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Category: Japan

  • NJPW/CMLL Fantasticamania results: Tanahashi/Volador/Mistico vs. Okada/Mephisto/Guererro

    Titan and Mascara Dorada vs. Sho Tanaka and Yohei Komatsu

    Good opener. It mostly was Titan and Mascara Dorada looking excellent with a bunch of high flying spots. Titan in particular looks amazing, his fluidity is outstanding. He reminds me a lot of Ricochet in terms of confidence. Tanaka and Titan had some great back and forth, including Tanaka dropping Titan on his head with an awesome German suplex for a nearfall. Titan rollied back and got the win with what looked like a variation of the figure four.

    Fuego, Juice Robinson and Kushida vs. Hechicero, Yoshi-Hashi and Gedo

    Fuego came to the ring and danced, with Kushida and Robinson following suit. Robinson had a cool flame jacket and Kushida still had the watch mask from the previous night. Solid match. Robinson looked good in spots. Fuego is really one of the more charismatic guys on this tour. Everyone overall looked pretty good; it was your atypical six man tag. Hechicero got the win, submitting Fuego.

    Arena Coliseo Tag Team Champions Guerrero Maya Jr. and Angel de Oro vs. Okumura and Bobby Z

    This felt flat. Not the work, because it was solid throughout, but the crowd wasn’t into it until the last minute or so, and before that they only popped for the big dives. Maya and Oro did some good stuff, and Okumura and Bobby were fine as rudos but something didn’t click here that would have made it a good match as opposed to just a solid one. Guerrero got the pin for his team, pinning Okumura with a bodyslam into a piledriver.

    Ryusuke Taguchi & Stuka Jr. vs. Shinsuke Nakamura & Cavernario Barbaro

    The entrances were something else. Taguchi came out with all the young lions and they did a choreographed pharaoh dance on the outside. Cavernario and Nakamura came out with new outfits – Cavernario wearing a Fred Flintstone outfit and Nakamura wearing a skull version of his Mexico mask. Nakamura came out with nunchucks shaped like bones while Cavernario took out his outfit revealing “KING OF CAVEMAN STYLE” was painted on his back. As far as a match goes, this was fine, a lot of focus on comedy, but that was the theme of the bout anyway. In terms of presentation, this was one of the better matches on the show. Match as far as ring work was solid. Cavernario submitted Stuka with the la cavernaria.

    Jushin Liger & Atlantis & Tiger Mask vs. Tetsuya Naito & Evil & Bushi

    Naito did the same deal from yesterday where he had the announcer talk about him for like 2-3 minutes while he stalled in the ring. He teased something with Milano Collection AT again as he shook his hand twice. Atlantis is 53 years old, and doesn’t move super great but still moves very well at his age. Just typical six man stuff throughout, though Atlantis and Los Ingobernables looked good. Evil and Naito were working over Tiger Mask when Naito got the flash roll up he’s done in previous matches and got the abrupt win there.

    CMLL Lightweight Champion Dragon Lee vs. Virus

    This was good while it lasted, but got less than ten minutes. Weird it got so little time as the crowd was into this and everyone was just kind of surprised when the finish came. Virus did something i’ve never seen before as he countered a hip toss on the outside by running across the apron, launched off and did an arm drag back outside then followed that with a rana. Lee came back, did a double footstomp off the top rope then pinned Virus with a German suplex.

    Dragon Lee was celebrating when suddenly someone in a mask came from behind and gave him a German suplex. He unmasked, revealing himself to be Kamaitachi, who had been absent from his tour and was still saying how he was in Mexico. He cut a promo saying there has been a change and tomorrow he’ll take his title back.

    Hiroshi Tanahashi & Volador Jr. & Mistico vs. Kazuchika Okada & Ultimo Guerrero & Mephisto

    Really exciting main event with a ton of crazy dives. Everyone worked hard, including Tanahashi and Okada and that helped make it a great match, one of the better ones on this tour so far.This was a match dedicated to Black Cat, as his family were in the ring carrying a photo of him and thanked the two promotions before the match. Mistico and Ultimo Guerrero did their same routine yesterday as they were fighting over fan. It was mentioned on my timeline a lot during this match so I have to ask – whatever happened to Mephisto being a part of Bullet Club Latin America? Maybe that part of the BC just fizzled out or something.

    There was a very cool triple dive spot from Mistico, Volador and Tanahashi as they took out all of their rivals at once. Ultimo Guerrero have really good chemistry with one another. Mistico has such a small frame though that it’s no wonder he’s injured a lot. Lots of crazy stuff towards the end as Volador, Mistico and Tanahashi all wiped out Guerrero with dives. Volador took out Okada and looked to do something with Mephisto on the top rope but Mephisto countered and his a double underhook facebuster from the top rope and pinned him.

  • NJPW/CMLL Fantasticamania results: Volador/Mistico vs. Ultimo Guerrero/Mephisto

    Fuego & Stuka Jr. vs. Sho Tanaka & Yohei Komatsu

    Pretty fun match. They worked this in the lucha style so Fuego and Stuka Jr. were very in their element. Fuego in particular looked really impressive and has lots of charisma. Tanaka and Komatsu worked their style and seemed kind of off, but never looked bad or anything. Just didn’t look as fluid as they usually do. I guess they have time to learn it in the next year or so. Fuego got the win for his team, pinning Komatsu with a roll up.

    David Finlay & Jushin Liger & Kushida & The Panther & Guerrero Maya Jr. vs. Gedo & Yoshi-Hashi & Bobby Zavala & Okumura & Hechicero

    Kushida was wearing a big silver watch mask to the ring, but didn’t wrestle in it. A fun match. Panther botched a spot early as he looked to do something off the middle rope, didn’t do it, then went to something else and messed up big time. After that, everything was pretty good. They did a fun spot where four of the guys wrapped their legs against one another, forming a circle, then Liger applied the Rito Romero special on Okumura in the middle of the circle. Hechicero submitted Finlay with a heel hook.

    Zavala got a mic after the match and said he and Okumura would win the Arena Coliseo tag team belts tomorrow. Guerrero Maya and Panther didn’t agree with that.

    Tetsuya Naito & Evil vs. Atlantis & Juice Robinson

    In an amazing moment pre-match, Naito came out and did his usual super long entrance. The amazing thing was that the announcer somehow managed find things to say about Naito the entire time he was stalling. Lots of mask ripping by the heels. Not much, but was fine. Robinson made a comeback but Evil came in and hit their finish, a reverse press slam called Out of Control for the win.

    After the match Naito not only ripped part of Atlantis’ mask off, but also had an altercation with Milano Collection AT and laid him out too. Seems to be a recurring theme, but then again Naito’s attacked many guys at ringside as that’s his new gimmick.

    Mexican National Welterweight Champion Barbaro Cavernario vs. Titan

    I liked this match. Not blow away, but there were a ton of cool moves which made it pretty memorable. Most of it was Titan, who really stood out in terms of dynamic high flying ability. He wrapped his legs around Cavernario’s chest at one point, threw him out of the ring and followed it up with a big Asai moonsault. Cavernario did his big splash from the top rope to the floor. Lots of nice back and forth stuff with Cavernario retaining the title with a flash surfboard.

    CMLL Welterweight Champion: Bushi vs. Mascara Dorada

    I’m not sure why CMLL has two welterweight titles, but the situation with title belts in Mexico is far worse than it is here or anywhere else. Bushi came out with a new outfit and new music. He was dressed completely white for whatever reason. They brawled into the crowd early where Bushi did a big dive off the stairwell. Bushi worked on him a good while till he made a comeback, wiping him out with a stepover tope con hilo to the floor. Naito kept interfering until Atlantis drove him out of the arena with a steel chair. After a few close near falls Dorada wins his title back with the Dorada Screwdriver. Another good match with Dorada’s offense looking really good.

    Hiroshi Tanahashi & Dragon Lee & Ryusuke Taguchi vs. Shinsuke Nakamura & Kazuchika Okada & Virus

    Despite the title being vacated, Nakamura is still wearing the title to the ring. Maybe they’re letting him keep it until he leaves the promotion. Hell if I know. He and Taguchi, who is doing a Pharaoh gimmick on these tours because he’s Taguchi, removed each other’s masks. They’ve had a rivalry of sorts on house show tours for the last month or so. Virus and Dragon Lee mostly worked with one another and looked pretty good. Another good match, with good spots when it was needed. A lot of comedy, but it was fine and didn’t drag too much. Virus submitted Dragon Lee with what is now known as the PTO, but he calls it la motocicleta.

    Mistico & Volador Jr. vs. Ultimo Guerrero & Mephisto

    Fun main event. It was a good showcase for Mistico and Volador Jr as they looked awesome as a team, and both Mephisto and Guerrero had some fun moments as well. Both Mistico and Ultimo Guerrero played to the crowd at the start of the match, with Guerrero nearly leaving due to being frustrated by Mistico’s reactions. Mistico and Volador did a double tope con hilo to the outside. Both of them work really great as a tag team and have some good tandem work. They did another great move where Mistico hopped over Voldor, flew out of the ring and wiped out Mephisto on the outside with a hurricanrana. Mephisto wiped out Volador with a tope con hilo (a lot of those tonight!) while Ultimo Guerrero landed a reverse suplex from the top rope, getting the win over Mistico.

    Overall, the key phrase of the show was fun. Nothing here is going to win match of the year or anything, but in terms of environment and with everyone really into the theme of this tour, it was good times.

  • Jim Ross confirms return to announcing for NJPW on AXS

    WWE Hall-of-Famer, longtime broadcaster, and podcast host Jim Ross confirmed Tuesday with Fox Sports that he will be returning to the broadcast booth for the newest NJPW on AXS TV season, starting on Friday, March 4th. 

    Ross replaces Mauro Ranallo, who recently started with WWE and is now the lead voice of Smackdown. Color commentator, past NJPW competitor, and UFC heavyweight Josh Barnett will remain on the team.

    Ross told Fox that he will head to Los Angeles between 8-10 times a year to do his play-by-play for two-day sessions where they will record six shows at a time, beginning with action from Wrestling Dontaku 2015. The duo will also call matches from the 2015 New Japan Cup, Invasion Attack, HINOKUNI, Best of the Super Juniors 22, Dominion 7.5, G1 Climax 25 and more.

    This isn’t Ross’ first time calling NJPW action as he and Matt Striker were the American announce team for Wrestle Kingdom 9 in 2015.

    The longtime voice of RAW with Jerry Lawler, Ross returned to WWE several times over the years for Smackdown, NXT, and spot shows through his “retirement” from the company in 2014. He tried his hand at boxing for Fox Sports One, as well as MMA with the Battlegrounds tournament PPV alongside Chael Sonnen.

  • New Japan on AXS Report: New Japan Cup matches, Fale vs. Okada

    We return to New Japan on AXS coverage tonight as we start off with opening matches from the New Japan Cup. These matches took place March 5, 2015 at Korakuen Hall.

    First match up is Doc Gallows taking on Kota Ibushi in the first round of the New Japan cup. Ibushi looked really good here against Gallows. There’s an old saying that absence makes the heart grow fonder, and such as the case here as Ibushi is such a dynamic performer. Might be part of the reason why he’s out indefinitely with herniated discs, but that’s the cost of working this kind of style. He gets the surprise ring with a rana pin.

    Tetsuya Natio and Karl Anderson are up next. Also a good match, and a lot of it aired here. I’ve said it before here, but man did Naito do a total 180 in character, as we’ll be seeing in future episodes. Anderson did a sick powerbomb off the top rope for a nearfall. After a flurry of offense, Naito lays out Anderson and pins him with the stardust press for the win. Very good match towards the end.

    Naito says he doesn’t care who he faces next, bring it on. In an interesting line, he mentions that he knows some people find him annoying he wants to be the best and will let people know it.

    Bad Luck Fale and Kazuchika Okada follows next. The story of this match mostly centers around Okada. Since losing at WrestleKingdom Okada’s been in a bit of a funk, and now has found a new rival in Fale who looks to keep him in that funk for a good while. At this stage of the game it’s obvious Fale needs to be carried to have a really good match, and no one can really have a bad match with Okada (unless you’re 65+) so this was a perfectly alright match. The visual of someone smaller than Okada giving Fale a reverse neckbreaker sure was something. Fale hit the grenade but Okada kicked out. Fale then went to the top rope and squished him with a frog splash but still kicked out. But Fale comes back with the Bad Luck Fall, and that’s where Okada loses.

    Yano said his New Japan Cup match against Tanahashi was a while ago, but remembers he ran a marathon before, with him recalling it was though. He said he and Tanahashi were complete opposites. For example,  he never lies but Tanahashi does all the time. He’s dull and old fashioned while he’s off selling DVDs. Yano doesn’t really care about titles (then why is he competing in New Japan?) but Tanahashi might be the type who cares about a belt. In a way, he’s cursed due to that.

    The match wasn’t much, and lasted under two minutes. In a surprise flash win, Yano pulled Tanahashi’s hair and cradled him. People thought the finish was funny. Hey,

    Yano said it’s time for a new ace and Tomorrow marks the beginning of a new era, and New Japan Pro Wrestling would be reborn. Tanahashi wasn’t happy and said he’d have his revenge.

    Back to the reflective interview. Yano said he’s always wanted to beat Tanahashi. He then plugged his album and his DVD and told everyone to buy a thousand each. If you buy a million of both, it’s only five million for everything!

    Good show. The first two matches were pretty good, and the final was what it was.

  • New Japan strips Shinsuke Nakamura of the Intercontinental Title

    Shinsuke Nakamura will not be dropping the IC title to Kenny Omega after all.

    New Japan announced tonight that they are stripping Nakamura of the championship, and that Omega will face a mystery man in the main event of the New Beginnings in Niigata on February 14th to fill the vacancy.

    Nakamura will continue to appear on New Japan shows for the rest of the month, with his final match on the January 30th show at Korakuen Hall.  That show will have an All-Star main event with Hiroshi Tanahashi & Hirooki Goto & Katsuyori Shibata vs. Nakamura & Kazuchika Okada & Tomohiro Ishii.  New Japan starts back on Sunday with the Fantastica Mania tour.

    Nakamura becomes the second major champion of a foreign promotion who has headed to WWE without dropping the title on the way out, following Alberto Del Rio, the AAA champion, not doing so in October.

    New Japan also officially announced the Okada vs. Goto IWGP title match will take place on February 11th in Osaka, as had been expected.  Other matches announced for that show are Young Bucks defending the IWGP jr. tag titles in a three-way against Bobby Fish & Kyle O’Reilly and Matt Sydal & Ricochet, Shibata vs. Ishii for the Never Open weight title and Mark & Jay Briscoe & Toru Yano defending the Never trios titles against Bad Luck Fale & Tama Tonga & Yujiro Takahashi.

    The IC title was one of two major championships in Japan announced as vacant today.  Due to Suwama, the Triple Crown champion from All Japan, suffering a ruptured Achilles tendon yesterday, that championship has also been vacated with a Kento Miyahara vs. Zeus announced to fill the vacancy.

  • Rocky Romero signs 2 year deal with New Japan

    Rocky Romero, who was among those who has been talked about as leaving New Japan for WWE, has signed a new deal with New Japan.

    Romero had been in talks with  WWE about a job as a “player/coach” in NXT, and told a number of people today he had decided to stay put for at least two more years.

    Romero has been working for New Japan since 2002 as a regular in the junior heavyweight division.

    After Karl Anderson, Doc Gallows, Shinsuke Nakamura and A.J. Styles all gave notice on Monday, there had been speculation that Romero, Bad Luck Fale and Tama Tonga could follow suit.

    Romero is mainly part of a tag team, Roppongi Vice, with Trent Baretta, working for both New Japan and Ring of Honor.

  • Tokyo Sports: Shinsuke Nakamura set to leave New Japan at the end of the month

    Tokyo Sports reported this evening that New Japan Pro Wrestling star Shinsuke Nakamura will be leaving the promotion at the end of the month, according to translations done by Chris Charlton. In their report, Toyko Sports mentioned that they learned of Nakamura’s quick departure intentions the day prior, which would be January 6 given time zone differences.

    Although Monday afternoon’s Wrestling Observer Radio reported that Nakamura had already given his notice to New Japan on January 4, the thought was that he would remain for the promotion for a while before departing. This made sense as he is the current Intercontinental champion. In fact, it was strongly pushed at the recent New Year’s Dash event on January 5 that a program between him and Kenny Omega over the title was imminent, but that may be up in the air at this point. If Nakamura does leave at the end of January, it seems likely he may be WWE bound, though nothing has been officially confirmed.

    New Japan has yet to comment on this latest report.

  • NJPW New Year’s Dash report: Big Bullet Club angle, NEVER trios titles defended

    New Year’s Dash, the equivalent of the Raw after WrestleMania, has come and gone and in its wake there were a lot challenges made, as well as a big change within the Bullet Club. It was a newsworthy show in terms of what we’ll be seeing in the next month for New Japan. Aside from one angle, which I’ll cover further down this article, it seemed like the big news that broke Monday afternoon had no effect on this show or the booking for the next month, so we’ll see what happens from here.

    Sho Tanaka, Ryusuke Taguchi, Yuji Nagata, Manabu Nakanishi and Shiro Koshinaka vs Yohei Komatsu, Tiger Mask, Jushin Liger, Cheeseburger and Yoshiaki Fujiwara

    Decent, fun match. Cheeseburger was immediately over in Korakuen Hall. Everyone loved his offense, which was pretty much every one of his opponents no selling it because he’s so tiny in comparison. He is pretty great in his role; he looked so miniscule next to Nakanishi. There was one point in the match where Fujiwara slapped and headbutted him after he motioned for a high five or something. I guess Fujiwara isn’t a fan. It boiled down to Taguchi and Komatsu after Koshinaka took down Cheeseburger with a hip attack. He and Taguchi did a double hip attack on Komatsu then Taguchi followed it up with the dodon for the win.

    Fujiwara headbutted Cheeseburger again after the match. That’s not very nice!

    Jay White and David Finlay vs. Matt Sydal and Ricochet

    Really good, fast paced match. Sydal and Ricochet are just an excellent team, they gel really well together. If they continue to tag here in 2016 they’re really going to be something special. White and Finlay held their own and looked awesome here. In terms of rookie of the year for 2015 it’s a very close race between White and Chad Gable. Sydal and Ricochet won with the stereo shooting star presses on both young lions.

    Jay Lethal vs. Juice Robinson

    Fine match. Mostly just a platform to put Lethal over as he’ll more than likely be on the ROH tours next month. Martini got involved at one point. Robison looked like he was going to punch him but Lethal did a big suicide dive, sending Robison crashing into the guardrail. This looked great the way they shot it. Martini got involved again toward the end, looking to hit Robinson with the Book of Truth but Robinson gave him an airplane spin. Lethal recovered and hit a cutter from the middle rope, then pinned Robinson with the Lethal Injection.

    Togi Makabe, Kushida, Hiroyoshi Tenzan, Togi Makabe and Satoshi Kojima vs. Doc Gallows, Karl Anderson, Tama Tonga, King Haku and Yujiro Takahashi

    Really fun ten man tag. Lots of the usual New Japan mult-tag spots you’d normally see, but they worked hard and this ended up being fun. Haku was in a lot. He didn’t look awesome in terms of mobility, but looked fine in everything he did, if that makes sense. He gave Honma a piledriver which led to Gallows and Anderson going for the Magic Killer but Honma escaped. Anderson hit him with a stun gun and eventually they were able to hit the Magic Killer and pinned Honma. This makes sense as they’re probably doing a rematch somewhere at the New Beginning shows.

    Sure enough, Gallows and Anderson put the belts on Honma after the match and indicated they wanted the next title shot. They went over to the announcers where Anderson said they were the best tag team in professional wrestling….just not using those words, as his actual words were not FCC friendly.

    Intermission. No announcements regarding Fantasticamania but I’d expect something over the next couple of days since those are very soon.

    Mascara Dorada, Hiroshi Tanahashi and Michael Elgin vs. Bushi, Evil and Tetsuya Naito

    Maybe it’s just me, but there have been hints lately there might be something between Yohei Komatsu and Naito. He helped him to the back last night at WrestleKingdom and Naito ordered him to help him enter the ropes here.

    There was a great spot where everyone was cheering for Naito. He tagged himself in as he got a bunch of chants against Tanahashi, then simply just tagged himself out for the heel heat. Of course, the minute Tanahashi turned his back Naito jumped him. They all got the heat on Tanahashi following that. Dorada looked good here too.  Bushi did the red mist spot, low blowed Dorada after Dorada blocked the first attempt and pinned him with the top rope codebreaker.

    Ingobernables laid out everyone after the match. Evil hit Tanahashi with the STO. All of the young boys were laid out. Kushida came in to make the save but Bushi sprayed him with green mist and all of them beat him down. Bushi took a microphone and said that he wants the next shot at the IWGP Jr. title. There’s that program, and probably something between Tanahashi and Evil/Naito. Interesting in that they had Dorada took the fall here as I thought they’d do a CMLL Welterweight title match during the Fantasticamania shows. They still may for all I know.

    Kenny Omega and AJ Styles vs. Yoshi-Hashi and Shinsuke Nakamura

    Seems based on this match they may have moved Omega up to heavyweight. He and Nakamura had some good interactions with one another. The stream was really bad during this match, even in low quality. That was an on and off issue for the last three days that mostly resolved itself after this match, aside from one or two hiccups. Nakamura hit the reverse powerslam and was going for the boma ye but AJ Styles hit him with the springboard forearm. Omega followed with a reverse rana and pinned Nakamura with the One Winged Angel in a big surprise. That not only cements the move to heavyweight but that also pretty much puts him in line for a title shot.

    Big angle time. Omega and Styles were celebrating when Omega grabbed Styles from the top rope, put him in the electric chair position and laid him out with the One Winged Angel. The rest of Bullet Club came out and separated them like they had no idea what he was doing. They argued for a bit before eventually everyone giving the Wolfpac sign to one another and put the boots to Styles, effectively putting him out of the Bullet Club.

    Omega said that you had this coming, AJ. We made you a star and paid you like star. He forced  and starved himself to be a junior. Everyone thought you were the boss. You’re fired, this is your severance package. He won’t challenge Kushida again, he’s challenging Shinsuke Nakamura. The Bullet Club rules the world, because they are for life…without AJ Styles.  

    The Bullet Club leave like they were going to the back, but Omega and the Bullet Club come back and lay out AJ again, with a double superkick by the Young Bucks followed by a Styles Clash by Omega. They leave for good as the young boys check on Styles. Korakuen Hall starts chanting Styles’ name loudly as he eventually gets up and bows to all four corners of the ring. Great moment and felt like a really nice send off, if it is one. It certainly felt like one.

    Tomohiro Ishii, Hirooki Goto and reDragon vs. Roppongi Vice, Tomohiro Ishii and Kazuchika Okada

    Another fun, action packed match. Usual eight man stuff where everyone worked against their rivals. Tomohiro Ishii and Shibata were in a while and continued to pummel one another. Everyone worked against one another really well and there was a good pace to everything. Goto won the match for his team, submitting Beretta after trapping one of Beretta’s arms while putting the other in an armbar.

    Goto grabbed the mic after and challenged Okada for the title. I figured as much when Goto won last night. They haven’t done this match in a while, but the problem is Goto has had so many chances at the title I very much doubt anyone would take a title match seriously, though I guess the match will be good enough regardless. Okada seemed to accept the challenge while also mocking Goto for losing the Intercontinental title, as Goto previously challenged Okada while he was still champion and wanted a unification match.

    NEVER Openweight Six Man Championship: The Briscoes and Toru Yano © vs. Bad Luck Fale and the Young Bucks

    Okay main event. Wasn’t designed to be awesome but that’s fine. A lot of Yano antics here. Briscoes hit the Doomsday Device but Matt got on his feet and laid them out with superkicks in a pretty cool spot. They went for the Meltzer Driver but Yano took down Nick. Jay Briscoe hit the Jay Driller on Matt and Mark followed with the Froggy Bow to mark their first successful defense of the titles.

  • Wrestle Kingdom 10 Reader Feedback

    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

  • Wrestle Kingdom 10 live results: Kazuchika Okada vs Hiroshi Tanahashi

    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.