Kevin’s NJPW Wrestle Kingdom 14 Review

NJPW Wrestle Kingdom 14 Night One
January 4th, 2020 | Tokyo Dome in Tokyo, Japan | Attendance: 40,008

For the first time in history, Wrestle Kingdom will span two nights. The first sees an Intercontinental and Heavyweight Title match and the two winners will face each other for both titles tomorrow. 2019 was a down year for NJPW as it was filled with lackluster creative choices. That being said, this show usually delivers (WK 10 is the lone lame one I’ve seen) so it should be good. Can Gedo get me interested again? Let’s find out.

As always, you can check out more reviews exclusively over at www.patreon.com/the_kevstaaa. I might even post my night two review there only.

I really wish we got to see the Stardom match on the pre-show. Damn arguing over TV rights.

Alex Coughlin, Clark Connors, Karl Fredericks & Toa Henare vs. Great Bash Heel, Yota Tsuji & Yuya Uemura
The thing that made this entertaining was the Dojo Wars. The US and Japan Dojos have been battling on these undercard tags for months and it’s always intense. Tomoaki Honma still puts in some effort but I don’t think Togi Makabe has tried in a year or two. There’s also Henare, who is usually good for a quality performance. Yota Tsuji is becoming quite the THICC BOI. I loved him having Henare in the Young Lion Crab and no selling chops from Coughlin. It came down to Tsuji and Henare, with the guy who is barely above a Young Lion winning with the Toa Bottom in 7:36. Entertaining stuff bumped up by the lions. [**¾]

Manabu Nakanishi and Yuji Nagata vs. TenKoji
NEW JAPAN DADS TAG! These four men knew what to do. They’re on the pre-show and the crowd loves them so what do you do? You play the hits, baby. All four guys did their classic and most notable spots and the Tokyo Dome crowd ate it up. That’s all I can ask for from them. Get in, do your thing, and go home. Here was an existing story of TenKoji looking to avenge a loss from the World Tag League. Kojima bested Nakanishi with a lariat in 5:47. Enjoyable, nostalgic, and short. I like it. [**½]

After a break, it’s main card time!

The Great Sasuke, Jushin Thunder Liger, Tatsumi Fujinami & Tiger Mask IV vs. Naoki Sano, Ryusuke Taguchi, Shinjiro Otani & Tatsuhito Takaiwa
All of the legends are out for Liger’s final matches. It’s Liger’s 3,550th match. Let’s be 100% honest here. Match quality doesn’t matter. This is all about the pageantry, nostalgia, and getting to see these legends in action again. Kudos to them for getting so many of Liger’s classic rivals out there. You could tell that they were all out there having a damn good time. It’s all just so much fun. Liger got to do his thing before taking a comedy ass bump and doing the job to Taguchi’s Dodon in 8:52. What a man that Liger is. Going out on his back for now at least. I do think that it led to a flat crowd reaction. Taguchi’s music played and they were kind of quiet. [***]

BUSHI, EVIL, SANADA and Shingo Takagi vs. El Desperado, Minoru Suzuki, Taichi and Zack Sabre Jr.
A preview of the SANADA/Sabre RevPro Title match set for tomorrow. Thankfully, everyone in this match is pretty solid. Yes, even Taichi. Interesting to note, Suzuki-Gun came out to Sabre’s theme and not Minoru’s. No “Kaze Ni Nare” drops this show at least half a point. There’s a fun little story of SANADA not being able to fully get the Paradise Lock on Sabre. It’s good since Sabre is a submission specialist. It’s a real shame and a travesty that they have nothing for Shingo following his outstanding 2019. Bad booking. As or good booking, Sabre made BUSHI tap to an omoplata in 8:39. Fine stuff here, though it felt more like something on a “Road to” show than a Tokyo Dome event. Shingo felt like the star even when he wasn’t supposed to. [**¾]

Bad Luck Fale, Chase Owens, KENTA & Yujiro Takahashi vs. Hirooki Goto, Tomohiro Ishii, Toru Yano & YOSHI-HASHI
PIETER! She’s the highlight of this one. Honestly, I like Ishii, Yano, and KENTA in this. That’s about it. Yano started this by getting hype to open the match only to realize he was against Fale. Hilarious. He’s the best. His failed low bridge attempt later was also great. I love Yano. He’s in my top 3 favorite things about NJPW. Okay, maybe five (Shingo/Ishii/Hiromu/Yano). Most of the guys in this match were kind of just there. The focus was on KENTA/Goto, with Yano bringing the entertainment, and Ishii being his usual strong self. His suplex on Fale was a legit wow moment. Goto put down Yujiro with the GTR in 8:17. Yano and Ishii saved this from being a debacle. Total filler match. [**]

IWGP Tag Team Championship: The Guerrillas of Destiny [c] vs. David Finlay and Juice Robinson
Can the first title match of the night save this show from feeling like a “Road to” event? It’s the perpetually awful Guerrillas of Destiny, so probably not. However, Finlay and Juice should be good enough to combat their terribleness. Juice came out looking like a member of the Village People. They met the champs during their entrance and brawled in the aisle. This was done to set the underdog babyfaces as just that. Underdogs. The champions dominated. It’s fine because kayfabe wise, they’re the best team in this piss poor division. Logically, we all know the truth. The heat segment by the champs is kind of rough but Juice and Finlay make it work. Their post-hot tag stuff was the best thing about this. We got new champions after Pulp Friction and Sliced Bread in 13:25. I love that Finlay got the pin. He deserves it. The match was solid, mostly due to Juice and Finlay, and told a good story. This division is still the pits, though. [***]

IWGP United States Heavyweight Championship Texas Death Match: Lance Archer [c] vs. Jon Moxley
You can only win by knockout, submission, or Last Man Standing rules. Two of the G1 MVPs. On paper, this should be a war. The stipulation calls for it and these guys are both nuts. They started the fight almost immediately. I liked when Archer tripped on his rope walk and Moxley just went into destroying him with a kendo stick. The same goes for when he cut off the Derailer with a trash can lid shot. Those were spots that felt like they were natural within the confines of the match. I also appreciated Archer doing the EDB Claw and slamming Moxley’s head on the mat with it. Little touches like that added to this. The EDB Claw with a plastic bag was a sick idea. The finish saw Moxley hit a Death Rider through two tables. The ten count started for both and Archer didn’t get up, so Moxley won back the title in 14:26. This was wacky, dangerous, and just about what I wanted from these two. I try not to take wrestling so seriously, so I’m down for stuff like this. [***¾]

IWGP Jr. Heavyweight Championship: Will Ospreay [c] vs. Hiromu Takahashi
Their previous two Jr. Heavyweight Title meetings were split and I gave them ****¼ and ****½. I’m so excited to see Hiromu back in singles action. Ospreay came in wildly confident. He’s dominated the division, competed with heavyweights, and Hiromu is coming off of a career-threatening injury. Ospreay played the role of the asshole and it’s one he needs to tackle more often. The guy is an unlikable prick in real life so let him play into that. His work in this felt more natural than ever. There were some bonkers sequences like the Sasuke Special/German suplex series. It’s insane, crisp, and could only be pulled off by a handful of competitors. Ospreay targeting the neck was savage and uncomfortable at times. It did make underdog Hiromu come off better. I loved the Hidden Blade collapse as it sold Hiromu as being done. The crowd cheering for him just sent Will off the deep end. There were too many wild moments to even count in this. I was blown away at times. Will hit arguably his best Hidden Blade but Hiromu survived and kept countering Storm Breaker. Time Bomb didn’t get the job done so Hiromu debuted a modified Emerald Flowsion to win the title in 24:33. Spectacular. Hiromu hasn’t missed a beat and reclaims his spot as the best junior heavyweight in the world. This was the best I’ve ever seen Willy. Seriously, the unlikable douche role is PERFECT for him. They had a wild match that told a great story, stopped just shy of diminishing returns, and delivered on high expectations. [****¾]

IWGP Intercontinental Championship: Jay White [c] vs. Tetsuya Naito
Their previous matches were lackluster. White won both, in the G1 (**¼) and at Destruction for the title (***¼). Basically, with this big of a stage, it was time for them to have their breakout match. Spoiler alert: they didn’t. Instead, they opted for a slow, plodding match that never got going. The only highlight was a sweet Naito neckbreaker off of the apron. Gedo got involved with a chair to the knee and that led to some Jay White leg work. It was full and Naito halfheartedly sold it. I’m a guy who likes both men but they do not click together and the overbooking never helps. We got low blows, chair shots, a ref bump, and all sorts of shenanigans down the stretch. This was so poorly paced that I was nearly falling asleep. And I wasn’t one of the people who stayed up to watch the show! Naito won after hitting a few Destinos because that move is trash now. It went 33:54 but felt like it was closer to 75 minutes. Seriously, Omega/Okada from Dominion 2018 feels like it’s half this length. Hard yikes on this one. [*¾]

IWGP Heavyweight Championship: Kazuchika Okada [c] vs. Kota Ibushi
As far as I know, Okada is 2-1 against Ibushi winning in 2014 (****¼) and when Ibushi was Tiger Mask W (****), but losing in last year’s G1 (****). Okada got a sweet fancy entrance. He also sported shorter shorts than usual. Okada brought out more thigh meat. He’s a man of the people. As much as I love Ibushi, he’s not the kind of guy to take Okada out of his comfort zone. My favorite Okada matches in the last few years are when he’s forced to be different (vs. Shibata, the G1 match with Okada, vs. Sabre Jr., etc.). That meant we got the methodical beginning before things picked up. It’s another case where you could probably cut out the first third and not miss much. Of course, once it got going they delivered the goods. A few spots missed the mark, like the mistimed Ibushi double stomp where Okada basically took a back bump on his own. I loved how Ibushi would just fire up and beat the shit out of Okada. It’s something he should have focused on more because he has a huge advantage there. I popped when he pulled out his own Rainmaker. The finishing stretch is the stuff you love about Okada. Tons of Rainmakers, counters, near falls, drama, etc. He finally hit one that was enough to retain after 39:16. Great stuff here but it wasn’t different enough to make it special. Ibushi is far better than the likes of White and SANADA, so he can add just enough of his flair to make the formula work for him. I wasn’t all that engaged because that’s just what NJPW has done to me over the years. I’m numb to this kind of match but can appreciate the way it works as an athletic display and some of the story it told. It also lacked drama since Okada/Naito has seemed obvious since they started this double title talk. [****¼]

So, White/Ibushi tomorrow will feel like the ultimate useless loser’s bracket match. Meanwhile, Naito/Okada is official as we all expected. If Okada wins, it further cements that Naito isn’t the guy. If Naito wins, it’s still two years too late.

7.5

The final score: review Good

The 411

I saw some people calling this an all-timer and I’m not seeing it. Don’t get me wrong, there’s a lot to like. Ospreay/Hiromu was phenomenal and the best Dome match I’ve seen since Shibata/Ishii in 2016. The main event is great though not a classic. Archer/Moxley was fun. The rest of the show features fine to good matches but everything before the Tag Titles felt like filler I’d get on a lesser card. And that White/Naito match? Hard yikes.