Wrestling Observer Live with Bryan Alvarez and Matt Hardy returns today with tons to talk about including Mike’s full recap of the New Japan Tokyo Dome event, your thoughts on the show and more, plus Matt Hardy appears to talk TNA’s debut on POP TV Tuesday night live! A fun show as always so check it out~!
On Monday, WWE announced its non-Florida February NXT touring schedule with tickets going on sale on Friday:
*****
The company has also announced details of WrestleMania AXXESS in Dallas, held at the Kay Bailey Hutchison Convention Center, the same site as the NXT show on Friday night.
There will be activities on Thursday, March 31, from 6-10 p.m.; Friday, April 1 from 5-9 p.m., and three Saturday sessions from 8 a.m. to Noon, 1 p.m. to 5 p.m. and 6 p.m. to 10 p.m. The latter session goes head-to-head with the Hall of Fame ceremony. There is also a Sunday event from 8 a.m. to Noon.
The events are in direct competition with a ton of other indie shows that will be held in the area as well as Jim Ross one-man show events. There is also a Sunday event from 8 a.m. to Noon.
Thumbs up
Best Match: Kazuchika Okada vs Hiroshi Tanahashi
Worst Match: New Japan Rambo
The New Japan Rambo was exactly what I expected it to be, until the last 10 minutes or so. There were some fun surprises, Haku being the best of them, but Sakuraba coming out was cringe-inducing and everything after that was just hard to keep track of. This match could have been used, as it was last year with Nagata, to set up a new challenger for a secondary title on one of the New Beginning shows, but I can’t see any big Jado matches coming up so the 40 minute Rambo came off as a bit of a waste of time. *1/4
The Jr. Tag Title match was a great opener, and even better than the match last year. Unlike last year, the crowd really got into this and were legitimately invested in all teams, particularly Matt Sydal and Ricochet. As with most Jr. Tag matches, it didn’t matter who won, and the Young Bucks were as good a choice as any of the others. ***3/4
As someone who has never watched ROH before, I was intrigued to see the Briscoes in action after hearing all the hype surrounding their New Japan debuts. I was let down. Immensely. This match somehow managed to suck all the life out of the crowd that the Jrs had created, and the title win came off as meaningless as the introduction of the belts themselves. I was skeptical to begin with about a Trios title, but I thought it could add some juice to the undercards on these shows. How wrong I was. The only juice in this match was ringside in a red New Japan spray jacket. This sucked. 1/2*
The ROH World Title match was okay, but it was hard to care about Jay Lethal having seen no hype on New Japan shows for his appearance. There’s so many foreigners drifting in and out of the company that some promotional vignettes would be really useful when someone like the ROH World Champion show up in the Tokyo Dome. The match was fine but already at this point the interference was starting to become frustrating. **1/4
KUSHIDA and Kenny Omega managed to turn an absolute trainwreck at the start into an exciting and thrilling Jr. Heavyweight title match. In case this show needed more Bullet Club interference, KUSHIDA just had to be beaten up before the match and hit with trash cans by The Young Bucks. Eventually this turned around, as the nearfalls were believable and KUSHIDA was incredible in making you root for him. Hot finish made this a really enjoyable match after all. ***3/4
The tag title match was the best thing on the show at this point. Honma and Anderson were great together, and Makabe and Gallows brought intensity while not being overexposed and making the match stale. The babyfaces won, as they should have, and we finally close the door on the LONG reign of Guns and Gallows. For a month at least. ****
Goto and Naito was a good match with some exciting drama towards the end, but once again interference hurt the quality. Goto winning has to set up an IWGP Title match with Okada, seeing as Goto beat him in G1 and they haven’t crossed paths since. The result says a lot about where New Japan sees Tetsuya Naito – an upper mid carder who is good for a couple G1 upsets and not much else. ***3/4
Ishii and Shibata was when the show moved from good to great. These two were obviously going to just go out there and beat the shit out of each other, but they really turned it up a notch for the Dome. It’s great to see Ishii get put in such an important slot on Wrestle Kingdom for the first time, and even better to see Shibata win his first singles title since coming back to New Japan. They’ll probably have a rematch at one of the February shows, and if this match is any indication of what it might bring, the NEVER Openweight Championship is in good hands for 2016. ****1/2
If anyone doubted the ability of AJ Styles to put on a great performance in his current physical condition, this match proved them emphatically wrong. As soon as Nakamura started working over the back, it was clear that Styles was working as a babyface, or at least not as a heel. It was paced tremendously, as the tension built up to the complete insanity of the last five minutes, as New Japan main events so often do. This may not have had the standout moments of the Nakamura-Ibushi match from last year, but as a match it was certainly on a similar level. ****3/4
Kazuchika Okada vs Hiroshi Tanahashi was perhaps the best wrestling match I have ever witnessed. I was so invested in Okada’s rise. I felt legitimately anxious with every dragon screw leg whip. I felt, watching this match, how I did as a young child watching my heroes chasing victory in a pro wrestling ring. I felt like this was real. If this was your first time watching Okada and Tanahashi, you wouldn’t get it. Some may say that’s a slight on the match, but I disagree. This was the match that 30,000+ screaming Japanese fans in the Tokyo Dome wanted to see. This was the perfect climax to a 4-year long rivalry. There was no better way for Kazuchika Okada to become the Ace of New Japan Pro Wrestling. This was an all-time classic.
There were so many moments in this match that stood out. From Okada ducking Tanahashi’s slap only 30 seconds into the match, to the constant targeting of Okada’s leg, to the closing sequences of countered Rainmakers, German suplexes, Tombstones, and High Fly Flows.
If you didn’t like this match, as many Twitter users and attention-seekers claim to, it’s time to find a new interest. Pro wrestling must not be for you. Because this was professional wrestling at its finest, a match that didn’t need insane dives, or tables smashing, or Bullet Club interference, to draw real emotion from the Tokyo crowd, and from New Japan fans around the world.
This match surpassed everything else on this incredible show. This match surpassed any other Tanahashi-Okada match. To me, this match surpassed any match in history. *****
Wrestle Kingdom 10 was fucking great.
Brian Jackson
I ordered the network yesterday specifically for the top two matches.
After watching them, the rest of the show could be 98 WCW bad and still be THUMBS UP, but I’ll hold off on picking a best and worst match.
Ordering was easy. The main event was showing at 0600cst when I logged in. I kept checking for availability on my iPhone, and started watching the archived broadcast at 0650. Little bit of delay on my desktop, no problem with the iPhone at all.
Styles-Nakamura was a shade behind last year’s Ibushi-Nakamura, about 4 3/4 stars. While he did a lot, I think you could tell AJ was holding back some, and while I was more excited about that match than the main event going into it, I never thought AJ was going to win.
Tanahshi-Okada was 5 stars, good candidate for Match of the Year, even better than last year’s main event. Great ebb and flow, brutal physicality, loved how they used each other’s finishers. I was rooting for a changing of the guard match, and they more than provided it.
I can only hope they keep Okada the champ for a year and do a long buildup to a Nakamura challenge at WK11.
My only problem with the broadcast was Striker and Tatsu adding practically nothing on commentary. Jim Ross could have overcome it, but Kevin Kelly wasn’t strong enough to. Thankfully the action spoke volumes on its own.
Matt Schreiner
Thumbs up
Best match: Nakamura (c) v. Styles
Three tremendous matches to end the night highlighted a pretty
spectacular show. A little too much interference hindered some
excellent matches early, but thankfully it did not last the whole
night. The last three fights were all super and very different from
each other. The main event, while not my MOTN, felt more like a mask
match than a title match and had the biggest ‘big fight’ feel of any
match in some time.
I watched the Japanese stream on NJPW. I experienced some buffering
issues early on in the event, but they were quickly resolved by watching
on a 1-2 minute delay.
Casey Goldman
UFC 195: Thumbs Up
Best: Lawler/Condit
Worst: One of the first three FS1 prelims. Those weren’t memorable enough to even guess.
WK10:
Best: Shibata/Ishii & Tanahashi/Okada
Worst: Never 6-Man
Once again best show of the year will be on 1/4. Can’t see anything beating what this was top to bottom. And the final three matches were just phenomenal all around. That’s really rare. NJPW didn’t even throw in a “cool down” match between them.
There wasn’t a “bad” match on the entire card. Even the pre-show battle royale was fun. Wrestle Kingdom constantly delivers.
—
Nathan McCarter
Thumbs WAAAAY up. Just an incredible show, on par with WK9.
Best Match: Probably Nakamura vs. Styles by a hair, but the main event was right up there too
Worst Match: Six-Man Tag, but even that was fun. There was not a bad match on this show.
I’ll need to rewatch the whole thing to let it sink in, but as I said, this show was up there with WrestleKingdom 9 as one of the best PPVs I’ve ever seen. The four-plus hours just flew by and the New Japan roster proved once again how far ahead of WWE they are. I can’t imagine WrestleMania 32 even coming close to this.
Nak vs. AJ and the main event were easily 4.5 stars if not better, Ishii vs. Shibata was 4+, and Omega vs. Kushida was around 4. Everything else hovered around 3, but not a single throwaway match on the card (except the Rumble which I skipped).
If you haven’t subscribed to NJPWWorld.com, I can’t give a strong enough recommendation. You won’t see a better PPV in 2016 I’m willing to bet.
-Justin Ballard
Boston, MA
Enuffa.com
Thumbs in the middle
Best match: Shibata/Ishii
Worst match: Jr Tag Title four way
Well…this show was pretty lousy outside of the NEVER and IWGP Intercontinental Title matches. People will heap praise on it because it’s New Japan and it’s the Tokyo Dome show, but this show was really not good. I did not think it was possible for me to enjoy a Dome Show less than the 2010 one (and I’m sticking to shows titled “Wrestle Kingdom” for that, I certainly didn’t hate this show like I did Wrestling World 1997, for example) but here we are. Though the last three matches delivered big time, the rest of the show was mostly out and out hot garbage.
New Japan Rumble was…not very good. It’s cool seeing Fujiwara and Koshinaka but the match really didn’t serve any real purpose and I could have really done without it. Wasn’t happy to see Sakuraba in the ring so soon after the Aoki fight either though they got him out quickly.
The main card opener sucked, I have no idea how you consider that a great match. They recycled spots from last year’s match and the new stuff wasn’t particularly good either. Fair enough the guys worked hard, but basically the same kind of opener three years in a row wears a little thin. I don’t need to see another one of those ever again.
NEVER Six Man Tag Title match was okay but not particularly great. Elgin/Lethal was fine, but nowhere as good as their WM Weekend 2013 match.
Omega/KUSHIDA was terrible, just like the other two matches they had last year. I like everything about Kenny Omega except his actual wrestling. He looks cool, has a cool theme song and even quoted Raul Julia M. Bison once but in the ring he bores me to tears. This really should have been KUSHIDA/Liger or something better. Oh and note that this was the THIRD MATCH on the main card to have outside interference. Hey remember your quote after Jarrett joined the Bullet Club about how a little American style was fine because it was different but a lot would kill this company? Yeah, there was a LOT of American style here and in the opener…and it sucked. It’s not different anymore, it’s just annoying and stupid. I don’t watch Japanese wrestling to see ROH style spotfests and I don’t watch Japanese wrestling to see TNA levels of interference in matches.
Guns and Gallows/GBH was good. Really thought they would give Honma the win. It was the usual G&G match, really no different than their usual match. Hopefully GBH don’t drop the belts back to Guns and Gallows next month. If I had to snowflake this, it’d be ***1/4 and comfortably the best thing on the show.
Naito/Goto was ANOTHER match with outside interference. That’s four out of six, for those keeping score. The match itself wasn’t that great until towards the end. Both guys worked hard and it was probably just below the tag title in terms of my match of the night to this point.
Shibata/Ishii won the day for me. This was everything I want out of pro wrestling. It was beautifully violent and felt like two guys going to war. People might cringe at the level of stiffness but that kind of stuff is why I fell for Japanese wrestling in the first place. This was the match of the night, total ***** match.
AJ/Nakamura was really good and they did the kind of match that will get ****3/4 or ***** ratings from a lot of people but it didn’t quite reach that level for me. They had a hell of a match to be sure, but it wasn’t a classic.
Tanahashi/Okada was weird. They clearly had the crowd from bell to bell but I was not interested in that match at all. The finishing run was the usual Okada finishing run and that’s nice but the first 2/3 of that match were just them doing stuff to fill time. There’s a lot of comparisons between this feud and Misawa/Kobashi and the difference is that Kobashi and Misawa could work a 43:00 match (and did on two occasions) and they could utilize time so that when the announcer said that 25 or 30:00 had passed, you couldn’t believe that much time had gone. Everything had some sort of purpose and a payoff in those old All Japan matches…and that didn’t happen here. This match dragged and dragged until the big moves came and by that point I just didn’t care anymore. This was easily my least favorite match of theirs. Obviously I’m in the minority but this did absolutely nothing for me.
Ricky Schmidt
Hey Dave,
Here are my thoughts based on a live in attendance perspective. I posted the same comments on the board too plus there are pictures there as well.
I just got back from the NJPW Tokyo Dome show. This was one hell of a great show live. The time flew by and there was not a second when the show felt like it was dragging. The Dome was definitely not sold out but I would say it was about the same as last year. I had to wait in the longest line I have ever seen to enter the Dome, which took about 30 mins. Also, the lines for the washrooms were insanely long too. I have never had either of these problems in previous years. There was no intermission which meant people had to sprint to the bathrooms between matches and would end up missing the start of the next match.
The crowd was into most of the matches with the exception of the opening Jr Tag Title match. All of my friends (all Japanese) were complaining because they didn’t know most of the wrestlers in the Jr Tag Title match and they had a tough time distinguishing everyone. They all hated that a 4-way match was a title match. Keep in mind all of my wrestling friends are old school wrestling fans. One guy has been to over 500 shows including every G1 Final and NJPW Tokyo Dome. I personally enjoyed the match. The crowd went nuts for the Makabe/Honma title win, Nakamura entrance and the entire Okada vs Tanahashi match.
When entering the buidling everyone in the crowd were given a small postcard size ticket for a free month to NJPW World. I managed to pick up 4 or 5 extra copies which had been discarded on the floor.
Thanks for all your hardwork
-Rodney Loring
thecobra2
Hello,
I went to Tokyo Dome and it was my first live wrestling show to see ever and I must say, this was quite the great place to start.
THUMBS UP
BEST MATCH: SHINSUKE NAKAMURA VS. A.J. STYLES FOR THE IC TITLE
WORST MATCH: MARK & JAY BRISCOE & TORU YANO VS. YUJIRO TAKAHASHI & BAD LUCK FALE & TAMA TONGA FOR NEVER TRIOS TITLES
I’ll add some atmosphere commentary and missing bits from Dave’s report since I had the opportunity to be there live. I also overheard some Japanese reactions which I found interesting.
NEW JAPAN RUMBLE
The people were really into it actually – there were many legends and some huge pops. Sakuraba got a huge pop but Momoka got the biggest one for sure. People were really surprised because she’s a major idol here. There were a lot of photo taking and glow stick wiggling happening. Some of the fans weren’t too happy when she started peddling her latest album as it doesn’t have anything to do with wrestling. And the people there wanted wrestling.
Before the next match, we got a promo for the next Doraemon cartoon movie. This is TV Asahi’s property and Tanahashi & Makabe took part in a promotional music video for it doing a cute dance. We got a live performance of it. Sadly, no Makabe or Tanahashi dance live but we got mascots performing it and the video on the big screen. People were snickering about this – the Japanese fans around me were quite upset about this. I thought it was cute and didn’t really care.
BOBBY FISH & KYLE O’REILLY VS. YOUNG BUCKS VS. ROCKY ROMERO & BARETTA VS. MATT SYDAL & RICOCHET FOR THE IWGP JR. TAG TITLES
The crowd around me wasn’t into it. I heard some comments like how it’s difficult to distinguish the wrestlers cause they’re all foreigners. Some folks behind me were wondering if the big guy was Cody Hall.
MARK & JAY BRISCOE & TORU YANO VS. YUJIRO TAKAHASHI & BAD LUCK FALE & TAMA TONGA FOR NEVER TRIOS TITLES
People seemed to enjoy Yano’s comedy but not much else.
JAY LETHAL VS. MICHAEL ELGIN FOR ROH TITLE
The crowd around me loved Elgin and cheered for him. The match was super entertaining live and the best thing thus far. It felt too short though.
KENNY OMEGA VS. KUSHIDA FOR THE IWGP JR. TITLE
Nothing to add here. Kushida was heavily cheered and this was the first huge pop of the night, when he won.
DOC GALLOWS & KARL ANDERSON VS. TOGI MAKABE & TOMOAKI HONMA FOR IWGP TAG TITLES
I’m not super familiar with NJPW but Karl Anderson seemed to be the most over guy of the match. People were chanting his name and loved everything he did. More so than Elgin.
HIROOKI GOTO VS. TETSUYA NAITO
The crowd was a bit more quite for this match but perhaps it was only my section.
TOMOHIRO ISHII VS. KATSUYORI SHIBATA FOR NEVER OPEN WEIGHT TITLE
This was the first really huge match of the night. Wow, it was a sight to see live. You just couldn’t turn your eyes off the match. This is where things got really hot and the crowd started going super crazy. The girls were cheering Shibata more and the men Ishii seemingly but they were both respected. On a funny side note, a couple next to me got in a bit of a mini-quarrel because the girl insisted on Shibata winning while the guy was into Ishii.
SHINSUKE NAKAMURA VS. A.J. STYLES FOR THE IC TITLE
Live, this was match of the night for sure. It was freaking amazing from the start to the finish. The crowd loved every minute of it with all the near-falls and awesome wrestling. Nakamura was by far the most over guy in the building (people were wearing his shirts everywhere) but there were a lot of AJ Styles chants as well which I was surprised to hear. The match was executed perfectly with a lovely finish. Everyone went home super happy. The fist bump at the end was also well-received.
KAZUCHIKA OKADA VS. HIROSHI TANAHASHI FOR IWGP TITLE
The previous two matches were tough to follow and at the beginning, the crowd wasn’t as into this match as the previous ones. There were Tanahashi chants throughout though – a lot from women. Around the 20 minute mark, things changed though, everyone went nuts with the near-falls. It was amazing to watch and you couldn’t help but get into it, a fine story told and a nice passing of the torch indeed as Dave put it.
Okada’s entrance was awesome though! First, the music started and then glitched with a signal sound stopping completely after about 5-10 seconds. Then, all the lights went off. The crowd was puzzled. Suddenly Okada appears and his fake money bills start falling from the sky with the music being restarted. It was super cool to see and the people were amazed – what a creative entrance!
I don’t remember in detail but Gedo said that Okada is basically the best there is.
Okada added that he wants to say three things. Number one, Tanahashi is amazing. Number two, he’ll take New Japan to another level. Number three, nothing really. This got a laugh. Okada was super over, this felt like an amazing build and really makes you realize how inept WWE is at building talent.
That’s that! Fantastic show!
Sincerely,
Jurgen Kald
———- Forwarded message ———-
From: Kevin Chiat <kevinleec@gmail.com>
Date: Mon, Jan 4, 2016 at 6:24 AM
Subject: WK10 Feedback
To: dave@wrestlingobserver.com
Thumbs Up
Best Match: Hiroshi Tanahashi vs Kazuchika Okada
Worst Match: New Japan Rumble
What an incredible show, top to bottom a great card and you could see how some matches on the undercard benefited greatly from not having to deal with the time constraints they had last year. (I thought that was most obvious with the Jr Heavyweight Tag match.)
I don’t know if I’ve ever seen a show with a better final three matches. On first watch, my initial feeling was that Tanahashi vs Okada was my match of the night, but that might change on a rewatch.
I watched the show with the English commentary team, and in retrospect I suspect I would have enjoyed the show more with the Japanese announcers. Yoshi Tatsu didn’t seem like he was prepared for the job or really wanted to be out there. I felt bad for him at times and he was really awkward during the AJ/Nakamura match. Kevin Kelly was fine, but obviously doesn’t have the gravitas of Jim Ross last year. He also wasn’t able to temper Matt Striker’s bad instincts in the way Ross was at WK9. Realised whilst watching the show, that what I really don’t like about Striker as an announcer for New Japan is that he calls the shows like a smark rather than a sportscaster. Sometimes he’ll make an effective comment about how the wrestlers are applying holds, but then follows it up with a really dumb remark which undermines his credibility. Case in point “This match isn’t going to end with a signature move” in the main event. I also thought Striker’s comment at the start of Ishii vs Shibata, where he seemed to be using the match as justification to bomb the Middle East was a bizarre rhetorical leap. I hope New Japan uses the AXS team for English commentary next year.
Kevin Chiat
Australia
Hi Dave,
I’m not sorry I set the alarm clock this morning for this fantastic show. The first few hours were good, but the last part of the show was fantastic. Two thumbs up! BTW, I’m an anime fan so it was nice to see the Doraemon skit. Tanahasi and Makabe dancing was goofy, but fun.
NEW JAPAN RUMBLE
Fun, but the wrestling wasn’t that good. However, it did what it supposed to do.
BOBBY FISH & KYLE O’REILLY VS. YOUNG BUCKS VS. ROCKY ROMERO & BARETTA VS. MATT SYDAL & RICOCHET FOR THE IWGP JR. TAG TITLES
Nice, high paced match. Sydal was the man of the match for me, but good job on everybody’s part. Nice to see they got a bit more minutes this time to do their stuff. Or did that only seem that way?
MARK & JAY BRISCOE & TORU YANO VS. YUJIRO TAKAHASHI & BAD LUCK FALE & TAMA TONGA FOR NEVER TRIOS TITLES
Better than expected, just a enjoyable little match. Tongo was great and is a class better than his partners.
JAY LETHAL VS. MICHAEL ELGIN FOR ROH TITLE
Lethal didn’t do that much for me this match, it seemed he only hit Elgin with offence after interference. I also believe that Lethal Injection is too contrived of a move to be a classic finisher. Elgin was good, but it felt to me that they went a bit too much from strength spot to power move. The match dissapointed me greatly.
KENNY OMEGA VS. KUSHIDA FOR THE IWGP JR. TITLE
The first great match of the bunch. It was a bit of a let down that Taguchi was the mystery man in KUSHIDA’s corner, but I have to say that he did a good acting job. When Omega keeps his overacting to a minimum, he’s a good wrestler. It showed here. The right man won and I hope NJPW gives KUSHIDA a nice push this time.
DOC GALLOWS & KARL ANDERSON VS. TOGI MAKABE & TOMOAKI HONMA FOR IWGP TAG TITLES
Luckily no interference this match. Great show by Honma taking all those hits and survive. Crowd was great for this match! Makabe got the pin so there are things left to do with Honma in the future, I think. Is he also big in Osaka? Maybe he can score the pin in the Jo Hall against Naito? Osaka seems to dislike Naito more than every other city…
HIROOKI GOTO VS. TETSUYA NAITO
I feared the interference, but it got the cheaters in the end. Decent match. Naito is such a dickish heel, but I think he’s got to get a bit less tranquilo to win matches.
TOMOHIRO ISHII VS. KATSUYORI SHIBATA FOR NEVER OPEN WEIGHT TITLE
These guys can work this style the best, I even liked it better than Honma/Ishii. They had me invested from the get go and worked a beautiful match. Didn’t think Shibata would get the win, but it was a nice surprise to see him win here.
SHINSUKE NAKAMURA VS. A.J. STYLES FOR THE IC TITLE
Super match, very different than the last match but every bit as good. I want to see Nakamura go after the IWGP belt, so I wouldn’t be sad if Styles won this match, but they were working so great that I automatically began to cheer for Shinsuke. Strange huh? I loved the armbar/styles clash spot, but this was a great bout overall.
KAZUCHIKA OKADA VS. HIROSHI TANAHASHI FOR IWGP TITLE
It was a bit difficult for me to get invested in this match after the previous two, but after a while they could follow them. Using your opponents finisher is always fun, just as they did here.
This was a fun card, while not all classics, all matches felt different. It made the show very easy to watch.
Worst match: The Rumble
Best match: Pfff, this is a hard one to choose. The final three were great, but all in a different way. I think I choose Nakamura/Styles because they made me care who would win, while I didn’t have a real favourite before the match started (different seasons). I think that is the highest kind of praise you can give the workers.
Greetings from The Netherlands,
Bob Walrave
UFC 195 – Thumbs Up
Best – Lawler vs Condit
Worst – Noke vs Morono
———–
Dome Show – Thumbs up
Best Match – Okada vs Tanahashi
Worst Match – Yanu & Briscoes vs Tama Tonga, Bad Luck Fale & Takahashi
Overall I thought this was a great show. The top three matches, in particular, were awesome and all very different matches. I was a little disappointed in the Lethal/Elgin match, the crowd just didn’t seem into it which didn’t help. The Goto/Naito match was also pretty disappointing because those 2 could have done much better it might have been better if we hadn’t seen all the other shenanigans in most of the matches before this one.
I don’t know if it tops last years because the constant jumping before the start was getting very irritiating. Commentary wasn’t as good as last year (for the obvious reason) Matt Striker continues to be really grating but he and Kevin Kelly are getting slightly better. However, Yoshi Tatsu really wasn’t that well suited to his role.
Lee Dunn
Wrestle Kingdom 10
Thumbs Up
Best Match: Kazuchika Okada vs. Hiroshi Tanahashi
Worst Match: New Japan Rumble
The only negative with the show for me were the buffering issues (on
the Japanese language feed that I chose to watch over English) that
seem to have been widespread for people on New Japan World. What an
outstanding event this was though.
Lou Pickney
Despite putting on its best Nitro in several weeks, World Championship Wrestling has seemingly lost sight of what the pro wrestling business is all about in a panic over the Monday night ratings. Even with that as the primary goal, WCW has fallen further behind than at any time in the history of the Monday Night Wars as the company is paying for its lack of developing new talent when it was on top and creating new story lines this year when it was losing its grip, and relying on a pat hand of tired old faces and suffering from the residue of a year of largely bad television.
As this is being written just five days before the World War III PPV in Auburn Hills, MI, there are only two matches announced for the show with no episodes of Nitro left to promote them–a 60 man three-ring Battle Royal which has become known in the industry as an annual atrocity, and a rematch of Scott Hall vs. Kevin Nash stemming from a weak match with an even weaker finish on the Havoc show and a most recent Monday angle that made little sense in building the match up. This is coming on the heels of three consecutive disappointing buy rates, at the same time that WCW stopped promoting anything but the main matches on the PPV show. WCW’s policy of announcing three or four matches and hoping fans “trust them” enough to buy the undercard, after the quality of shows generally this year, has been a flop, and not changing that policy in the wake on this, is either a sign of complete stupidity or a total lack of organization to the point the company can’t map out a card a few weeks in advance. Even worse, on the flagship shows, Nitro and Thunder, there have been no interviews with talent building up winning the Battle Royal and getting the shot at Goldberg at Starrcade, leaving all the promotion of the PPV to the announcers who simply can’t do it alone since their credibility has already been destroyed by a company philosophy where the announcers role is to look both uncool and gullible to the point fans don’t take anything they say seriously. The wrestlers on interviews seem more intent on getting in their shtick than building up a show, and PPV when correctly done should be the biggest revenue stream in the industry, except it probably won’t be much longer at this rate for WCW. Only one other match is even known to be definite for the show, Diamond Dallas Page vs. Bret Hart for the U.S. title, and it probably won’t be officially announced until three days before the card on Thunder. One would presume from watching TV that new cruiserweight champion Juventud Guerrera, who captured the title on Nitro on 11/16 in probably the best WCW match of the year from Billy Kidman, defending against Rey Misterio Jr., who earned a title shot in a match that aired on Thunder on 11/9. However, at press time, indications are that angle is being forgotten and they’ll go with another Guerrera vs. Kidman match on the PPV, which even if it makes all the previous booking irrelevant, should guarantee at least one great match on the card. The only match previously announced, a disaster in the making with four people who have no business in the ring right now, Scott Steiner & Buff Bagwell getting a shot at WCW tag champs Rick Steiner & Judy Bagwell fell victim to reality, as Judy Bagwell was hospitalized this week due to appendicitis and nothing was announced in its place. As a cover story, they announced that Buff had given Scott the okay to basically jump his mother and beat her up so badly she was sent to the hospital, which is one of the poorer taste angles in a year loaded with them, by a company complaining long and loud about the poor taste of its opposition. The fact is they were advertising the match despite Buff being months from ready to wrestle and Rick Steiner having just underwent another shoulder operation after the previous one was unsuccessful, and he’s a long way from being able to return to the ring. Even without those problems, that angle due to Judy Bagwell, was dying a brutal death to begin with, and don’t even get me started about how little everyone cares these days about the WCW tag team titles with people passing around the belts with logic that makes the most insane bookers of the past look positively brilliant. The bookers had scripted an angle for the Saturday Night tapings on 11/17 in Salina, KS between Booker T and Scott Norton to set up a PPV match, but since neither wanted to do the angle, it wound up being nixed and it doesn’t look like they’ll be wrestling either.
1929
Boston Massachusetts:
– Gus Sonnenberg defeated Ed “Strangler” Lewis to win the World Heavyweight Title
1945
Columbus, Ohio:
– Frankie Talaber defeated The Great Mephisto for the Midwest Wrestling Association World Junior Heavyweight Title
1950
Des Moines, Iowa:
– NWA World Heavyweight Champion Lou Thesz beat Enrique Torres 2 out of 3 falls
– Farmer Jones beat Frankie Murdock
– Vic Christy and Otto Kuss wrestled to a draw
1951
Columbus Ohio:
– Jackie Nichols defeated Frankie Talaber to win the MWA World Junior Heavyweight Title
1955
– Lee Fields and Herb Welch defeated Mario Galento and Red Roberts in a tournament final to become the first holders of the Gulf Coast version of the NWA Southern Tag Team Title
1957
Atlanta, Georgia:
– Chief Big Heart defeated Jerry Graham to win the Georgia version of the NWA Southern Heavyweight Title
1961
Los Angeles California:
– Nick Bockwinkel and Edouard Carpentier defeated Stan Holek and The Preacher for the World Wrestling Association International Television Tag Team Title
1962
Toronto, Ontario, Canada:
– Chris and John Tolos won the Toronto version of the NWA International Tag Team Title by defeating Whipper Billy Watson and Yukon Eric
1966
Honolulu, Hawaii:
– Johnny Barend and Ripper Collins defeated Luther Lindsay and Bearcat Wright for the NWA Hawaii Tag Team Title
1971
Orlando, Florida:
– The Infernos defeated Jose Lothario and Danny Miller to win the NWA Florida Tag Team Title
1972
Tampa, Florida:
– Bobby Shane defeated Bob Roop for the NWA Florida Television Title
1974
Dothan, Alabama:
– Dick Dunn defeated Duke Miller for the NWA Alabama Heavyweight Title
1975
Chattanooga, Tennessee:
– Jackie Fargo defeated Don Kent to win the NWA Mid-America Heavyweight Title
1982
West Palm Beach, Florida:
– Florida Title: Killer Karl Kox defeated The Spoiler dq
– North American Tag Title: Jack & Jerry Brisco no contest Mike Sharpe & Chan Chung (Kendo Nagasaki/Mr. Sakaruda)
– Dave Sierra defeated Bobby Jaggers
– Florida TV Title: Eric Embry defeated JJ DIllion
1984
Las Vegas, Nevada:
– Greg Gagne & Jim Brunzell & Baron Von Raschke & Mad Dog Vachon beat Jerry Blackwell & Ken Patera & Sheik Adnan & Mr Saito
– Billy Robinson beat Jesse Ventura dq
– Blackjack Lanza beat Bobby Heenan count out
– Jesse Ventura beat Buck Zumhofe
1986
Greensboro, North Carolina:
– Arn Anderson defeated Wahoo McDaniel in a tournament final to win the vacant NWA World Television Title
1987
Memphis, Tennessee:
– AWA Champion Nick Bockwinkel drew Jerry Lawler
– Soul Train Jones beat Big Bubba to win International title
– RPMs beat Jeff Jarrett & Billy Travis
– Austin Idol beat Goliath
– Boy Tony beat Tracy Smothers
– Paul Diamond & Pat Tanaka beat Tarzan Goto & Tojo Yamamoto
1988
Dallas, Texas:
– The Freebirds (Terry Gordy, King Parsons and Buddy Roberts) defeated Chris Adams, Matt Borne (subbing for Kevin Von Erich) and Steve Simpson to win the World Class Six-Man Tag Team Title
Memphis, Tennessee:
– Jerry Lawler beat Bill Dundee dq
– Lumberjack Strap match: Hector Guerrero beat Jeff Jarrett dq
– AWA and Southern Tag Team Champions Midnight Rockers beat Ken Wayne & Scott Hall dq
– Manny Fernandez beat Billy Travis
– Bruise Brothers beat The Rock & Roll RPMs
– Debbie Combs beat Candi Divine
– Jimmy Jack Funk beat Jerry Saggs
– Teijo Kahn beat Brian Knobbs
1989
– Eric Embry defeated Cactus Jack for the World Class Light Heavyweight Title
Tokyo, Japan:
– Madusa Miceli won the IWA Japan Women’s Title from Chigusa Nagayo
1990
Tokyo, Japan:
– Bull Nakano defeated Mitsuko Nishiwaki in a tournament final for the vacant WWWA World Singles Title
1992
Tokyo, Japan:
– Riki Choshu defeated Tatsumi Fujinami to win the IWGP World Heavyweight Title
1993
Tokyo, Japan:
– IWGP World Heavyweight Champion The Great Muta defeated Masahiro Chono to win the NWA World Title
– Jushin Liger defeated Ultimo Dragon for the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Title
1994
Tokyo, Japan:
The Hell Raisers (Hawk Warrior (Road Warrior Hawk) and Power Warrior (Kensuke Sasaki)) defeated The Jurassic Powers (Hercules Hernandez and Scott Norton) to win the IWGP World Tag Team Titles
1996
Tokyo, Japan:
– Nobuhiko Takada defeated Keiji Muto to win the IWGP World Heavyweight Title
– Jushin Liger defeated Koji Kanemoto for the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Title
1997
Tokyo, Japan:
– Tatsumi Fujinami and Kengo Kimura defeated Masahiro Chono and Hiroyoshi Tenzan to win the IWGP World Tag Team Titles
– Jushin Liger defeated Ultimo Dragon for the eight J-Crown titles
1999
Atlanta, Georgia:
– Hulk Hogan pinned Kevin Nash with the “Finger Poke of Doom” to win the WCW World Title
1999
Tokyo, Japan:
– Keiji Muto defeated Scott Norton to win the IWGP World Heavyweight Title
– Kendo Kashin and Dr. Wagner, Jr. defeated Shinjiro Otani and Tatsuhito Takaiwa for the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Titles
2000
Tokyo, Japan:
– Kensuke Sasaki pinned Genichiro Tenryu to win the IWGP World Heavyweight Title
Osaka, Japan:
– Super Delfin defeated Dick Togo to become the first Osaka Pro Wrestling Singles Champion
– Kuishimbo Kamen defeated Ebessan to become the first Osaka Pro World’s Best Attraction Champion
Tokyo, Japan:
– Manami Toyota won the WWWA World Singles Title by defeating Yumiko Hotta
– Rumi Kazama, Carol Midori and Eagle Sawai defeated Keiko Aono, Noriyo Tateno and Harley Saito for the Ladies’ Legend Pro Wrestling Six-Woman Tag Team Title
2001
Tokyo, Japan:
– Kensuke Sasaki pinned Toshiaki Kawada to win the tournament and the vacant IWGP World Heavyweight Title
2004
Tokyo, Japan:
– IWGP World Heavyweight Champion Shinsuke Nakamura defeated NWF Heavyweight Champion Yoshihiro Takayama to unify the titles
Tokyo, Japan:
– Amazing Kong defeated Ayako Hamada to win the WWWA World Singles Title
– Saki Maemura and Kaori Yoneyama defeated Hikaru and Haruka Matsuo for the vacant WWWA World Tag Team Titles
2006
Louisville, Kentucky:
– Aaron Stevens defeated CM Punk for the OVW Television Title
2008
Wrestle Kingdom | Tokyo, Japan:
– A.J. Styles, Christian Cage & Petey Williams defeated RISE (Milano Collection AT, Minoru & Prince Devitt)
– NJPW IWGP Tag Team Championship Match: Giant Bernard & Travis Tomko defeated The Steiner Brothers (Rick Steiner & Scott Steiner) to retain the titles
– IGF IWGP Heavyweight Championship Match: Kurt Angle defeated Yuji Nagata to retain the title
– NJPW IWGP Heavyweight Championship Match: Shinsuke Nakamura defeated Hiroshi Tanahashi to win the title
2009
Wrestle Kingdom | Tokyo, Japan:
– Hiroshi Tanahashi beat Keiji Muto to win the IWGP Heavyweight Title
– Alex Shelley & Chris Sabin defeated Yujiro & Tetsuya Naito to win the IWGP Jr. Heavyweight Tag Team Title
– Tiger Mask defeated Low Ki to win the IWGP Jr. Heavyweight Title
2010
Wrestle Kingdom | Tokyo, Japan:
– IWGP Tag Team Title, Hardcore Rules Match: Yujiro & Tetsuya Naito beat “Team 3D” Brother Ray & Brother Devon and Giant Bernard & Karl Anderson to win the titles
– IWGP Jr. Heavyweight Title: Naomichi Marufuji beat Tiger Mask to win the title
– NJPW vs. NOAH: Hiroshi Tanahashi beat Go Shiozaki
– GHC Heavyweight Title: Takashi Sugiura beat Hirooki Goto to retain the title
– IWGP Heavyweight Title: Shinsuke Nakamura beat Yoshihiro Takayama to retain the title
2011
Wrestle Kingdom | Tokyo, Japan:
– IWGP Tag Team champions Giant Bernard & Karl Anderson beat James Storm & Robert Roode and Manabu Nakanishi & Strong Man to retain the title
– IWGP Junior Heavyweight champion Prince Devitt beat Kota Ibushi to retain the title
– TNA champion Jeff Hardy beat Tetsuya Naito
– Shinsuke Nakamura beat Go Shiozaki
– Togi Makabe beat Masato Tanaka
– Hiroshi Tanahashi beat Satoshi Kojima to win the IWGP Heavyweight Title
2012
Wrestle Kingdom | Tokyo, Japan:
– IWGP Jr. Heavyweight Tag Team Title: Prince Devitt & Ryusuke Taguchi beat Davey Richards & Rocky Romero to win the titles
– IWGP Tag Team Title: Hiroyoshi Tenzan & Satoshi Kojima beat Giant Bernard & Karl Anderson to win the titles
– Keiji Muto beat Tetsuya Naito
– IWGP Heavyweight Title: Hiroshi Tanahashi to retain the title
2013
Wrestle Kingdom | Tokyo, Japan:
– IWGP Tag Team Title: Lance Archer & Davey Boy Smith Jr. beat Hirooki Goto & Karl Anderson to retain the titles
– IWGP Jr. Heavyweight Title: Prince Devitt beat Low Ki & Kota Ibushi to retain the title
– Hiroyoshi Tenzan & Satoshi Kojima beat Keiji Muto & Shinjiro Otani
– IWGP Intercontinental Title: Shinsuke Nakamura beat Kazushi Sakuraba to retain the title
– IWGP Heavyweight Title: Hiroshi Tanahashi beat Kazuchika Okada to retain the title
2014
Wrestle Kingdom | Tokyo, Japan:
– IWGP Jr. Heavyweight Tag Team Title: Matt Jackson & Nick Jackson beat KUSHIDA & Alex Shelley, TAKA Michinoku & Taichi and Rocky Romero & Alex Koslov to retain the title
– IWGP Tag Team Title: Karl Anderson & Doc Gallows beat Lance Archer & Davey Boy Smith Jr. to win the titles
– NWA World Heavyweight Title: Satoshi Kojima beat Rob Conway to win the title
– IWGP Jr. Heavyweight Title: Kota Ibushi beat Prince Devitt to win the title
– IWGP Heavyweight Title: Kazuchika Okada to retain the title
– IWGP Intercontinental Title: Hiroshi Tanahashi beat Shinsuke Nakamura to win the title
2015
Wrestle Kingdom | Tokyo, Japan:
– IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Championship: Bobby Fish & Kyle O’Reilly (ReDRagon) defeated Alex Shelley & KUSHIDA (Time Splitters), Rocky Romero & Alex Koslov (Forever Hooligans) and Nick & Matt Jackson (The Young Bucks) to retain the titles
– NEVER Openweight Championship: Togi Makabe defeated Tomohiro Ishii to win the title
– IWGP Junior Heavyweight Championship: Kenny Omega defeated Ryusuke Taguchi to win the title
– IWGP Tag Team Championship: Hirooki Goto & Katsuyori Shibata (Meiyu Tag) defeatedKarl Anderson & Doc Gallows (Bullet Club) to win the titles
– AJ Styles defeated Tetsuya Naito
– IWGP Intercontinental Championship: Shinsuke Nakamura defeated Kota Ibushi to retain the title
– IWGP championship: Hiroshi Tanahashi defeated Kazuchida Okada to win the title
The first DragonKingKarl Show of 2016 is a question and answer show so the good DragonKingKarl can clear out some email questions to get the year started off right!
Several of them deal with off-topic discussions from recent shows including the ever controversial Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Not only that but there is even a touch of After Dark related subjects. Then we shift gears into pro wrestling discussion and one of the best questions we have ever debated here: who has legitimately had the most number of matches in wrestling history plus a sub-question, who has had the most in-ring time in pro wrestling history? The question is far more complicated than it sounds, and has been debated on The Board~! and elsewhere. Together, we will try to pin down the answer.
The second part of the question is also very interesting as it really is a different question. While some of the top “most matches” candidates will have near 10,000 matches, there may be wrestlers with much fewer actual matches that have much more time spent inside the ring. We will even look back at some of the legendary longest matches featuring people like Ed “Stranger” Lewis and Joe Stecher. But the answer to who has had the most number of matches is probably someone in the modern era. We will look at schedule differences between the United States, Japan, and Mexico which could greatly influence the answer. (It should lead to a nice research project for someone.)
Email Karl with your thoughts, and enjoy today’s show with a variety of topics!
The Bryan & Vinny Show is back today with tons to talk about including full reviews of ROH on Sinclair, how Bryan lost $100 to Brutal Bob Evans, another great NWA/WCW show from 30 years ago this week, bonus Christmas presents, and more! A fun show as always so check it out~!
by Rick Velazquez
Match 1: Ziggler vs Breeze
Good opener. Despite Breeze and Summer Rae splitting on SmackDown, they came out together and called it a “One Night Only Farewell Tour”. Match was back and forth. Summer got ejected by the ref to a huge reaction from the crowd. As Breeze was distracted, Ziggler went for the Zig Zag, Breeze countered and went for the Uprettier. Ziggler countered and hit a
Superkick for the win.
Match 2: Stardust vs Titus O’Neil
Stardust cut a pre-match promo talking trash about Hidalgo and the crowd. Crowd booed. Okay match, nothing too special. Titus hit the Clash of the Titus for the win.
Match 3: Damien Sandow & Curtis Axel vs Heath Slater & Adam Rose.
Adam Rose cut a pre-match promo in his typical ‘party pooper’ form. This was mainly a comedy type match. It didn’t do too well with the crowd because nobody was really reacting to the match.
Match 4: Jack Swagger vs Alberto Del Rio (US Champion)
Swagger came out to a good reaction but it was Del Rio that really lit the crowd up. He came out and patted fans hands. Crowd was cheering for Del Rio throughout the match. This was back and forth. The Patriot Lock and Cross Armbreaker kept getting countered. Del Rio picked up the win after he hit the double foot stomp off the turnbuckle while Swagger was in the Tree of Woe position.
Match 5: Kalisto vs Viktor (W/Konnor)
Kalisto got a huge ovation from the crowd. Lots of people doing the Lucha chant. This match wasn’t anything special. Viktor dominated for the most part then Kalisto made the comeback and hit the Salida Del Sol for the win.
Match 6: Becky Lynch vs Charlotte (Divas Championship)
Both divas got loud cheers from the crowd. This was originally advertised as a Triple Threat match with Paige. Paige didn’t show up and there wasn’t any explanation. This was in my opinion the best match on the show. Good chain wrestling sequences that surprisingly got loud cheers. Charlotte got the win by roll up and a handful of tights.
Match 7: Sheamus vs Roman Reigns (WWE WHC Street Fight)
This was a solid match. Reigns got the loudest ovation of the night. Sheamus got loud boos. This match was pretty much similar to the ones we’ve already seen. Sheamus put Reigns through a table with the Irish Curse. Later, Reigns speared Sheamus through a table for the win.
by Rick Velazquez
Ziggler vs Breeze – Good opener. Despite Breeze and Summer Rae splitting on SmackDown, they came out together and called it a “One Night Only Farewell Tour”. Match was back and forth. Summer got ejected by the ref to a huge reaction from the crowd. As Breeze was distracted, Ziggler went for the Zig Zag, Breeze countered and went for the Uprettier. Ziggler countered and hit a Superkick for the win.
Stardust vs Titus O’Neil – Stardust cut a pre-match promo talking trash about Hidalgo and the crowd. Crowd booed. Okay match, nothing too special. Titus hit the Clash of the Titus for the win.
Damien Sandow & Curtis Axel vs Heath Slater & Adam Rose – Adam Rose cut a pre-match promo in his typical ‘party pooper’ form. This was mainly a comedy type match. It didn’t do too well with the crowd because nobody was really reacting to the match.
Jack Swagger vs Alberto Del Rio (US Championship) – Swagger came out to a good reaction but it was Del Rio that really lit the crowd up. He came out and patted fans hands. Crowd was cheering for Del Rio throughout the match. This was back and forth. The Patriot Lock and Cross Armbreaker kept getting countered. Del Rio picked up the win after he hit the double foot stomp off the turnbuckle while Swagger was in the Tree of Woe position.
Kalisto vs Viktor (W/Konnor) – Kalisto got a huge ovation from the crowd. Lots of people doing the Lucha chant. This match wasn’t anything special. Viktor dominated for the most part then Kalisto made the comeback and hit the Salida Del Sol for the win.
Becky Lynch vs Charlotte (Divas Championship) – Both divas got loud cheers from the crowd. This was originally advertised as a Triple Threat match with Paige. Paige didn’t show up and there wasn’t any explanation. This was in my opinion the best match on the show. Good chain wrestling sequences that surprisingly got loud cheers. Charlotte got the win by roll up and a handful of tights.
Sheamus vs Roman Reigns (WWE WHC Street Fight) – This was a solid match. Reigns got the loudest ovation of the night. Sheamus got loud boos. This match was pretty much similar to the ones we’ve already seen. Sheamus put Reigns through a table with the Irish Curse. Later, Reigns speared Sheamus through a table for the win.
Jan 4th marks the second biggest pro wrestling event of the year, only behind WrestleMania, WrestleKingdom 10.
In the main event, Kazuchika Okada will defend his championship against Hiroshi Tanahashi for the third time at a WrestleKingdom event. The story heading into the match is if Okada can beat Tanahashi in the Tokyo Dome, as the last two times they squared off in the arena he came up short, leaving in tears last year. Although the match feels familiar, every match they’ve had is spectacular so far.
The rest of the card, besides a Tetsuya Naito/Hirooki Goto singles bout, are title matches. Jay Lethal will defend the Ring of Honor title against Michael Elgin. Tomohiro Ishii will defend the NEVER title against Katsuyori Shibata. Kushida battles Kenny Omega for the IWGP Jr. Championship. Shinsuke Nakamura defends the Intercontinental title against a not-so-healthy AJ Styles. Toru Yano and The Briscoes will face Bullet Club members Tama Tonga, Bad Luck Fale and Yujiro Takahashi to crown the inaugural NEVER openweight six man tag team titles.
Rounding it off are the two tag title matches as Karl Anderson and Doc Gallows defend against Togi Makabe and Tomoaki Honma, while reDragon defend the junior tag team titles in a four way also involving Roppongi Vice, Matt Sydal and Ricochet and The Young Bucks. There will also be a New Japan Rumble on the pre-show featuring everyone else not on the main card plus a few surprises.
We are looking for your thoughts on the event, so send a thumbs up, thumbs down or thumbs in the middle along with a best and worst match to Dave Meltzer.
NEW JAPAN RUMBLE
We’re opening with Jushin Liger vs. Yoshiaki Fujiwara. The crowd is pretty empty at this point.
Long match that wasn’t very good. It came down to Jado with the hip attack guys from different generations, Koshinaka and Taguchi. Jado, who was accompanied by Momoka, a famous rock star, eliminated both to win. She then announced the release of her new album in February. The match is all about the ring entrances. Some of the surprises in wre Hiro Saito, Cheeseubrger, who was in third and worked mosst of the way. Shiro Koshinaka got a good nostalgia pop. King Haku came out to the Bullet Club music wearing a Bullet Club shirt, as his son is Tama Tonga. It was funny as Striker was in his Gorilla Monsoon copying saying how Haku would never submit, and seconds later Tenzan made him submit to the Anaconda vise. Kazushi Sakuraba got the biggest pop but he was only in for a few seconds. He squared off with Great Kabuki, who also got a big reaction, and Kabuki blew mist in Sakuraba’s eyes and got DQ’d. Taguchi then pinnd Sakuraba. None of the young guys like Yohei Komatsu, Sho Tanaka, Juice Robinson, Jay White, Dave Finlay or Cody Hall were in the match, Everybody was no selling Cheeseburger’s offense but he was in the match for 25 minutes before Yoshi-Hashi pinned him.
BOBBY FISH & KYLE O’REILLY VS. YOUNG BUCKS VS. ROCKY ROMERO & BARETTA VS. MATT SYDAL & RICOCHET FOR THE IWGP JR. TAG TITLES
The Bucks won the title with More Bang for Your Buck on Romero. Great match with so many moves you couldn’t him track of them. Cody Hall interfered a lot to help the Bucks. Sydal & Ricochet did their double shooting star press spot on Romero & Baretta but the Bucks pulled them out of the ring to keep them from getting the pin. Nick Jackson gave a shout out to Kevin Owens, Neville and all their friends at the Fed. Romero was put over a lot during the match doing forever clotheslines to everyoen since he was losing the fall. The Bucks before the match looked at the cameras, said four-times jr. champs and winked.
MARK & JAY BRISCOE & TORU YANO VS. YUJIRO TAKAHASHI & BAD LUCK FALE & TAMA TONGA FOR NEVER TRIOS TITLES
The Briscoes & Yano won the titles when the Briscoes used the Doomsday device on Tonga for the pin. Mark was really good here but the match didn’t build well. A lot of Yano’s usual comedy. Jay was struggling with Tonga on his shoulders when Yano hit Tonga with a chair and Mark came off the top with a clothesline and Jay pinned Tonga.
JAY LETHAL VS. MICHAEL ELGIN FOR ROH TITLE
Lethal retained using the Lethal injection after Elgin went for a power bomb afer a Falcan arrow off the middle rope. Truth Martini tired to interfere but Elgin nailed him and his book went flying. Lethal grabbed i and when Elgin had him up for the power bomb, Lethal hit Elgin with the book and followed with a Lethal injection for the pin.
KENNY OMEGA VS. KUSHIDA FOR THE IWGP JR. TITLE
Great match, with Kushida turning the One Winged Angel into a Kimura and then a cradle for the pin to win the title. Kushida wa great here and Omega did a tremendous job of selling the left arm during this match. The Bucks interfered helping Omega. Ryusuke Taguchi came out as Doc Brown from Back to the Future with Kushida. The Bucks took him out early with a double superkick. He came back and took out the Bucks with garbage can shots. Both did big dives and suepr crisp wrestling.
DOC GALLOWS & KARL ANDERSON VS. TOGI MAKABE & TOMOAKI HONMA FOR IWGP TAG TITLES
Another title change in a really good match. Crowd was really into Makabe & Honma from the start. The finish saw Makabe & Honma use the kokeshi impact (double impact with Honma using the head-butt spear off the top rope on Anderson, then Honma used the kokeshi off the top rope on Gallows, followed by Makabe using the kneedrop off the top rope on Gallows for the pin. Well timed well worked match. This is Honma’s first title win in New Japan.
Now it’s time for the 2016 scheudle.
New Beginning in Oskaa on 2/11
New Beginning in Niigat 2/14
ROH shows on 2/19 and 2.20 at Kroakejn Hall
ROH New Japan in Las Vegas 2/26 and 2/27
New Japan Cup 3/3 opens and 3/12 ends
Invasion Attack 4/10 at Sumo Hall
5/3 Fukuoka Wrestling Dontaku
6/6 Best of the Super Junior final in Sendai Sun Plaza Hall
6/19 Dominion at Osaka Jo Hall
G-1 Climax starts 7/18 in Sapporo
8/12, 8/13 and 8/14 at Sumo Hall ends the G-1
HIROOKI GOTO VS. TETSUYA NAITO
Goto pinned him in a surprise using the shouten kai. Very well wrestled match. Bushi and Evil interfered after a ref bump. Goto had blocked a low blow by Naito. Bushi went to blow green mist at Goto, who moved and Evil got it inthe face. Naito then hit the low blow and running cradle but Goto kicked out, used he head-butt and shouten kai. The inteference is getting old by this point in the show.
TOMOHIRO ISHII VS. KATSUYORI SHIBATA FOR NEVER OPEN WEIGHT TITLE
Shibata won the title clean with the penalty kick after a standing kick to the chest. There two just killed each other with kicks and clotheslines and elbows. I don’t know how these guys continue to do these kind of matches. Just ridiculously physical. The one thing I hated was they did some absolutely sick klunking head-butts to each other toward the end. A lot of people won’t like this not being traditional pro wrestling with the fired up no sell spots throughout the match but this felt like a fight from start to finish. It’s just hard to top some of the matches they’ve had in the past but a super match.
SHINSUKE NAKAMURA VS. A.J. STYLES FOR THE IC TITLE
Nakamura retained the title after a falcon arrow off the top rope, the bom a ye to the back of the head and then a regular bom a ye for the pin. After the match Nakamura offered his fist and Styles gave him a fist bump back. This was a match of the year candidate. There were so many great sequences and spots. Styles kicked out of a bom a ye off the middle rope, Nakamura used a flying armbar after Styles tried a spinning chiop, Styles used a half Styles clash which Nakamura kicked out of, because the full Styles clash is protected. Styles at one point acted like his back wass out and then got up and attacked Nakamura from behind. This was two of the best wrestlers in the world determined to have an incredible match. Styles seemed healthier than against Jay Lethal as he did more and was moving better. He didn’t fly as much and relied more on his wrestling, but it didn’t hurt the match at all.
KAZUCHIKA OKADA VS. HIROSHI TANAHASHI FOR IWGP TITLE’
Another incredible match. Okada retained the title after three rainmakers. There were a lot of buffeirng issues throghout this match so it was hard to get a full grip of it but it felt like a match of the year going way over 30 minutes. The crowd was so intense at the end but I’d have to rewatch to get the full effect of the match. Among the highlights were Okada kicking out of two high fly flows,Tanahashi kicked out of the rainmaker, Okada did the high fly flow for a near fall and Tanahashi did a rainmaker. Tanahashi went for a high fly flow late and Okada caught him with a dropkick which was right before the finish. It felt like this was the classic passing of the torch as Tanahashi had to be helped out while Okada was the one closing the show at the Tokyo Dome.
Gedo and Okada did promos after the match. No challenges after the match. The angles may be shot for the next top matches tomorrow night.