New Japan at the Tokyo Dome – it’s very good.
I watched the first let’s say 40% of this show live before tapping out due to my flagrant lack of Fighting Spirit. Then I watched the rest.
0. Gauntlet Match – NEVER Openweight 6-Man Tag Team Title #1 Contender Match
Though the world mourns the death of the New Japan Rumble, the Wrestle Kingdom pre-show atmosphere is still something special after all these years: it is late for all the Westerners, the palpable excitement for a Wrestle Kingdom is mixed with impending dread of the exhaustion that will likely follow. The crowd is quiet and you’re not sure yet if it’s the Dome acoustics, everyone is still filing in, or maybe they just didn’t draw this year.
This is a match where an impressive roster of talent got thrown into this meaningless match to run through their shtick and because they’re an impressive roster of talent they kind of made it work. It was a fine pre-show match, and much like the Rumble’s of years past was all about the #Moments: Chuckie T’s shit-eating stare as he entered for a Dome match, Ryusuke Taguchi going all-out on his ass dive, Yuji Nagata and Minoru Suzui slapping at each other, Nagata’s run in general, Cobb’s swinging deadlift backdrop on Goto (WHAT), and Makabe remaining the third or fourth most over man in New Japan were my favorites. Also, I like that Bulldog Jr. needed a big Tokyo Dome spot so he chose a Hulk Hogan tribute. **
1. NEVER Openweight Title: Kota Ibushi [c] vs. Will Ospreay
I loved this. It was the maestros of spectacular professional wrestling in 2018 doing their thing in the opening match of Wrestle Kingdom and they completely delivered. They brought the hyper-speed wrestling, the flips, the kicks, but they also slowed things down in between to make all the cool stuff matter.
The hyper-speed wrestling had that “extra” too – the very first sequence of the match was practically mind-altering. The flips were extra – Ibushi did a springboard Phoenix splash to the outside. And the kicks were extra – Will countered the Golden Triangle moonsault with one from the apron and I believed again in the possibilities of professional wrestling.
The cinematic shot of Ospreay backflipping and landing on his feet out of Ibushi’s apron German suplex followed by Ibushi slowly staring back in disbelief with his nose all busted up was an all-timer folks, perhaps better than the last all-timer cinematic shot they did like 2 weeks ago at Korakuen Hall. Milano Collection A.T. was in stitches for it on commentary too.
I am buying into the legend of Will Ospreay more and more and this was perhaps his most credible performance. Still though – he had to do those goofy shaky legs trying to get out of the cradle tombstone. C’mon man.
What a match though. It wasn’t quite there, but it felt like the AJ Styles vs. Shinsuke Nakamura match from a few years ago. And these guys are staying. I think. ****1/4
2. 3-Way Match – IWGP Jr. Heavyweight Tag Team Title: Yoshinobu Kanemaru & El Desperado [c] vs. Roppongi 3K vs. Shingo Takagi & BUSHI
Makabe and Nagata accept their fates as pre-show fodder, but here is Yoshinobu Kanemaru – main card superstar. This was non-stop craziness from six guys who are very good at non-stop crazy wrestling, including a really special performance from big Shingo. The showdown between him and SHO was awesome, as was him just throwing lariats at people’s throats. Despy doing a chinlock in a match like this was so ballsy I have to respect it. These types of matches can run together so much that it is easy to forget just how challenging the task is – keep things interesting, keep things moving, make things flow, and don’t fuck up your spots. The boys did well. ***1/2
3. RPW British Heavyweight Title: Tomohiro Ishii [c] vs. Zack Sabre Jr.
Zack Sabre Jr. targeting Ishii’s arm and being a dick about it leading to Ishii charging into ZSJ and sending him flying was very, very good. This was a heck of a match from two great wrestlers, but it didn’t reach the heights it might’ve wanted to go because though he was trying to lay it in ZSJ works pretty light and it didn’t mesh well with Ishii’s stuff. It fit the bill as the Tough Guys at Wrestle Kingdom match (think Suzuki/Goto, Goto/Shibata, Shibata/Ishii), but because of that clash it didn’t reach epic levels like those matches. The superplex brush-off for the cute arm submission was kind of dumb too. Smart and tightly worked, lots of fun bits, but missing something. ***3/4
4. 3-Way Match – IWGP Tag Team Title: Guerillas of Destiny [c] vs. EVIL & SANADA vs. The Young Bucks
I just could not shake how much this felt like a much lesser version of the same match that took place like a half hour ago. SANADA’s run was amazing, GoD had their working boots on, and EVIL knocking Bad Luck Fake outside and shaking the ropes was a wonderful moment, but some inherent issues got in the way: 3-way tags being dumb, the Bucks being hamfisted into the match, heavyweights wrestling like juniors and juniors wrestling like heavyweights. Also the Bucks felt more through the motions than usual. Solid wrestling action in a world filled with it. ***
5. IWGP U.S. Heavyweight Title: Cody [c] w/ Brandi Rhodes vs. Juice Robinson
It is an easy observation but this felt very WWE-style, with them getting right to the ACTION! and trading finishers and doing the Brandi gimmick and trading punches and doing near falls. And that’s not necessarily a bad thing, but in this environment it came off as especially weak. Decent, but it stuck out and not in a good way. Juice was better here than at WK11 vs. Cody, but I’m not sure it was the better match. For all I know though if this match took place in a different setting it could have been the greatest Backlash main event ever. **1/4
6. IWGP Jr. Heavyweight Title: KUSHIDA [c] vs. Taiji Ishimori
The return of Taguchi as Doc Brown was delightful, as was KUSHIDA’s Time Travel entrance. Anyways, the thing with this match is that Taiji Ishimori has freakish strength and athleticism, I just wish it felt sometimes like he wanted to… win? Is that too big of an ask? Ishimori using all his tricks vs. KUSHIDA targeting the arm to stop those tricks and tap him out was a good story and there were a lot of great bits, but this didn’t come completely together for me. ***1/4
7. Kazuchika Okada vs. Jay White w/ Gedo
I’ve got a soft spot for when guys wear special white gear on major shows, so Jay White was setting this one up for success with me. And then – RETURN OF THE OKADA SHORTS. Before the bell even rang this thing wasn’t going below ***1/2, I will tell you that.
This was a great match, and saw ol’ Switchblade pull off his first great New Japan main event-style match. He looked like he belonged… the next step is to add something to the match, because though I liked this a lot I am also pretty sure that Okada could have had this match with a number of guys.
For a minute there I forgot that this was OKADA AT THE TOKYO DOME too, but it was. He was working like a stiffer Ricky Steamboat for a bit, selling for White early and coming back with an awesome rope-run and back elbow sequence. He might’ve hit his best ever crossbody over the guardrail too.
Twists, turns, counters, near falls – though not as many as you’d think. This wasn’t at a level that screamed Okada third from top at Wrestle Kingdom but it was excellent. ****
8. IWGP Intercontinental Title: Chris Jericho [c] vs. Tetsuya Naito
This was like Chris Jericho in New Japan’s Greatest Hits, which is completely fine. It was exactly as promised – a wild, fun brawl. Part of me wonders if it would’ve helped the overall card to have the Jericho brawl go earlier in the show for half the time like it was Abby and Manny Fernandez at Starrcade. Not realistic, but I know I would’ve had a much fonder memory of this.
This was another fun trip around the horn with fat angry Y2J, but it also felt like two matches – one a sweet straightforward wrestling brawl, one a near falls fest so that everyone felt like they got their money’s worth. A couple of those Codebreaker near falls were cool, but after a while it felt like a bit much. This had patches that felt meandering, but when it wasn’t in one of those patches it was a really fun match. Motivated Naito was a nice treat too. My immediate reaction is that this was the weakest of the Jericho NJPW matches, but it’s still a bunch of fun. ***1/2
9. IWGP Heavyweight Title: Kenny Omega [c] vs. Hiroshi Tanahashi
I wasn’t sure what to say about this for a while. They felt each other out. They wrestled well. It was good main event wrestling, but I also didn’t really like it. Tanahashi was selling well, and Kenny on offense was… well, shouldn’t have made your gimmick that you’re a really good wrestler, dude. What happens when a guy with ability keeps on going long in every big match, thus spacing out all that makes him really actually good?
But also, SLAPS!!! And they pulled off a well-built big match finish. Plus, Hiroshi Tanahashi did a reverse hurricanrana and there is just too much to unpack there for one post on WordPress. This was a 40-minute match with an OK first 25 and great last 15 that outside of that rana didn’t really have much to chew on. I had a good time, but I had a good time watching SANADA do a bunch of pescado’s in a row too. ****
Happy Thoughts: Great show, though one that peaked in-ring for me with the opener. Regardless, this is a four-hour array of great wrestlers doing a bunch of great wrestling. The bar for a Wrestle Kingdom has been set so high, even if there has always been a stinker or four on each show. This didn’t have a peak like Wrestle Kingdom’s of the recent past, but as far as consistency it ranks high. And obviously it smokes a whole bunch of Dome shows from before the last five years, and most wrestling shows period.
I like New Japan, I love their ascent into a Big Deal, but now that they are a Big Deal I hope it is not too hard to ask that in 2019 they at least break with formula in their big matches and flesh out their midcard, so that their shows besides Wrestle Kingdom are top-to-bottom as good as they can be. Every title changed hands here, and Ospreay, ZSJ, Juice, Ishimori, and all of Los Ingobernables de Japon winning championships is very cool – I just want to see them do more throughout the year.
These folks can put on a show though. 9/10
