Wrestle Kingdom II

Legacy Review

Wrestle Kingdom II

January 4, 2008 from the Tokyo Dome

New Japan continues to try to climb out of the giant hole they dug themselves into during the Inokism era, while also trying to continue the annual tradition of the January 4th Tokyo Dome show being their biggest show of the year, a concept that was still managing to carry on despite being on life support for several years now. The Wrestle Kingdom name, taken from new parent company Yuke's latest multi-Japanese wrestling company video game, seemed to work last year so it's back for another go. It does make internet searches for this show slightly hard because there was also a Wrestle Kingdom 2 video game released. As part of their fight to regain relevance, the company's two biggest young stars are main eventing this show in what will be a true generation defining battle. In keeping with New Japan tradition, this major show would also feature a cross promotional battle, this time with none other than American company TNA, who New Japan had started building a working relationship with over the past year. TNA had slowly but steadily grown since its inception in 2002 and were using a combination of WWE cast offs paired with younger homegrown talent to become essentially the (distant) #2 wrestling company in the US at the time (Ring of Honor was also in the latter part of its Golden Years at this point, but as great as it was it didn't have much exposure outside truly hardcore wrestling fans). The downside to TNA being so heavily featured on this show is it means most of the show's matches have been scrubbed from NJPW World. At the time of this writing only four of the ten matches on this show can be found on World, by far the lowest for any 1/4 Dome show. Fortunately, I've been able to track down an online copy of the original, complete DVD release of this show and will be able to give a complete review. Don't ask, I'm not telling.

As usual for these older shows it's Japanese commentary only. One other note, as we're starting to get into the era, that continues today, where multiple factions are the norm in New Japan with most everyone on the roster being in one or another I'm going to start noting factions where appropriate, especially for the multi-man tag matches.

The opening video reminds me the TNA guys are going to need to relearn how to work in a proper four sided ring for this show. The stage setup is really cool even for a Dome show, with a sliding tron that can be one giant screen or two separate ones, and separate entrances for New Japan and TNA. The New Japan guys are literally walking out of a lion's mouth. This is also the time where New Japan was modernizing its presentation a bit, doing ring intros as wrestlers walk to the ring like American companies rather than waiting to do them after everyone is in the ring. Except for the title matches, but they deserve super special ring announcing like they get in WWE today.

AJ Styles, Chrisitan Cage and Petey Williams def Prince Devitt, Milano Collection AT and Minoru (RISE) in 10:25- Unquestioned multi-company legend Styles is making his Dome debut little knowing what the future held for him in Japan. We're still pretty early in his career here. He's had a stint in ROH where he became the first ever ROH Pure champion, has had three runs with the NWA World Heavyweight title (which was also TNA's top title before the NWA/TNA split in 2007) and is a multi-time TNA X-Division champ. He was easily TNA's most successful home grown product and could already be called Mr. TNA, and really should be in a singles match on this show. Christian had been in TNA a bit over two years, jumping over after bouncing off the WWE glass ceiling one too many times while watching former tag partner Edge become a main eventer, and was a two time NWA World Heavyweight champ. Williams is probably best known for his run as mini Scott Steiner in TNA, including being in the background for the legendary Steiner Math promo that would take place in May. On the other side, Devitt, AKA Finn Balor, is making his Dome debut after being with New Japan for about a year and a half and was still developing. Milano Collection is also making his Dome debut after coming back from excursion the year before, and had also won Best of the Super Juniors in '07 in a fairly big upset. They, along with veteran and former junior heavyweight champ Minoru, are all in the group RISE, which was founded by Shinsuke Nakamura in August of '07 and mostly consisted of younger wrestlers. Milano, as is tradition, has his Little Jimmy dog with him on his entrance. Balor looks like a freaking baby here. Williams and Minoru start. Wait, Styles wants in. He also looks very young with his short hair and no beard. He was a bit bulkier in his younger days too. Nice dual kip up exchange out of arm wringers and stalemate. Shoulderblock stalemate. Another. Styles has enough of that and goes to the ol' eye gouge. Minoru responds in kind. Speed run and Styles hits a dropkick. After a Styles dodge Minoru also hits one. Styles takes a powder. Minoru gets on the ropes teasing a dive but flips back into the ring. Both sides tag with Williams and Milano coming in. Williams hits a quick jawbreaker and spinning heel kick. Long speed run and Milano gets a basement dropkick. Paradise Lock! Rope assisted one to be clear. Still freaking classic. Milano gives Williams the release key, a huge air dropkick in the ass. All the New Japan team take turns giving Williams some rapid fire shots. Williams fights Devitt off and tags out to Christian. Christian comes in HOT with some corner chops and lots of jawing to Devitt. Devitt floats over in the corner and hits a dropkick. More speed. Devitt hits the brakes in the middle of the ring and hits a pele kick. He hooks Christian up and calls for a "BRAIN BUSTAHHHHH!". Christian counters out and tries for an Unprettier. (Yes I know it's the Killswitch now, I always preferred the older name, sue me) More counters. Devitt airplane spin! Someone on the TNA team shouts "Make him stop, ref!". Both guys are wobblelegged. Christian wanders into the wrong corner and takes a shot. The New Japan team does some quick tag work on him. Christian slides under Devitt and hits an Edgecution style DDT for 2. Styles slams Devitt and hits a kneedrop for 2. Oh the future these two will have. Williams hits a dropkick to Devitt's back for 2. Christian tags in and gives Devitt a huge disrespect slap right in the mush. That wakes Devitt up. He slaps back and tries to fight out of the TNA corner. He slingshots Christian into Styles and rolls Christian up for 2. Double lariato. Christian holds Devitt back from tagging, then calls in the team behind the ref's back for the attack. Devitt and Williams trade suplex counters. Devitt gets Williams on his shoulders and hits a gutbuster. Tag to Minoru. Styles does a nasty neck bending sell of a Minoru basement dropkick. Christian runs in and jumps Minoru from behind. It breaks down as Minoru and Milano double team Christian and Styles. Williams springboard hurricanranas Milano on the floor! Christian springboard dive onto Minoru. Devitt loads up.....but the ref stops him! Screw you ref. Devitt tope con hilo over the ref! Styles runs in with a crazy Fosbury flop onto everyone! That one could have ended badly. Back in the ring Milano Matrix dodges a Styles leg lariat and hits an enzuguri. Shot from Minoru on the apron. Styles fights free and hits Milano with a pele kick. Minoru missile dropkick on Styles. Christian hits the Unprettier on Minoru! More crazy maneuvering from everyone. Williams Canadian destroyer on Devitt! Syles takes Williams out with a flying forearm! Minoru tries to roll Styles up. Styles rolls through it, hooks up....STYLES CLASH! Styles gets the pin! Very fun 6 man opener and a good showcase for the TNA talent. That Styles guy might do all right in Japan. ***1/4

One last note, later in January during the New Beginning tour Devitt and Minoru would defeat the not booked tonight team of Dick Togo and Taka Michinoku for the IWGP junior tag titles, the first of Devitt's many titles in New Japan and beyond.

 

IWGP Junior Heavyweight Championship: Wataru Inoue (c) def Christopher Daniels in 10:17- Inoue had been struggling in New Japan, so he was sent off to Mexico on a supplemental learning excursion in '07, coming back with some new moves and a new attitude. That helped him dethrone Ryuske Taguchi for the junior title in December, the one and only singles title of his career. Daniels is a TNA representative here, but was no stranger to New Japan. Back in '04 he and partner "American Dragon" Bryan Danielson had a run with the junior tag titles, with Daniels wrestling under a mask as the legendary Curry Man. TNA ring announcer Jeremy Borash is in the ring to tag team intros along with New Japan's ring announcer. Daniels is the clear aggressor of the initial lockup to boos from the crowd. Inoue ducks a lariato, grabs a waistlock and drops Daniels face down. Big running shoulderblock in the corner. The New Japan crowd doesn't seem too sure of Inoue still. Tiltawhirl backbreaker and Daniels powders. Inoue plancha! Daniels ducks chops on the floor and Inoue chops the post. Daniels runs him gut first into the post! Gutbuster from Daniels back in. Gutwrench gutbuster for 2. He gives Inoue some mocking slaps that wake him up. Chops from Inoue. Daniels cuts him off with a knee to the gut, then goes for a rough eye gouge. Leg lariat to more boos that Daniels relishes. Split legged moonsault and more eye gouging. Abdominal stretch! Wait. We're in Japan. Cobra twist. With added rope leverage. Daniels is hitting all the heel classics tonight. The ref catches him and forces a break that doesn't bother Daniels one bit. Inoue tries to slug and chop back. Another eye poke from Daniels. Inoue uses a Daniels corner floatover to faceplant him! More chops. Corner running forearm. Shotgun dropkick off the second rope from Inoue for 2. Backdropeh suplex for 2. Daniels gets another knee to the gut and hits a uranage. Step up moonsault! That gets 2. Inoue fights a submission hold into a cover for 2. Daniels gets up and hits some straight punches to the ref's admonishment and yet more boos. Inoue cuts off a corner clothesline with a forearm. He gets a bit of an ugly takedown but manages to get Daniels over into a Fujiwara armbar. Cradle exchange. Rolling takedown into more traded near falls. Enzuguri from Daniels. He says that's it. He hooks up for Angel Wings. Inoue backdrops free. Slugfest, but with Daniels going for the midsection he worked on earlier. Huge shotei from Inoue! Fisherman's buster! Daniels kicks out! Inoue ducks a lariato and hits a spear. Fisherman's driver! That gets the pin! Pretty good but nowhere near great. Inoue's ceiling was low, hence his constant struggle for real success. He would hold the title until June, where he'd voluntarily vacate it to move up to the heavyweight division. ***

 

Manabu Nakanishi def Abyss in 6:00- Straight up hoss fight here as two of the biggest guys in either promotion go at it. In fact this is billed as the Japanese monster vs the American monster. Nakanishi was still best known for pulling off the biggest upset G1 Climax win in history back in 1999, struggling to do anything of note since. Abyss was already well on his way to becoming a TNA legend. He'd been with the company almost since the start, but had already had his one and only run with TNA's top title. Both guys charge in and midring collision with no one moving! Nakanishi pushes Abyss into the corner and hits a bunch of chops. Corner whip. Abyss goozle! Nakanishi fights out of a chokeslam. He 360 lariatos Abyss to the floor. Abyss lands on his feet, drags Nakanishi out, and runs him into the post. Guardrail whip. He beats Nakanishi back up the entrance ramp. Nakanishi gets slammed on the ramp! Abyss goes under the ring and gets a bag. He undoes it as he walks back up the aisle. Tacks! Tacks on the entrance aisle! Nakanishi sees them and escapes a slam. He bulldogs Abyss into the tacks! We can see a TON of tacks in Abyss' hand and upper arm. I really hope someone on commentary is shouting whatever is Japanese for "human pin cushion". Back in the ring and Abyss' hands are almost useless due to all the tacks in them. Nakanishi gets him up in the torture rack. Abyss wiggles free. Chokeslam! Nakanishi kicks out! Corner avalanche from Abyss. He goes for another. Spear from Nakanishi that almost misses. Slam. German suplex! Another one with a bridge. Abyss' shoulder definitely rolls off the mat but the ref counts 3 anyway. No one looks happy afterward. Nakanishi leaves quicker than Abyss does despite being the winner. About what you'd expect given the participants. Digging the tacks out even in this short a match was a plus, but that botched finish was ugly. *3/4

Hope those tacks get cleaned up good. Don't need anyone else stepping on them during their entrance.

 

Yutaka Yoshie, Masato Tanaka, Katsushi Takemura and Tatsuhito Takaiwa def Koji Kanemoto, Ryusuke Taguchi, Takashi Iizuka and Tiger Mask in 8:36- Welcome to your standard "throw everyone not doing anything else on the card together" Tokyo Dome multi-man tag match. Kanemoto was still officially a junior heavyweight but continued to dabble in the heavyweight division to elevate his legend status even further. In '07 he challenged sometime tag partner Hiroshi Tanahashi for the Heavyweight title in a very well received match. Not unlike what Hiromu Takahashi has been doing lately as he's already done all he can in the junior division. As alluded to earlier Taguchi had recently had his first run with the junior title before dropping it in December. Tiger Mask was also a three time junior champion at this point, and would be the one to win it later in the year after Inoue's vacation. Yes, I'm focusing mainly on one team, mostly because there isn't a whole hell of a lot to say about the other one. Star power wise it's a very lopsided match. I think most of the other team is representing Pro Wrestling Zero1, though most have some kind of New Japan background, particularly Yoshie, who was once a fairly hot prospect but never took off. Tiger Mask is in all blue tonight. Taguchi is also very different from how we know him today. Tanaka's got a katana with him which I'm fairly sure is illegal. Screw your checks ref, we're fighting! Everyone scatters and pairs off for the huge brawl. Order is slowly restored with TM and Takemura in the ring. Taguchi hits a dropkick and wraps Takemura up in a headscissors, trying to combine it with an armbreaker. The New Japan team spends a long time clearing off the apron and positioning Takemura before hitting a QUADRUPLE dropkick. Kanemoto lays in some of his signature kicks and hits a corkscrew senton. Iizuka is slowly starting to act more like the crazy man we'll see for his late career run in Suzuki-Gun. He just needs the beard. He gives Takemura a superplex for 2. Takemura manages to hit a lariato and finally tags out. The Zero1 team all run in and clear the apron. They do a quick war drums on Iiuzka. Everyone hit your corner moves. Yoshie punctuates it with a huge avalanche. Iizuka hits Takaiwa with a reverse exploder and tags out. Kanemoto gets Tanaka down in the corner and gives him the world famous boot wash. Big open hand slap exchange. Tanaka gets a lariato and hits a brain buster for 2. Kanemoto belly to belly suplexes Takaiwa and tags. Taguchi hits a pair of shotgun dropkicks for 2. Takaiwa hits a Michinoku driver! Yoshie tags in and hits his weak imitation of a Vader tackle. It's go home everyone in the pool time. TM does a tope suicida just because. Thanks to the help of a TM dropkick Taguchi manages to get Yoshie over for a German suplex but the pin is broken up. Tanaka nails Taguchi with a lariato. Yoshie squashes him with the big splash off the top rope and it's over. Standard multi man tag stuff, nothing great, nothing awful. Wrong team probably won but there might be a follow up to it down the road I don't know about. It takes a while to break everyone up after the bell. **1/2

 

Hardcore Match: Team 3D def Togi Makabe and Toru Yano (GBH) in 13:12- Makabe and Yano are the two most prominent members of the Great Bash Heel (GBH) stable, which as the name implies was the top heel stable in New Japan. All you need to know about them is they would eventually name their two man unit Most Violent Players. This is not the happy, goofy Yano of later years. The former Dudley Boyz had been with TNA since 2005 after leaving WWE and were forced to change their name after a legal dispute. Not just the team name, they're currently known as Brother Ray and Brother Devon. Damn I'd forgotten how much Devon, er, expanded in these later years. Not that I'm one to criticize. A good thing about this match is with the Japanese crowd no one will be chanting "WE WANT TABLES" 30 seconds into the match. I hate that. GBH do the jump before the bell. They both choke 3D with their own TNA towels. After some chokey/eye rakey stuff GBH both hit lariatos. 3D pop right back up! Stereo suplexes on GBH! GBH get squashed in the corner. Devon and Makabe get into a slugfest as things start to settle in. Devon hits a pair of lariatos and a diving headbutt for 2. Ray tags in, stares down with Makabe, then calls out Yano. Yano happily tags in. Big shoulderblock standoff that staggers Yano. More speed and Yano hits a spear! Ray hulks up off some forearms. Uranage on Yano. Makabe breaks the pin up. 3D double flapjack Makabe. Reverse 3D! Yano breaks the pin up with a trash can! Trash can shot for Ray with a nice delayed flop sell. A kendo stick gets introduced by someone that's seconding GBH on the floor, I honestly can't tell who it is. OH! Hey, it's Honma! That's right, he and Tomohiro Ishii were both in GBH at the time too. Yano gets his personal chair and works Ray over with it. Someone, presumably, Honma, pulled the floor mat up and GBH spike piledrive Devon on the bare floor! Ray responds by nailing Makabe with the trash can. Yano gets the bell hammer and works Ray over with it. Devon is already upright back in the ring. A SPIKE PILEDRIVER on the FLOOR with the mats pulled up. That's John Cena at Summerslam '10 levels of no selling. At least he's still on defense. Makabe gets his chain while Yano does what he's always done best, take a corner pad off. Devon gets whipped into the exposed corner. Now Yano has a garrotte wire and chokes Devon with it. Trash can lid to Devon's head for 2. Makabe gives Devon a kendo stick shot. Devon runs right through an attempted double lariato and lariatos both GBH guys down. Tag to Ray. Lariatos for everyone. He plants both guys with German suplexes. Chairshots for both GBH guys. Devon has a ladder! I didn't know New Japan even kept ladders under the ring. Ray does his usual crazy swing with the ladder around his neck, then throws it into Yano for 2. Flip flop and fly jabs and elbow on Yano. Ray puts the trash can lid on Yano the hits it with the chair. Makabe takes the Whazzup drop. "GET THE TABLES!". Even the Tokyo Dome crowd sort of shouted along with that. And here's one of those tiny New Japan tables, set up in the ring. GBH take 3D down before they can do anything with it. Yano inverted atomic drops Devon and Makabe nails him with a lariato for 2. Makabe wraps his chain around his arm and lariatos Ray with it. They get the table set up and put Ray's arm on it. Devon pushes Makabe off the top rope and Makabe kind of goes into the table. Yano gets set up in classic Dudleyz fashion. Through the table! 3D on Makabe! It's over. Team 3D were well past their prime at this point, but given the stipulation that was still a bit of a disappointment. Hardcore never was New Japan's wheelhouse and they were clearly holding back from really going all out. **

 

Jushin Thunder Liger, Akira, Masahiro Chono, Riki Choshu and Tatsumi Fujinami (Legend) def Gedo, Jado, brother Yasshi, Shuji Kondo and Taru (VBH) in 7:18- VBH is the conglomeration (great word) of GBH and fellow heel stable Voodoo Murders. Legend, as the group and individual names imply, is a stable made up of most of the active legends of New Japan. Akira is the only guy I'd consider borderline on that. Koji Kanemoto would fit better, but they probably wanted to keep him and his forever rival Liger separated again, especially after they had teamed up during Liger's recent heel run. This is essentially the 2008 equivalent of Tanahashi plus guys like Naito, KUSHIDA or Nakamura versus House of Torture. I have lost count of how many times Choshu's come out of retirement. Less than Terry Funk though. Fujinami was smart, he never retired. He's still wrestling part time today! As soon as everyone's in the ring the big brawl is on. The Legend team quickly clears the ring out and gets Gedo isolated. Gedo ducks and Choshu lariatos Fujinami! Whoops. Kondo tags in and immediately eats a Choshu lariato. Liger tags in, tosses Kondo out, and hits a baseball slide. Top rope dive to the floor! Akira follows up with a tope suicida. Senton back in from Liger for 2. War drums from Legend. Fujinami hits the kneedrop off the top rope. Kondo gets Akira with a pop up powerslam and all the VBH team run in to clear the apron off. Taru takes Chono outside and all the way up the ramp while everyone else stays in the ring with VBH keeping Akira isolated. For a bit, then it all spills to the floor again. We get a glimpse of Chono pounding Taru on the entrance stage. The crowd's really reacting to it but the cameras stay on the ring with Akira still in peril. Taru hits Chono with a running lariato on the stage. Everyone hit Akira in the corner time. Taru gives him a Greco Roman nut kick. Yasshi hits a senton off Kondo's shoulders for 2. Akira double dropkicks and tags out to Fujinami. Dragon screws for everyone! Chono tags in. Shining wizardo on Yasshi! Chono and Choshu spike piledriver Yasshi. Suplex from Choshu. Scorpion Death Lock! VBH all quickly run in to break it up. Chono gets the STF on one guy (wide shot so it's hard to tell) while Fujinami has someone else in the dragon sleeper. Choshu turns Yasshi inside out with the MURDER lariato! That gets the pin! Too short with too many guys to really mean anything, but the bad guys did bad things, the legends got most of the greatest hits in, the good guys won and everyone moves on happy. *1/2

Intermission? What is this, 2020? In between commentary jabber we get a commercial of Tanahashi hawking a DVD of presumably this show, then highlights of all the matches so far.

 

The Great Muta def Hirooki Goto (RISE) in 13:04- Keiji Mutoh is bringing his Great Muta persona back to his original home company for the first time in nearly 8 years. This is by far the biggest match of young Goto's career, not least because he grew up a Muta fan. Muta's entrance manages to be both understated and clearly extra for WK and awesome at the same time. Red Shoes has checked in early to ref this match. Goto goes out to meet Muta in the aisle, attacks with his.....big stick with a spear tip on one end (I can't place the name for that, I want to say halberd but that's European medival) and Muta goes down! Goto walks up the ramp then charges down with Muta's own running lariato! Muta's music is still playing through all of this by the way. When they get to ringside the music stops and the bell rings to officially start. Goto continues to lay in punishment on the floor. He dives off the apron. MIST! That puts Goto down. Yeah, this is clearly later years bald old man Muta, wearing a mask instead of facepaint. He goes under the ring and gets the same ladder the Dudleyz used earlier. I assume. Why would there be two ladders under there? He tosses it in Goto's face. Muta's got the pointy end of Goto's staff. He digs it into Goto's forehead! The camera stays very wide for that. There's also a giant gaggle of photographers all around them. Muta gets in the ring for the first time, then goes back out and hits Goto with the staff again. Goto is bleeding. We've already got more blood than the hardcore match. Red Shoes finally starts a count and Muta rolls Goto in. Classic snap mare/elbow drop combo. Muta hooks on an STF. Goto tries to get to the ropes so Muta switches into a crossface to trap an arm. Goto manages to get a rope break with the other one. Muta tosses him out again. Guardrail shot for Goto. Muta gets a chair and nails him with it. Back in Muta puts on a sleeper. Goto gets a foot on the rope. As he comes up he looks almost happy and absorbs some more shots. Straight low blow from Goto! Red Shoes doesn't appreciate that. Goto hits a shining wizardo! I think that only annoyed Muta. They trade shots and Goto backs Muta up in the corner. He tosses Red Shoes away to pound Muta down in the corner. Red Shoes tries again. Goto tosses him into Muta! Red Shoes sells that like he hit an unprotected turnbuckle which is awesome. Muta ducks an attempted flying kick in the corner. Corner shining wizardo! Goto fights off a superplex attempt. Sunset bomb out of the corner! That gets a 2 count. Muta grabs a kick attempt and hits a dragon screw! Figure four! Goto slowly crawls over and gets a rope break. Except Muta won't break. Red Shoes has to do it for him. Basement dropkick from Muta. Another dragon screw. Goto rebounds with a lariato. Elbow off the top rope for 2. Backdropeh. Goto hooks up for a brain buster. Muta gives him a knee strike in the head to get free. Shining wizardo! He starts building up another mist shot. There it is! Everyone saw that coming but Goto. Two more shining wizardos! Goto kicks out! Muta changes tacks. Backbreaker. The moonsault hits! That gets the pin. Fairly fun match but it falls short of being really memorable. The chemistry wasn't really there and it plodded at times. So begins Goto's career long trend of always coming up short in the most important matches. About the only exception to that rule would be later in the year when he pulled off the second biggest G1 Climax upset win ever. **3/4

Before the next match Jeremy Borash brings out TNA founder Jeff Jarrett. I don't know who that is with him when he gets in the ring, but I'd sure like to. Jarrett thanks everyone for coming, then says after the next two title matches everyone will know TNA is the greatest wrestling organization in the world.

 

IWGP Heavyweight Tag Team Championship: Giant Bernard and Travis Tomko (c) (RISE) def The Steiner Brothers in 12:50- Former WWE cast-offs Bernard (Albert/A-Train) and Tomko (first name Tyson in WWE) were enjoying one of the longer IWGP tag title reigns of recent memory, having held the belts since March. The Steiners had reunited several times under the TNA banner, though Scott was the only one there full time while Rick came in and out. They were of course multi-time IWGP tag champs in their late '80s-mid '90s peak years and already had several classic Tokyo Dome matches under their belts. This would end up being their last match in New Japan, together or separate. Borash handles the TNA side of introductions again. Tiger Hattori tags in to ref this one. Random thought: how often do you have a tag match in the Tokyo Dome with no Japanese wrestlers in it at all? The most important step Bernard took when his career took him to Japan was shaving his back. If you know you know. Scott and Tomko start. Tomko shoves. Scott takes him down hard and rides him. He hits some elbows to the back of Tomko's head and shouts at Hattori to "SHUT UP!". A Scott lariato is no sold. Tomko gets a boot up on him in the corner. Scott belly to belly suplex! As Tomko gets up Scott tells him he's number one. Both sides tag. Late career Rick is a sad sight gear wise. Tearaway workout pants and a tshirt with the sleeves cut off. At least he's got the headgear on. Lockup and clean corner break. Bernard gets a slam. Rick cranks a headlock that Bernard can't escape. When he does get free he hits a shoulderblock and Rick rolls out for a think. And a breath. Back in Rick gets Bernard in a standing fireman's carry takedown. Tomko breaks a pin up so Scott runs him off. Rick backdrops Bernard over the top to the floor and the Steiners hit their classic pose. Man, Rick looked like he was getting blown up just from running in circles for that. Too old for this shit. The champs start wearing Rick down. Scott pulls the top rope down on Tomko to send him out to the floor, then runs him into the guardrail and post. Oh hell. There's a guitar sitting in the timekeeper's area. I didn't see Jarrett come out with one, but I know he's still at ringside so I think everyone knows what's coming at some point. Steinerline from Rick on Tomko back in for 2. Scott gives Tomko a super belly to belly. Bernard breaks the pin up. Rick tags in, gets an arm takedown, and puts on about the worst crossface ever. Tomko gets a rope break. Steinerline from Scott. Elbow drop and push ups. Classic. Rick hits a backbreaker. Tomko hits a flash powerslam! Tag to Bernard. Vader tackle. Big splash for 2. Corner avalanche. Vader bomb. Pretty easy to see who Bernard's New Japan inspiration is. Scott breaks the pin up so Bernard gives him an avalanche. It turns into full on DONNYBROOK with Scott Stinerlining both champs. Scott top rope Frankensteiner on Tomko! He tries a suplex on Bernard but drops him right on his head! Freaking hell that looked nasty. A 360 Steinerline sends Bernard to the floor. Steiner bulldog on Tomko! Somehow Rick takes Hattori down while he was trying to get back up. I have no idea if that was intended or not. Meanwhile Bernard is on the floor getting in a shoving match with Jarrett. Jarrett takes his jacket off. Bernard breaks up another bulldog attempt. Scott hits him with a Steinerline off the top rope. He calls Jarrett in. Guess what he has? You guessed right. Toru Yano, who was ringside for New Japan, tries to stop him. Yano takes the guitar shot! Bernard pushes Rick off the top rope into a lariato. He and Tomko hoist Rick up. Magic killer! The champs get the pin and retain. During the postmatch celebration I'm pretty sure I spot a young Tetsuya Naito working as a Young Lion ring attendant. There's so much wrong with this match. Bernard and Tomko are never going to peg the workrate meter. The Steiners were 15 years past their prime. Rick sold fine, but all of his offense looked like an old man that was just barely hanging on. An overbooked finish with one of wrestling's ultimate overused cliches, Jeff Jarrett's guitar. Yet, as a whole the package isn't completely terrible and they managed to make a moderately decent match out of it. **1/4

Before diving into the semi-main, some necessary background: this whole "3rd Belt" nonsense started with a controversy involving, who else, Brock Lesnar. Lesnar signed with New Japan in 2005 after his attempt at an NFL career following his '04 WWE departure failed to take off. He immediately won the Heavyweight title in October '05 in his very first match with the company. He held onto it nearly a year despite being part time at best (sounds familiar). The problems started in the summer of '06 when he refused to show up to defend the title as scheduled due to disputes he was having with the new post-Inoki management. New Japan immediately stripped Lesnar of the title, blackballed him, and demanded the belt back. Instead, Lesnar took the belt over to Inoki's new promotion, the Inoki Genome Federation, who recognized him as the official IWGP Heavyweight champion, all with Inoki's blessing in a "stick it" move to the company he founded that had (rightly) booted him out. After what I'm sure was a lot of furious backroom negotiating, a compromise was finally reached. The very first IGF show in June '07 would feature Lesnar defending against Kurt Angle, now with TNA, in a rematch of the Wrestlemania 19 main event. Angle won the match and took back the belt for New Japan, who dubbed it the 3rd Belt as it was the 3rd generation Heavyweight title belt. He would also defend it in TNA for some cross-promotion symmetry. That brings us to today.

 

IWGP 3rd Belt Championship: Kurt Angle (c) def Yuji Nagata in 18:29- Angle is also the TNA World champ. That title is obviously not on the line here. Nagata is coming off his second run with the IWGP Heavyweight title and was a superb choice to pair up with Angle here. Hattori stays in to ref this, and Borash makes his final appearance of the evening. There's some kind of distraction at ringside after intros, probably Jarrett, so Angle attacks before the bell. Nagata pops out of the corner with an open hand slap. Don't think he liked that. Angle belly to belly! Popping them off early. He waistlocks for a German but Nagata fights out. Nagata snap belly to belly toss! He goes for a big kick but Angle quickly escapes out to the floor. Back in we settle into a bit of early match feeling out. Nagata gets a drop toe hold and goes for a crossface. Angle fights to the ropes and powders again. Another standing switch exchange back in. Both guys crank arm wringers. Angle goes to forearm shots. Nagata responds with some hammy kicks. He rolls under an Angle lariato attempt. Angle dodges an enzuguri and hits another belly to belly for 1. Big back elbow from Nagata and he grounds Angle with a sleeper. Angle ducks a lariato and chop blocks Nagata's knee. Now Nagata rolls out to shake it off. Angle doesn't let him, going to the floor with kicks to the leg. Back in Angle starts to pick the knee apart. Figure four! Nagata tries to fight into a reversal but Angle powers him back down. Nagata has another go, damn near gets it, but Angle pulls him back over again. Try number three. Nagata gets the reversal....NO Angle re-reverses it! Nagata changes tactics and fights to drag Angle over to the ropes, and he makes it. Angle continues the knee punishment. He goes for the ankle lock. Nagata kicks him in the back to break free. Nagata Lock! The eyes are rolling back! Angle manages to get a rope break. Armbreaker from Nagata as he now has a body part target. Measured kicks to the arm. Angle tries to back off. Nagata grabs him for another armbreaker. More chest/arm kicks. Angle dodges a kick in the corner. ROLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLING GERMANS! All three hit! No fourth for the Tokyo Dome? Shame. THE STRAPS ARE DOWN! Angle Sla....NO Nagata squirts free and hits an exploder for 2. Nagata hits two rolling brain busters. He goes for a third. Angle fights it, but Nagata swings him down into Nagata Lock 2! Angle grabs Nagata's bad leg to fight free, and transitions into the ankle lock! That's always been one of my favorite Angle things, how he can counter any opponent finisher into the ankle lock. Nagata counters back into Lock 2! Angle fades. Hattori checks and Angle has a fresh burst. Back to the ankle lock! Nagata pushes Angle out. Back to Lock 2! Angle rolls over and gets Nagata up. Angle Slam! Nagata kicks out! Angle heads up top. I don't like this. The world's greatest moonsault, as always, misses. Nagata corner running knee! He sets Angle up top. Super belly to belly! Angle kicks out! Back to Nagata Lock 2. Angle ALMOST taps but stops himself. Nagata lets go into Nagata Lock 3! He rolls that into a cradle for 2. Angle fights off a backdropeh attempt. He grabs the ankle but Nagata quickly pushes him away. Standing forearm exchange. Plus European uppercuts from Angle. They mix in some open hand slaps. Knee from Nagata. Big boot! Angle bounces off the ropes with a lariato! Nagata backdropeh! Angle kicks at 2. Nagata sets up for the big decapitation kick. Angle grabs his leg and gets the ankle lock on! Grapevine! Nagata tries to fight as well and as long as he can but once the grapevine's on it's over and he has to tap out. Handshakes and hugs after. To their credit they didn't overthink this. Angle wrestled an Angle match, Nagata wrestled a Nagata match, and while it didn't come together into an absolute all time top end classic it's still a fantastic match worthy of two legends. ****1/4

 

IWGP Heavyweight Championship: Shinsuke Nakamura (RISE) def Hiroshi Tanahashi (c) in 23:08- This is the second time this matchup of two of the New Three Musketeers has main evented the Tokyo Dome, but this is the first time it's for the top title. Back in 2005 at the last show under the old Wrestling World name Nakamura defeated Tanahashi for the short lived U-30 (Under 30) title. This is also the fourth time in the past five years Nakamura has main evented the Dome, but it's just Tanahashi's second (his Heavyweight title defense at WK 1 was the semi-main). Tanahashi is in the second of his record eight reigns, having ended Nagata's second reign in October. He also picked up his first G1 Climax win in '07 while between title reigns. Red Shoes, naturally, is back in for the main event. Due to the whole 3rd Belt controversy they've been using the older 2nd generation title belt since Brock's departure/expulsion. Nakamura's shoulder is a bit taped up going into this. Cautious start. Big lockup fight. Tanahashi slaps Nakamura on the rope break! He's wearing black, I thought we might get heel Tanahashi tonight. Nice extended waistlock exchange on the mat into another rope break. Tanahashi kicks Nakamura in the back on the ropes, then hides in the corner! Heel Tanahashi fully confirmed. Arm wringer exchange featuring some very fancy Nakamura escapes into another mat stalemate. Another rope break attempt and Tanahashi hits a forearm. Nakamura's had enough. He shoves Tanahashi across the ring and lays in some forearms. Tanahashi gets a dragon sleeper on. Nakamura uses the ropes to flip over and reverse it. Tanahashi reverses it back. Nakamura escapes into a cross armbreaker! Tanahashi takes a rope break and goes to the floor to shake it off and think. He wants a time out. He tells Nakamura to back off, then kicks him when he gets in the ring. Jawbreaker from Tanahashi. Cactus clothesline! Tanahashi skins the cat back in. He gives Nakamura a dragon screw in the ropes! Always NASTY looking. Dropkick to the knee. Nakamura gets a rope break while Tanahashi is cranking his knee but Tanahashi is very reluctant to let go. He continues to pick Nakamura's knee apart. Standing big splash onto the knee. Nakamura dodges a senton off the second rope but Tanahashi gets right back on the knee. Nakamura gets a knee to the gut. Powerslam for 2. Setup slam. Nakamura moonsault! He says one more. Tanahashi dodges. Nakamura sees and lands on his feet, but Tanahashi dropkicks the bad knee again. It's very interesting watching this so far, their last Dome main event their styles were very much Tanahashi the straight pro wrestler and Nakamura the ex-MMA guy. Now with more experience under their belts Nakamura is doing more straight wrestling moves while Tanahashi is doing more limb and submission setup work. Tanahashi lays in some corner forearms that only seem to piss Nakamura off. More Tanahashi open hand slaps. They go nose to nose in what would become an iconic image of the era. More slaps. Nakamura absorbs them and lays in his own. Tanahashi duck under and he hits a German! Another one! Nakamura fights free and hits his own rolling Germans. After two he switches to a dragon suplex attempt. Tanahashi reverses and goes back to the Germans. Reversal and Nakamura plants a German. Tanahashi gets up and again hits a German. They're determined to get a run of three with Angle in the building. Another one from Nakamura with a bridge for 2. That was enough Germans for a 2017 Brock Lesnar match. Not that I'm complaining. Nakamura hits the ropes....into a Tanahashi slingblade! Nakamura hits a lariato. Double underhook piledriver for 2. Tanahashi blocks a lariato and that hurts the arm Nakamura came in with tape on. Nakamura is in agony and Red Shoes quickly checks on him while he shakes the arm off. Tanahashi sees the target and attacks. Red Shoes tries to back him off and checks Nakamura again. Tanahashi lays in chops onto the target. One of the ringside seconds hops up to look at Nakamura while he shakes his head, clearly saying he's not giving it up. Top rope fight. Tanahashi gets pushed down, pops up with more chops to the bad arm, and hits a superplex. We get a close up of heel Tanahashi's face and he looks very pleased with himself. More stomps on Nakamura's bad arm, even tossing Red Shoes aside to lay more in. DRAGON SCREW TO THE ARM! I freaking love that. Another one! Tanahashi hooks on a cross armbreaker. Nakamura quickly gest to the nearest rope. Now a ringside doctor is checking him out. Tanahashi says fuck that and stomps the arm again. Nakamura tries to hit forearms back with his good arm. Tanahashi straitjacket German! Nakamura kicks out! Tanahashi hooks up for a dragon suplex, but turns it into a full nelson slam instead. He goes up top. HIGH FLY FLOWWWWWWWWWWWW! Nakamura kicks out! Tanahashi blames Red Shoes for not knowing what comes after 2. Then he says one more and goes up again. High Fly Flow right into Nakamura's knees! Nakamura's arm is too hurt and he can't follow up. Nakamura ducks another slingblade. He spins Tanahashi down into a cross armbreaker! Tanahashi locks his hands to fight it. Nakamura uses that to transition him into a triangle choke. Then he stretches Tanahashi's arm out into a standing armbreaker! Tanahashi stomps free. Reverse exploder from Nakamura! Landslide! Tanahashi kicks out! Now Nakamura argues the lack of a 3. Nakamura lifts Tanahashi up for another Landslide. Tanahashi turns it into a slingblade! Another full slingblade for 2. Tanahashi quickly hooks up for a dragon suplex. Nakamura reverses and hits it! Tanahashi *just* kicks out! Another Landslide attempt. Tanahashi counters into a small package for 2. Nakamura fights off another dragon suplex. Tanahashi adjusts his arms and hits a tiger suplex! Nakmaura *just* kicks out! Tanahashi gets up, but Nakamura has a death grip on his foot. Tanahashi stomps free. He goes up top again. Nakamura joins him. Extended forearm exchange on the ropes. Nakamura gets Tanahashi up on his shoulders. Avalanche Landslide! Nakamura hits a full Landslide! That gets the pin and wins the title back! As soon as the match is over they get Nakamura's bad arm in a makeshift sling. It's Nakamura's second Heavyweight title win, but his first since 2003 during his "super rookie" push. He's also 2-0 against Tanahashi in Tokyo Dome main events now. That is a generation defining match and the ultimate catalyst to bring about New Japan's renaissance. ****3/4

Almost immediatley after the bell rings Kurt Angle comes out and gets in the ring. Nakamura gets a mic and clearly lays down a challenge. Angle says Nakamura's not in his league and is going to kick Nakamura's ass all over Tokyo. Angle's also broken one of the sideplates off the TNA World title belt. Angle and Nakamura would square off in February in a unification match to finally end the 3rd Belt nonsense, won by Nakamura. After that the v4 IWGP Heavyweight title belt would be introduced, the most famous IWGP belt that ran through the rest of the New Japan renaissance into its second Golden Age and international explosion before being (controversially) replaced by the IWGP World Heavyweight Championship in 2021.

OVERALL SHOW THOUGHTS: Most of the show is serviceable to solid and not what Wrestle Kingdom would eventually become, but the last two matches are not only great, but pivotal in New Japan history. Wrestle Kingdom would not have become what Wrestle Kingdom is today without what Nakamura and Tanahashi did on this night.

OVERALL SHOW GRADE: B