Wrestle Kingdom 7

Legacy Review

Wrestle Kingdom 7

January 4, 2013 from the Tokyo Dome

 

This year's Wrestle Kingdom marks further important steps on the road toward New Japan's ever closer second golden age and international explosion. First, it's the first WK to ever be available live in the US on what was then called iPPV (internet PPV). Still no English commentary to go along with the availability just yet though. Also, after several years of one off main events, this is the first WK since WK 2 to be main evented by one of the defining matchups and feuds of the age. This is also the year the company finally started to become less reliant on cross-promotional battles to carry the show. They'll still be present, but not as high profile or prevalent as the first six WKs.

 

As usual this is from the New Japan World archives so Japanese commentary only. As of this writing no alternate English commentary has been recoreded for any of this show's matches yet. 

 

Preshow: Captain New Japan, Tama Tonga & Wataru Inoue def YOSHI-HASHI, Tomohiro Ishii & Jado (CHAOS) in 5:58- Second straight year Tama's been stuck teaming with Capt. New Japan in a preshow tag match. Worse draw than Liger in the WCW Lethal Lotteries he was in. Actually no, Liger still had it worse. Cap has ditched his little bottlecap shield. Instead he has a tiny little cape now. Tama has a belt with him on his entrance. Hold on a minute....ah, he was half of the CMLL World tag champs here. He's still wearing the Snuka tights but he's finally got boots on and is generally acting more Tama Tonga-ish like we'll soon be getting used to. Inoue and Jado start. Inoue breaks clean on the ropes. Jado does not. He supplies his own "WOOOOO"s while chopping Inoue in the corner. Inoue kicks back and hangs Jado in the tree of woe, then hits a corner dropkick. Ishii comes in and gets suplexed. Corner running forearm on Jado and he does a full on Flair Flop out of the corner. I certainly appreciate the references to THE greatest of all time. HASHI comes in and jumps Inoue from behind, then officially tags himself in. It's a bit weird for me to see HASHI heel it up so blatantly like this. Ishii comes in and hits some chops. Still going to be years before he finally starts to get appreciated for how good he is. Inoue fires off some forearms that Ishii easily absorbs. Suplex from Ishii for 2. The heel quick tagging and triple teaming on Inoue continues. Finally he dodges Jado, gives HASHI a backbreaker and tags out to Tama. Tama comes in with a Snuka-like crossbody off the top on both Jado and HASHI. He does some fancy leaping over Ishii and hits the Snuka style chop. He leaps over Jado and HASHI trying to double lariato him and gives them both a dropkick. Stinger Splash on Jado. Jado fights off a move and hits a swinging neckbreaker. The heels blatantly triple team again. Useless New Japan refs. Jado Russian leg sweep on Tama and HASHI hits a running neck snap for 2. It goes full on DONNYBROOK as everyone else fights on the floor with Jado and Tama in the ring. The faces win the battle and start to give Jado some triple team pummeling back. Tama hits a double underhook DDT, and that gets the pin. Capt. NJ never tagged in the match. Probably for the best. *3/4

 

Preshow: KUSHIDA, Bushi & Ryusuke Taguchi def Jushin Thunder Liger, Tiger Mask & Hiromu Takahashi in 7:12- KUSHIDA is currently one half of the junior tag champs with Alex Shelley as Time Splitters. Why they couldn't find a spot on the main card for a defense of those titles is beyond me, especially with how the junior tag division is about to explode with insane talent all over the place. Bushi is making his Dome debut with New Japan. He's currently on a unique one year "rental" deal from All Japan. Future junior division ace Takahashi is also making his Dome debut as a Young Lion. He'd head off on his excursion later in the year and return in late 2016 as a new member of LIJ, which Bushi will be a founding member of. Fired up Young Lion Takahashi tells his Dads he wants to start. It's so weird seeing Hiromu looking so....normal. KUSHIDA starts with him. They start out with a nice basic grappling exchange and stalemate. Another very extended amateur style sequence. KUSHIDA manages to work Takahashi into a hammerlock and arm wringer. Takahashi does a nice escape into his own hammerlock. KUSHIDA reverses into a headlock takedown. Takahashi escapes and reset. Liger and Bushi tag in. Bushi looks freaking tiny compared to how he'll be later. Or maybe it's because he's actually not wrestling with a shirt on. Big shoulderblock from the larger Liger and he hits some chops. Bushi floats over in the corner and gets a flying headscissors that sends Liger to the floor. Bushi teases a dive but stops and takes his top layer mask off and tosses it into the crowd. Now TM and Taguchi tag in. Another nice high tempo basic sequence. Taguchi gets a couple of armdrags. TM hits a tiltawhirl backbreaker. Liger hits an early Ligerbomb and hooks Taguchi up in the surfboard. Takahashi hits a couple of running forearms for 2. TM hits a leaping back kick and puts Taguchi in Young Lion hold 1A, the Boston crab. KUSHIDA runs in to break it up. Taguchi comes back with a shotgun dropkick on TM, but Liger is right there to put him down again. Springboard back elbow from Taguchi and he gets a tag to Bushi. Takahashi hits him with a flying headscissors. Full on triple team as Liger hits a corner shotei into a TM double underhook powerbomb. Takahashi hits a perfectplex to try to finish it but Bushi's teammates break it up. KUSHIDA blindsides Takahashi with a springboard chop off the top rope, then subtly helps the kid get in position to take a standing moonsault. Bushi covers and Liger barely breaks the pin up. KUSHIDA and Taguchi hit stereo planchas as Bushi sets Takahashi up in the ring. 450 splash! That gets the pin. Solid stuff there. **3/4

 

I think posting this on the last review will be the start of a new tradition, as long as they're still cut off the NJPW World archive copy. Here's the WK 7 opening VTR to get you all fired up:

 

 

Manabu Nakanishi, MVP, Strong Man & Akebono def Toru Yano, Takashi Iizuka, Yujiro Takahashi & Bob Sapp (CHAOS) in 7:53- This is what we get instead of a junior tag title match, a pretty typical "get everyone not on the card a match" multi-man tag with a special attraction on both sides. On one side is Akebono, a former sumo who made occasional wrestling appearances. The other is Sapp, a kickboxer and MMA fighter who also made occasional wrestling appearances, and even held the IWGP Heavyweight Championship for a couple of months during the infamous Inokism period because Inoki loved his shoot fighters. The fight starts on the entrance ramp when the CHAOS team jumps the faces during their entrance. There's someone doing commentary for this on a headset that's being broadcast on the stadium speakers. That's different. Everyone slowly brawls their way up to and into the ring, at least some of them. The headset commentary guy takes it off and joins regular commentary. It looks like he's got a beef with the CHAOS team but I can't place who he is. One of New Japan's regular commentators I think. Oh well. Meanwhile Strong Man slams Yano, then slams Yujiro on top of him. MVP hits the Ballin' elbow on them both. He's learned how to say "ballin'" in Japanese since the last WK. Sapp literally takes his own teammates out while going after MVP and Strong Man. Akebono tags himself in and we have a big meat on meat staredown. Akebono has as many ads on his gear as a '90s era NASCAR car. He's about as large too. They shove each other. Shoudlerblocks that neither guy goes down on. Akebono hits a lariato that barely fazes Sapp. Double lariato and Sapp gets wobbled. Akebono pushes him into the corner and squashes him. Nakanishi tags in and the face team all run Sapp over in the corner, then all hype up Nakanishi hitting a lariato. He gets Sapp up in the torture rack! Yano comes in and hits him with the red chair to break it up. Sapp tags out to wild man Iizuka. Things quickly go out to the floor. Iizuka appropriates a chair from under someone at the long commentary table and hits Nakanishi with it. Yano's also removed the corner pad from the CHAOS corner. Nakanishi gets whipped into it. He tries to come back on Yujiro with chops so Yujiro, ever the cheapest of cheap wrestlers, goes right to the ol' eye rake. Yano gives Nakanishi another whip into the exposed steel. Iizuka and Yano get their chairs and choke Nakanishi with them! Nakanishi starts to fire back again on Iizuka. He blocks an Iizuka whip and lariatos him. The CHAOS team jump him before he can tag. Nakanishi double suplexes Yano and Yujiro! EVERYONE IN THE POOL! Akebono and Sapp find each other again. The rest of the CHAOS team get stacked in the corner and Sapp is whipped into all of them, then all four squashed in the corner. Nakanishi German suplex on Iizuka. Big splash from Akebono. Nakanishi gets Iizuka up in the rack and Iizuka submits. After the bell the commentary guy gets to give Iizuka a weak ass lariato. If not for the fact Akebono and Sapp were high profile special attractions (despite the fact they brought nothing of value in the ring) this should have been consigned to the preshow. *

 

In the fall of 2012 New Japan created their second new secondary title in two years, the NEVER Openweight Championship. NEVER actually started as a series of New Japan promoted standalone events designed to showcase younger and out of company talent, and this title as originally conceived was going to be the championship for that "division". But around the same time the whole idea of the NEVER shows fell apart. Instead this title would eventually take on the identity of the "BMF" title. I think Kevin Kelley coined the phrase BMF and I honestly don't remember exactly what it stands for, but I've always read it as "bad motherfucker", which is exactly what this title has been for most of its history, the title for guys that liked to work stiff and hit hard. Not always, but most of the time. A two night, 16 man tournament was held in November to crown the inaugural champion, a tournament that featured an even mix of home New Japan talent and wrestlers from outside companies. The winner was Masato Tanaka, who earlier had only missed being the inaugural IWGP Intercontinental Champion by one guy.

 

NEVER Openweight Championship: Masato Tanaka (c) (w/Yujiro Takahashi) def Shelton Benjamin in 6:41- Former WWE star Benjamin made his New Japan debut at WK 6, making this his first singles match in the Dome. Tanaka's not in CHAOS, but Yujiro is cornering him because they used to be together in a faction called Complete Players. Tiger Hattori is in early to ref so he can facilitate communication between Japanese and English speakers. Lockup into standing switches. Benjamin gets a fireman's carry takedown into a headlock. Shoulderblock and quick cover from Benjamin. Northern lights suplex for another 1 count. Tanaka tries a monkey flip but Benjamin lands on his feet! Release German suplex! Tanaka goes to the floor to rethink after that, then gets out of the drop zone when Benjamin sets up a dive. But Benjamin doesn't give up, waits for Tanaka to get in position on a different side and hits a tope con hilo! Took Yujiro out with that too so it ended up working out better. Back in Benjamin covers for 2. Tanaka dodges a Stinger splash and hits a running corner forearm. Forearms and chops from Tanaka. Snap mare into a chinlock. Knee to Benjamin's back. Long midring suplex fight that Tanaka eventually wins. They have a short open hand chop exchange. Tanaka hits a couple of corner lariatos. After Benjamin reverses another corner whip Tanaka pops back out with a lariato. Benjamin ducks a sliding lariato and hits a Booker T style side kick. The Stinger splash hits. Twice. Backdrop from Benjamin and he goes up top. Blockbuster! Cover for 2. Superkick from Benjamin for 2. Yujiro trips Benjamin from the floor and holds him on the apron. Benjamin dodges, Tanaka takes Yujiro out, and Benjamin gets a roll up for 2. Off the kickout Benjamin ends up in the ropes and Yujiro hits him with a kendo stick. Roll up from Tanaka for 2. He grabs Benjamin and goes up top. Benjamin blocks the tornado DDT. Ankle lock! Or ankle hold, per commentary. Behind him Yujiro goes up top. Benjamin springs up and slams him off Kurt Angle style. But that lets Tanaka hit the sliding elbow to get the pin. It started out promising but they didn't get near enough time. That felt like a condensed version of a potentially much better match. Too much Yujiro too. Though any Yujiro is too much Yujiro. **1/4

 

Tanaka's inaugural title reign would end up lasting 314 days, easily the longest in the title's history. On the first reign. Only two since then have even crossed 200 days. Very few NEVER Openweight champs make it past the first or second defense. This is also Tanaka's last WK match. After dropping the title he left and moved to ZERO1 full time. On the other side, later in the year Benjamin would turn heel and join Suzuki-Gun, changing his name at the same time to Shelton X Benjamin.

 

IGWP Heavyweight Tag Team Championship: Killer Elite Squad (c) (w/Taka Michinoku) (Suzuki-Gun) def Hirooki Goto & Karl Anderson in 10:52- Anderson's Bad Intentions partner Giant Bernard returned to WWE in 2012 as Lord Tensai, so later in the year he formed a new team with Goto and they won the '12 edition of World Tag League to get this title shot. Anderson also won his block and made the final in the '12 G1 Climax, a sign of how high New Japan thought of him at the time. I've certainly thought he was underrated for much of his career. KES formed in the summer of '12 when Davey Boy Smith Jr (son of the British Bulldog who had wrestled as Harry Smith in WWE) made his New Japan debut and joined Suzuki-Gun, who then paired him up with Lance Archer. They defeated Tencozy for the titles at King of Pro Wrestling in October. Archer makes his entrance on a motorcycle through the outfield wall. Not THROUGH the wall. There's a door. #1 hype man Michinoku does his usual hyping up on the mic after their entrance, and his "Let's get crazy!" is KES's signal to attack before the bell. Anderson tries some uppercuts on Archer that do absolutely nothing. Archer grabs him by the throat and throws him over the top rope and out. He pounds Anderson down a bit more on the floor while DBS chokes Goto in the ring. Archer tags in and Goto tries some chops that are again no sold. Huge Archer clubbing blow to Goto's back. He knucklelocks Goto and walks the top rope to hit his version of Taker's old school. Goto gets a boot up and dodges in the corner to finally stagger the monster a bit. He tries to tag out but DBS pulls Anderson off the apron from behind. That lets KES hit some double teams. Goto fights off a DBS backdropeh suplex attempt, then they get in a regular suplex leverage fight won by Goto. Tag to Anderson. Chops and uppercuts on DBS. DBS tries to shrug them off but Anderson hits a leg lariat. He dodges a DBS running kick in the corner and hits an enzuguri. DBS dodges a senton and hits a tiger suplex for 2. Archer plants Anderson with a chokeslam for a long 2. He goes for his old school again but Anderson knocks him off the rope, then Gun Stuns DBS over the top rope. He gets on the top rope and tries to drag Archer up, but Archer hits some more stiff clubbing blows and climbs up with Anderson. Long series of headbutts from Archer. Anderson absorbs them, hits a couple of forearms, and lifts Archer up in a fireman's carry on the ropes! Avalanche spinning Gun Stun! Archer still kicks out! Tags on both sides. Goto and DBS charge into each other with a double lariato that drops no one. Another one. Big boot from DBS. One more lariato from Goto that puts DBS down. Archer tries to get involved and gets discus lariatoed down. Corner leg lariat from Goto and he backdropeh suplexes DBS for 2. DBS fights off a German attempt. Anderson comes in and the champs hit a double team neckbreaker. Anderson hits the senton this time. Goto also hits the German this time for 2. Another suplex fight. Archer gets back in and Goto fights off a double team, but Archer plants him with a full nelson bomb AKA Bubba Bomb. Archer gets Anderson up and hits Blackout on him. Goto comes in and kind of hits shoten on Archer. It looked like it was partially blocked though I don't think it was supposed to. DBS hits a sit out powerbomb on Goto, but doesn't even try for a pin. Anderson Gun Stun outta nowhere on DBS! DBS dodges a Goto running kick, then Goto fights off another powerbomb. DBS hooks Goto's arms to try to turn him around. Goto fights and reverses it. Archer full nelsons Goto and KES hit the Killer Bomb. Anderson just breaks the pin up! Killer Bomb on Anderson. Goto tries to fight, but KES plant him with one last Killer Bomb and that gets the pin to retain. Good stuff, but the titles never really felt in jeopardy. ***1/4

 

Yuji Nagata def Minoru Suzuki (w/Taichi) (Suzuki-Gun) in 17:03- This is the conclusion of the Wrestle Kingdom trilogy between two of the greatest forever rivals Japan has ever seen, and the only one to take place with Suzuki a full time member of the New Japan roster. Two of my all time favorites from Japan too, I'd call them second tier right below the Shinsuke Nakamura and Tetsuya Naito tippy top level. Suzuki successfully defended the All Japan Triple Crown Championship against Nagata at WK 1, then Nagata got a win back at WK 5. Suzuki gets a WK special entrance with a LIVE performance of Kaze Ni Nare by Ayumi Nakamura herself. Hell freaking yes. This is at the level of Lemmy and Motorhead playing Triple H's music live at Wrestlemania, except Nakamura actually remembers the lyrics. The bell rings and, as expected, they lay right into each other with a rough face and eye gouging lockup. Suzuki gets the first shots, hitting some forearms, and letting Nagata know about it, getting a laugh from the crowd. Nagata fires back with some shots. They trade snap mare/PK combos. Suzuki goes for an arrogant one foot cover just to annoy Nagata, who gets back up before even 1. Electric staredown and here comes the first full on forearm exchange. Big boot tradeoff. A running big boot from Nagata puts Suzuki down. He uses his position on the apron to try for the draping armbar but Nagata blocks it and snaps Suzuki's arm over the top rope. On the floor Nagata hits some kicks to that arm, then snaps it again. Taichi distracts Nagata, allowing Suzuki to hit him with a running big boot. Guardrail shot for Nagata and Suzuki kicks him over onto the endless announce table. Taichi sneaks behind and hits Nagata with a chair, fighting off the Young Lion attendant contingent while doing so. If there's one lesson Suzuki could impart, it was how to murder Young Lions. Suzuki gets the chair and gives Nagata a shot with it, then hits a kneelift to the jaw. Ref Marty Asami seems to be kicking Taichi out, finally doing something useful for once in his life, but that only allows Suzuki to choke Nagata with the chair. Damage done, Suzuki gets back in the ring and taunts the crowd. Nagata's so mad he only takes up to about 12 to get back in. When he does he starts laying in some more strikes. Suzuki grabs Nagata's hair to hit a headbutt, then hooks on a legbar. Taichi, who was not kicked out after all (bloody useless Asami), tries to keep Nagata from getting to the ropes but he still does. Suzuki hooks on a guillotine. Nagata flat powers out and hits an exploder suplex! He lays in some chest kicks and hits a running kick in the corner. He goes for another exploder, but Suzuki blocks it and puts the guillotine back on! Nagata gets free, hits a knee to the gut and a belly to belly suplex. He hooks on a crossface. Suzuki takes advantage of Nagata sitting to grab a reverse ankle lock to get free. Nagata kicks free of that. Snap mare and running PK from Suzuki. He bends down to grab Nagata but Nagata sits up Undertaker style! Another running PK. Another sit up! Suzuki gets the crowd behind him for one more kick. He switches gears a bit and hits a diving kick right to Nagata's jaw and covers for 2. Nagata comes back up with some more forearms. Suzuki hits a dropkick. When Nagata gets up he hits an open hand slap. Oh shit, here we go. Suzuki responds by paintbrushing Nagata across the face again and again, then when Nagata starts to go down Suzuki pulls him up for more! This is a pummeling. Eventually Nagata goes completely down. Suzuki hooks on the sleeper. Nagata flips free. Suzuki slides around to put it on again. Nagata tries to back him into the corner, then flips him over again but none of it works to get free. Suzuki keeps changing grips to keep Nagata down. Nagata tries to get back up, then seems to go out on his feet. Arm drop, Nagata tries to fire back up, then goes limp again. He seems completely out but for some reason Asami won't call it. Suzuki makes his usual mistake, letting go of the sleeper when it's about to win to go for the Gotch style piledriver. Nagata fights it. Suzuki knees him in the jaw and goes for it again. Nagata just barely fights it off and backdrops free. Corner running knee! He grabs Suzuki's arm that he worked on earlier and snaps it again. Nagata Lock! Taichi gets on the apron and takes a big boot. Suzuki is back up. Nagata goes for the arm again. Suzuki slaps him! Now we get the full on open hand stiff as hell slap exchange. Once he's had enough Nagata flips the script with a kick to Suzuki's bad arm. And it's hurting Suzuki bad. Suzuki keeps slapping but Nagata keeps pummeling the arm with kicks. Another arm snap. Nagata Lock! The eyes roll back! Nagata drags Suzuki back into the middle of the ring. Suzuki crawls again and barely gets a boot on the rope. Nagata tries for a backdropeh but Suzuki runs over and wraps up in the ropes. Another arm snap. Suzuki slides under and tries for the sleeper again. Nagata quickly gets free and nails Suzuki with a slap that really staggers him. Backdropeh! That gets the pin! Nagata wins the WK series 2-1. Once again, you can never go wrong with these two. Overall it was better than their WK 5 match, but not as good as the WK 1 match. This would also turn out to be Nagata's final singles match at WK as he'd slowly start moving toward New Japan Dad status. ****

 

Three Way Match for the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Championship: Prince Devitt (c) def Kota Ibushi and Low Ki in 14:45- All three of these guys held the junior title at points in 2012, with Devitt taking it from Ki most recently at King of Pro Wrestling. That was Devitt's third junior title win, and this reign would end up lasting 419 days, the second longest ever, fully solidifying him as the junior ace of the era. The junior division is actually going to go through several aces in the next decade. Interestingly none of these guys won Best of the Super Juniors in '12. That was Taguchi, who got stuck on the preshow. This is the match where Ki for some weird reason decided to wrestle the entire match in a suit as a protest for New Japan forcing him to work shows in Fukishima that he didn't want to. As a result of that this is his last New Japan match, the company blackballed him for life over the suit they were so upset with it. I'm no expert because I've never played those games, but the suit looks like a Hitman reference to me. After the bell Ki puts Ibushi down with a shot to the gut, then gets into a long speed run with Devitt that ends with a Ki shoulderblock. Ibushi then absolutely runs Ki over with a shoulderblock. Ibushi moonsaults over Devitt in the corner, everyone ducks and dodges, and stalemate reset. Ibushi hits a chest kick on Ki, then he and Devitt decide to team up on him. Maybe they hate the suit too. Ki goes to the floor and Devitt and Ibushi focus on each other. Quick handshake since they're both faces and off they go. On a speed run Ibushi tries the drop down trip but Devitt uses that to basement dropkick him! That sends Ibushi to the floor. Ki gets back in and tackles Devitt. Commentary says "Hitman", I think confirming my theory on the suit's inspiration. Ibushi cuts Ki off with a flying headscissors that sends him to the floor, then kicks Devitt down. Golden Triangle moonsault on Ki! Ibushi hits some rapid fire strikes on Devitt and covers for 1. Devitt fights out of a chinlock but Ibushi hits him with a back elbow for another 1. Devitt counters a backdrop and hits some chops. Funky dodges in the corner and Devitt hits a kick from the apron. Ki gets up and knocks Devitt off the apron, then gets in the ring with Ibushi. Headbutts from Ki. Very Keiji Mutoh like snap mare/elbow drop combo. Bold with Mutoh not only on the card, but in the next match. No more bold than the suit I guess. Ibushi and Ki start swinging forearms at each other. Ki catches Ibushi with a kick to the back of the head for 2. Devitt is back in. Ki flippy kicks him out of the corner for 2. Cobra twist from Ki on Devitt. Off a whip Devitt tries a sunset flip, then dodges Ki's stomp counter. Ibushi blindsides Ki with a springboard missile dropkick! Ki goes back to the floor, nearly taking out a cameraman. Shotgun dropkick from Devitt on Ibushi that sends him out. Devitt tope con hilo onto both guys! He rolls both Ibushi and Ki back in the ring. After countering Ki some Devitt hits corner lariatos on both guys, followed by corner dropkicks. Devitt goes up top. Double stomp on Ibushi for 2. Spinning enzuguri on Ki. Devitt tries to hit Bloody Sunday but Ki fights out. Devitt ducks an Ibushi lariato and hits a pele kick. Ki hits Devitt with a rolling kick. Ki goes for the Ki Crusher on Ibushi. Ibushi quickly gets to the ropes to break it up, then dropkicks Ki back to the floor. Ibushi's turn for a big dive. A corkscrew asai moonsault from the TOP rope! Amazing. Ibushi takes Ki up the ramp and goes for a powerbomb. Ki fights free. Ibushi gives him a pele kick on the ramp. He sees Devitt is back in the ring and joins him. Ibushi goes up top, goes for a moonsault, sees Devitt dodging, lands on his feet and instantly fires off a standing moonsault that hits for 2! Ibushi tries for a decapitation kick. Devitt ducks. Ibushi ducks a Devitt kick and lands another kick attempt to Devitt's head. Half dragon suplex for 2 from Ibushi. Last Ride sit out powerbomb! Ki barely breaks the pin up! Now Devitt goes to the floor as Ki pummels Ibushi in the ring. Ibushi ducks under and tries a German suplex. Ki rolls through it, lands on his feet, and hits a double stomp for 2! The jacket is off! Shit's serious now. Ki Crusher! Devitt breaks up the pin with a top rope double stomp! He covers Ki for a LONG 2! Devitt sets Ki up top. Ki fights him off into a tree of woe. Ibushi cuts off a double stomp with a springboard hurricanrana! Cover on Ki for another long 2. Ibushi sets Ki up and goes up top. He goes for a Phoenix Splash. Ki dodges, but Ibushi sees and lands on his feet again, but is wobblelegged. Devitt double stop off the top to Ibushi's back! Ki running shotgun dropkicks Devitt into the corner and cradles him for 2. Ki sets Devitt on the top rope. Ibushi rolling kicks Ki back down to the floor. He gets up top with Devitt. Devitt grabs Ibushi and hits an avalanche Bloody Sunday! That gets the pin to retain. Fantastic three way stuff with all the added junior flippydo. On the strength of this match New Japan has never been afraid since to occasionally do a three or even four way match for the junior title at WK. ****1/4

 

A few months later in the spring, another major signpost on the road to New Japan's red hot run took place. At Invasion Attack in April, Devitt turned on his longtime Apollo 55 partner Taguchi after an unsuccessful junior tag title challenge to turn heel, and soon after formed a new all-foreigner heel stable with Karl Anderson, Tama Tonga and Bad Luck Fale. The name of that stable? Bullet Club. By the end of the year they were joined by Doc Gallows (formerly Luke Gallows in WWE) and, perhaps most importantly, a young and brash tag team that had started making their name in PWG and ROH (and to a much lesser extent TNA) the last few years and were making their debut in Japan- the Young Bucks.

 

Tencozy def Keiji Mutoh & Shinjiro Otani (w/Daichi Hashimoto) in 15:36- This match was supposed to be Daichi Hashimoto, son of Shinya Hashimoto, teaming with Mutoh and making his New Japan debut. Unfortunately, he broke his arm right before this show and would end up never wrestling a match in the company his father became a dominant legend in before being weirdly pushed out. Otani, another longtime New Japan star who later co-founded Pro Wrestling ZERO1 with Hashimoto the elder when he was pushed out of New Japan, is taking his place. Mutoh is still representing All Japan, though he would soon be moving on himself. More on that in a bit. I'm 90% sure New Japan brought back their old ring announcer for this match, and he does the old style in-ring intros. Mutoh and Kojima start with some slow feeling out. Kojima gets a waist takedown that leads to some mat grappling that Mutoh wins. For some reason Kojima grabbing at Mutoh's bald head with his full palm makes me laugh. Another takedown and again Mutoh is pretty clearly superior on the mat. Both sides swap. Tenzan and Otani opt for a straight lockup. On the rope break Otani says screw it and hits an open hand chop. That leads to a big chop exchange. Otani definitely still has some serious pop on his chops. He tries coming off the ropes but runs into a Tenzan lariato. Kojima knocks Mutoh off the apron so Tencozy can hit some double team shots. Tenzan hits some chops in the corner that only seem to annoy Otani. He shoves Tenzan out and pretty much says "Hit me harder you pillock!". I'm roughly translating. Tezan swings more chops that Otani literally walks into. He refuses to go down. Tenzan hits Mongolian chops, but then runs into an Otani enzuguri. Classic snap mare/elbow drop combo from Mutoh (that's how you do it, Low Ki). He shouts out his forever rival Masahiro Chono with an STF. Kojima comes in to break it up. Otani heels it up by face gouging and choking Tenzan in the corner. Mutoh hits a dragon screw and puts on the figure four. Otani goes over to keep Kojima occupied while it's on. Kojima whips him into the barricade, rolls back in and breaks the figure four up. Leg lariat from Tenzan and tag to Kojima. Machine gun chops on Mutoh. I love how Mutoh is selling it. Running corner forearm and elbow off the top rope for 2. Discus elbow and DDT from Kojima. Mutoh slides under a lariato, hits a dropkick and tags. Otani gets Kojima down in the corner and gives hiim the good old boot wash. Running corner kick. Otani hooks Kojima up but Kojima quickly reverses it and hits a brain buster! He goes for the Cozy Lariato. Otani blocks it and knocks Kojima down with a sweep kick. Mutoh comes in with a shining wizardo! Tenzan runs in and takes a dragon screw as we go EVERYONE IN THE POOL. Figure four on Tenzan, and at the same time Otani has a crossface chicken wing on Kojima. Neither can get a submission. Kojicutter on Otani! Tenzan tags in and runs Otani over with a shoulderblock. More Mongolian chops. The top rope kneedrop hits for 2. Tencozy double team some more. Kojima hits a sit out spinebuster and Tenzan follows up with the headbutt off the top rope. Mutoh tries to get involved and gets tossed out again. Otani breaks out the old Hashimoto chop on both Tencozy guys! Channeling his spirit. Mutoh corner high knee on Tenzan and he dragon screws him back out. Shining wizardo! Another one to the back! Otani goes up and hits a missile dropkick. Mutoh sets up and hits one last shining wizardo. Otani goes to finish it with the spinning powerbomb. Kojima just barely breaks the pin up! Cozy Lariato on Mutoh! Otani puts Kojima back down with a running kick. Tencozy 3D on Otani! Kojima tears the elbow pad off! Cozy Lariato on Otani. Tenzan setup slam, up top, moonsault, and it's over. Four legends playing the hits and keeping the crowd happy, nothing wrong with it. ***

 

Back to Mutoh. Not to get too deep into it, but during his time in All Japan Mutoh took an ownership stake in the company and was even the company's president for a time, even as an active wrestler. He voluntarily resigned the presidency after a serious backstage incident involving an assault in 2011. He sold back his ownership stake in the company not long after that too. After this show in the summer of '13, Mutoh came into disagreements with the new owners of All Japan and left the company. A couple of weeks later he announced the formation of a brand new promotion: WRESTLE-1. As he did when he left New Japan for All Japan, he took quite a few of All Japan's existing talent with him. One thing WRESTLE-1 did was fill the Japanese TNA/Impact partner hole, taking that over after New Japan abandoned TNA over how they treaded Okada on his excursion. WRESTLE-1 had moderate success, but at the start of 2020 were already in financial trouble and couldn't survive the pandemic shutdown. They held their final show, with no crowd, in April '20. After that Mutoh moved to Pro Wrestling NOAH for the final years of his career.

 

Togi Makabe def Katsuyori Shibata in 8:37- Shibata returned to New Japan in August '12 after several years away focusing on his MMA career while wrestling occasional matches in the indys. He returned alongside Kazushi Sakauraba, who'll be coming up next. But while Sakauraba was presented entirely as an outsider, for Shibata, one of the New Three Musketeers along with Nakamura and Tanahashi, it was more of a homecoming. As soon as Makabe steps in the ring we're swinging forearms. Shibata ducks under and gets a double leg takedown, then lays into Makabe with headbutts. Makabe reverses and hits his own headbutts. They roll right out of the ring and keep fighting on the floor. Both guys take guardrail shots. They have a short discussion and come to a mutual agreement to continue in the ring. Right back to the back and forth forearm shivers. Shibata hits some chest kicks that put Makabe in the corner. More forearms in the corner and Asami gets tossed aside so Shibata can continue with them. That gets some boos from the crowd. Running corner dropckick in the corner from Shibata. Snap mare/PK combo. He gives Makabe some mocking kicks, wanting him to get back up. Knees put Makabe down in the corner again. Shibata tries a headlock, but that lets Makabe hit a backdropeh! Shibata pops right back up and hits a German! Makabe pops back up with a lariato! Rebound kick off the ropes from Shibata and both guys are down. More kicks from Shibata trying to get Makabe to fight back. Makabe can't muster anything. Shibata sets up behind and puts on a sleeper. Makabe goes down, but at two arm drops Shibata lets go. He sets up for a PK but Makabe collapses in a heap. Shibata goes again and Makabe blocks it! Lariato! Shibata goes to the apron and Makabe kills him with a lariato there. A shot in the back of Shibata's head sends him head first into the post. Makabe goes over and gets one of the tables from ringside. He runs it right into Shibata! Makabe sets the table up on the ramp. Shibata gets powerbombed through the table! Makabe doesn't want the countout win and drags Shibata back in. German, but it only gets 1. Shibata absorbs a lariato. And another. One to the back of the head staggers Shibata. Shibata blocks another and gets the sleeper back on! Makabe fights free and decapitates him with another lariato. The King Kong Kneedrop hits and it's over. Well, it's as crazy stiff and intense as you'd expect, but awful short (which kind of makes sense considering how hard they were going at each other) and I strongly question if the right guy won. ***1/2

 

The new IWGP Intercontinental Championship appeared at WK 6, but in a tag match rather than a defense, so allow me to go into a bit more detail on its creation now since this is its first WK defense. In May 2011 New Japan held their first ever shows in the United States. A tour of three shows in fact, held in Rahway, NJ, New York City, and Philadelphia. The backbone of the tour was an 8 man tournament to crown the inaugural winner of New Japan's first attempt at a secondary title in 5 years, the IC title. Name taken straight from WWE's longtime #2 title. Former WWE star MVP won the tournament, defeating Yano in the final. The most recent title change was in July '12, when Nakamura defeated Goto for his first IC title win. For the rest of his time in New Japan before leaving for WWE Nakamura would be the dominant IC champ, willingly passing up potential additional reigns with the Heavyweight title in order to elevate the IWGP IC title to world title level. The evidence it's working is already here, as tonight's show has been billed as a Double Main Event.

 

IWGP Intercontinental Championship: Shinsuke Nakamura (c) (CHAOS) def Kazushi Sakuraba in 11:12- As I mentioned, Sakuraba returned New Japan alongside Shibata. His background was almost fully in MMA, in fact he could rightly be called a legend in the sport, though he did wrestle some in the second half of the '90s, including in New Japan back when Inoki was still in charge. Nakamura also did some MMA at the same time he was starting wrestling, which heavily influenced his wrestling style, making this a smart matchup stylistically. I'm pretty certain that's Stan Hansen in the ring with them doing the belt presentation. Random, but good to see him. Sakuraba offers a Code of Honor handshake before the bell and Nakamura takes it clean. Typical early match cautious knucklelock grabbing and exploratory kicks, with Nakamura doing that little dancing around as only he can. Nakamura grabs an arm and Sakuraba backs into a rope break. Nakamura struts away. More caudious jockeying, until Nakamura suddenly dives for a waistlock or leg takedown. Sakuraba dodges it and we get another break. After the reset Sakuraba gets a leg takedown and they both fight for position on the mat. Nakamura uses his leg flexibility to try to wrap Sakuraba up but he senses it and escapes. It looks like he's trying to leverage Nakamura into a pin. He manages to get around to put a facelock on Nakamura, then hits a knee to the gut for the first real strike. In the ropes and another break. This time Asami has to force it. Nakamura slides out to the floor less to regourp and more to mess with Sakauraba's head. Back to cautious jockeying with both looking for an opening to land a big strike. Nakamura backs Sakuraba into the corner and we get another forced break. Nakamura slaps Sakuraba while breaking! That's going to crank things up. Sakuraba unloads with open hand strikes and Nakamura responds! He grabs a Nakamura kick attempt and gets another takedown. He lands some kicks on Nakamura's leg. Double stomp onto Nakamura's forehead! Sakuraba grabs a sleeper! Nakamura quicky backs him into the corner for a break. As soon as he has an opening Nakamura LAYS INTO Sakuraba with knees in the corner! Good Vibrations! He lifts Sakuraba onto the corner and goes for the running kneelift. Sakuraba dodges and puts the sleeper back on! But he's on the apron and has to break. Wicked stiff shot to the back of Nakamura's head. Now Sakuraba goes nuts in the corner with open hand strikes to the face and punches to the gut. German suplex from Sakuraba! Nakamura pops back up and charges....right into Sakuraba's knee! A slow mo replay shows Nakamura taking the knee legit right on the jaw. Ground and pound from Sakuraba. He rolls Nakamura over into a triangle choke. Nakamura powers back up and escapes. BOMAYE! On the back of Sakuraba's head! Nakamura's bleeding in his mouth. He goes for the full Bomaye to finish it. Sakuraba dodges and pulls Nakamura up for another German attmpt. Nakamura fights it and tries to flip Sakuraba over, but Sakuraba rolls through it and tries for an armbar, then rolls over to try to put the triangle on again. Nakamura fights it off, but still can't get in superior position. Sakuraba hits some more grounded shots, then puts on a modified kimura lock. Nakamura rolls to escape and tries to counter it into an armber. They get into a leverage fight. Sakuraba lets go and hits another shot across Nakamura's forehead. The kimura is on again. Nakamura goes over and gets a rope break. Sakuraba refuses to break, getting boos from the crowd. Nakamura lifts him up into a fireman's carry! Landslide! His old finisher. Nakamura lifts Sakuraba up for a German. Sakuraba escapes and gets a full kimura lock on! In the middle of the ring. Nakamura's in deep shit now. He hits knees to Sakuraba's head to try to get free! Sakuraba switches and tries for an armbar. Nakamura locks his hands to block it. Escape and short Bomaye! Nakamura sets up in the corner. BOMAYEEEEEEEE! Nakamura gets the pin to retain! That's how you do this type of match. Freaking brilliant. Sakuraba did what he was familiar with while Nakamura adapted to the style perfectly while still making it clearly a wrestling match and not one of those Inoki era shoot hybrids. After the bell they hug it out and Sakuraba raises Nakamura's hand. Also perfect. After that Nakamura takes the mic, gives us some "YEAOH"s and says a few words. ****1/2

 

To set up the main event- Tanahashi successfully defended at WK 6 for his record 11th defense of that year plus title reign. During post-match festivities he was interrupted by Okada, who had just had his excursion return match earlier in the night. A rather unspectacular one it should be mentioned. Brash young Okada laid down the challenge, and not one to back down from one Tanahashi accepted. They met at The New Beginning in Osaka in February, where it was widely expected Tanahashi would wipe the floor with Okada on the way to his next real challenge. Instead, the inexperienced Okada pulled off the unthinkable, dethroning the Ace during his greatest run in the prime of his career in the biggest upset in New Japan history. The Shocka in Osaka, or as New Japan officially puts it much less poetically The Rainmaker Shock. It helped the match was genuinely great, the first real look at what Okada could do in the ring, and it kicked off what would be one of the greatest rivalries not just in New Japan history, but all of Japanese wrestling and perhaps worldwide. Tanahashi regrouped and won the title back in a rematch at Dominion for his 6th Heavyweight title win, tying Tatsumi Fujinami for the most ever. Right after, Okada won the G1 Climax to become the youngest G1 winner ever and the first since Goto in 2008 to win it in his first attempt. He also extended the streak of first time G1 winners to six straight years. With that win Okada started a new tradition. Rather than taking his earned title shot in the fall, as had been the norm to that point, he instead said he was cashing it in at Wrestle Kingdom. He even created a Money in the Bank style briefcase to hold the contract in and carry up to the big show, which all G1 winners would do for years after. To fill the time until WK the tradition was also started of the G1 winner defending the briefcase against wrestlers who had defeated him in the round robin portion of the tournament on the remaining major shows for the year.

 

IWGP Heavyweight Championship: Hiroshi Tanahashi (c) def Kazuchika Okada (w/Gedo) (CHAOS) in 33:34- The contrast between Okada at last year's WK and this one is insane. Fully established and accepted as a top guy. Lockup and Okada does his usual tease and clean break, then strikes the Rainmaker pose right in Tanahashi's face. Another lockup and rope break and Tanahashi hits his pose. Headlock, push off and Okada hits a shoulderblock. Now Okada grabs a headlock. Tanahashi tries to power free and we get a top wristlock fight. Tanahashi wins and reverses into his own headlock, then wins the next shoulderblock. After some position jokeying Okada grabs an arm wringer. Tanahashi gets a leg takedown into a partial cloverleaf. Okada escapes into a hammerlock. Tanahashi works back around into a headlock on the mat and keeps Okada trapped in it. Okada eventually backs Tanahashi into the corner for a break, then hits shoulderblocks. Back elbow from Tanahashi and the springboard crossbody connects. Okada places Tanahashi up top and looks for the dropkick, but Tanahashi cuts it off. Okada hits the ropes to crotch Tanahashi, then hits a draping DDT! Pretty sure I head Michael Cole shout "VINTAGE Randy Orton!" when that hit. Tanahashi goes to the floor to recover. Okada comes around and cranks Tanahashi's neck back on the guardrail right in front of the long commentary/officials table. When Tanahashi gets back in Okada hits a running diving kick to the neck for 2. Midring leverage fight that Tanahashi can't keep up and just drops. Okada stomps him down in the corner. Tanahashi fires back with forearms. Open hand slap to Okada! Okada tries to momentum toss but Tanahashi skins the cat. Okada hits a flapjack for 2. He wraps Tanahashi up in a crucifix plus neck vice on the mat and cranks back. Tanahashi rolls over for a rope break. Setup slam but Tanahashi dodges the senton. Tanahashi hits a flying forearm to finally switch momentum. Forearms and an uppercut in the corner. Basement dropkick to Okada's knee! Tanahashi clips the knee! Full on forearm slugfest. Both guys grab hair! Strike combo from Tanahashi. Okada responds with a series of uppercuts. Tanahashi blocks a kick and hits a dragon screw! Okada rolls to the floor. Tanahashi goes up top. Aces High to the floor! That never doesn't look impressive, Tanahashi always gets such crazy height on it. Back in Tanahashi goes for the cloverleaf. Okada fights it and gets a rope break before getting turned over. Okada dragon screw on Tanahashi! DDT from Okada. He wraps Tanahashi up in the arm trapped vice hold. Why didn't Okada use that in later years instead of that boring ass Money Clip he insisted on finishing matches with for so long. Tanahashi backs up and gets a rope break. Setup slam and Okada goes up top. He goes for the elbow drop. Tanahashi gets his knees up! Pose and he goes up top. Okada cuts him off with an uppercut. Top rope fight. I love the Japanese play by play guy shouting "DANGEROUS!" in English. A forearm puts Okada back down. Okada hits the dropkick and sends Tanahashi down to the floor! He takes Tanahashi up the ramp. Okada sets up for a tombstone on the ramp. Tanahashi fights it off so Okada lets go, hits some shots to the back, and walks further up the ramp. Okada charges.....into a Tanahashi slingblade! Tanahashi breaks the count and brings Okada back in. He sets up in the corner. Crossbody into the corner. He goes for another slingblade. Okada catches him and hits a Samoan drop. Tanahashi pops back up! Falcon arrow slam. Tanahashi goes up top. High fly NO Okada gets his knees up! Deep water now as both guys struggle to get up. Okada grabs Tanahashi on a charge and hits the neckbreaker for 2. Fireman's carry slam for 2. Slam and this time Okada hits the elbow off the top rope. GIVE ME MY WIDE SHOT! Yes, we're already there. Rainm...NO Tanahashi counters and gets a straitjacket German for 2. Dragon suplex! Okada just kicks out! Slingblade! Now Tanahashi goes up top. HIGH FLY FLOW! OKADA KICKS OUT! Man, the crowd bit HARD on that one. Reverse dragon screw on the mat. Another one. The cloverleaf is fully on. Okada tries for the ropes but Tanahashi pulls him back and sits on him. Okada looks fully trapped, but he gets one last push and gets to the ropes. Another go for a slingblade. Okada counters with a dropkick! Again both guys struggle up and get in each other's faces while doing so as we hit the 30 minute call. Okada gets a quck duck under. RAINMA...NO Tanahashi barely ducks it! He sees the dropkick counter coming and ducks it! Okada ducks a slingblade and dropkicks Tanahashi's back! Tombstone! Rainmaker pose! Tanahashi counters the Rainmaker with a slingblade! More wobblelegging and Okada barely connects with an uppercut. He goes for another tombstone. Tanahashi fights it off and we get another leverage fight. Okada lets go and hits elbows to Tanahashi's neck. Tanahashi grabs a leg and dropkicks the other one. Tanahashi tombstone! He drags himself up top. Aces High! Full spring up top. HIGH FLY FLOWWWWWWWWWWW! Tanahashi gets the pin to retain! Now that is the definiton of an epic, nearly perfect Tokyo Dome main event. Amazing stuff. The craziest thing is, that's probably only the third best match these two will have just over the course of 2013, much less ever. ****3/4

 

Tanahashi gets the cavalcade of Tokyo Dome winner trophies (including one hilariously small one) before doing the usual end of show promo and smashing of a few air guitars. Okada would use another tournament win, this time the New Japan Cup, to get another title shot at Invasion Attack in April (the same show that Bullet Club started) and this time win the title for the second time, which would be his first year plus reign. Not his last.

 

OVERALL SHOW THOUGHTS- It took a bit to get going, but once it did, look out. This was the first Wrestle Kingdom to be what the show will soon be known for year after year: crazy quality up and down the card, topped off with an epic main event.

OVERALL SHOW GRADE: A-