wrestling / Columns

Csonka’s NJPW King of Pro Wrestling 2018 Preview

October 7, 2018 | Posted by Larry Csonka
NJPW King of Pro Wrestling 2018

WELCOME back to column time with Larry! Today, I am going to discuss and preview the NJPW King of Pro Wrestling 2018 event. The card is headlined by IWGP Champion Kenny Omega vs. Kota Ibushi vs. Cody, and features a pretty loaded card with a lot of implications for future shows, including WrestleKingdown. Today, I will give my predictions, and break down the show match by match. Feel free to make your picks in the comment section. Thanks for reading! It’s wrestling, we love it and will disagree. The only rules are to “have a take, be respectful, and don’t be a dick.” Thanks for reading.

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Junior Tag Title Match: Champions Kanemaru & Desperado vs. Jushin Liger & Tiger Mask: We start off with the junior tag titles on the line. The feud between these four has been going on and off for almost two years as the champions have many times tried to steal the masks of the legends. But Jushin Liger & Tiger Mask recently got revenge, winning a non-title match and giving them this opportunity for the titles. Kanemaru & Desperado have added stability to the division, and when not reliant on Suzuki-gun shenanigans, are quite good performers. The last match was short but good as Kanemaru & Desperado won, which was a fun moment, but while the legends winning would be fun, I see the champions retaining here. WINNERS: Champions Kanemaru & Desperado

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Juice Robinson & Henare vs. Honma & Makabe: Honma & Makabe are the veteran team and Honma’s return is a feel-good story, and under normal circumstances, I’d say they pick up the win here. But with Juice losing the US Title at Fighting Spirit Unleashed, he needs to start a redemption tour. Had this been Juice & Finlay, I’d pick them, but Henare eats the pin here. WINNERS: Honma & Makabe

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The Young Bucks, Chase Owens, & Hangman Page vs. Bad Luck Fale, Ishimori, Tanga Loa, & Tama Tonga: A short while back, Ishimori, Tanga Loa, & Tama Tonga beat the Bucks & Scurll to take the trios titles in another skirmish in the Bullet Club Civil War. And then at Fighting Spirit Unleashed, the Tongans scored another big win, defeating the Bucks for the IWGP Tag Titles. The Addiction also beat Chase Owens & Hangman Page at Fighting Spirit Unleashed, leaving the Elite side of Bullet Club in shambles. The boys from the Elite need to pick themselves up, came together, rebound and regroup. With the Bucks reportedly not working the WTL, the pinning Loa or Tonga makes the most sense to allow them to lay claim to a title rematch without the benefit of winning the WTL. Of course, since that makes perfect sense to me, they’ll likely throw me a curveball and have Fale pin Owens. WINNERS: The Young Bucks, Chase Owens, & Hangman Page

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Will Ospreay, Hirooki Goto, & Tomohiro Ishii vs. Iizuka, Taichi, & Minoru Suzuki: CHAOS & Suzuki-gun go at it again, and I think that we all know how this one will start. If my theory is right, this match will be all about continuing Will Ospreay’s move to heavyweight. With that being my theory, I think that the likely outcome is Ospreay picking up the win for his team, likely over Taichi, setting up a title match at Power Struggle, where Ospreay wins and moves onto WrestleKingdom to defend against Kota Ibushi. Iizuka will bite a lot of people here and continue to be useless as well. WINNERS: Will Ospreay, Hirooki Goto, & Tomohiro Ishii

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Toru Yano, Kazuchika Okada, Sho, & Yoh vs. Tetsuya Naito, SANADA. BUSHI, & a Mystery Ingobernable: There are several possibilities for Mystery Ingobernable here, including a returning Kitamura, a returning Kawato, Neville, and new free agent Shingo. LIJ is a closely-knit group with connections to Naito, and I think that rules out Neville (he’s working all the upcoming Dragon Gate shows including one on this day) and Kitamura. That leaves Kawato (promotion from within and he’s working in Mexico where Naito evolved into an Ingobernable) and Shingo, who was trained by Animal Hamaguchi like Naito was prior to joining NJPW. With LIJ introducing a new member, it feels like a lock that they win here to kick off the new era. Naito has promised that 5, and not 4, will be waiting on Takahashi’s return and while Shingo would be fucking rad, I was going with Kawato, but his schedule seems to rule him out as well. I’d love to see them throw us a huge surprise (like Yoh snapping after all of the bullshit from White and leaving CHAOS for LIJ [he and Naito had teases of this when he was a young lion] as further fallout from White’s actions). Anyway, Yano will do his shtick and everyone will love it, while Okada, Sho, & Yoh will carry the workload. If it’s Shingo, pinning Sho or Yoh to set he and BUSHI as the new LIJ junior tag team works very well here. WINNERS: Tetsuya Naito, SANADA. BUSHI, & a Mystery Ingobernable

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EVIL vs. Zack Sabre Jr: This feud has been going on for weeks, born from the LIJ vs. Suzuki-gun tags, and with the theme that Sabre has EVIL’s number, and that has completely frustrated EVIL. If reports are correct, the story here is that Sabre is a short-term roadblock for EVIL on his way to Chris Jericho and an IWGP IC Title shot. If this is the plan, then EVIL should finally get his revenge here, picking up the win and setting up the post match angle with Jericho, either live for an attack or via video screen where he calls EVIL a fuck face a few times and sets up the match. The EVIL vs. Jericho match should set the stage for Jericho winning and giving us Naito vs. Jericho at WrestleKingdom. WINNER: EVIL

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For The VACANT IWGP Junior Heavyweight Title: KUSHIDA vs. Marty Scurll: With Hiromu Takahashi out due to injury, KUSHIDA, BUSHI, Ospreay, & Scurll (the last four champions besides Takahashi) entered into a mini-tournament to crown a new champion. KUSHIDA beat rival BUSHI in a great match, while Scurll beat longtime rival Ospreay (likely sending Ospreay to heavyweight in doing so) in an excellent match. Scurll came out of that match with great momentum, and there is a case to run with him as champion, as it’s not the top choice, and you can continue the Bullet Club saga with a feud with Ishimori, which is a fresh feud. On the other hand, the division needs stability with Takahashi’s injury, and KUSHIDA as the junior ace feels like the right man for the job. He’s a great performer, and someone many forget just how great he is. He’s been downgraded as of late, and a return to the top as champion for his sixth reign feels like the proper prescription for an unstable division that was thrown into flux with Takahashi’s injury and Ospreay’s likely promotion to heavyweight. It feels like the safe call, and I may very well be wrong here, but I’m going with KUSHIDA. WINNER: KUSHIDA

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For Tanahashi’s WrestleKingdom Title Shot: Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. Jay White: Hiroshi Tanahashi won the G1, and because Tanahashi is the valiant former ace of the company and he DIDN’T beat Okada to win the G1, he drew him to get it, he challenged Okada and successfully defended the case against him. Tanahashi got revenge for losing the title defense record, got validation that he can still be the ace, and is working for that one last WrestleKingdom main event. Jay White lost to Tanahashi at WrestleKingdom, but got revenge, beating him in the G1, and laying claim to a shot at the briefcase. The events at NJPW Destruction in Kobe 2018 had been almost a year in the making. From White’s initial failure to joining CHOAS, to winning the US Title, to his wins over Tanahashi and Okada to the final act in Kobe that saw him rise, it all played perfectly. And that includes the Tanahashi and Okada matches some weren’t a fan of; Okada had to beat Tanahashi to surpass Tanahashi’s records. The G1 draw give Tanahashi reason to demand to defend against his greatest rival so that he could feel worthy again Tanahashi had to beat Okada to give him that momentum for WrestleKingdom, and that loss by Okada was the reason for White to finally put his plan into action, unseat Okada, and also lay challenge to Tanahashi’s title shot. It’s full circle booking, and it all makes sense. While one could make a strong argument for White winning the case and moving on to a WrestleKingdom title shot, I still believe that his new era vs. Okada’s CHAOS, leading to them facing off at WrestleKingdom while Omega defends against Tanahashi feels like the right way to go. It gives us a fresh title match, and a resolution to the unfinished Omega vs. Tanahashi program from their IC Title feud, and also gives Okada a break from the main event spot; both matches freshen things up a lot. I’m hoping for a great match here. WINNER: Hiroshi Tanahashi

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IWGP Title Match: Champion Kenny Omega vs. Kota Ibushi vs. Cody:>: The big closing angle of NJPW Fighting Spirit Unleashed 2018 was Omega looking to set up the rematch with Ibushi for next week’s King of Pro Wrestling event. But just as Omega was setting the stage, Cody arrived. They may all be friends now, but Cody is as opportunistic and manipulative as ever. Two belts aren’t enough for Cody, so in a move that has seemingly angered several fans, Cody proposed a triple threat match so that the Golden Lovers didn’t have to break their promise and fight again. Cody’s challenge not only works due to him being NWA Champion and IWGP US Champion, but also because he’s defeated both Ibushi & Omega in the last year in singles matches. But more importantly than all of that, it also delays the Omega & Ibushi match, giving us a longer and more appropriate build. Omega spoke about the rematch needing to be bigger than the first if it happens, bigger than Buddakan Hall and the G1, so what’s bigger than that? Madison Square Garden over WrestleMania weekend. A Cody win makes absolutely no sense here as the goals are Omega vs. Tanahashi and then Omega vs. Tanahashi II; Cody’s here to be the straw that stirs the drink, or more appropriately, the shit stirrer. This is a match to play detour on the road to Omega vs. Ibushi II, to give us a fresh match, and a rare one since NJPW doesn’t run three-ways a lot, especially around the IWGP championship. Omega retains here, but I have the feeling that he pins Ibushi after some mind games and shenanigans by Cody to stoke the fire for Omega vs. Ibushi II. There could be a lot of interesting and really entertaining storytelling in this one, and it could be really, really good. WINNER: Champion Kenny Omega

Early WrestleKingdom Top Match Predictions

* Kazuchika Okada vs. Jay White
* NEVER Openweight Title Match: Champion Will Ospreay vs. Kota Ibushi
* IWGP US Title Match: Champion Cody vs. Juice Robinson
* IWGP IC Title Match: Champion Chris Jericho vs. Tetsuya Naito
* IWGP Title Match: Champion Kenny Omega vs. Hiroshi Tanahashi

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