One of my favorite days of year for wrestling: January 4th! The big NJPW show of the year! Let's go!
Pre-Show New Japan Rambo Match
Not much to talk about here. This was a fun match to kick off the show. Suzuki coming in and murdering the Young Lions was fun. Seeing CIMA in a New Japan ring was awesome and so was seeing Tatsumi Fujinami in a wrestling ring in 2022. Toru Yano, Minoru Suzuki, Chase Owens and CIMA win to advance to the 4 way match the next night. This was fine **
YOH vs. SHO
The proper show starts off with a grudge match between these two teammates turned rivals. Was big on both guys before their split but their feud hasn't really delivered for me yet. Match was nice and heated but felt like they were holding back for another match down the road. And then we got the Dick Togo special of a distraction and weapon spot. Luckily YOH was able to counter it and roll-up SHO for the win. Shame to waste a grudge match at the Tokyo Dome and treat it like just another match in their feud. Maybe next year. **1/2
Hiroshi Tanahashi, Rocky Romero and Ryusuke Taguchi vs. KENTA, El Phantasmo and Taiji Ishimori
A match that should have been on the Road to Tokyo Dome shows. Every NJPW house show style match ever. Babyfaces start off hot, heels cut them off and work Taguchi over before Tanahashi gets the big tag and runs wild. We get a ref bump. 2 for 2 on American bullshit at Wrestle Kingdom. KENTA attacks Tanahashi with the kendo stick before Tanahashi is able to get the weapon and wear out KENTA. Referee sees it and we get a DQ... in the Tokyo Dome... for a Tanahashi match. Zero reasons for this to be on a PPV card in the Tokyo Dome! Fine match, stupid booking! **
Tetsuya Naito, SANADA and BUSHI vs. Will Ospreay, Great-O-Khan and Jeff Cobb
Another preview tag match for real matches tomorrow. This one had more story-telling with Ospreay not wanting to be in the match, since he is the "real" World Champion and has a big match tomorrow and Naito targeting the knee of Cobb for tomorrow. At the same time, Naito wrestled in a t-shirt. All you need to know right there. Passable but not worth being on Wrestle Kingdom **1/4
Katsuyori Shibata vs. Ren Narita
The Wrestler is Back! This was supposed to be Catch Style Rules ie no strikes but Shibata said "fuck that" and demanded a regular match when he got to the ring. Narita did a great job showing fire and what he can do but this was the Shibata show. Seeing him wrestle a match again was amazing and I wish so much that the crowd could've made noise during this. Great match in-ring and fantastic for what it means going forward. ****
NEVER Openweight Championship Match: Tomohiro Ishii (c) vs. EVIL
Fuck this match! Chairs, exposed turnbuckles, interference, ref bumps, run-ins, distractions, low blows, belt shots. All the bullshit that is overused in American wrestling all used at once in this match. Poor Ishii tried to wrestle his style match but the Dick Togo Special was on full display here. One of the worst matches I have seen in the Tokyo Dome in the decade I have been watching NJPW. *
IWGP Tag Team Championship Match: Dangerous Tekkers (c) vs. Hirooki Goto and YOSHI-HASHI
Dangerous Tekkers is too good a team to be wasted in the NJPW tag division. This match was fine. Lots of action and good near-falls but no real story all match and just felt like guys just doing moves as we got down the stretch. NJPW needs some real tag teams. Good stuff for sure just because of how good an effort these guys gave. ***1/4
IWGP Junior Heavyweight Championship Match: El Desperado (c) vs. Hiromu Takahashi
All fire and action, all match. Both men came out swinging and going all out in this match. Hiromu was able to swarm Desperado and tried to overwhelm him with big moves. Desperado fought to survive and stay alive in the match. Great chemistry from these two and lots of outstanding exchanges. Desperado is able to rock Hiromu and finish him off to finally beat his rival with the title on the line. ****
IWGP World Heavyweight Championship Match: Shingo Takagi (c) vs. Kazuchika Okada
A fantastic main event! Shingo works his style and tries to force Okada to fight him and throw bombs at him while Okada tries to work the neck and set up for the Money Clip and the Rainmaker. Lots of great back and forth action with both controlling the match at times. Both men threw their best at the other and kept coming back for more. Shingo goes for too big a risk and Okada hits a big top rope DDT. Okada starts rolling and finally lays out Shingo for the Rainmaker to slay the Dragon and become champion! ****1/2
What a mix bag of a show. A few good matches but nowhere near the level of past shows, and several matches that had zero business being on the Wrestlemania of NJPW1 Hopefully Night 2 can wash the bad taste from my mouth. Very glad I watched this show on a delay. Go out of your way to watch Shibata's match, the Jr title match and the main event.
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