With Global Force Wrestling bringing New Japan shows to the United States, this is my first official New Japan analysis. I’m excited to watch more of these and I’ll probably have much more detail in future write ups as I get to know the competitors.
JR shouting: How in the hell did he kick out?
Striker shouting: That’s why this is the greatest wrestling on the planet!
^Quotes from the IWGP Intercontinental Championship match late in the show. Enjoy!
Commentary was provided in English by Jim Ross and Matt Striker for this huge event, so let’s get to it with thoughts on Wrestle Kingdom 9 from the Tokyo Dome!
Bobby Fish and Kyle O’Reilly retain their IWGP Jr. Heavyweight Tag Team Titles against the Forever Hooligans, the Time Splitters and the Young Bucks.
^Opening this particular show with THIS particular four way tag – Amazing! Three out of these four tag teams are the best on the planet, bar none(the Hooligans are excluded but they are what they are). Super fast paced outstanding action to start off the program! Kushida and Shelly nailed their spots, the Young Bucks kept things fun, and the team of reDRagon amazed us with their technical skills and teamwork. Outstanding match that clocked in around 13 minutes. ****1/4
Six man tag with the bullet club members(Double J, Takahashi and Fale) losing to Tenzan, Kojima and Honma. Basic filler six man tag with each man showing a bit of his stuff. Match went five and a half minutes.
Eight man tag: Nicholls, Marufuji, Haste and Yano beat Harry Smith Jr(son of the British Bulldog), Lance Archer, Shelton Benjamin and Lizuka in five minutes. Too short to remember, but a lot of good wrestling.
Suzuki chokes out Sakuraba in an MMA rules match.
^Fun and unique stuff here. You can’t really rate it as a pro wrestling match because of the styles and “legitimate” submissions, but it was good for what it was.
Makabe and Ishii for the Never Openweight Championship: Makabe wins the title a physical back and forth battle.
^Brutal stuff. Crowd loved it. I was surprised how much I enjoyed this one because it was far from quick paced. ***3/4
Kenny Omega defeats Taguchi in thirteen minutes to win the IWGP Jr. Heavyweight TItle. Omega wins with help from the Bullet Club members who were ringside for the match. Omega wins after nailing a dragon suplex, running knee and then an electric chair into a driver pinfall.
^Excellent match despite the involvement from the Young Bucks of the Bullet Club. Omega has tons of talent and Taguchi is a solid performer. I really enjoyed this one and the story told by everyone involved. ***1/4
Goto and Shibata defeat Gallows and Anderson of the Bullet Club in nine minutes to become the new IWGP World Tag Team Champions. Goto and Shibata strap the titles on one another after the match as they celebrate. Apparently these two guys were on the same high school wrestling team and have been friends their entire lives(source: Jim Ross).
^Solid back and forth action. Goto and Shibata shined here working their technical skills with Anderson. Gallows has never impressed me, but he served his purpose as the big man here. ***
AJ Styles defeats Tetsuya Naito in fourteen and a half minutes. AJ wins the match with the styles clash from the second rope.
^That was awesome! There were unbelievable counters, kickouts and high spots here with the crowd on the edge of their seat! Striker and Ross emphasized the risk of the styles clash move and then we were treated to that unique finish for the phenomenal one. They worked hard to give us a great match. Naito is 32 years old and has some big moments ahead of him, but AJ Styles was the true star here carrying the match and nailing the big spots. He(Styles) is unquestionably one of the top five pro wrestlers in the world today. ****1/4
Shinsuke Nakamura defeats Kota Ibushi to retain the IWGP Intercontinental Championship in a 20 minute classic. Nakamura wins the match with his running knee at the finish almost unexpectedly.
^Jim Ross with a nice knock on WWE when he said “Why would you want a title in your company that doesn’t have the same credibility as any other title? It’s illogical.” He’s absolutely right, and this match delivered the goods and then some. Striker and Ross pointed out the head shots with every knee that Nakamura used, and the effectiveness of his blows paid off and told a great story as the match came to a close. Absolutely amazing wrestling match from these two guys. Ibushi might have become an even bigger star despite losing this match; he really gave it his all and stood out with one of the best performances of the night. Nakamura is widely regarded as one of the best, if not THE best professional wrestler in the world today. Ibushi worked hard here, and the intensity of their rivalry shined in this back and forth encounter. This was a classic that I will not forget anytime soon. ****1/2
Hiroshi Tanahashi defeats Kazuchika Okada to retain the IWGP World Heavyweight Championship in the thirty minute main event. Tanahashi wins the match after two of his big frog splash finishers from the top rope.
^That was epic storytelling at its finest. Professional wrestling does not get any better than what we saw here. It was slow and methodical pacing from beginning to end. The crowd created more hype whenever each man went for their big moves, and these two put on a wrestling/fighting clinic. We saw action with high flying moves to the outside, an AA was delivered by Okada to Tanahashi on the aisle, and they absolutely went to war in every aspect of the contest. It was absolutely as good as it gets when it comes to a one on one main event for the richest price in pro wrestling. Okada has had two reigns as IWGP World Champion, and his time will come as he’s only 27 years of age. Tanahashi is on his seventh and well deserved reign, and he came out on top here as he should at this point in his career. Five star match. *****
One of the things I want to make note of is my criticism regarding Matt Striker. I have never been a fan of Matt Striker. His commentary work in 2010 felt fake and over the top(especially when he was calling WM26). That being said, 2010 was a very long time ago. I’ve since listened to Matt on Lucha Underground and felt he’s been pretty entertaining. With this show, he was absolutely the PERFECT complement to Jim Ross at the announce table. Striker has won me over. His wrestling knowledge was never in doubt, but his play calling ability and complementary skills matching up with other announcers were the things I was skeptical about. I was wrong, and Matt truly shined on this big stage with the legend of Good Ole JR. Together they were informative, fun and enthusiastic. I look forward to the possibility of this duo working together again.
The match of the night was the main event, but the IC Title match was just behind it. The show started off hot, gave us some filler action in the middle with some unique matchups, and then we were treated to a series of awesome matches to finish the show. The best non-title match of the night award(if there ever was such a thing) goes to Styles and Naito for totally tearing down the house. The three final matches on this card are worth their weight in gold and I will watch them again and again. The Jr. Heavyweight Tag Team Match to start the show is a fine example of just how important New Japan makes each and every title feel. Sensational production from this event with phenomenal wrestling! It’s a 10 out of 10 pay per view for me.
Thanks for reading!
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