Kevin’s Random Reviews: NJPW Wrestle Kingdom 10

NJPW Wrestle Kingdom 10
January 4th, 2016 | Tokyo Dome in Tokyo, Japan | Attendance: 25,204

The first NJPW show I ever watched was Wrestle Kingdom 9. A year later, for the first time ever, I stood up to watch a New Japan show live; Wrestle Kingdom 10. The annual Tokyo Dome show, or NJPW’s WrestleMania, featured a dream match fans waited years to see and a rematch of one of the best rivalries in history. However, that led to one of the lowest attendance totals for a 1/4 Dome show ever.

I originally watched with Japanese commentary, but I’m giving English a shot this time. The odd combo of Kevin Kelly, Matt Striker and YOSHITATSU handled it. Also, I’m gonna compare my ratings of each match to what I gave them originally. This is my first time watching the show since I saw it live that night.

The pre-show saw the annual RAMBO, won by Jado. I’d review this, but it goes over 30 minutes and this show is already long. I just don’t have the time to do that again. From what I remember, it was fun (**½).

IWGP Jr. Heavyweight Tag Team Championship: reDRagon (c) vs. Matt Sydal and Ricochet vs. Roppongi Vice vs. The Young Bucks
The NJPW Jr. tag division was a revolving door of the same teams (still is, but with slight variations). The year before, we got this same match, except Trent Beretta replaced Alex Kozlov (an upgrade) and Sydal and Ricochet replaced the Time Splitters (downgrade). That’s not a knock on Ricochet, by the way. Anyway, he and Sydal won the Super Jr. Tag Tournament, but instead of a straight title shot, got thrown in this clusterfuck. IF you’ve seen one multi-man Jr. Tag Title match, you’ve seen them all. The Bucks threw superkicks, reDRagon were awesome, Trent took a beating, etc. I did appreciate what Ricochet brought to the table, hitting some aerial stuff that blows my mind, even though I’ve watched him wrestle a ton. Cody Hall got involved, hitting his dad’s Razor’s Edge on Ricochet onto the other competitors. Ricochet then took Hall out with a springboard SSP that he got so much height on, he nearly left the screen. Sydal and Ricochet hit stereo SSPs on RPG Vice, but the Bucks blind tagged in. They stole it after hitting More Bang For Your Buck in 16:42. If you love spot fests and don’t watch NJPW often, you’ll probably like this more than me. Too much of the same, which always bring diminishing returns. I’ll stick with my original rating. [**½]

NEVER Openweight Six Man Tag Team Championships: Bad Luck Fale, Tama Tonga and Yujiro Takahashi vs. The Briscoes and Toru Yano
This was to crown the inaugural champs. The belts are a good idea, giving some meaning to some of the multi-man tags we get on NJPW shows, but they’ve been booked strangely since their inception. No Muffin for Yujiro, so I had no reason to care. Also, I’ll never forgive ROH & NJPW for not giving us segments of Yano in Sandy Fork with the Briscoes. As for the match, the Briscoes seemed fired up, probably excited to be in Japan. Yano did Yano antics and took the heat segment. The Briscoes got the hot tag and did their thing. Mark’s “redneck Kung-Fu” got some laughs. They got the win with a Doomsday Device at 11:34. This went too long for my taste. Yano stuff is best kept short, even with guys like the Briscoes involved. I was a bit generous the first time around, going **¼, but it was slightly lower. [**]

ROH World Championship: Jay Lethal (c) w/ Truth Martini vs. Michael Elgin
Elgin had a great run in the G1 25 and got over, but not enough to carry this match. Maybe in 2017, but he was still too new here and the NJPW crowd was very unfamiliar with Jay Lethal. This show predates Lethal having the worst bald head in wrestling. Elgin showed off his power, which the crowd popped for. They sat on their hands when Lethal worked his heat segment, though. Technically, it wasn’t bad, it just felt flat and bland. Elgin came close with a deadlift falcon arrow (HE DID THE DEAL). Lethal put him down with the Lethal Injection at 12:00. Just like the ROH Title match at WK11, this didn’t connect or deliver at all. One of Elgin’s worst showings in Japan. I gave this a generous **½ originally. [**]

IWGP Jr. Heavyweight Championship: Kenny Omega (c) w/ The Young Bucks vs. KUSHIDA w/ Ryusuke Taguchi
These two had a banger at Dominion (****), where KUSHIDA won the title. He dropped it back to Kenny at Destruction in a match that lacked (***). I thought him dropping the belt was pointless. KUSHIDA’s buddy Ryusuke Taguchi was a guest during his entrance, dressed as Doc Brown. Back to the Future vs. The Terminator. The early exchanges were fine, but then we got some Bucks interference. Omega hit a nice moonsault off the guardrail with a trash can. Not something you see every day. KUSHIDA fought back and attacked the arm. It worked on two levels, setting up the Hoverboard Lock and eliminating the One Winged Angel. Kenny caught a KUSHIDA handspring elbow into One Winged Angel position. His arm couldn’t hold him up, so he wisely altered things to nail a German. Seeing Omega do a V-Trigger here, which he uses a ton now, made me chuckle. He went for One Winged Angel again, but KUSHIDA countered into a sloppy rollup to regain the title at 12:48. That was better than I remembered. I had it at ***, but Omega’s selling was better than I recalled. The interference wasn’t too bad and Omega’s loss kept him relatively strong, which was key as he’d become a heavyweight the next night. [***¼]

IWGP Tag Team Championship: Doc Gallows and Karl Anderson (c) w/ Amber Gallows vs. Great Bash Heel
GBH won the World Tag League to earn this shot. Like the WK11 Tag Title match, this had a fair amount of profanity. From Karl Anderson’s, “Eight Wrestle Kingdoms in a row, that’s fucking Undertaker style!” to Gallows flat out shouting, “Fuck you Makabe!” With this involving Honma (and Makabe to a lesser extent), the fans were rabid. They love Honma and want to see him win anything. Makabe took the heat segment and eventually got the hot tag to Honma. HONMAMANIA RAN WILD! The champs cut them off at every opportunity. Honma and Anderson slipped on a super Gun Stun spot, but recovered nicely. Makabe got the second, more sustained hot tag, and it led to the finish. The challengers hit a Doomsday Kokeshi, followed by another Kokeshi and King Kong Knee Drop to claim the titles at 12:49. Like the previous match, this was better than I remember (**½), though not by much. The crowd was way into it, but I think the finish would’ve worked better if Honma got the pin. It was solid, while lacking something to make it better. They’d have a much better match at New Beginning in a month. [**¾]

Hirooki Goto vs. Tetsuya Naito w/ BUSHI and EVIL
It’s cool to see EVIL in a suit, rather than his grim reaper garb. He and BUSHI jumped Goto before the bell, which is an unfortunate staple of this show. Goto took a beating with a steel chair and went through a table. Despite this, the crowd remained pro-Naito. After that, most of the back and forth lacked, though it picked up down the stretch following Goto’s sunset flip bomb. Goto overcame more interference, as he ducked mist and EVIL got sprayed with it. USHIGOROSHI to BUSHI, before Goto blocked Destino. He hit Shouten Kai to win at 12:16. Not their best work, which is a theme of the show. Slightly better than I recall, which I originally had at ***, but too much interference and a lackluster start hurt things. They’d do much better in the New Japan Cup in a few months. [***¼]

NEVER Openweight Championship: Tomohiro Ishii (c) vs. Katsuyori Shibata
My favorite in-ring rivalry in all of wrestling. They never had a match I gave less than ****. This was about as manly as a match can get. They went after one another from the opening bell with vicious strikes and kicks. At one point, they dared the other to hit harder, giving free shots. At another, Ishii leaned into forearms like they had no effect. There were so many brutal shots throughout this. I love this style and even I cringed a few times. There was a sense of pride in everything they did, like they were both willing to die before they let the other best them. That’s what I want in a title fight. I loved the little things, like Ishii knowing the PK was coming and getting up to stop it with a lariat, or both guys kicking out at one despite their exhaustion. Finally, after a 17:19 war, Shibata hit the PK to capture his first singles title. Exactly what this show needed. It’s been good, but this was the first thing that felt must see. Their chemistry is spectacular. The fact that they went as hard as they did for nearly twenty minutes is nuts. I got a perfect blend of drama and violence in what would go down as my NJPW MOTY for 2016. I originally had it at ****½, but bumped it up a bit after watching again. It remains at that bumped up score. [****¾]

IWGP Intercontinental Championship: Shinsuke Nakamura (c) vs. AJ Styles
This was pretty much the entire reason I stayed up to watch this show live. The first-time ever match was the only real dream match left in NJPW. The early exchanges saw neither man give up a clear advantage. We got an awesome moment where AJ did a Bullet Club gunshot taunt, only for Nakamura to catch and eat the imaginary bullet. AJ came in with a back injury and played possum following his first real bump on it, getting in a cheap shot. However, it came back to bite him when he took a backbreaker and had to sell it for real. Though AJ’s moonsault DDT spot didn’t fully connect, they nailed everything else perfectly. There were fantastic strike and kick exchanges. AJ had Boma Ye well scouted and even delivered an absolutely brutal knee strike of his own that looked like it knocked Nakamura out. When AJ finally got hit with Boma Ye, he only kicked out because Nakamura couldn’t cover in time. In a great moment, Styles countered a triangle by powering up and hitting a Styles Clash for an excellent near fall. That was it for the finisher kickouts, not overdoing it, which was appreciated. AJ wanted the super Styles Clash, which he won with at WK last year. Nakamura countered with a super Michinoku Driver and hit Boma Ye twice to retain in 24:18. I’m keeping my rating from when I saw this live. Two of the best around, having a dream match on the biggest stage and it lived up to the hype. Despite his back issues, Styles delivered in a big way. This was beautiful. [****½]

IWGP Heavyweight Championship: Kazuchika Okada (c) vs. Hiroshi Tanahashi
Once he returned from TNA, Kazuchika Okada was pushed as a top guy in NJPW. His rivalry with the ace, Hiroshi Tanahashi, is one of the greatest. Coming into this, I gave all their matches ****+, with the highest being at KOPW 2013 (*****, a top three match ever) and the lowest being their first at the New Beginning in 2012 (****). Tanahashi beat Okada to retain the Heavyweight Title at WK7 and WK9. This time though, Okada entered as champion. My biggest gripe with this match came early. Their work didn’t seem to matter much. In the past, everything they did felt like it had a purpose. Here, it felt more like Okada’s “slow start, furious finish” style than the Tanahashi led stuff they worked in the past. Okada wanted to prove his position as the new ace, bringing Tanahashi back in to break a countout. He didn’t want it that way. Tanahashi being willing to take the countout was a great contrast to how they attacked this match. There were a fair amount of great callbacks in this, which was really rewarding if you followed the rivalry. Their best stuff wasn’t enough to beat the other, so Okada busted out High Fly Flow and Tanahashi responded with a Rainmaker. The finishing stretch was a bit overdone, with Okada surviving two High Fly Flows. He stopped a third with a dropkick and, after a series of moves, nailed the Rainmaker. He held onto the wrist, which was brilliant here. It’s super overdone now, but it was perfect in this situation because he wasn’t about to let go of his biggest rival. He used three Rainmakers to retain in 36:01. Like I said, this featured a lot to like, but overall, I felt it was easily their worst match. The leg work and a lot of what happened early was abandoned in favor of those moments. You could skip the opening third or so of this and not miss a thing. To me, this was a like a great TV series with a series finale that had a lot of great moments and callbacks, but it wasn’t the strongest episode. I originally had this at ****, but I lowered it. [***¼]

7.0

The final score: review Good

The 411

I’ve consistently followed NJPW for three Wrestle Kingdoms. WK9 in 2015 was an all-time great show and WK11 was awesome. This was easily the worst of the three. A lot of the undercard was underwhelming. The NEVER Six Man and ROH Title matches felt like they were kind of just there and did nothing for me. The Jr. Tag Title match was too much of the same stuff we’re used to in the division, while the Jr. Heavyweight Title match didn’t deliver on the level they could. The Tag Title and Naito/Goto also disappointed. Despite these things not being as good as possible, most of them were still enjoyable matches and nothing on the card was outwardly bad. Shibata/Ishii was incredible, as was Nakamura/Styles. They’re the two things you MUST SEE. Though the main event lacked, it’s worth a look to check out the entire rivalry between those two.