Mark Davis Says Aussie Open’s NJPW Tag Bout With FTR Was A ‘Lighting In The Bottle’ Situation

Sean Ross Sapp,Skylar Russell,William ThatchMay 26, 2026, 1:00 pm

Mark Davis recalls Aussie Open’s first tag match with FTR.

Both teams faced off for the first time at NJPW’s Royal Quest II event in October 2022, which took place at the Crystal Palace in London. At the time, it was widely considered to be one of the best matches of the year and a huge stepping stone for the duo of Mark Davis and Kyle Fletcher.

Speaking with Fightful’s Sean Ross Sapp for a new interview, Davis recalled how the match felt special when the entrance music started playing.

“Yeah, I think from the entrance. I think from that music hitting, I think from that moment, it was like, ‘Oh, this doesn’t just feel like a regular professional wrestling match.’ Then there’s a lot of preamble coming into that. Kyle and myself were in sort of a position when we were on the cusp of breaking out into bigger things and then this was our first real test as a tag team against a team that’s so deeply established, like current AEW Tag Team Champions.”

David went on to call it a “lighting in the bottle” type of situation for Aussie Open.

“You got to argue against them being the best in the world, not for them being it. So it just was this electric atmosphere, I think inside of it being in the United Kingdom, they were very familiar with me and Kyle. They’d seen us grow from nothing to something. It just was this, I guess, little bit of lightning in the bottle type situation where a lot of dominoes fell into effect and it just created this incredible atmosphere. Yeah, it’s just one of those moments when professional wrestling is great; it’s the best thing in the world.”

Elsewhere in the interview, Mark Davis talked about his participation in the upcoming Men’s Owen Hart Foundation Tournament. Check out his full comments on the matter by clicking here.

Fans can check out Fightful’s full interview with Mark Davis in the video linked at the top of this article.

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