You might have heard New Japan (The King of Sports!) hasn’t been “very good” over the last few years, if you’ve heard anything about them at all. They’ll still remind you a handful of times every six months just how quality their approach to wrestling matches (and training) is, but it’s just… different, you know? Something about the Covid and clapping and questionable succession plans post-Okada. And there’s a lot of wrestling out there. There’s a lot of things.
The heat and believability of Showa-era NJPW, the bombast and industry influence of the 90s… those things will still sneak onto the show every once in a while, but they’ve been mostly swapped for the quiet confusion that followed Inoki-ISM and whatever this situation is now where Chase Owens is one of the Last Men on Earth.
New Japan on 1/4 at the Tokyo Dome has still remained a pretty consistent ground for professional wrestling though, and ladies and gentleman: welcome to Wrestle Kingdom 16 in Tokyo Dome. Night 1. Of 3? Hold on now—
0. King of Pro Wrestling 2022 – New Japan RAMBO
Like an old AJPW or NOAH opener without the charm and sometimes execution, New Japan’s take on the wrestling Rumble persists. Go in expecting nothing and you might end up pleasantly surprised when Tatsumi Fujinami and CIMA are two of the surprise entrants. Minoru Suzuki tapped all three young lions as soon as he entered while CIMA worked spots with Master Wato and got pins over TAKA and Fujinami. The final four remaining advanced to a 4-Way tomorrow but the only one actually visibly selling the gimmick that the match was over was CIMA, the networking legend who now takes his talents and GLEAT t-shirts to the main card of Night 2. *
Antonio Inoki’s message conjured feelings within me.
1. Special Singles Match: YOH vs. SHO
YOH and SHO made a good tag team but always lurking was how far either could go go post-split — well here they are. Fine sequences, well-delivered… lacking energy. SHO looks awesome as a bad guy but sometimes wrestles like he’s still uncomfortable with the whole idea, not to mention the whole House of Torture baggage. His experiments in heel life continued as he denied the crowd a dive and held back the referee for Dick Togo, but he still felt most at home anytime he was selling and stumbling to his feet.
Meanwhile, YOH’s experiments in babyface life might be working. He’s found success lately not just alongside SHO’s slow start, but also in an epic BOSJ Finals with Hiromu. Now he opens the looking like the eighth member of BTS and capturing the Tokyo Dome’s heart via leg-flailing to escape submission.
Their first was a good match if I’m being polite, their Best of the Super Jr. block match was a House of Torture-infested step down, and this was a step back up to the level of the first and I’m not just being nice. It had some run-ins but they actually seemed thought out beforehand, and in between was a good not great example of current NJPW juniors. ***1/2
2. Hiroshi Tanahashi, Ryusuke Taguchi & Rocky Romero vs. KENTA, Taiji Ishimori & El Phantasmo
Sometime around the ability to watch every single New Japan show, the New Japan undercard 6-man became a sort of farce, WWE TV-esque in its’ frustrating reliance on formula and only able to be any good in select situations. This? One of the situations. All six fellas went hard in the Tokyo Dome by either wrestling sequences or just reacting, with Taguchi and Ishimori in particular tearing it up early on. Then it ended with a DQ in advance of Tanahashi’s match with KENTA on Night 2. So logical it wasn’t fun. ***1/4
3. Tetsuya Naito, SANADA & BUSHI vs. Will Ospreay, Great-O-Khan & Jeff Cobb
This was more of the same, and by that I mean everybody was working extra hard in a pretty basic match. They kept it moving, previewed some Night 2 matches, and that’s kind of just it but they had enough stuff to keep the claps coming. ***1/4
4. Katsuyori Shibata Return Match – Catch Wrestling Rules: Katsuyori Shibata vs. Ren Narita
Six months after I began really paying attention to Japanese wrestling again in 2017, I found myself watching back-to-back episodes of New Japan in June where for the first hour, one of my old favorites Katsuyori Shibata was all grown up having two great matches en route to winning the annual New Japan Cup tournament. In the second hour, my friend Josh and I watched in horror and astonishment as he challenged Kazuchika Okada for the IWGP Heavyweight Title in one of the greatest wrestling matches of all time. It also ended up being, until tonight, Shibata’s last match.
A few months later, as New Japan kept a tight lid on what appeared to be a career-ending head or brain injury suffered after one of many headbutts thrown in that match, Shibata’s theme song played at the the G1 Climax ’17 Finals and he entered then sat cross-legged in the ring with a glean of hope in his eye (and a healthy dose of love for the biz-ness) that maybe he’d eventually get to wrestle in one again. It was so long ago that the same show had Tag Title defenses by The Young Bucks and now-Viking Raiders.
With a likely (and sensible!) retirement from in-ring competition coming (though never confirmed!), Shibata’s next act was to move to Los Angeles and become head trainer of the revitalized LA Dojo, teaching the ways of Real Pro Wrestling to a few of New Japan’s best grappling young lions and like triple-digits of American and European guys. If he could not do it inside the ring, he could help re-build the foundation of New Japan as a trainer.
But still. Health aside, guy was such a good wrestler. Such a good presence. The guy who re-invented the formula by just re-rerouting it back to one of its’ original forms. I accepted he was done, but four outrageously ridiculous years later with a mini-tease vs. KENTA in between, he announced he was going to wrestle again. The match would be at Wrestle Kingdom and held under Catch Rules with no strikes allowed, but still: The Wrestler was wrestling.
As I sat with no expectations other than a general excitement and confidence about how cool this was going to be, Shibata emerged in the black boots and towel and grabbed the mic to say fuck your Catch rules — I’ll kick if I want, let’s pro wrestle.
His mystery opponent? Ren Narita, one of his most promising trainees who’s also spent the last couple years at the LA Dojo. And he got to do some matwork, hit an elbow or two… but in his return to the ring Shibata basically did a 10-minute spotfest of ass-kicking. There were boots, kicks, and a spectacularly real and nasty-looking STO. Shibata simply pulls Narita’s hair to prevent a suplex, and soon after it went like this: slap, sleeper, Penalty Kick. Great to see you again, hope to do it again sometime. ***
5. NEVER Openweight Title: Tomohiro Ishii [c] vs. EVIL
Can Ishii sell enough to have a good match with EVIL? I don’t know, kind of. They went like 12 minutes which is a timeframe Ishii’s grimacing can carry well enough, and his shoulderblock and superplex are reliable comeback spots. The Torture House interferes but gets chased off partly by new hero YOH, wearing white short shorts and absolutely shellacking SHO with an elbow to the side of the face.
Scream, headbutt, counter finish, counter low blow, jumping kick to the face… these are the weapons Ishii employs to fight the EVIL. They could’ve worked too, except for a lame championship belt shot that ultimately ended it. ***
6. IWGP Tag Team Title: Taichi & Zack Sabre Jr. [c] vs. Hirooki Goto & YOSHI-HASHI
I’ve seen a lot of variations of this match over the last couple years or at least feel like I have, but these four really have risen to some kind of status and them keeping it under 20 minutes here was one of the best possible variations of this match. The Tekkers brought the pain and Goto the random fire, while YOSHI brought the fact that he is undeniably in SHAPE. When ZSJ kicks Goto off the apron it seems like a finishing sequence is near, but YOSHI’s able to rally back all on his lonesome before a few close falls by everybody and eventual Tokyo Dome triumph for our pal YOSH. Great match for a fan, OK match for others, call it somewhere in the middle. ***3/4
7. IWGP Jr. Heavyweight Title: El Desperado [c] vs. Hiromu Takahashi
Hiromu is so extra that his Wrestle Kingdom entrance attire this year doesn’t feel completely extravagant, even if it is. When El Desperado emerges in the all-white champion fit though, it’s crystal clear: are watching a major event take place, baby.
This feud has carried NJPW’s junior division as others moved up weight classes, left the company, or were just unable or unwilling to enter the country. I am quite fond of it. In 2018 they had an awesome brawl around Korakuen Hall in BOSJ ’18 which each gave each guy more range, and the IWGP Jr. Title match that followed as a result was more less violent but still very good. After Hiromu returned from injury and Despy became a cult favorite dominating the tag scene, they matched up again in an all-time great BOSJ ’20 finals and again in a more low key but still excellent match in the BOSJ ’21. Hiromu made (and won) the BOSJ ’21 finals, Desperado did not, but Desperado is the IWGP Jr. Heavyweight Champion. And now we’re here: the semi-main event at the Tokyo Dome.
It’s another good match in the series. Great match! Instead of a feeling out process or chucking chairs at each other in the crowd (if they’d even want to at this point in their rivalry), they just got right to the fighting and somehow maintained an intent to win while delivering some really wild stream of consciousness wrestling. They pulled off a ton of complex or dangerous spots but unless there was selling to (briefly) do each move seemed to flow right to the next, like a DVD to Stretch Muffler to (iffy) Canadian Destroyer, or Despy ending an offense run from Hiromu with a spinebuster and instead of a breather rolling right into another big slam. The crowd is shocked at a successful defense, but the boy in the mask got his big shot and he’s not letting anyone take it back. High-quality and big deal wrestling if not the peak of their powers. ****
8. IWGP World Heavyweight Title: Shingo Takagi [c] vs. Kazuchika Okada
Shingo Takagi’s surprising and downright exemplary year of dominance concludes with him entering second in the main event of Wrestle Kingdom as the IWGP World Heavyweight Champion, but waiting for him in the ring is the last guy who had a great run on top of New Japan and even though he’s felt dormant the last couple years, Kazuchika Okada entered with a new trim and old school robe that had him looking like Antonio Inoki’s heir apparent if Inoki had a spiritual awakening on an amusement park ride.
This is two of the best wrestlers in New Japan and the world at large having a 30 or 40-something main event at Wrestle Kingdom. If you have seen a New Japan main event or even just most G1 Climax matches before, it might seem too familiar. If you haven’t seen one, I would like to think this is just a whole incredible treat. It has the usual build-up that can teeter between an auteur’s approach and just killing time, but a counterpoint to that might be that it is Shingo Takagi and Kazuchika Okada doing it. Maybe these two should be transcending familiar, though they did deliver all strikes and spots and other attempts at bodily harm with the speed and fluidity of two guys who have rocked with some of the greatest flyers of all-time.
Shingo seems in control all match, either because he was dominating or because Okada has done such a disappearing act. He’ll throw in little easter eggs too, a finger wave before charging or flexing his biceps after mocking the Rainmaker pose like he’s just programmed to add a little meat in between every single thing. However: the robe and the haircut. The final act of the match does that finish thing and picks up intensity with 10 minutes to spare, and when the bell finally rings a decent portion of the clap-mandate crowd just audibly reacts their guts out. ****1/2
Happy Thoughts: Highlighted by the mid-show return of seriously actually Katsuyori Shibata himself, this show just had a consistency to it. The crowd situation remains awkward and outside of Shibata and the main event not much felt like must-see, but… it was just consistent. It just worked. Good, solid fun. 7.0 / 10.0
