Written by: Super Mastodon (@SuperMastodon)
Ladies and gentlemen, we have witnessed history. Years worth of stories have found their culmination at the second night of the biggest event in Japanese professional wrestling. A new era is upon is this decade but before all of that, let us take a look once more at what took place at Night 2 of Wrestle Kingdom 14.
Date: January 5, 2020
Location: Tokyo Dome (Tokyo, Japan)
Attendance: 30,063
English Commentators: Kevin Kelly, Rocky Romero, Gino Gambino, & Chris Charlton
Pre-Show:
Match #1 – LIJ Wins NEVER Openweight 6 Man Tag-Team Championships Gauntlet
For the pre-show we got the gauntlet for the six man belts that nobody cares about anymore. I mean seriously, even the English commentary team are making jokes about the belts’ “disappearance” for the past few months so you know these belts are pretty much irrelevant as if they weren’t already before. Anyway the match itself was fine, it got the rest of the roster members more to do and entertain the crowd before the main show. Started with Bullet Club (Fale, Yujiro, and Chase) vs. CHAOS (Ishii, YOSHI-HASHI, and Eagles.) This is Robbie’s debut at Wrestle Kingdom and in the Tokyo Dome, he actually performed pretty well for the majority of time he was in, hopefully this year he goes even further among the ranks of the junior heavyweights. CHAOS disposed the BC trio with Ishii hitting Chase Owens with a brainbuster. Out comes the Suzuki-Gun trio of Taichi, El Desperado, and Yoshinobu Kanemaru. The match was pretty fast-paced than usual, and you know it too as Taichi tore off his pants earlier than usual. Eagles got the pin on Kanemaru keeping his team alive. Next crew out is the LIJ trio of EVIL, BUSHI, and Shingo Takagi. Again just some more solid action although the ending to this was a little odd with the referee screwing up the count with Ishii obviously kicked out before the three after getting hit with EVIL’s secondary signature Darkness Falls. I mean it doesn’t matter in the grand scheme of things but I don’t think we’re gonna be seeing this referee anytime again soon at least in the Tokyo Dome. Finally, the champions arrived Toru Yano, Ryusuke Taguchi, and Togi Makabe. Longest reigning 6 man tag-team champions and you’ll definitely get that record by not defending the belts at all but I digress. Shingo picked up the victory for LIJ by hitting the Made in Japan onto Taguchi. After 23 minutes of gauntlet action, LIJ are now 4x winners of the NEVER Openweight 6 man belts. Will the titles finally be relevant again? I doubt it.
Main Card:
Match #1 – Hiromu Takahashi & Ryu Lee def. Jushin “Thunder” Liger & Naoki Sano
First match of the night is the final bout of Jushin “Thunder” Liger’s 30 year career. As Chris Charlton has mentioned on commentary, after 3,500+ matches it all comes to a close in this one. It’s nice to see living legends like Yoshiaki Fujiwara enter the Tokyo Dome again, he served as the corner man for the team of Liger and Sano as he was their trainer/mentor in their days at the dojo. The match was mainly about Liger vs. Hiromu, the past meets the present. Both really gave it their all and really it could’ve been just a singles bout between them and it would have been fine. It is nice to see a parallel of rivals though as Liger/Sano was the Hiromu/Lee of their time. Speaking of Sano, the last time I watched him was his matches at NOAH in 2018 where he was still decent but really looked like age got the best of him. Not in this one though, for the brief time he was in the ring he performed well and executed his moveset well for someone who is 54 years old. We all know what the result was going to be but for it to sink in it really felt surreal and the crowd felt the same as well, at the 12:16 mark Hiromu hits Liger with the Time Bomb, thus signaling the end not only of the match but the career of one of the greatest professional wrestlers ever. The 11x IWGP Jr. Heavyweight Champion has passed on the torch to the reigning IWGP Jr. Heavyweight Champion. It was the perfect conclusion to the storied history of Jushin “Thunder” Liger as an active competitor.
Many wrestlers and other members of the industry have shared their thoughts and memories of the man, as a fan although I did not grow up watching Liger, I was always familiar of him. Then as I got hooked on to New Japan, I started to follow and dig in more into their history, you just cannot look back into NJPW without ever running into Liger one way or another. His influence in the business does not end in the borders of New Japan however, he has wrestled pretty much everywhere imaginable and has served as an inspiration to a generation of wrestlers just as he was inspired by Tatsumi Fujinami when he was young. As I’ve written in my preview article for WK 14, there can be only one Keiichi Yamada, the sole bearer of the mask of Jushin “Thunder” Liger. Thank you for all the memories.
Match #2 – IWGP Jr. Heavyweight Tag-Team Championships: Roppongi 3K def. El Phantasmo & Taiji Ishimori
Following such an emotional match is a pretty difficult task but the IWGP Jr. Heavyweight Tag-Team Championship bout between RP3K and Phantasmo/Ishimori definitely followed through. In my opinion, this was one of the best matches in the Jr. tag belts’ history in the Tokyo Dome. Usually the belts have been defended in multi-men matches before and seemed like an afterthought generally, but in recent years since the creation of the Super Junior Tag League tournament as well, the belts have gained a bit more respect in the Wrestle Kingdom cards and given the proper platforms. While the division itself is a little weak right now, same goes for their heavyweight counterparts, the four men involved were able to deliver an exciting match up. I’ve said in the preview that this was the match I was least looking forward to not because it is going to be bad, far from it, but because there isn’t much heat built up to it. I still stand by that opinion but it is true that outdid what a lot of people expected going in to this contest. Under 15 minutes worked fine, Phantasmo and Ishimori have found their “mojo” if you will as a team together and they went from two singles stars put in together as a team, to totally working as a unit. SHO & YOH are great just as usual, they are so talented that seeing them victorious, you just can’t help but be happy for them. They won the match hitting the Strong X combination maneuver on Phantasmo at the 14:08 mark. Just overall, a solid set of action and that’s all you can ask for the tag division right now. Here’s hoping RP3K will have a lengthy reign with the belts this time and the division as a whole gets a revamp or major surprises of sorts to give it that refreshing feeling it direly needs.
Match #3 – RevPro British Heavyweight Championship: Zack Sabre Jr. def. SANADA
Second year in a row the RevPro British Heavyweight Championship was defended at Wrestle Kingdom, this time Zack Sabre Jr. was successful in his first defense with his fourth reign against SANADA. Their build up for this match, they’ve been hyping up how SANADA is yet to submit ZSJ in any of their matches. They are 2-2 together in singles match ups so this is essentially the rubber match. Honestly, while the match was fun and worked well as expected from these two high caliber technical athletes, I enjoyed their G1 match last year just a bit more. There was a “spark” in that match that they just weren’t able to capture this time around or even go beyond that. It was still good nevertheless, if you enjoy a lot of back-and-forth counters and an old school World of Sport vibe mixed in with some modern day technical wrestling then this is definitely for you. At the 12:32 mark, ZSJ got his payback win over SANADA in the same move that pinned him at the G1. “Strong Style is dead, Sabreism lives on!” Zack’s words not mine.
Match #4 – IWGP US Heavyweight Championship: Jon Moxley def. Juice Robinson
Another match that I feel didn’t live up to its full potential is Moxley vs. Juice for the US Championship. This is their third singles match up in a New Japan ring, tied at 1-1 so it seems like this is the one that concludes their rivalry. Don’t get me wrong, it was still an action-packed match but it was obvious they weren’t totally 100% in on it despite some hardcore spots here and there. It seems like this match up really peaked with their first one. This will go down as a match that happened in an event filled with memorable bouts, that’s how it felt like to me. With Juice winning the tag belts, perhaps they are focused on him with the tag division with Finlay and the result surprised me too, Moxley hits him with the Death Rider at the 12:48 mark successfully defending the US Title, making him still undefeated at the Tokyo Dome in the span of two days. So it seems like Mox is staying with NJPW after all despite his AEW duties as well, and this is more evident with what happened afterwards. I and a slew of other fans complained that we did not get to hear Kaze ni Nare at Night 1 at the Dome, turns out they were saving it for this moment, ladies and gentlemen prepare yourselves for our next American Overlord, as Minoru Suzuki came out as the next challenger for Jon Moxley’s US Championship. If you remember during the buildup for Mox vs. Archer, he hits both Archer and Suzuki with the Death Rider at the World Tag League Finals, clearly The King has not forgotten and we’re about to have ourselves a dream match and someone’s going to freaking die!
Match #5 – NEVER Openweight Championship: Hirooki Goto def. KENTA
I usually hate doing comparisons but man did this match remind me of old school NOAH in the 2000’s with how hard hitting of action it is, but I think it is applicable knowing one of the participants involved. This was KENTA’s first match in the Tokyo Dome since 2005, I would have to guess that would be the huge NOAH Destiny event where he fought Yoshinobu Kanemaru for the GHC Jr. Heavyweight Championship, I suggest go out of your way to seek that whole event if you haven’t yet, truly NOAH at its peak. But anyway, pretty amazing what a refresh of a career KENTA has had ever since leaving WWE. Not too long ago we were seeing this man on pointless matches in 205 Live, now he is back where he belongs and that is in the big stage. The two of them really gave it their all in this match, just non-stop stiff action like what the NEVER Openweight division is all about, it’s the foundation that was built by the man that is in the middle of this story being Katsuyori Shibata. In commentary they kept mentioning how the belt was somewhat of a second thought going in to this personal match but I’d say it’s just as crucial as to me it was the prize that symbolized Shibata in a way, it wasn’t purely pride they fought for. Obviously this is far from the battles of Shibata, Ishii, and Suzuki that was the division at its peak before, but it was still a solid match that I feel will get overlooked just because of how great the entire weekend has been. Although KENTA himself certainly won’t be forgotten for his actions later on despite losing the title at the 16:12 mark after being hit by the GTR. This is Goto’s 5th reign as NEVER Openweight Champion and here’s hoping we get to see him run with it for awhile and have some interesting challengers. I expected for Shibata to celebrate with him but I guess they’d just have beer afterwards in the LA Dojo.
Match #6 – Jay White def. Kota Ibushi
It is the special singles match between the two losers of their respective championship matches the previous night with Jay White losing the Intercontinental Championship to Tetsuya Naito and Kota Ibushi unable to dethrone Kazuchika Okada for the Heavyweight title. A re-match of last year’s G1 Climax Finals and while that match was more enjoyable for me in my opinion, this match had a lot more emotion built up to it. The bout itself was good obviously, but Ibushi really went all in with his “ultra instinct” emotionless mode in this one, last night’s main event loss he was probably already on the verge of blowing up but now that Switchblade has avenged his defeat at the G1, the Golden Star could very well become the Fallen Star with how he’s been acting up and might go on a tirade sooner rather than later. I personally didn’t mind the interferences of Gedo which would eventually lead to the finish, at one point it was a clear win for Ibushi getting a visual pin over his opponent but the referee was knocked silly to the outside so he can still get a win over Jay, it’s just he got outplayed with a third man involved in the match. Liked the point where he kept challenging Jay to hit him with elbow strikes only to deliver right one much harder knocking Jay down repeatedly. My predictions were correct in terms of the match we will get in this position but the result was different, even though all of Bullet Club lost in their matches this weekend, Jay White was able to prevail in this one and kept his stock going. The same cannot be said for Ibushi, after getting hit with the Bladerunner at the 24:58 mark, he received another one after the match. As Jay and Gedo were leaving the arena, he was still visibly shaken by it all and wanted to come after the opposition but he was stopped by the young lions. It must be hard to be a Kota Ibushi fan right now but let us see where things go from here. Some were already hoping he’d go to AEW and be reunited with Kenny, I personally think he still has a lot of unfinished business in Japan and didn’t he just sign that contract? Not sure how long that goes. He still has to win the IWGP Heavyweight Championship at some point, one way or another, Kota Ibushi has to join that esteemed group one day, I believe in it. For now though, seems like the Cut Throat Era is far from over after all.
Match #7 – Chris Jericho def. Hiroshi Tanahashi
We were all worked and dammit I can say that I enjoyed it. The doors to the “forbidden portal” as they said between NJPW and AEW were one victory away, but it remains shut for now as Hiroshi Tanahashi loss the chance to have a shot for the AEW World Championship held by Chris Jericho. But I think NJPW fully recognizing AEW’s existence works in their favor, sure a partnership may be not in the conversation right now, but pretending as if the company doesn’t exist, when two of their top gaijins are active members of their roster too wouldn’t feel too realistic. Before the match we saw an entertaining vignette of Tanahashi mocking Jericho with his bizarre Clockwork Orange inspired gimmick. As Charlton said again, it’s the battle of the two biggest rock stars in professional wrestling and that is certainly what we got, a nice ol’ battle. Just standard pro wrestling between two veterans and sometimes all you need is a classic match to deliver well. Both men at this point don’t need to go out of their way and pull off crazy stunts to entertain the crowd, while Tana did still pull off a High Fly Flow on to the outside, generally they kept the action inside the ring. Oh but yeah there was that one table spot where Y2J hit Tana with a DDT which sounded crazy, it was on the English commentary desk too so they were out for a few moments, he called Mr. Juicy a fatass too, bless you Jericho. This is already the case but man with all due respect to Antonio Inoki and Giant Baba, Tanahashi really has the strong case of being the Hulk Hogan of Japan, and no I’m not comparing them in terms of in-ring ability but rather with how over he is with the fans. Obviously he is the eternal Ace of the universe but it this match really made you feel that. Whatever Tana does no matter how simple of a move it is or a taunt, the crowd goes absolutely bananas! It’s like they are seeing God personified with how they are treating this man, and who’s to say he isn’t? The match was harmless fun although I predicted Tana to win that was before they had the stipulation of it being a number one contender shot for the AEW Title so that caveat didn’t help. It would’ve been nice at the very least for one night only to have seen that match but I guess we have to wait for an official partnership between two of the biggest wrestling companies right now. Jericho taps out his fellow wrestling legend with a Lion-Tamer at the 22:24 mark, gaining his first victory at the Tokyo Dome.
Match #8 – IWGP Heavyweight & IWGP Intercontinental Championship: Tetsuya Naito def. Kazuchika Okada
Finally, the biggest main event in professional wrestling history at the Tokyo Dome, it’s the final chapter to the Double Gold Dash arc and a match that went full circle, seven years in the making. Tetsuya Naito has done it ladies and gentlemen. Never have I been emotional for a pro wrestling victory since Daniel Bryan at WrestleMania 30. As a Naito fan, we’ve endured years of disappointment at the big stage, countless times where it felt like it could have been his time but no, we were swayed to another direction. But this time it is different, in their third match completing a trilogy, Naito is the one getting his arms raised this time and not only with one belt at hand, but two becoming the FIRST man to hold both IWGP Heavyweight and IWGP Intercontinental Championships simultaneously. Two belts that have always been synonymous with his career in New Japan. One symbolized his absolute goal and the other symbolized his journey to get achieve that goal. As for the match itself, what did you expect? It’s age old rivals, obviously we were going to get a great match. Now from a technical stand point I feel Okada vs. Ibushi was just a tad better but honestly, maybe because it’s a little bit of personal bias too, but I was more invested towards Okada vs. Naito. It’s all the years built up behind this rivalry that makes it an instant classic, plus with the way they controlled the flow of the match as some fans have said reminiscent of the Flair vs. Steamboat days where you wouldn’t even notice we were already clocking in at 30 minutes. I got so used with Naito losing that when Okada hits his signature Tombstone + Rainmaker combination, I thought that was it, another year of disappointment, but no Naito is the first man to kick out of that finisher. He played the underdog for the majority of the match, with his knees getting worked on for the most part and it was a masterful continuation of his previous night bout against Jay White where the knees were exploited as well, only this time Okada really didn’t care with the methods of victory and just went full heel on those knees, receiving boo’s from the fans when he just kept battering on them. When Naito went for the Stardust Press, once again it seemed like it was a signal for the end for him, El Ingobernable channeling his old self as the Stardust Genius never spelled success for him, shades of his loss at Wrestle Kingdom 12 where he executed the move but was not able to hit it costing him the match that would’ve had him as the victor if it wasn’t for that. However this time around, Naito was able to hit it and not so long after that, the Destino that finally brought him the long awaited victory in the Tokyo Dome!
From being hated by the entire fan base to now becoming a beloved and respected Ace himself, Tetsuya Naito has reached his destiny of becoming a shuyaku once and for all. After the match he cut his usual promo, and even challenged Okada for another Dome main event one day. However a different opponent is on the horizon for our new Double Champion, before he could finish his iconic lines, out of nowhere, KENTA attacked Naito and ruined what would have been a beautiful moment. To tell you that I’m pissed is an understatement and by God that is the beauty of professional wrestling isn’t it? I think I have found an individual to hate more than Jay White, because just like the thousands in attendance, nobody liked KENTA’s actions other than himself. He would mockingly sit on Naito similar to that of the Shibata pose along with the two belts, it is clear on who’s the first challenger for this championship glory. Naito vs. KENTA does sound interesting and at least a new rivalry so let’s see where it goes from here.
So that’s it. Wrestle Kingdom 14 has concluded. Two nights of pure wrestling greatness, I have to commend New Japan Pro Wrestling for kicking off the year and even the decade with such an amazing start. Some fans were skeptical when it was announced that WK will be a two day event but it all worked out in their favor. Each match had the proper runtime and wasn’t felt rushed unlike last year which I think was the biggest problem, plus everyone on the roster from the top stars to the young lions got to participate one way or another, giving the wrestlers a platform to shine at the grandest stage.
As a Tetsuya Naito fan, to tell you that I’m overjoyed would be an understatement, I was clapping like an idiot throughout Naito’s victory. I have waited for this very moment and all the disappointing booking decisions we as LIJ fans have endured paid off.
With the rise of a new star, comes the end of another though. Jushin “Thunder” Liger has now retired from active competition. A lot of wrestlers and fans have already shared their sentiments and memories so at this point all I can say is, Arigatou Liger-san.
Thanks for reading.
