New Japan Pro Wrestling Wrestle Kingdom 15 Day 1 - 1/4/20201
I skipped the NJ Rumble/Ranbo. I saw some of it and it was not very good. I will be doing New Japan's Tokyo Dome show tomorrow also!
Riki Choshu and a Don King impersonator welcomed us to the show.
El Phantasmo vs. Hiromu Takahashi
高橋 ヒロム vs エル・ファンタズモ
Phantasma threw Hiromu's BOSJ trophy and grabbed the gold jacket you get for winning it asking for Liger. Hiromu ran the apron and dropkicked him, knocking him through the guard rail door. Hiromu then did a senton to the standing Phantasmo on the outside. Hiromu tried for sunset bomb but Phantasmo flipped out of it, then he walked up him and into the ring then did a sunset bomb on him to the floor.
Phantasmo walked the top rope then did a huge moonsault to the floor on Hiromu. Phantasmo slapped him as they got back in. Phantasmo teased diving outside but while he was goofing off, Hiromu did a John Woo dropkick to him. ELP started working Hiromu's wrist and raked the back. He put him in the corner and stood on his crotch while posing. He then laid Hiromu on the top rope and senton'd him in an unusual spot. Phantasmo walked the top rope and danced but Hiromu but his hand and they stopped on the corner.
Hiromu hit a top rope wheelbarrow cradle driver for 2 of course. Hiromu hit a dynamite plunger(fireman's carry into a sitout sideslam). Hiromu then hit a victory royale with some superkicks inbetween and ELP hit a Peach Sunrise after. ELP ran into the ref and they did a top rope hurricanrana and ELP did a splash from the top for another 2, which is just getting silly at this point. ELP hit a Styles Clash for 2 and a V-Trigger after. Hiromu hit a death valley driver into the corner and ELP rolled him up for 2. Hiromu then won on a hurricanrana after a CR2 attempt. They did way too much. They did every move they could and it was just bad indy wrestling.
IWGP Tag Team Title Match - Dangerous Tekkers (Taichi & Zack Sabre Jr.) (c) vs. Guerrillas Of Destiny (Tama Tonga & Tanga Loa)
ザック・セイバーJr. & タイチ vs タンガ・ロア & タマ・トンガ
This got going right at the bell with brawling. I was over Tama and Loa years ago. Zack hit some euro uppercuts in the corner and a pump kick. Tonga hit a Tonga twist and we had Jado hitting Douki with a stick outside. Taichi got double teamed in the corner and was beat up for most of the first half of this. Taichi finally tags out to Zack who euro uppercuts both in the opposite corners then tornado DDT's Loa. Zack gets a close 2 with a euro clutch.
Loa held up Zack for a dropkick from Tonga at 10 minutes. The Guerillas tried a double team combo but missed with Loa not getting all of Zack on a neckbreaker. Loa hit a nice forearm on Zack then him and his brother did a back body drop into a powerbomb on Zack. They hit guerilla warface on Taichi. They went for a superbomb which Zach turned into a guillotine choke while Taichi had Loa in a hold.
Taichi powerbombed Zack from the top into a super powerbomb on Loa. Taichi hit a nice chest kick on Loa and Zack then PK'd him. Tama hit a jumping cutter that Zack rolled up for which was interesting then Taichi hit a release backdrop on Loa for 2. Tama got the steel fingers and Loa won this with a fire thunder on Taichi to win the IWGP Tag Titles. This went on too long and the first part really dragged.
IWGP United States Heavyweight Title #1 Contendership Briefcase Match - Satoshi Kojima vs. KENTA
KENTA vs 小島 聡
Kojima hit some mongolian chops ala Tenzan who was outside and did his machine gun chops. Kojima went up top and got superplexed. Kenta hit a lariat off the top and they went to the apron where Kojima hit a ddt on the apron. They got back in and Kenta hit a ddt. Kenta hit his corner dropkick and a top rope double stomp which wasn't sold too much as Tenzan hit a cutter soon after.
Kojima went for a lariat but got powerslammed. Kenta grabs the briefcase but Kojima lariats it. Kojima then lariats Kenta for 2. Kenta hit his baishaku knee but it wasn't a good one. It didn't mean much though as Kojima was up seconds later with forearms. Kenta started slapping Kojima and hit a nice baishaku knee then won with a Go 2 Sleep. The stalling in the beginning really hurt this match and made me lose interest. The selling wasn't here and what once would have been a really good match was just not it today.
Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. Great-O-Khan
棚橋 弘至 vs グレート-O-カーン
I don't think Khan is at this level and I don't think this gimmick will work. I see him being put with Yujiro within a few years. This is a waste of Tanahashi who probably doesn't have that many big Tokyo Dome matches left. Shingo, Ishii, Bushi or Goto would have all been better picks for this spot.
Khan got some slams in early and controlled early on. He slammed Tana on the ramp. Back in and Khan keeps control with a mongolian chop and a kneebar. Tana caught a Khan kick and dragon screwed him. Tana made a comeback and swanton'd Khan. Tana goes for the sling blade but Khan caught him and dropped him down face first.
Khan and Tana traded forearms and Khan hit some double chops. He hit something like a lifting reverse STO. Khan tried to belly to belly Tana over the top rope but they either blew it or Tana just caught himself. Tana came back again with a sling blade. Khan hit a reverse slam for 2. Khan tried to hit a reverse suplex but it took 2 tries.
Khan brought a chair into the ring but Tana ended up throwing it out before hitting a dragon suplex for 2. Tana hit a high fly flow to the back then one to Khan's stomach for the win. Tana tried but as expected, Khan isn't the guy for this and his stuff looks bad. The gimmick is not helping him either when I think he'd be so much better off if he just did traditional strong style stuff being himself.
Kazuchika Okada vs Will Osperay
オカダ・カズチカ vs ウィル・オスプレイ
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| The finish |
Okada's got some really nice red and gold tights here. They start off trading forearms fast. Okada runs the ropes fast and elbows him. They go outside and Will tastes the barrier. Back in and Okada hits a nice tope con giro. Okada was on the apron and was arguing with Bea and was dropkicked to the floor. Will removed some ringside mats. Okada's head was hanging off the apron and Will dropped the knee on it.
Back in and Okada takes a backdrop. Then Will runs fast into a back body drop and really gets thrown. Okada did the neckbreaker on the knee and hit a money clip but Will hit the ropes. Will then came back with a springboard elbow. Will then hit a german for 2. Will tried to springboard again but got a heavy rain from Okada.
They traded strikes and Will went up top, where Okada dropkicked him as he sat on the top buckle. Will rolled hard to the floor. They mess around on the floor. Will jumps up on the rails but can't hit the Os Cutter, then Okada John Woo dropkicks him. Okada did a top rope dropkick and Will did a great sell on it. Okada's head got trapped on the top buckle and Will superkicked it, then hit a bloody sunday for 2. Will hit some hook superkicks to the face. Okada went for a hurricanrana but Will turned it into a ligerbomb for 2 at 20 minutes.
Both go over top with a clothesline. Will stood on the table outside the ring and suplexed Okada on it. Back in and Will hit a forearm to the back of the head from the top. Will hit a snapping powerbomb.Then went to the apron and Will went for an Os Cutter and got caught, then got powerbombed on the apron at 25 minutes.
They got back in and Okada hit a short-arm lariat. Will hit a hook kick and went to the ropes, then Okada hit a dropkick and a money clip. Will got out and took a twisting tombstone, then we went back to the money clip. Bea Priestley got on the apron(I can't stand that woman) and Okada thankfully threw Will into her, then he put the money clip on again. Okada hit a nasty stomp to the back of the head.
They went up top and fought there with Will hitting Okada with a boot. Will hit a top rope spanish fly which is probably the first one Okada has ever taken. They did not sell it much at all though which hurt the spot and quickly went into an Os Cutter. Will slapped Okada and hit reverse curb stomps on Okada's face then nailed him in the back of the head with an elbow.
Will took two dropkicks in a row then Okada hit a rainmaker. They were back up though soon after and Will hit a tombstone and his own rainmaker at 35 minutes. Okada hit a sit out tombstone then won it with a rainmaker.
This went too long and they lost focus as the time went on. The first half was pretty good. I liked the big back body drop, Okada dive, the table suplex spot and the John Woo dropkick on the outside. I also liked Okada working the neck, but the match fell apart with the top rope spanish fly spot. That really should have been either the finish or should have lead to the finish since they never do that, but it was just a throwaway spot. They mostly gave up the selling after that and I thought they didn't make a big enough of a deal out of Will using Okada's rainmaker. The finishing stretch also felt rushed with no real big dramatic kick outs. I still liked it better than Ibushi/Naito despite its issues.
IWGP Heavyweight Title / IWGP Intercontinental Title Match - Tetsuya Naito (c) vs. Kota Ibushi
IWGPヘビー級・IWGPインターコンチネンタルダブル - 内藤 哲也 vs 飯伏 幸太 
No special entrances here. They head to the mat early but not much happens. Ibushi hits a hurricanrana early and sends Naito out. He goes to dive on the outside but gets his leg swept instead. They battle around outside and Naito release german suplexes Ibushi on his head on the ramp.
Back in and Naito takes over with a headscissors. Naito hits a reverse ddt for 2. Naito goes for a tornado ddt but can't hit it and gets dropkicked by Ibushi. Ibushi takes him down with a running kick to the cest and standing moonsaults on him. Naito walks up Ibushi's chest in the corner and goes to the apron, where he gets lariated. Then he lands on his neck. Naito neckbreakers Ibushi on the floor. Then he bridges him off the apron and neckbreakers him again. Ibushi hits his head off the apron bar on the way down.
Ibushi hits a german but Naito doesn't sell it and baseball slides, then Ibushi double stomps him at 15 minutes. Ibushi moonsaults off the 2nd rope but Naito moves and hits the koji clutch on him. Naito hits Gloria for 2. They fought up top and Ibushi dropped down with a backflip kick. They fought on the apron and Ibushi hit a great hurricanrana on Naito off of it. Naito beats the count in.
Ibushi tried to deadlift german Naito from the outside to in off the 2nd rope but Naito ended up doing a 2nd rope poisonrana. They sold for a brief period of time but then Ibushi just headkicked him. Naito hit a destino out of a kamigoye. Naito went for another Destino but Ibushi hit a double leghook tombstone on the head at 25 minutes.
They forearm trade and it ends in a Naito slap. Ibushi comes back with a lariat. Ibushi powerbombs him and then hits the Kamigoye for 2. Ibushi got nothing on a hard phoenix splash landing from the top then got hit with a destino. Ibushi then blasted him with a kamigoye for 2 at 30 minutes. Naito hits an enzugiri then Valencia but gets a pump knee and a kamigoye for the Ibushi win. Ibushi finally wins the IWGP title and the IC title too.
The pacing was pretty good here. 30+ minutes flew by like nothing and that's a credit to these two, but there wasn't any real story here. There wasn't any targeting part of the body or one guy being heelish towards the other or Naito can't hit ___. The selling was also lacking and truthfully, even the big stunts that I expected here were lacking. I didn't hate it or anything but this was not a five star Tokyo Dome main event.
Overall thoughts: A very long show. I thought Okada/Will was the best match on the show and the main was fine, just not a 5 star classic. I thought the juniors match was easily the worst match on the show next to the rumble.
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