji Ishimori, Tama Tonga and Tanga Loa) for the NEVER Openweight 6-Man Tag Team Championship. On September 30 at Fighting Spirit Unleashed, Robinson lost the IWGP United States Heavyweight Championship to Cody.[4] In November, FinJuice took part in the 2018 World Tag League, finishing the tournament with a record of eight wins and five losses, failing to advance to the finals. Their final block match against Best Friends (Beretta and Chuckie T) ended by disqualification, when Chuckie T attacked Finlay with a chair.[5]
On January 4, 2019, at Wrestle Kingdom 13 in Tokyo Dome, Robinson regained the IWGP United States Heavyweight Championship defeating Cody in a rematch.[6] On February 2 on the second night of The New Beginning in USA, Robinson successfully defended the IWGP United States Heavyweight Championship against Beretta. On February 23 in the second night of Honor Rising: Japan, FinJuice unsuccessfully challenged The Briscoe Brothers (Jay Briscoe and Mark Briscoe) for the ROH World Tag Team Championship. During the match, Finlay suffered a shoulder injury, sidelining him for eight months. On June 5, Robinson lost the IWGP United States Heavyweight Championship to the debuting Jon Moxley.[7] At King of Pro-Wrestling, Robinson was defeated by Lance Archer in a no disqualification match for the vacant IWGP United States Heavyweight Championship. After the match, Robinson was attacked by Archer until Finlay returned from injury and made the save. On November 9 at New Japan Showdown in San Jose, Finlay unsuccessfully challenged Archer for the IWGP United States Heavyweight Championship. From November 16 until December 8, Robinson and Finlay took part in the 2019 World Tag League, which the two won by defeating former IWGP Tag Team Champions Los Ingobernables de Japón (EVIL and SANADA) in their last round-robin match.[8]
On January 4, 2020 on the first night of Wrestle Kingdom 14 in Tokyo Dome, Finlay and Robinson defeated the Guerrillas of Destiny (Tama Tonga and Tanga Loa) to win the IWGP Tag Team Championship.[9] They lost the titles back to the Guerrillas of Destiny (Tama Tonga and Tanga Loa) on February 1 at The New Beginning in USA. In August, due to the COVID-19 pandemic in the United States, Finlay and Robinson were unable to work on NJPW events in Japan, leading them to take part in NJPW Strong series. However, due to a leg injury, Robinson was forced to miss the series. Despite Robinson's injury, Finlay reached the finals of the New Japan Cup USA losing to KENTA in the finals on August 21. From November 15 until December 6, Robinson and Finlay took part in the 2020 World Tag League, finishing the tournament with a record of six wins and three losses, advancing to the finals of the tournament. On December 11, Robinson and Finlay were defeated in the finals by Guerrillas of Destiny (Tama Tonga and Tanga Loa).[10]
Ring of Honor (2019)
editIn January 2019, FinJuice took part in Ring of Honor (ROH)'s television tapings the formation of Lifeblood, with the goal of bringing honor back to ROH; the stable included Tracy Williams, Bandido, Mark Haskins and Tenille Dashwood. Lifeblood defeated Jay Lethal's handpicked team of Jonathan Gresham, Flip Gordon, Dalton Castle and Jeff Cobb in the main event.[11] Finlay and Robinson, representing Lifeblood, participated in the Tag Wars Tournament. In the first round, they defeated Alex Coughlin and Karl Fredericks, and in the semi-finals, they won in a three-way match over Lethal and Gresham and Coast 2 Coast (LSG and Shaheem Ali). In the final, they were defeated by Villain Enterprises (Brody King and PCO).[12] FinJuice left Ring of Honor in June due to wanting to return to their home promotion New Japan Pro-Wrestling, as well as citing complains about low salary from ROH.[13]
Impact Wrestling (2021)
editOn February 13, 2021, at No Surrender, FinJuice appeared on Impact in a pre-taped vignette, announcing that FinJuice would make their debut at the Impact tapings, as part of a partnership between Impact and New Japan Pro-Wrestling.[14][15] Three days later, on the following week's Impact!, they made their debut and defeated Reno Scum.[16] On March 13, at Sacrifice, FinJuice defeated The Good Brothers (Doc Gallows and Karl Anderson) to win the Impact World Tag Team Championship.[17] They successfully defended their titles against Gallows and Anderson in a rematch at Rebellion.[18] On the May 20 episode of Impact!, FinJuice lost the tag team titles to Violent By Design (Rhino and Joe Doering), ending their reign at 65 days.[19] They would return to the company at Slammiversary, defeating Madman Fulton and Shera.[20]
Championships and accomplishments
editReferences
edit- ^ "ジュース・ロビンソン". New Japan Pro-Wrestling (in Japanese). Retrieved March 17, 2021.
- ^ "David Finlay Profile". New Japan Pro-Wrestling (in Japanese). Retrieved March 17, 2021.
- ^ Rose, Bryan (7 July 2018). "NJPW G1 SPECIAL IN SAN FRANCISCO LIVE RESULTS: KENNY OMEGA VS. CODY". F4W Online. Retrieved March 17, 2021.
- ^ Rose, Bryan (30 September 2018). "NJPW FIGHTING SPIRIT UNLEASHED LIVE RESULTS: CODY VS. JUICE ROBINSON". F4W Online. Retrieved March 17, 2021.
- ^ "NJPW World Tag League Day 16". Cagematch.
- ^ Renner, Ethan (3 January 2019). "NJPW WRESTLE KINGDOM 13 LIVE RESULTS: OMEGA VS. TANAHASHI". F4W Online. Retrieved March 17, 2021.
- ^ "2019.06.03 BEST OF THE SUPER Jr.26 FINAL Night15 | NEW JAPAN PRO-WRESTLING". New Japan Pro-Wrestling. Retrieved 2019-06-05.
- ^ Rose, Bryan (8 December 2019). "NJPW WORLD TAG LEAGUE 2019 WINNERS CROWNED". F4W Online. Retrieved March 17, 2021.
- ^ Tees, David. "NJPW Wrestle Kingdom 14 Day 1 Results: 5 Title Matches & Part 1 Of Jushin Liger's Retirement". Fightful. Retrieved March 17, 2021.
- ^ "NJPW World Tag League And Best Of Super Juniors 27 Finals Results (12/11)". Fightful. Retrieved March 17, 2021.
- ^ "ROH Wrestling #388". Cagematch.
- ^ "ROH Road to G1 Supercard Day 3". Cagematch.
- ^ Fire Greg The Office Boy Twitter
- ^ @IMPACTWRESTLING (February 13, 2021). "The door has been kicked open. #NoSurrender @THEdavidfinlay @njpw1972 @njpwglobal" (Tweet) – via Twitter.
- ^ @IMPACTWRESTLING (February 13, 2021). "@THEdavidfinlay @njpw1972 @njpwglobal BREAKING: @njpwglobal's Juice Robinson and @THEdavidfinlay will be in the IMP…" (Tweet) – via Twitter.
- ^ Moore, John (February 16, 2021). "2/16 Impact Wrestling TV Results: Moore's review of TJP vs. Josh Alexander for the X Division Championship, Trey Miguel vs. Willie Mack vs. Daivari vs. Suicide in a four-way, NJPW's Juice Robinson and David Finlay appear, fallout from No Surrender". Pro Wrestling Dot Net. Archived from the original on February 22, 2021. Retrieved April 22, 2021.
- ^ Powell, Jason (March 13, 2021). "3/13 Impact Wrestling Sacrifice results: Powell's review of Rich Swann vs. Moose in a Impact World Championship and TNA Title unification match, The Good Brothers vs. Juice Robinson and David Finlay for the Impact Tag Titles, Deonna Purrazzo vs. ODB for the Knockouts Title, TJP vs. Ace Austin for the X Division Title". Pro Wrestling Dot Net. Archived from the original on April 10, 2021. Retrieved April 22, 2021.
- ^ Powell, Jason (April 25, 2021). "4/25 Impact Wrestling Rebellion results: Powell's review of AEW Champion Kenny Omega vs. Impact Champion Rich Swann in a title vs. title match, Juice Robinson and David Finlay vs. The Good Brothers for the Impact Tag Titles, Deonna Purrazzo vs. Tenille Dashwood for the Knockouts Title". Pro Wrestling Dot Net. Archived from the original on April 28, 2021. Retrieved June 21, 2021.
- ^ Moore, John (May 20, 2021). "5/20 Impact Wrestling TV Results: Moore's review of the Under Siege fallout edition with Juice Robinson and David Finlay vs. Ace Austin and Madman Fulton for the Impact Tag Titles, Kiera Hogan vs. Tenille Dashwood, Rohit Raju vs. Jake Something". Pro Wrestling Dot Net. Archived from the original on May 21, 2021. Retrieved June 21, 2021.
- ^ Powell, Jason (July 17, 2021). "7/17 Impact Wrestling Slammiversary results: Powell's live review of Kenny Omega vs. Sami Callihan in a No DQ match for the Impact World Championship, Deonna Purrazzo defends the Knockouts Championship against a mystery challenger, Ultimate X for the X Division Championship, Moose vs. Chris Sabin". Pro Wrestling Dot Net. Archived from the original on July 19, 2021. Retrieved July 31, 2021.