NJPW Wrestle Kingdom 15: Night 1 Review - January 4, 2021

By Graham "GSM" Matthews

Pre-Show: Bad Luck Fale, Chase Owens, Bushi and Toru Yano Were the Remaining Four Competitors in the New Japan Ranbo and Advanced to the KOPW Provisional Championship Match on Night 2

I've seen a few NJPW Battle Royals over the years and some are more fun than others, especially depending on who the surprise entrants are. I believe Rocky Romero wasn't previously announced as an entrance, but that was about it as far as the surprises went. It was a pretty tame Battle Royal on the whole that was wisely placed on the pre-show. That isn't to say it was bad, but it didn't feature anything out of the ordinary either, at least except for Toru Yano winning without actually entering. That was pretty funny.

Hiromu Takahashi def. El Phantasmo in a IWGP Jr. Heavyweight Championship No. 1 Contender's Match

Takahashi is just fantastic. I'm so glad he was able to return from his near-career-ending neck injury and is killing it it again. Meanwhile, I wasn't familiar with Phantasmo whatsoever, but he had a hell of a showing here and was incredibly impressive. This was the best possible choice to kick off the main card, even though Takahashi winning was never really in doubt. I'd like to see more from Phantasmo going forward.

Guerrilas of Destiny def. Taichi and Zack Sabre Jr. to Win the IWGP Heavyweight Tag Team Championship

Apparently, G.O.D. had never won at Wrestle Kingdom before. That's a wild stat if true given how dominant they've been in the tag team ranks over the years. Taichi was another new face to me and he was good, but Sabre never ceases to amaze me with what he can do. This was a well-worked tag team match that felt a little longer than it needed to be. I don't know if G.O.D. needed to cheat to win the titles, but I guess it was designed to put heat on them.

KENTA def. Satoshi Kojima to Retain the IWGP United States Championship Challenge Rights Certificate

KENTA has been owed a shot at the United States title for quite a while, but current champ Jon Moxley wasn't able to make the event for whatever reason, so the bout had to be delayed. I was starting to think he was going to be stripped of the strap, but I'm happy that won't be the case. A pre-taped promo with Moxley aired indicating he'll be back to defend the title soon, which is excellent news. The match we got instead here was well-wrestled and told a solid story, despite not being the most exciting.

Hiroshi Tanahashi def. Great-O-Khan

I don't watch New Japan Pro-Wrestling as regularly as I should, but even I know that you can almost always count on Tanahashi to deliver on the grand stage of Wrestle Kingdom. That said, this was an underwhelming encounter, and I don't blame Tanahashi for that. Rather, Great-O-Khan's offense looked terrible. Tanahashi has been a part of some classics at Wrestle Kingdom over the years, but this was absolutely not one of them and arguably a waste of what he can do. That's a shame. He should have been involved in something bigger instead.

Kazuchika Okada def. Will Ospreay

To call Okada a star would be a massive understatement. The dude is simply on another level. Ospreay is one of the best in the world as well, so you had to know coming in that this was going to be a barn burner. Sure enough, they delivered in spades. It went a while but didn't feel like it at all. Ospreay set out to prove he was on Okada's level and he did just that, even in defeat. The fact Okada won with one Rainmaker (as opposed to five or six in his matches with Kenny Omega) was a nice touch. This was a wonderful piece of business.

Kota Ibushi def. Tetsuya Naito to Win the IWGP Heavyweight Championship and the IWGP Intercontinental Championship

I know I don't follow NJPW very closely, but I get the feeling that Naito's main event run in the last year hasn't lit the world on fire the way fans thought it would. I'm aware the pandemic was partially (if not mostly) to blame, but he simply hasn't been on the level of past champions even though he's done the best with what he's been given. That said, this was Ibushi's time and I'm happy he won. It wasn't a guarantee, so that made the nearfalls that much more suspenseful down the stretch. This had a big fight feel to it and the action was exceptional. Jay White emerging afterward and promising to be his biggest demon once again was a nice hook for Night 2.

Overall Show

It's been six years since I last watched Wrestle Kingdom in its entirety. I don't believe this pay-per-view had a ton of buzz going into it, but I decided to check out Night 1 because, well, why the hell not and I wasn't disappointed. The main event alone lived up the hype, but Okada vs. Ospreay was also amazing. The undercard was pretty good on the whole, though the best bout of the bunch was arguably Takahashi vs. Phantasmo and nothing else came close. Then again, I'd be remiss if I gave this show anything less than two thumbs-up given that those top two matches were just so spectacular. Night 2 has potential as well and I applaud Night 1 of Wrestle Kingdom for making me want to watch it.