 Pre-Show: Hirooki Goto Won the IWGP World Heavyweight Championship No. 1 Contender's New Japan RanboIn the past, the final four of the New Japan Ranbo would advance to New Year Dash to challenge for the Provisional KOPW Championship, but I'm glad they changed that this year with the winner instead earning a future shot at the IWGP World Heavyweight Championship. The match wasn't any more memorable than it normally is, but the bigger stakes did help improve its overall quality. Ichiban Sweet Boys def. Intergalactic Jet Setters, Catch 2/2 and Bullet Club War Dogs (Clark Connors and Drilla Moloney) in a Four-Way Tokyo Terror Ladder Match to Win the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team ChampionshipWe see a lot of tag team Ladder matches in WWE, AEW and even TNA, but I can't remember any I've seen in New Japan Pro-Wrestling, so I was looking forward to this, especially with the level of talent involved. It wasn't always super smooth (Knight completely missed with his splash off the top of the ladder), but it was an enjoyable opener on the whole and the crowd was into it as well. IWGP Women's Champion Mayu Iwatani def. AZMGetting women's matches on the main card at Wrestle Kingdom was one of the best decisions the company could have made, especially with the deep women's roster they have at their disposal (including Stardom). I don't know much about either competitor, but that hardly mattered as they had a damn good match. They didn't get a ton of time, but they definitely maximized their minutes. El Phantasmo def. Ren Narita, Jeff Cobb and Ryohei Oiwa in a Four-Way Match to Win the NJPW World Television ChampionshipI believe Phantasmo was out for a while for a cancer diagnosis, so it's wonderful to see him back. Plus, he won the TV title here, so that was a cool moment. There was never a dull moment among these four men, which made for a fun match. I know Cobb's been killing it in NJPW for years now, but selfishly, I'd like to see him in either WWE or AEW one of these days, provided he's actually utilized properly. Hiroshi Tanahashi def. EVIL in a Lumberjack Death MatchI don't need to follow the product closely to know that House of Torture sucks as a faction, so almost anything involving EVIL on the NJPW shows I watch immediately loses my interest. Tanahashi has announced that he'll have his final match at next year's Wrestle Kingdom, but he would've retired early had he lost here. Obviously, that was never going to happen, but even with the silly stipulation, this wasn't terrible. Katsuyori Shibata making the save for Tanahashi afterward set up their exhibition match for Wrestle Dynasty tomorrow. AEW Continental Champion Konosuke Takeshita def. Shingo Takagi in a Winner Take All Match to Win the NEVER Openweight ChampionshipThis was the match I was most excited for coming into the event and it undoubtedly delivered. Takeshita has taken a bit of a backseat on AEW programming as of late, but perhaps he'll be featured a bit more going forward now that he's holding more gold. Takagi is excellent in his own right and thus this was a terrific match. Now the key is ensuring Takeshita doesn't disappear from NJPW entirely after this. El Desperado def. DOUKI by Referee Stoppage to Win the IWGP Junior Heavyweight ChampionshipThis was going well and was nicely paced up until the abrupt finish with DOUKI getting injured and the contest having to be called off. That was just five minutes in, so although we didn't get to see what more these guys could do together, the important thing is that DOUKI appears to be okay. Needless to say, the fashion in which Desperado became champion was anticlimactic, but you can't plan for this sort of stuff. Yota Tsuji def. David Finlay to Win the IWGP Global Heavyweight ChampionshipTsuji has really impressed me the last few times I've seen him wrestle and this was no exception. Finlay has also come a long way over the years and looked like a total star here. This was a very entertaining outing with a genuinely unpredictable outcome (at least as someone who doesn't regularly watch the product). Finlay might be ready to move up the card now that he's lost the Global Heavyweight title for a second time. Tetsuya Naito def. Hiromu TakahashiNaito doesn't move around quite as quickly as he used to, but this was a match based on a rich history that he has with Takahashi, so while it was extremely solid from an in-ring standpoint, it was even better from a storytelling standpoint. Takahashi didn't show Naito respect beforehand, so I liked how he did afterward, and that Takahashi earned Naito's respect by enduring as much as he did. I figured Takahashi would win as Naito doesn't benefit from beating Takahashi, but I understood what they were going for. IWGP World Heavyweight Champion Zack Sabre Jr. def. Shota UminoThis was easily the weakest main event on paper at a Wrestle Kingdom in many years, and unfortunately, it wasn't as if exceeded expectations. I have no idea why this was extremely drawn out. Did they honestly think that would give the match more of an epic vibe? It wasn't poorly wrestled or anything like that, but the drama felt forced and it didn't sound like the crowd was buying it. This certainly didn't work as a Wrestle Kingdom main event, and the outcome established that Umino still isn't capable of winning the big one. Overall ShowNew Japan has next to no buzz these days, so I didn't have high hopes for Wrestle Kingdom this year. Despite that, this was an above-average event with plenty of kickass matches. Amazingly, the main event was the worst of the bunch, but a big reason for that was its excessive length. Trim 15 to 20 minutes and it would have been significantly stronger. Other than that, Wrestle Kingdom 19 was largely a breeze. It's apparent they need to continue building up new stars, though. The main event scene seems desolate.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
Categories
All
Archives
July 2025
|
RSS Feed