NJPW Wrestle Kingdom 12 Review
Preshow:
New Japan Rumble
Entry Order:
- Katsuya Kitamura
- Bushi
- Delirious
- Leo Tonga
- Manabu Nakanishi
- Chase Owens
- Yuji Nagata
- Taka Michinonku
- Yoshinobu Kanemaru
- El Desparado
- Jyushin Thunder Liger
- Tiger Mask
- Gino Gambino
- Henere
- Yoshi-Hashi
- David Finlay Jr.
- Yujiro Takahashi
- Cheeseburger
- Satoshi Kojima
- Hiroyoshi Tenzan
- Masahito Kakihira
Winner: Masahita Kakihira
Rate: 2.5 Stars
Opinion : I always love the blend of New Japan rumbles, You have your talented young lions like Katsuya Kitamura, David Finlay Jr, Henere, & Chase Owens who all had great showings. Then you icons of the sport like the Yuji Nagata, Satoshi Kojima, Jyushin Thunder Liger Etc who get their moments without taking away from anyone. Seeing Kakihira return to the ring was a cool moment and if you do not know his story you need to go check it out. This was a good quality preshow match that gets me pumped for the main card.
PPV Card!!!
- IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Title Match
Roppingi 3K With Rocky Romeo Vs Young Bucks
Young Bucks Win Via i Sharpshooter & Win IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Titles
Rate: 3.5 Stars
Opinon: Now going into this match i expected the typical young buck match but that is not what i saw, The opening of the match started like it but then it really showed some key storytelling, Whether it was the Bucks taking out Rocky Romero or one member of the bucks and one member of Roppingi 3K took nasty dives and hurt their back and the match was sold accordingly. Young Bucks become 7 time IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Champions but this match really established Roppingi 3k as the future of the division.
2. Gauntlet Match For Never Openweight 6 Man Tag Team Titles
Entry Order:
- Suzuki Gun (Zack Sabre Jr, Taichi, & Takashi Iizuka) With El Desperado, Taka Michinoku and Yoshinobu Kanemaru
- War Machine & Michael Elgin
- Chaos ( Toru Yano, Tomohiro Ishii, & Beretta)
- Taguchi Japan ( Juice Robinson, Togi Makabe, & Ryusuke Taguchi_
- Bullet Club ( Bad Luck Fale & G.O.D
Elimination Order:
- War Machine & Michael Elgin
- Suzuki Gun
- Taguchi Japan
- Bullet Club
Chaos Win Never Openweight 6 Man Tag Team Titles
Rate: 3 Stars
Opinion: Normally these gauntlet matches in NJPW are about average but this one was formatted very well and done right with some key moments, ZBJ Choking out Rowe really showed How talented ZBJ Is, Yano eliminated Suzuki Gun & taguchi japan was pretty shocking. The last sequence of the match was pretty great, Beretta attempting a moonsault off the top rope only for Tama Tonga To catch him with the gun stun and as he goes for another one Berretta puts him away for the win in a true dominate win by Chaos…
3. Singles Match
Cody Rhodes With Brandi Rhodes Vs Kota Ibushi
Kota Ibushi Wins Via Pheonix Splash
Rate: 4 Stars
Opinion: This match was just……….. Wow, Cody Had to earn some fans during this match as he showed his best in ring work and his best heel work in this match. We saw Cody use his wife to get a upper hand on Ibushi, We saw a cross rhodes from the middle rope to the floor that nearly won Rhodes the match by countout. Rhodes also mentioned Omega a few times in the match to possibly highlight a future feud there which is logical and bound to happen. This was Cody best match since leaving WWE and i was proud to see it live. Ibushi i feel has earned to challenge for the IWGP Heavyweight title but we will see what happens in the coming month. I am on a high after seeing this contest and hope to see Cody expand more and see where Ibushi goes from here.
4. IWGP Heavyweight Tag Team Title Match
Killer Elite Squad Vs Evil & Sanada
Evil & Sanada Win Via Moonsault On Davey Boy Smith Jr & Win IWGP Heavyweight Tag Team Titles
Rate: 3.5 Stars
Opinion: This match was just full throttle from the opening bell, as soon as the match started KES hit their finish then they would go on and destroy Evil & Sanada for the next 5-8 minutes but the heart of LIJ lived strong tonight as they made a big comeback at the end and this was a beautiful underdog story comeback win. Great storytelling yet again by NJPW and even saw The Magic Killer move be used but not work, Sanada was the MVP in this match as the heart he showed with all of the punishment he took and he was the one to get the pinfall. Another great match of storytelling and another Title change.
5. Loser Hair Cut Match For Never Openweight Title
Minoru Suzuki Vs Hirooki Goto
Hirooki Goto Wins Via GTR & Wins Never Openweight Title
Rate: 4 Stars
Post match: Minoru Suzuki honors his word and shaves his own head….
Opinion : This match lived up to the expected brutality, Suzuki dominated the first 10 minutes of the match and even choked Goto out in the first few minutes. Every time Goto mounted a comeback Suzuki would just brutalize him, We even saw Suzuki gun try to interfere but Chaos stopped that from happening and near the end we saw the brutal back to back flurry combos that a lesser man would of walked away from but the downfall for Suzuki was when he let his pride take over as he had the match won but his desire to hit the gotch piledriver consumed him and that is all it took for Goto to take advantage so yes yet another title change.
6. Fatal Four Way Match For IWGP Junior Heavyweight Title
Marty Scurll Vs Hiromu Takahashi Vs Kushida Vs Will Osprey
Will Osprey Wins Via Oz Cutter & Wins IWGP Junior Heavyweight Title
Rate: 5 Stars
Opinion: This match just stole the show in every way imaginable, Really highlights the best parts of the Junior division in NJPW. Marty Scurll was such a jewel in this match living up to his villain ways we saw him Tape Takahashi to the ring post, Use Powder on Kushida, he cracked some skulls with his umbrella but Osprey finally destroys his last demon to start off 2018. For the past few years Osprey could never pin Marty Scurll and he does it on the biggest stage for IWGP Junior Title. This match was fast,quick paced, Creative and just every second took my breath away.If i had one problem with the match that would be the lack of pinfall attempts but i can look past it as NJPW never does Fatal four ways but besides that was just a nearly perfect match in that form.
7. IWGP Intercontinental Title Match
Hiroshi Tanahashi Vs Jay White
Hiroshi Tanahashi Wins Via High Fly Flow & Retains IWGP Intercontinental Title
Rate: 4 Stars
Opinion: The Ace still has it, a great match of storytelling with a NJPW Icon and the future of NJPW. Tanahashi made White into a star in every way possible and White has nothing to be ashamed about in a loss to one of the greats. You could tell half way through the match the Age of Tanahashi was catching up to him and there was a 4 to 7 minute cooling down period which put a damper on the match but when the second wind was caught the match picked back up. I think maybe this match should of been only 10-12 minutes and not nearly 20 minutes but for what it was it really well executed.
8. No DQ Match For IWGP United States Title
Kenny Omega With Young Bucks Vs Chris Jericho
Kenny Omega Wins Via One Winged Angel On A Chair & Retains IWGP United States Title
Rate: 5 Stars
Opinion: This match actually shocked me, Chris Jericho in his late 40s might of had his best match in the last 15 years with Kenny Omega, This was not a mat wrestling match this was a braw, this was a war and This match just made Kenny Omega even more of a global star. We saw everything you would want to see in a war, We saw Omega hit Jericho with the V Trigger and he went crashing to the outside through the table we saw a one winged angel which Jericho used the ropes to survive. Omega kicked out of the Codebreaker. I cannot even tell you how great this match was this was a must need to watch and i plan to watch it again. The One Winged Angel proves yet again to be the most protected finish in the game.
9. IWGP Heavyweight Title Match
Kazuchika Okada With Gedo Vs Tetsuya Naito
Kazuchika Okada Wins Via Rainmaker & Retains IWGP Heavyweight Title
Rate: 4.5 Stars
Opinion : The multi year build match finally happens and it was Good but was not as great as it should of been, Twitter blew up as everyone figured Naito fulfills his redemption story but not on this night. The finish felt underwhelming as it felt like everyone thought Naito would kick out but This match was good and did deserve to main event the show as it caps off a great show and honestly the best Wrestle Kingdom show in recent times. Naito had to feel heartbroken as tried to do it fairly and could not beat the golden boy of NJPW.
Show Grade: A+
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