NJPW King of Pro Wrestling Review, 8/10/18

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One week after their show in Long Beach NJPW returned to our screens with King of Pro Wrestling, emanating from the Ryogoku Sumo Hall.  Nearly ten thousand fans came to Ryogoku to watch Kenny Omega defend the IWGP Heavyweight Title in a triple threat match against Kota Ibushi and Cody in the main event.  Other big matches included KUSHIDA taking on Marty Scurll for the vacant Junior Heavyweight Title, and Hiroshi Tanahashi facing Jay White for the right to main event Wrestle Kingdom 13.  There was also the small matter of Los Ingobernables de Japon adding a new pareja to their ranks during tonight’s eight-man tag team match against CHAOS.

IWGP Jr. Heavyweight Tag Team Championship 

Tiger Mask and Jyushin Thunder Liger vs. El Desperado and Yoshinobu Kanemaru (c) – Tiger and Liger won the right to challenge for the belts ahead of the Junior Tag League with a pinfall victory at Destruction in Kobe.  Desperado and Kanemaru jumped their opponents before the bell in classic Suzuki-gun style, and spent quite a bit of the opening of the match threatening to unmask Tiger and Liger.  Tiger Mask took a lot of punishment from the heels before Liger got a hot tag, and Tiger came close to a three count with a Tiger Driver.  He should have won after a Tiger Suplex, but the referee had taken a bump just prior to the move and wasn’t in the ring to count the three.  This allowed Suzuki-gun to pick up the victory with a low blow followed by a Pinche Loco from Desperado.  This was a good opening match, and Liger and Tiger were on solid form as the grumpy veterans.  Desperado and Kanemaru were never likely to drop the belts here, and they moved on to the Junior Tag League as champions.

Winners: El Desperado and Yoshinobu Kanemaru, 9:51

Great Bash Heel (Tomoaki Honma and Togi Makabe) vs. Toa Henare and Juice Robinson – How Juice Robinson has fallen, from United States Champion to second match on the card in a makeshift team with Henare.  Perhaps they will enter the World Tag League together, but I’d expect Juice to team with David Finlay again.  At least Juice had new gear for this match.  This was a decent match, with the usual spots of Honma as the face-in-peril and Makabe as the hot tag.  The crowd popped for the Kokeshi headbutt when Honma finally hit Juice with it, and then Henare.  There was some interest when Makabe and Henare, former tag team partners, faced each other but Henare was unable to stand up to Makabe, who picked up a win after a King Kong Knee Drop to the young New Zealander.  With this win, GBH continued to get some momentum ahead of the World Tag League.

Winners: Great Bash Heel, 10:20

Chase Owens, Hangman Page, and The Young Bucks (Matt and Nick Jackson) vs. Guerrillas of Destiny (Tama Tonga and Tanga Loa), Bad Luck Fale, and Taiji Ishimori – GOD defeated The Young Bucks for the Tag Team Titles at Long Beach last week, and now reunited with Fale and Ishimori to take on the Bullet Club Elite.  GOD and Ishimori are still the NEVER Six Man Tag Team Champions, although presumably they will drop them ahead of Wrestle Kingdom.  This was a fun, quick match that continued to show the Bullet Club OG’s dominance over their former friends.  Taiji Ishimori looked like an absolute star whenever he was in the ring – he hasn’t had much to do since Best of the Super Juniors but he really should be involved with the title come Wrestle Kingdom.  Chase Owens nearly got Tanga Loa up for a package piledriver, but Loa reversed it into the Kill Shot for Tama Tonga to pick up the win.  After the match the Bullet Club OGs announced on Twitter that Ishimori would be teaming with Australian Robbie Eagles for the upcoming Junior Tag League.

Winners: GOD, Bad Luck Fale, and Taiji Ishimori, 12:06 

Will Ospreay, Tomohiro Ishii, and Hirooki Goto vs. Minoru Suzuki, Takashi Iizuka, and Taichi – Taichi pinned Goto at Destruction in Beppu to win the NEVER Openweight Title, which I guess was the basis of this match.  Abe Miho accompanied Taichi to the ring carry his belt, and honestly looking much more excited about the belt than he did.  This match had the usual Suzuki-gun shenanigans, including Iizuka biting the entire CHAOS team.  That was a low-point in the match, but seeing Goto and Suzuki going at each other brought back good memories of their savage match at Wrestle Kingdom this January.  Ishii and Suzuki also had a face-off, ahead of their match for the Rev Pro Undisputed British Heavyweight Championship.  It was Ospreay however, who made some headlines by pinning Taichi after a Storm Breaker, which it was strongly suggested would lead to him taking advantage of the openweight stipulation and challenging for the NEVER Title.

Winners: Will Ospreay, Tomohiro Ishii, and Hirooki Goto, 12:10

Roppongi 3K (SHO and YOH), Toru Yano, and Kazuchika Okada vs. Tetsuya Naito, SANADA, BUSHI, and X – Last week Naito announced that LIJ would be adding a new member to their ranks since Hiromu was out indefinitely thanks to the injury he suffered at Dominion.  The leadup to this match was dominated by online speculation as to who the new pareja would be – suggestions ranged from Dragon Lee to YOH somehow turning on CHAOS in this match to join LIJ.  BUSHI, SANADA, and Naito made their way to the ring first, before Naito addressed the crowd to initially claim that Milano Collection AT was their new member.  This was swiftly shot down by Milano, before the new member emerged with a video calling him The Dragon.  He made his way to ring wearing a mask, which he removed in the centre of the ring to reveal Dragon Gate’s Shingo Takagi, who wrestled his last match with Dragon Gate just a day earlier.  The crowd popped for Takagi’s unveiling, and obviously the focus of this match was on what he would do in a New Japan ring.  He looked good within the limits of an eight-man tag team match, and even though he was brought in to partner BUSHI in the Junior Tag League he looked like he could quite easily make the transition to heavyweight.  Takagi picked up the win with a Last of the Dragon, a Falcon Arrow from a fireman’s carry position.  LIJ just became the favourites to win the Junior Tag League.

Winners: Tetsuya Naito, SANADA, BUSHI, and Shingo Takagi, 9:30

Zack Sabre Jr. vs. EVIL – This feud had been brewing for a while, with ZSJ pinning EVIL at Long Beach as well as on the Destruction tour.  Sabre entered with TAKA Michinoku, who did his usual hype-man routine, before EVIL entered on a throne being pulled by figures in cloaks and masks.  However, just before EVIL entered the ring one of the figures attacked him from behind, throwing him into a guardrail before beating him down inside the ring.  The figure eventually removed his mask to reveal the Intercontinental Champion Chris Jericho, who had been absent since his victory over Naito at Dominion.  Jericho laid EVIL out with the IC belt before leaving, at which point Zack tried to get the match started, but the referee determined that EVIL was unable to compete and called for a no contest.  ZSJ settled for attacking EVIL until Naito ran down to the ring to save his teammate (which raises the question of why he just let Jericho attack him moments before).  I don’t know why they decided not to have a match and then Jericho attack afterwards.

No Contest

IWGP Jr. Heavyweight Championship Tournament Final

KUSHIDA vs. Marty Scurll – KUSHIDA defeated BUSHI at Destruction in Kobe and Scurll beat Will Ospreay in Long Beach to set up this final for the vacant Jr. Heavyweight Title.  The junior scene had been in the background since Hiromu’s injury and the G1 Climax, and neither KUSHIDA nor Scurll had done much of note in New Japan since Best of the Super Juniors (Scurll did face Okada at All In of course).  Sometimes it’s easy to forget just how good of a wrestler KUSHIDA is, but his skills were on full display in this match as he battled The Villain for junior gold.  This was a good match overall, with Scurll focused on weakening KUSHIDA for the cross-face chickenwing and nearly forcing KUSHIDA to tap-out to his submission finisher.  Both wrestlers knew each other so well that they were able to counter a lot of their signature moves, although Scurll was able to hit a package piledrive and nearly hit The Graduation, which was the move that defeated Ospreay.  KUSHIDA emerged victorious from this match though, hitting two Back to the Futures in a row to finally put Scurll down for the three count.  This wasn’t the best Jr. Heavyweight Championship match I’ve ever seen but both men worked hard, and KUSHIDA was the right choice to go over here.

Winner: KUSHIDA, 18:33

IWGP Heavyweight Championship Match Contract

Jay White vs. Hiroshi Tanahashi – This match came about after Jay beat Tanahashi in the G1 and then called him out in Long Beach.  Switchblade was accompanied to the ring by his new ally Gedo, who predictably tried to help him win by cheating.  Having Jay and Gedo try to cheat Tanahashi out of his Wrestle Kingdom main event really helped to generate heat with the Japanese crowd, who were hugely behind The Ace.  Jay once again went after Tanahashi’s knee, which has been a year-long story, and was helped by Gedo who smashed Tanahashi with the Wrestle Kingdom contract briefcase when Red Shoes’ back was turned.  Tanahashi’s body hasn’t been at 100% at really any time this year, and his victories have come in spite of his physical condition not because of it.  Tanahashi came very close to sealing his main event spot at the Tokyo Dome after a High Fly Flow, until Gedo pulled Red Shoes’ out of the ring mid-count.  When he attempted to hit Tanahashi with brass knuckles however, The Ace ducked and laid out Gedo with a vicious palm strike.  Jay pulled out every trick in his book to try and get the win, including hitting Tanahashi with a low blow and throwing a steel chair in his face.  Momentum seemed to have shifted his way when Tanahashi attempted a High Fly Flow but Jay rolled out of the way and Tanahashi hit the chair that had been under Switchblade’s body.  As he attempted a Blade Runner however, Tanahashi used the roll up that won him so many crucial victories in the G1 and got the three count that confirmed he would be appearing in the main event of Wrestle Kingdom 13.  This was the best Tanahashi-White match of the year, much better than their offering in January and in the G1.  The Japanese crowd seemed to have bought into White being a heel too, and he generated a lot of boos.

Winner: Hiroshi Tanahashi, 20:40

After the match finished Jay began to beat up Tanahashi until suddenly Kazuchika Okada ran in to save his one-time rival to a huge pop.  Gedo attempted to hit Okada with a cheap shot, but that just ended up with The Rainmaker getting revenge on his former manager, until Jado came to the ring to try and save Gedo.  Then the Bullet Club OGs came out and surrounded the ring, before grabbing Jado and Gedo and inviting Okada to attack them.  As Okada was about to take a swing at Gedo, Tama Tonga hit him with a Gun Stun, and revealed that the Bullet Club OGs were working with Gedo.  Once they had laid out Okada, they invited Jay back into the ring, and he delivered a Blade Runner to Okada, then joined in a two sweet with the Bullet Club OGs to a chorus of boos.

IWGP Heavyweight Championship Match

Cody vs. Kota Ibushi vs. Kenny Omega (c) – Triple threat matches for the IWGP Heavyweight Championship are extremely rare, the last one coming when Brock Lesnar was champion in the mid 2000s.  This match came about after Fighting Spirit Unleashed, when Kenny challenged Ibushi to a singles match and Cody managed to insert himself into the match.  Presumably NJPW don’t want to give away the Omega vs. Ibushi match again so soon, but to me this match didn’t have a huge amount of heat because it felt like a foregone conclusion that Omega was going to retain.  On top of that, the structure of a triple threat lends itself to two of the wrestlers fighting while one rests on the outside until it’s time for them to start fighting again.  To be fair, they tried to make it a bit more varied by having all three men go through a table at some point in the match, which gave them a legitimate reason to not be involved.  There were some good spots in the match, particularly between Kenny and Ibushi, but overall the pacing felt off and Cody really didn’t have much heat with the Japanese crowd.  He was far more over in Long Beach, but here the crowd wanted to see Ibushi and Omega.  Ibushi hit a Kamigoye on Cody and came so close to winning, but Omega desperately managed to stop Red Shoes from counting to three.  He tried to apologise to Ibushi (which seemed weird to me because they both signed up for the match) and this led to Ibushi going into killer mode and battering Omega with stiff strikes.  Channelling UFC from the weekend Ibushi got in some ground and pound before connecting with a Bomaye for a near fall.  Finally though it was Omega who retained his title after hitting Ibushi with a J-driller, V-trigger, and a One Winged Angel.  Why did they include Cody in this match only to have Ibushi lose decisively to Kenny?  Post-match Tanahashi came out to confront Kenny, before Kenny closed the show with Ibushi and The Elite by his side.

Winner: Kenny Omega, 34:13

 Final Thoughts

King of Pro Wrestling was a show heavy on angles as New Japan moved the pieces for Wrestle Kingdom into place.  If you like drama over wrestling then this was probably a good show for you – for me the main event felt like a bit of a let-down and the EVIL vs. ZSJ fiasco was just stupid.  Triple threats are rarely better than one-on-one matches, and the crowd didn’t seem to care much about Cody, who never had a realistic chance of winning.  This also makes the second time that Cody has challenged for the IWGP Heavyweight Title in 2018, ahead of Tanahashi, Naito, and any other member of LIJ to list but a few big names.  I understand that New Japan wants to capitalise on the buzz of All In while they can, but I don’t need to see Cody in another main event in Japan for a long time.  The decision to pin Ibushi was also a strange one – presumably done to further the feud that Omega and Ibushi are building in the background – but why include Cody in the match if not to take the fall?  So far Kenny’s title defences have underwhelmed, his match against Ishii at Destruction in Hiroshima probably being the best.  In some ways the G1 winner getting a title shot at Wrestle Kingdom handicaps the IWGP Champion, since the audience knows he probably won’t lose before January, but whereas Okada could still put on very compelling matches I don’t think Kenny has lived up to that lofty standard yet.

On the more positive side of things, Tanahashi vs. White was a very good match, even if the post-match fallout was also rather nonesensical.  What relationship do the Bullet Club OGs have with White?  Him and Fale are both from New Zealand I suppose, but it seems an odd fact to build an alliance on.  They also fell out with Bullet Club because Kenny was leader, but now they’ve taken in Jay White who will surely see himself as a leader too.  At least we’ve gotten some payoff to all the G1 disqualifications.  The ending of the match foreshadowed an alliance between Tanahashi and Okada in the future, which is very intriguing, and the crowd had a huge pop when Okada ran down to make the save.

The unveiling of a new member of LIJ was also well handled, and Shingo Takagi will make an excellent addition to the NJPW roster.  He looks destined to be a heavyweight, but I expect that he and BUSHI will be challenging for the Jr. Tag Team Titles at Wrestle Kingdom.  KUSHIDA was also a good choice for the new Jr. Heavyweight Champion, and I’d like to see Taiji Ishimori be his challenger at Wrestle Kingdom.

The card for Power Struggle at the start of November was released after KOPW finished, and it sees Will Ospreay challenge Taichi for the NEVER Title, EVIL challenging Chris Jericho for the IC Title, Naito going up against ZSJ, as well as Okada and Beretta facing White and Gedo, and Tanahashi teaming with David Finlay against the Golden Lovers.  I don’t expect many title changes at Power Struggle, although it seems like the EVIL vs. Jericho match is probably a set up for Naito vs. Jericho at Wrestle Kingdom.  Honestly, I’d be happy if Naito beats him and he doesn’t come back again except maybe to job to someone.  Presumably we’re building towards a White vs. Okada match at Wrestle Kingdom, which is another very high profile matchup for White after returning from excursion in 2017.  I wonder if the Golden Lovers match will develop the tension between Ibushi and Omega, although it seems highly likely that Finlay will be taking the pin.  We will also see the final of the Junior Tag League, which I predict to be BUSHI and Takagi going over SHO and YOH.

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