NJPW Wrestle Kingdom 16: Night 2 Review - January 5, 2022

By Graham "GSM" Matthews

Pre-Show: Tomoaki Honma, Togi Makabe and Yuji Nagata def. Bullet Club (Bad Luck Fale, Gedo and Jado)

The commentators mentioned that the three matches on the pre-show came together after what happened on Night 1. Most, if not all of these guys, were involved in the New Japan Ranbo and this just felt like an excuse to get them on the card for Night 2 because nothing in particular stood out about this bout. That isn't to say it was bad by any means, but it was fairly basic for the six or seven minutes it lasted.

Pre-Show: Master Wato, Hiroyoshi Tenzan and Satoshi Kojima def. Suzuki-gun (IWGP Junior Heavyweight Champion El Desperado, Yoshinobu Kanemaru and TAKA Michinoku)

I know he was already in the New Japan Ranbo on Night 1, but it was cool to see Kojima make another appearance at Wrestle Kingdom. I only became familiar with him in 2021 through his appearances for IMPACT and AEW and it's clear he can still very much go. As a match, this was solid stuff, but the real takeaway was that Wato pinned Desperado, indicating that he'll be next to challenge for the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Championship.

Pre-Show: Los Ingobernables de Japon (Shingo Takagi, Hiromu Takahashi and BUSHI) def. Suzuki-gun (Dangerous Tekkers and DOUKI)

This was probably the most prominent of the three six-man tag team matches on the pre-show because it featured the former IWGP World Heavyweight Champion, the failed challenger to the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Championship, and the former IWGP World Tag Team Champions (Zack Sabre Jr. and Taichi). Takagi needed the more more than anyone else and Takahashi was a close second, so the right team won. The action was entertaining, but this definitely belonged on the pre-show.

IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Champions Flying Tiger def. Mega Coaches and Bullet Club (El Phantasmo and Taiji Ishimori) in a Three-Way Tag Team Match

Flying Tiger is the team of Robbie Eagles and Tiger Mask, while The Mega Coaches (who wrestled on Night 1) are Rocky Romero and Taguchi. Apparently the story of the match was that Taguchi wanted to become one-half of the 69th IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Champions, which is hilarious. Flying Tiger retained, so it's possible it happens some other time. Another story was that Phantasmo was hiding something in his boot the whole match and apparently he's been doing that for a while now. It finally came out that he was hiding metal in there and Bullet Club was disqualified as a result. This was well worked and a lot of fun.

Saya Kamitani and Tam Nakano def. Starlight Kid and Mayu Iwatani

If I'm not mistaken, this marked the first time a women's match has made the main card of a Wrestle Kingdom event, courtesy of STARDOM. That's an awesome accomplishment and hopefully it can continue in the years to come, including at other shows New Japan Pro-Wrestling runs. I don't know what the story was behind the bout, but purely from an in-ring standpoint, this was terrific. I've seen people say that STARDOM is by far the best women's wrestling promotion out there and I can believe it after watching this. Props to all four women for such a stellar performance.

Minoru Suzuki def. Toru Yano, CIMA and Chase Owens in a Four-Way Match to Win the Provisional KOPW 2022 Trophy

I know Yano has won the Provisional Trophy the last year or two, but realistically, any one of these guys could have taken it. Owens is a staple of New Japan, CIMA is making a comeback, and Suzuki is, well, Suzuki. Suzuki ultimately winning it presents a lot of possibilities and freshens things up in that division. There was nothing overly special about this other than the outcome, but it was a fine four-way where everyone had their time to shine and it didn't overstay its welcome.

NEVER Openweight Six-Man Tag Team Champions House of Torture (NEVER Openweight Champion EVIL, Yujiro Takahashi and SHO) def. CHAOS (YOH and IWGP Heavyweight Tag Team Champions Hirooki Goto and YOSHI-HASHI)

The only thing worse than EVIL's match from Night 1 is that he had another match on Night 2. YOH and SHO got to resume their rivalry and I enjoyed their interaction, but the rest of this was just sort of there. Interestingly, this didn't exceed the 10-minute mark, but that was definitely for the best. House of Torture retaining their titles means their shenanigans will continue, and that's a shame because they were the worst part of both nights of Wrestle Kingdom this year.

SANADA def. Great-O-Khan

I remember not at all being impressed by Great-O-Khan when he wrestled Hiroshi Tanahashi at last year's show and this was more of the same. He just screams average to me. On the bright side, SANADA made this match more interesting and was the correct choice to win. Apparently both guys had a lot of success in 2021, and while I can believe that for SANADA, I'm genuinely shocked O-Khan has booked as strongly as he has. This would have been a nice spot for Jay White had he been able to appear.

Tetsuya Naito def. Jeff Cobb

Apparently Cobb was injured during the six-man tag team match he was a part of on Night 1, hence why he was moving around a bit awkwardly here. Despite that, he had a strong showing and this was a great match. It's easy to forget that Naito was IWGP World Heavyweight Championship just last year based on how he's been positioned on the card since then, but he's still very capable of delivering on these big stages and winning when it matters most. I would have loved a Cobb win, but based on what we saw at the end of the night, it looks like Naito will be next in line for a shot at the world title.

Hiroshi Tanahashi def. KENTA in a No Disqualification Match to Win the IWGP United States Heavyweight Championship

It took a year or two, but KENTA finally got the run with the IWGP United States Heavyweight Championship he was looking for. Unfortunately for him, it was short-lived, but Tanahashi isn't a bad choice as far as people he could've lost the title to. Tanahashi getting disqualified in that tag team match on Night 1 played into this as he was able to go all out here and give KENTA the beating he had coming to him. They destroyed each other with the weapons they had available to them and it was a brutal affair. I feel like I haven't seen many No Disqualification matches at Wrestle Kingdom over the years, so this stood out and was one of my favorite matches of the night.

IWGP World Heavyweight Champion Kazuchika Okada def. Will Ospreay

I barely follow New Japan, but even I'm aware that Will Ospreay won the IWGP Heavyweight Championship last spring from Kota Ibushi and had to vacate it not long after due to a neck injury. Thankfully, he wasn't out for long and has been parading around as the "real" world champion ever since. Ospreay lost to Okada last year at Wrestle Kingdom, so there was a chance he'd avenge the loss here and become champion. That didn't happen and I'm fine with that because I'm sure he'll be champion again down the road. Unsurprisingly, this was a banger of a bout from start to finish. I just wish the circumstances weren't what they were so they could have had an electric atmosphere for this. Both guys are stars and honestly draw me into the New Japan product more than anyone else.

Overall Show

Night 2 was stronger than Night 1 in my book. Both main events were outstanding (thanks, Okada), but the undercard was better the second night than it was the first. The pre-show was practically pointless and there's nothing to see there, but there was a lot of quality wrestling to be had throughout this event and those last three matches were fantastic. Between the two nights, this was one of the weaker Wrestle Kingdom shows I've watched since 2015, but with what New Japan can produce at the moment due to circumstances beyond their control, this was a thumbs-up show. They don't have the same buzz they once did, but hopefully they can bounce back in 2022 and capitalize off the momentum from this pay-per-view.

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