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Showing posts with label Bullet Club. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Bullet Club. Show all posts

AEW New Year's Smash - Night 1 & 2 (Jan. 6 & Jan. 13, 2021) -- Results & Afterthoughts




New Year's Smash is an ongoing series of professional wrestling television special episodes produced by All Elite Wrestling (AEW). The events will take place on January 6 and 13, 2021 at Daily's Place in Jacksonville, Florida and will be broadcast on TNT as a special of AEW's weekly television program, Dynamite. Night 1 aired live on January 6, while Night 2 will be pre-recorded on January 7 and air on January 13.




Night 1 (January 6)


Results






8-man Tag Team Match
The Young Bucks (Matt Jackson and Nick Jackson) and SoCal Uncensored (Christopher Daniels and Frankie Kazarian) defeated The Acclaimed (Anthony Bowens and Max Caster) and The Hybrid 2 (Angelico and Jack Evans)


It took one week and The Acclaimed are already referring people drawing comparisons to Thuganomics/Word Life era John Cena rapping to the ring. Their rhymes are getting better, but boy are they not capitalizing on this. We've seen these guys talk shit for weeks now and continue failing to get a win over anyone - at least not on Dynamite. AEW Dark could have two dozen matches and I still couldn't care enough to watch that show every week when next to nothing on that show is ever referred on Dynamite the next day. So again I ask... Why should me or anyone for that matter care about wins/loses on Dark?

This match itself was just like any other Young Bucks match in this company up to this point. A lot of guys doing spots just to do them. Guys crowded up at ringside to catch someone else doing dives back to back. The biggest offender of this was the finish, where one of the Bucks took forever and a day to line up his moonsault out of the ring during the Meltzer Driver while his brother stood there like a complete dumb ass holding their opponent in the Tombstone Piledriver position until Daniels hit the BME to complete the maneuver. 

After this match, we are reminded of the stipulation that SoCal Uncensored put upon themselves on an episode of AEW Dark, whereas if they suffer one more loss, they are done as a tag team. I'm guessing that Daniels is looking to retire as he's easily more banged up than some of his other ex-TNA/IMPACT Wrestling brothers (AJ Styles, Frankie Kazarian, Samoa Joe, Chris Sabin, etc.) are. He could easily step into the role of a much needed road agent/trainer for talent on AEW while Kazarian steps up into a singles run. I could see him getting at least one run with the TNT Championship, only to lose it to another member of SCU, namely Scropio Sky. 






Singles Match
Wardlow defeated Jake Hager


It's no secret that I think that the former Jack Swagger AKA Jake Hager is a charisma vaccuum. He was the worst thing about the Season 4 finale of Lucha Underground - if his matches didn't stink up that season enough. Hager is the goddamn fucking definition of BORING in the dictionary when it comes to wrestling matches. I rather watch paint dry than see him or Baron Corbin on my television. 

On the other side of things, Wardlow shows a lot of promise, but now isn't the time to pull the trigger on him blowing up on his allies and/or turning on MJF when we've barely even had a year for their business relationship. 

As for this match, this was a lot better than it needed to be, especially in comparison to other powerhouse vs. powerhouse matches on both shows this week. I thought this match had a rocky start, but it came together by the time it was over. 

I thought the F-10 from Wardlow in the finish ruled too. 






Singles Match
Cody Rhodes (with Snoop Dogg) defeated Matt Sydal


Cody Rhodes gave Arn Anderson the night off to allow Snoop Dogg to serve as his "coach" for this match to promote that The Go Big Show for the TNT Network, where both Cody and Snoop are acting as judges.

I don't know what was going on with this match, but Cody came out here wrestling the former Evan Bourne like this was one of their matches on the main event of WWE Superstars or something. Sydal is one of their newer talents, yes, but I thought Cody gave him a little too much offense - as usual. 

I swear, the people in this company need to start being selfish in terms of trying to be 50/50 in terms of how much they give their opponents in matches. You devalue your talents and strip them of what made them special in the first goddamn place when you present everyone at the same equal footing. Eventually you're going to have to have your top guys running through talent and of course that's going to hurt feelings of some of your midcarders and low-tier talents, but hell, let's be real here. There's talents on that roster who should just be happy to have a job in this company when they shouldn't be doing nothing but looking at the lights every week and nothing else. 

This match ended up being an excuse just to get Serpentico and Dr. Luther involved, only for Sydal and Cody to team-up against them. This exchange ended with Snoop Dogg giving Serpentico the most pathetic Diving Splash from the top rope that I've ever seen. 

You know it's bad when even Sasha Banks went on Twitter and called her cousin out for disrespecting the family like that. 


New AEW TNT Championship design that debuted tonight during the official weigh-ins. 



Either before or after the Cody/Sydal match, they held weigh-ins for the TNT Championship match that is allegedly headlining Night 2 between Darby Allin and Brian Cage. I had to laugh at Taz's comment about Darby only weighed as much as he did because he had on his heavy emo belt buckle and all of his other shit on. Any idiot can tell that he looks like he weighs at least 120-130 lbs. tops. Anywhere else but in wrestling that this would be a weight class mismatch in terms of sizing these guys up for a fight. 

I'm expecting a clusterfuck of a finish during Night 2 as I don't see Darby losing the title this soon. At least, I hope not. Then again, you don't want to beat Cage too much.



Singles Match for the AEW Women's World Championship
Hikaru Shida (c) defeated Abadon

 
This was easily the worst thing on the entire show. In AEW's defense though, this match was airing during the tail end of Rhea Ripley and Raquel Gonzalez's last woman standing match on NXT's New Year's Evil special, and it was bloody obvious which was the better match of the two if you were switching channels back and forth. 

For the record, I never thought Abadon was very good when I saw her matches prior to coming to AEW and after the fact following her debut on AEW Dark. That fact sticks out like a sore thumb here as well. I will admit that the biting spot here made more sense for Abadon than it did for Shayna Baszler last year. The only saving grace here is that this match didn't overstay its welcome. Abadon got her spots in but Shida fired up on her comeback and hit her signature Running Knee. Thanks for comin', Abadon. 





Singles Match for the AEW World Championship
Kenny Omega (c) (with Don Callis) defeated Rey Fenix

This match was the easiest best thing out of Night 1 of this two-week special event. It was definitely worth the wait too after being postponed for safety concerns - first during the eliminator tournament and then secondly last week following Brodie Lee's unfortunate demise. We got one hell of a tribute show from that delay and made this show feel even more special to boot. 

Any fan of Lucha Underground could fill you into how talented that Fenix and his brother Pentagon Jr. are in the squared circle, but this match was essentially a sampler platter of what he could do when he kicks it up a notch. With every match in this role as AEW World Champion, Kenny Omega is pulling out all of the stops too and finally reminding long-time fans of his work in New Japan why he is regarded as one of the best wrestlers in the world of his current generation. 

This match isn't without faults though. There was one Diving Corkscrew counter into a V-Trigger from Omega that didn't connect at all from the camera angle shown. That was an eye sore in an otherwise excellent main event. 






Closing Thoughts


The most talked about things on this show were the Bullet Club "reunion" and the Omega/Fenix match. 

I don't see how any casual fan who doesn't have any idea about any of these "insider" references with Kenny Omega, the Young Bucks, and the Good Brothers would be excited about the reunion of their stable that didn't appear in this country in mainstream wrestling. I understand that AEW caters to the "smart mark/smark" modern day wrestling fans, but that's a niche audience to be building your entire show around without any sort of notion of growing that said audience. 

As for the people who are aware of the Bullet Club and their tenure from when all six of these guys were a part of it in New Japan Pro Wrestling, they have all of the reason in the world to be losing their minds at this. 

Sadly, it seems like New Japan isn't onboard with this at all as their Bullet Club never left and there's still some ill will between all of the members of the Elite leaving NJPW to start AEW. So who knows what AEW is going to call this faction since I doubt they will be able to get the legal rights to that in order. 

The tease for the Lucha Bros. against the Young Bucks was interesting as that's a match-up that could be very fun to watch, despite blowing their loads on this encounter during the early outings of AEW. The match between Omega and Fenix shows that both the Lucha Bros. and the members of the Elite still have another gear to shift into, so that could make for some great television in either case, especially if they are given enough time to work their magic in the ring. 









Night 2 (January 13)


Results



Singles Match
Pac (with Lucha Brothers) def. Eddie Kingston (with The Butcher, The Blade, and The Bunny)


This was a great match for Kingston, especially since he didn't have to devolve into the hardcore wrestling spots with foreign objects and weapons. Pac was able to control the pacing here and it made for a great opener, especially in comparison to what NXT were doing over on the other channel at the same time. I have to question Pac still using the Red Arrow as his finish though when he should be getting that Brutalizer submission over more. One could argue that Kingston is too tough to ever give up for a submission win, but the Red Arrow should continue being protected. No one should be kicking out of that move, but at the same time, it's pretty stupid to do that move the slap on the submission immediately after it. He should be trying to end matches with either one or the other. 

On a side note, where does Lance Archer fit into all of this? I get that he's been helping out Death Triangle against Kingston, The Butcher & The Blade (w/ The Bunny), but isn't that a tad bit of overkill? Shouldn't he be helping out Darby or something to even the odds against Team Taz? It just seems rather odd that he keeps coming out here and clearing the ring while butting heads with both factions that are feuding with each other. 



Singles Match
Miro (with Kip Sabian and Penelope Ford) def. Chuck Taylor (with Orange Cassidy) by submission
Because Taylor lost, he will be Miro's butler until Sabian and Ford's wedding at Beach Break.


This was a complete waste of time. Does anyone care about seeing Chuck Taylor as Miro's butler? I guess that could make for some interesting comedy segments on a show that has far too much comedy/silliness, but whatever. I'm ready for this wedding between Kip and Penelope Ford to be over with. It feels like they have been dragging this out for months now. 




This was a throwaway segment, but merely served as a background to set up the Inner Circle's match for next week as they will compete against each other in a triple threat tornado tag team match to determine who will be the tag team that will represent the faction. If Santana and Ortiz don't win this then I don't know what to say about how they are booking those guys for over the past year. 



Six-man Tag Team Match
The Elite (Kenny Omega, Doc Gallows and Karl Anderson) (with Don Callis) def. Danny Limelight and Varsity Blondes (Brian Pillman Jr. and Griff Garrison)


If you didn't see the swerve with the Good Brothers teaming up with Omega here coming a mile away, then you obviously haven't been paying attention over the last few weeks. They are teaming together at IMPACT Wrestling's Hard to Kill PPV over the weekend anyway so they had to draw interest into this pairing somehow on this show. 

This was an OKAY match, but nothing that that blew me away. Limelight definitely has some promise though, same for the Varsity Blondes. I'm confused about Pillman Jr. though. Is he still contracted to MLW too? I saw him on Fusion an hour before this episode of Dynamite aired live and it definitely threw me for a loop. He must be one of their few talents that are allowed to still work for MLW or at least finishing up dates for them before coming to AEW full-time. 

In either case, I didn't think this was much to write home about outside of keeping this "invasion" or rather partnership with IMPACT Wrestling alive, along with establishing that the Bullet Club (or whatever they are going to call this iteration of it in this company) is reunited. 




Tag Team Match
FTR (Cash Wheeler and Dax Harwood) (with Tully Blanchard) def. Jurassic Express (Jungle Boy and Marko Stunt)


I'm sure it took every shred of willpower in the fiber of FTR's very beings not to go in here and stretch Marko Stunt out and beat the piss out of him in this match. Instead, FTR got a great tag team match out of him and Jungle Boy. I'm not too keen about Jungle Boy's new music like everyone else, but whatever floats your boat, Tony Khan. It's not my money you're wasting. 

Marko was able to get his stuff in and not look like there was blatantly obvious cooperation to set those spots up - a testament to FTR's professionalism and skill level to hide that technical aspect of the match while keeping this match believable for the most part. FTR was laying on the hits pretty snug but it still looked fucking awesome. Jungle Boy made a few good hot tags to keep things exciting, only for FTR to cut him off from Stunt completely until they were able to pick up the win. Jungle Boy and Marko Stunt could definitely learn a lot from working with them. I hope they came away from this match with something to up their game. Matches like this against opponents like FTR are only going to make them better, more rounded out performers instead of the laundry list of spot monkeys up and down the AEW roster.  


Jade Cargill reminds Cody that she and Shaq haven't forgotten about him and Brandi Rhodes.


This show saw the Dynamite debut of Britt Baker's Waiting Room segment that is a callback to talk shows like Piper's Pit, complete with its own backstage set. These segments have been regulated to AEW Dark for months now, but this is the first time that they decided to do this on an episode of Dynamite, with Cody Rhodes showing up as the special guest. Cody didn't get to say nothing at all, really, when this segment merely served as a platform to setup a match/feud between Jade Cargill and Red Velvet of all people. I guess since Velvet was Brandi's sidekick before she left on pregnancy leave, they are going to stick her into the spot as Jade's opponent in this feud since AEW still wants to do this thing between Shaq and Cody. 

Even back when I was following her muscle and fitness modeling work prior to signing with AEW, I thought Jade Cargill looked like a force of nature or that she just stepped off the page of a comic book. I wish her all of the best luck in this business to be a success. She definitely has looks down. ALL of those girls who came out of the back to try to stand between Jade and Velvet looked like small children in comparison to this woman. For her sake, I really hope she's as terrifying in the ring as she looks out of it. 



Singles Match for the NWA World Women's Championship
Serena Deeb (c) def. Tay Conti (with Anna Jay)



When Taynara Conti was in WWE as part of the NXT brand, I never saw what the big deal was about her from her matches that she would have as part of their programming. Among the roster of multi-talented women that they had at the time, it was easy to get lost in the shuffle. She should consider herself lucky for getting out of there when she did. I said it back during their Women's Tag Team Tournament during the fall that Tay Conti showed a lot of promise and tonight was more evidence of her growth since leaving WWE. Leaving that company and coming to AEW turned out to be a blessing in disguise for her AND Serena Deeb. Deeb seems to be having another career renaissance with her run as NWA World Women's Champion. She's been killing it left and right in her matches since coming into this company. She definitely brings out the best out of whoever she steps into the ring with. As a former WWE Performance Center coach, you can see her knack for that shining through in all of her matches. She's stated in a recent interview that she would love to serve as a trainer/coach/agent of sorts for AEW's Women's division. 

In my honest opinion, Tony Khan would be fucking stupid not to give her that position. She's definitely over-qualified for the role. 

Conti has absolutely nothing to be ashamed of from walking away from this encounter in defeat. I'm sure she's turned a lot of heads tonight and rightfully so. I would love to see her and Serena Deeb have another match or two down the road. This match was miles above and beyond that poor excuse of a women's wrestling match in Night 1 between Shida and Abadon. 



Singles Match for the AEW TNT Championship
Darby Allin (c) def. Brian Cage (with Ricky Starks and Hook)



The first two-thirds of this match was Brian Cage beating the piss out of Darby Allin, who somehow was hanging on and still managing to kick out of everything this dude was doing to him. It reminded me of how ugly that match between Daniel Bryan and Brock Lesnar was a few years ago was until Brock made one slip up that allowed Bryan to turn the tide into his favor for a comeback. The same thing happened here where Cage took a flat back bump onto the steel steps, which was beyond moronic for a guy who had a pretty nasty back/spinal injury prior to signing to this company. This allowed Darby to hit the Coffin Drop and ALMOST steal the win via count out. I would have been fine with the finish right there, but they had to squeeze in Sting's involvement as he came to Darby's aid when Team Taz was up to no good. Sting hit one of (at least 3 other members of Team Taz) with his baseball bat while the rest stood back looking awestruck as Darby rolls Cage up into a crucifix pin from the top rope for the victory. 

I honestly threw my hands up. The first two-thirds of this match was excellent, but the Sting stuff killed it for me for what was otherwise a great main event. If they don't want to beat Darby this soon for the TNT title, then that's fine, but don't boot this fucking match where you're going to have Cage lose clean AGAIN in another high profile title match. I swear, this company has no idea how to book monster heels. The only way they get over is if they win and if you're handing them losses left and right then it's going do nothing for them in the long haul. It doesn't matter how much of a big game you have their managers talking for them if the monster loses at every chance he has at a championship. 

I don't get what is the point of Team Taz talking a big game but never winning absolutely jack shit when it comes to the few occasions that they have matches on Dynamite? I could only laugh when Powerhouse (Will) Hobbs came casually strolling out of the entrance tunnel following the loss too. Where the fuck was he when everyone else was frozen in fear at Sting just standing there? Sting is only ONE guy. Is there some sort of no touch policy for him out of fear of hurting him again? If he can't even work angles in these small skirmishes/brawls, then what was the point of signing him outside of selling T-shirts? Don't give me that shit about this is the same as him going against the nWo all on his own. At least those guys tried to put up a fight. We've been at this for over a month now of Sting showing up and the entire half-dozen guys that make up Team Taz start running like this dude has a gun. 




Closing Thoughts


In comparison to Night 1, Night 2 definitely had more noteworthy matches, but it had it's fair share of eye sores too. The NWA World Women's Championship match definitely delivered - as usual, along with the opener between Pac and Eddie Kingston, FTR vs. Jurassic Express' Marko Stunt and Jungle Boy, and the main event featuring Darby Allin defending the AEW TNT Championship against Brian Cage. 

I'm still interested to see how Jade Cargill's career is going to pan out while remaining lukewarm about this Bullet Club reunion of sorts as AEW continues to partner up with IMPACT Wrestling. As good as these NWA World Women's Championship matches have been over the past year, I can't help but wonder how long can NWA stay afloat to maintain this business relationship. Without any sort of television or internet platform, NWA is losing steam fast from the wealth of momentum they had at the start of 2020. Unfortunately, that's not AEW's burden to bear, despite they are profitting off the showcase of their excellent female talent, despite only it being limited to Thunder Rosa and Serena Deeb (who isn't even contracted to that company). I have my fingers crossed that Thunder Rosa can pull out an excellent performance out of Britt Baker too instead of that crap we got between her and Big Swole last year. Ugh. 

What I'm not interested in? This utter stupidity that they have Miro involved with that is just as bad as the tail end of his WWE career before he got released, along with the hit or miss antics from the Inner Circle. I just want AEW to continue emphasizing the good stuff and put less focus on the bad. 
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New Japan Pro Wrestling: Wrestle Kingdom 14 - Night 1 & 2 (Jan. 4-5, 2020) -- Results & Afterthoughts



Wrestle Kingdom 14 in Tokyo Dome was a two-night professional wrestling pay-per-view (PPV) event produced by New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW). The event took place on January 4 and January 5, 2020 at the Tokyo Dome in Tokyo, Japan. It was the 29th January 4 Tokyo Dome Show and the 14th promoted under the Wrestle Kingdom name; it was also the first time the event was held over two days, instead of taking place solely on January 4.

The main event of night 1 saw Kazuchika Okada defeat Kota Ibushi to retain the IWGP Heavyweight Championship. In other prominent matches during night 1, Tetsuya Naito defeated Jay White to win the IWGP Intercontinental Championship, the returning Hiromu Takahashi defeated Will Ospreay to capture the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Championship, Jon Moxley defeated Lance Archer in a Texas Deathmatch to regain the IWGP United States Championship and FinJuice (David Finlay and Juice Robinson) defeated Guerrillas of Destiny (Tama Tonga and Tanga Loa) to win the IWGP Tag Team Championship.

In night 2's main event, Naito defeated Okada in a Double Gold Dash match to become the first ever dual holder of the IWGP Heavyweight and Intercontinental championships. In other notable matches in the undercard of the night 2, Jay White defeated Kota Ibushi, Chris Jericho defeated Hiroshi Tanahashi, Hirooki Goto won the NEVER Openweight Championship from Kenta, Jon Moxley successfully defended the IWGP United States Championship against Juice Robinson, Zack Sabre Jr. retained the British Heavyweight Championship against Sanada and Roppongi 3K (Sho and Yoh) defeated Bullet Club (El Phantasmo and Taiji Ishimori) to win the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Championship. The event also saw the retirement match of Japanese wrestling legend Jushin Thunder Liger.
Just to clarify, I'm not going to comment on EVERY match on this card. Just the ones that really stood out to me since I honestly don't follow New Japan's product as closely as I should. Wrestle Kingdom always marks my annual tradition of renewing my subscription to NJPW World and promising myself that I'm going to give their product a chance to follow in the new year, only to cancel shortly thereafter since I don't have the time to watch their shows live like this. In all honesty, I get see a wealth of spoilers and gifs on my social media timelines by the time I get to my desk and login at work in the mornings when those shows do take place.

(Dark Match) Stardom Special Tag Team Match
Mayu Iwatani and Arisa Hoshiki defeated Hana Kimura and Giulia (with Jungle Kyona and Konami)

Even though this match wasn't televised on the live feed, it was a rather big deal going into this event. NJPW's parent company, Bushiroad, is investing into Stardom going forward and wants to elevate the company starting with this slot on this year's Wrestle Kingdom card.

There's a rather bit of a pickle on why the match couldn't be broadcast as part of the card, but this article details why New Japan couldn't air the match. I wouldn't mind getting a chance to check it out at some point if someone recorded it or it pops up on Stardom's YouTube channel or something.

Eight-man tag team match
Toa Henare, Karl Fredericks, Clark Connors, and Alex Coughlin defeated Great Bash Heel (Togi Makabe and Tomoaki Honma), Yota Tsuji, and Yuya Uemura


Tag team match
Tencozy (Hiroyoshi Tenzan and Satoshi Kojima) defeated Yuji Nagata and Manabu Nakanishi



Eight-man tag team match with Norio Honaga was the special guest referee
Naoki Sano, Shinjiro Otani, Tatsuhito Takaiwa, and Ryusuke Taguchi (with Kuniaki Kobayashi) defeated Jushin Thunder Liger, Tatsumi Fujinami, The Great Sasuke, and Tiger Mask (with El Samurai)

#ThankYouLiger
This is was like a who's who of greatest friends and rivals for Jushin Thunder Liger. I was honestly surprised a lot of these guys were still alive, no less still able to go have a match. Regardless, this wasn't much to write home about, even more disappointing that Liger was pinned here in a lackluster manner. I thought he would at least get one win on his way out but damn.

Eight-man tag team match
Suzuki-gun (Zack Sabre Jr., Minoru Suzuki, Taichi, and El Desperado) defeated Los Ingobernables de Japon (Sanada, Evil, Shingo Takagi, and Bushi) by submission

Just wow.



Eight-man tag team match
Chaos (Hirooki Goto, Tomohiro Ishii, Toru Yano, and Yoshi-Hashi) defeated Bullet Club (Kenta, Bad Luck Fale, Yujiro Takahashi, and Chase Owens) (with Pieter)

I honestly was getting sick of these 6 and 8-Man tag team matches to the point where I was drifting to sleep watching live (despite having a pretty lengthy nap prior) but boy did seeing Pieter's fineness wake me up for sure. There were some pretty good spots in this match, mostly involving the heavy-hitters, Fale and Ishii, to no surprise.



Tag team match for the IWGP Tag Team Championship
FinJuice (Juice Robinson and David Finlay) defeated Guerrillas of Destiny (Tama Tonga and Tanga Loa) (c) (with Jado)

I live for the Guerillas of Destiny's Wrestle Kingdom ring entrances, but I was ultimately letdown this year. They came out without anything other than their normal ring gear on, doing their best imitation of their "cousins" (the Usos), looking like they just came straight from the nearby club to do this match. At least their entrance music is still as bad ass as I remember. This match wasn't bad at all with a lot of near-falls that had me fooled that GoD were going to retain, but nope, FinJuice won the gold by the time it was all said and done.


Texas Deathmatch for the IWGP United States Championship
No DQ; No pinfall; Victory by 10 count KO or submission
Jon Moxley defeated Lance Archer (c) by knockout

I felt like I was having deja vu watching this match. This felt like the same few "deathmatches" that Moxley has had since leaving WWE for AEW and everywhere else. That being said, this wasn't a bad match, just a lot of instances where I felt that I've seen this before but with different dance partners.

Those Japanese tables look like they don't have any give at all. 


Archer got a nasty wound on his arm after going through those unforgiving Japanese wooden tables for the finish that saw Moxley pick up the win via knockout since he was unable to return to the ring before the 20 count.


Singles match for the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Championship
Hiromu Takahashi defeated Will Ospreay (c)

Out of everything in Night One, I'm sure everyone's going to be talking about this match as an early Match of the Year candidate. It wasn't perfect though as Ospreay and Takahashi had a few botches that they were quick to disguise/mask and recover from to keep people engaged. There was a sequence towards the end of this match that you have to see to believe that was just pure insanity in terms of athleticism.



It sucks to hear that Ospreay got injured at some point during this match as him and Takahashi (who just came back from a pretty gnarly neck injury) killed it here. Takahashi has to be nuts to take so many neck bumps to say that he literally JUST came back from injury though.


Just go out of your way to check out this match. You won't be disappointed.

Singles match for the IWGP Intercontinental Championship
Tetsuya Naito defeated Jay White (c) (with Gedo)

Here's the thing. I never thought Jay White was the guy, even more so when NJPW shoehorned him into top gaijin spot following Kenny Omega's departure last year. I just don't see what is the fascination with "Discount Seth Rollins" here. White and Gedo did everything they could to heel it up and garner some heat into this match with Naito while playing up to the narrative of his ailing knees, but I just wasn't feeling this match at all. Out of the three main events that closed out Night One, I felt this was easily the weakest of the three, despite the fact the right man went over.



Singles match for the IWGP Heavyweight Championship
Kazuchika Okada (c) defeated Kota Ibushi

Whereas Naito vs. White was the weakest of these three main events that closed out Night One, this was arguably the best match - by a small margin in comparison to Takahashi vs. Ospreay. I found myself caught up into the narrative of this match - much like a LOT of people by the reactions online. I was getting anxious the longer this dragged out that Ibushi kept Okada against the ropes and couldn't put him away. Ultimately, Okada got his second, third, and fourth winds and picked up the win over Ibushi in a convincing manner.

Kota Ibushi just popped up like it was nothing.

They definitely had me fooled this was over there.


But Jesus Christ listen to those strikes.

https://russelldearest.tumblr.com/post/190130516441/was-going-to-gif-it-but-you-have-to-hear-it


As much as I wanted Ibushi to win gold here, I understand why they went with Okada going over. It wouldn't have meant shit if Naito beat Ibushi in Night Two to end his narrative that started when Okada beat him about two years ago, so Okada had to win here to face Naito in Night Two to properly conclude the story that New Japan started. It wouldn't surprise me in the least that we see Ibushi holding gold before the year's out or beating Naito this time around next year. It seems like Ibushi has inner demons to exorcise out of himself before he's properly slotted into that position.



Closing Thoughts on Night One:


Ospreay and Takahashi had the definitive match of the evening up to the point, Okada versus Kota Ibushi started. They went out there and had one hell of a match too. If you don't watch anything else from Night 1 go do yourself a favor and watch both of those matches. Hell, I'll go as far as saying that those matches were better than anything on Night 2 too. Far too many tag team matches in the first half of this for my taste. Like I mentioned earlier, the only thing that woke me up was seeing Pieter's fineness on my NJPW World feed coming out with the rest of the Bullet Club.




Gauntlet match for the NEVER Openweight 6-Man Tag Team Championship
Los Ingobernables de Japon (Evil, Shingo Takagi, and Bushi) defeated The Most Violent Players (Togi Makabe and Toru Yano) and Ryusuke Taguchi (c), Chaos (Tomohiro Ishii, Yoshi-Hashi, and Robbie Eagles), Suzuki-gun (Taichi, El Desperado, and Yoshinobu Kanemaru) and Bullet Club (Bad Luck Fale, Yujiro Takahashi, and Chase Owens)



Tag team match
Hiromu Takahashi and Ryu Lee defeated Jushin Thunder Liger and Naoki Sano (with Yoshiaki Fujiwara)
This was Jushin Thunder Liger's retirement match



If you were watching this live on Sunday morning/Saturday evening over on NJPW World, the app crashed after this match - appropriately so, if you ask me. That was a pretty anti-climatic finale for Liger's retirement. I'm fine with Liger doing the honors on his way out, but two "meh" worthy losses to end his career on wasn't how I saw his career ending, especially from how much marketing went into this grand finale of sorts. By the time you have read this, he would have had his formal retirement ceremony during the New Year's Dash event.


Tag team match for the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Championship
Roppongi 3K (Yoh and Sho) (with Rocky Romero) defeated Bullet Club (Taiji Ishimori and El Phantasmo) (c)


The highlight of this match for me was these guys pulling out the athletic cups to protect themselves from the Low Blows from the Bullet Club. Someone should've enlightened AJ Styles, Nakamura, and Brock Lesnar about that technical marvel a few years ago.


Singles match for the British Heavyweight Championship
Zack Sabre Jr. (c) defeated Sanada


It goes without saying that I love the technical mastery of ZSJ. That's like my annual treat from these Wrestle Kingdom events for the last few years that I started watching them. I thought Sanada was a solid talent back during his time in Impact/TNA Wrestling and I'm glad to see him in a high profile match on this card. Close but no cigar homie. I love seeing ZSJ tie guys up like a pretzel.


Singles match for the IWGP United States Championship
Jon Moxley (c) defeated Juice Robinson (with David Finlay)


I was in the mindset of a lot of people thinking that Moxley was dropping the title back to Juice Robinson here on Night 2, but boy was I wrong. This wasn't a bad match, but I liked Moxley's match from Night 1 more than this one. That's not a knock on either talent here; it's just that I wasn't feeling this as much as the one on the previous night.

Business definitely picked up with Minoru Suzuki coming out following the win and challenging for the belt next though. I think people have been clamoring for that match since Moxley debuted for New Japan last year.

Sums up everyone's feelings after Suzuki came out there to lay out Mox. 


Singles match for the NEVER Openweight Championship
Hirooki Goto defeated KENTA (c)

This was a master versus student sort of narrative, since New Japan couldn't get Katsuyori Shibata cleared for a match no matter how badly fans wanted to see him against KENTA, especially after they teased the fuck out of it last year. Way to play with our emotions there, New Japan... Goto versus KENTA wasn't bad for a consolation prize. Can't say I knew what GTR was before this match but now that I've seen Goto pull it off, I think the move was pretty darn awesome.



Singles match
Jay White (with Gedo) defeated Kota Ibushi


This didn't bore me to death like the one with Naito in Night 1 did, but I can't say that I'm any much more of a fan of Jay White or who I jokingly call "Discount Seth Rollins".

Much like Night 1, I'm more intrigued with the Kota Ibushi's "dark side" that White was dead set on unleashing to Ibushi's own detriment in this match. It seems like New Japan is trying to tell the tale as if this is Ibushi's own version of Ryu (from Street Fighter) dealing with his own struggles with the Satsui no Hadou within him. I don't follow New Japan's storylines full-time, but I was under the impression that they have Ibushi on this path where he can't harness this destructive power positively at first, but once he does, that will be the moment where he finally captures the World Championship.


Singles match
Had Tanahashi won, he would've received a match for Jericho's AEW World Championship
Chris Jericho defeated Hiroshi Tanahashi by submission


The tale of the tape going into this match had Jericho egging people on that Tanahashi would get a AEW World title match if he somehow beat Jericho. While that made people doubt that Jericho was going over here, I thought it would have been stupid if AEW allowed their World Champion to go to another promotion and fucking lose on their equivalent of WrestleMania. I enjoyed this for the most part, but the fact that Jericho has let himself go in terms of physique cannot be ignored at this point. He's got flab oozing over his weight belt and his body is showing little to no definition. I thought as a veteran he would going over and beyond to set the example to AEW's younger talent on how to carry himself as the flagbearer of that company but no dice. I've listened to other podcasters point out Jericho's physique and laughed it off since AEW's debut as a joke but it's REALLY noticeable in this match to the point that it's distracting.


Double Gold Dash match for the IWGP Heavyweight Championship and IWGP Intercontinental Championship
Tetsuya Naito (IWGP Intercontinental Champion) defeated Kazuchika Okada (IWGP Heavyweight Champion)

As good as this match was, I can't say that this match was as good as Okada vs. Ibushi to close off Night One. I would like to blame that shortcoming on the fact that both men probably were spent after their matches from the night prior from being banged up and having to come out to do this dance again 24 hours later. I thought all of the Destino and Rainmaker reversals were getting redundant at one point as everyone just kept kicking out of each other's finishers to same result over and over and over. I think they could accomplished the same thing in this match given half the run time of this match. In the end, the right man won with Naito going over Okada.

Naito wasn't allowed to enjoy his victory for long as KENTA ran down and attacked him post-match. I understand why NJPW did this, but I can't say that I liked it. They could have allowed Naito to enjoy that win at least for the finale to Night Two and set up the first challenge from Bullet Club's KENTA at New Year's Dash the following night. Instead, they went with the narrative that the Bullet Club wanted to close Wrestle Kingdom by stealing the spotlight away from Naito and his faction coming out of the event strong following Bullet Club's string of loses in both nights. That decision sets up an easy first challenger for both of Naito's newfound wealth of gold and it wouldn't damage KENTA in the long run with a loss there, given the massive amount of heat he has garnered for himself in a such a short time.


Closing Thoughts on Night Two


Like I just mentioned above, I wasn't too crazy about the main event of this event but I was satisfied with the right man coming out on top to conclude Naito's narrative from the last two years. Everything thing else here paled in comparison to high points in Night One, even though I enjoyed a lot of the matches on this card. I just felt that nothing was as strong as those Ibushi/Okada and Ospreay/Takahashi matches that blew me away in Night One. I do want to add that the English commentary team was great for both nights - a small thing that a lot of us take for granted watching most of the other various wrestling alternatives out there. That being said, I can't say that I would like to see them continue doing the two-night format going forward as I honestly don't see what the benefit was here. It seemed like even the Japanese crowds were burnt out by the time the end of Night Two rolled around. It was a nice experiment that ensured that I wouldn't have to pull an all-nighter with work the following day like usual this year, but yeah, I rather them go back to the one night format for 2021.

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Wrestle Kingdom 13 (Jan. 4, 2019) -- Results & Afterthoughts




Wrestle Kingdom 13 in Tokyo Dome was a professional wrestling event produced by New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW). The event took place on January 4, 2019 at the Tokyo Dome in Tokyo, Japan. It was the 28th January 4 Tokyo Dome Show and the 13th promoted under the Wrestle Kingdom name. The event was streamed live on NJPW World and Fite TV and was aired on tape delay on AXS TV.


The card was comprised of ten matches, including one occurring on the pre-show. In the main event, Kenny Omega defended the IWGP Heavyweight Championship against the winner of the G1 Climax 28, Hiroshi Tanahashi. In other prominent matches, Chris Jericho defended the IWGP Intercontinental Championship against Tetsuya Naito, Kushida defended the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Championship against Taiji Ishimori, Tomohiro Ishii defended Revolution Pro Wrestling's British Heavyweight Championship against Zack Sabre Jr. and Kazuchika Okada faced Jay White.


RESULTS:


NEVER Openweight Six-Man Tag Team Championship Gauntlet: Most Violent Players & Ryusuke Taguchi def. Suzuki-gun, The Elite, Yuji Nagata, Jeff Cobb & David Finlay & CHAOS


This match was the preshow bout, replacing their mock-gimmick battle royal from previous years. This match wasn't bad, but it was easily forgettable among everything else that went down on this card. I just remember the second The Elite were "shockingly" eliminated, I had a feeling that it wasn't going to be a good night for anyone affiliated with them.




Starting the show off with an appearance with Pieter is always a good thing in my book... 





Will Ospreay def. Kota Ibushi for the NEVER Openweight Championship


This was the official "opener" to the show following their kick-off 6-Man tag team gauntlet that I honestly was barely paying attention to. This right here was the match that I wanted to see above over everything else on this card and the main reason I blew the dust off my New Japan World account to see this live this morning. Boy, did this match deliver and then some. From the mind-blowing sequences of reversals to the hard-hitting strikes and high flying maneuvers, this match set the bar for what was to come for the rest of the night. 

In the end Will Ospreay picked up the win over Kota Ibushi, legitimately knocking him out cold sometime before the finish. Ibushi had to be carried out on a stretcher. I hope he's alright as that was one hell of match. I'd love to see a rematch between these two. 






Rev Pro Wrestling British Heavyweight Championship: Zack Sabre Jr. defeats Tomohiro Ishii


I didn't know how much I wanted this match after the bell rung. I'm sure that Triple H is still kicking himself that both Kota Ibushi and Zack Sabre Jr. didn't sign with WWE following their appearances in the Cruiserweight Classic while both of those guys are singing praises that they didn't, especially after seeing what happened to most of that talent they signed for the cruiserweight "revival" on the 205 Live brand. WWE regards most of that talent as the red-headed stepchildren, segregated from the rest of the WWE Universe. Here in NJPW, ZSJ's talents are more appreciated and better utilized. Where Ibushi/Ospreay wowed with the high flying and rapid fire reversals/counters, Ishii and ZSJ wowed with all of these transitions and counters into more and more submissions. I thought ZSJ was going to tear Ishii's arm off at one point. Excellent technical psychology here from start to finish from ZSJ. Then we get that beautiful finish in which where I have no idea how to explain ZSJ was able to contort Ishii's frame like that for the submission victory. If I could nitpick at only ONE thing in that finish is that Red Shoes (the referee) wasn't watching/checking to see if ZSJ's shoulders were on the mat or not. 





IWGP Heavyweight Tag Team Championship Three-Way: LIJ (EVIL and Seiya SANADA) defeat Young Bucks and Guerrilas of Destiny (Tama Tonga and Tanga Loa)


No offense to this match, but I was half paying attention and went for a bathroom break after the entrances. From what I did take away from it, there were some solid action. At one point, I was convinced that the Bucks were going to go home with the gold, but EVIL and SANADA derailed those plans and walk away as the new tag champions. The best thing out of this match was the finish - the rest of it just seemed like everyone was just going through emotions, getting their own shit in.








IWGP United States Championship: Juice Robinson defeats Cody


While I didn't share the complaints of sheer disgust with this match like I saw a lot of people commenting about on wrestling Twitter this morning, I did think this was one of both Juice Robinson's and Cody's lacklusters performances. I know that both men are capable of much better than what they showcased here.



Cody did the honors on the way out, putting Juice over and dropping the IWGP US title to him as we have no idea on where or not NJPW will be in bed on doing business with AEW when they already have an established relationship with Ring of Honor. 

By this point in the show, it felt like NJPW were really breezing through the undercard when these shows usually feel like they drag on forever in previous years. I guess they felt like they wanted to devote the bulk of the airtime (especially since they were FITE I believe this year) to the main events. 







IWGP Junior Heavyweight Championship: “The Bone Soldier” Taiji Ishimori def. Yujiro KUSHIDA


I loved that spot in this match, even though I vaguely remember seeing Ishimori do the same thing during one of his X-Division bouts while serving as a part of the Impact Wrestling roster at the time. KUSHIDA has been rumored to be on WWE's radar for quite some time and has been offered a spot on 205 Live/NXT. I shudder at the thought of how they would screw him up on 205 Live. Look at what they did to Akira Tozawa. Ugh. As for Ishimori, I'm glad to see him on the rise here in New Japan. I always thought he was talented, now more people get to see more of that.




Jay White def. Kazuchika Okada


For me personally, Jay White bores the hell out of me. I was more pleased to see Okada back to his "Rainmaker" persona instead of that crap they had him demoralized into after losing the IWGP World Heavyweight title to Kenny Omega where he was holding balloons and wearing pants. Okada's reveal for wearing the trunks again got one of the biggest pops of the night. I understand why Okada (while back to the top of his game so to speak...) put White over here, but I don't have to like it. Don't get me wrong. This match wasn't bad at all either, just not a match-up I would have preferred for Okada this year, especially following up his performance and position on the card last year.

Jay White seems to be "the guy" NJPW insists on pushing with most of their popular gaijin wrestlers in The Elite heading out of the door or ending their current deals with the promotion, so I understand they want to establish him with a marquee win over Okada here. I wouldn't be surprised if he's the NJPW World Heavyweight Champion by this point next year either. 



IWGP Intercontinental Championship No Disqualification: Tetsuya Naito def. Chris Jericho




Unlike most people, I haven't been blown away by these performances from Chris Jericho in NJPW. I respect that this is a career resurgence/reinvention for him of sorts as he takes full advantage of being a free agent without ties to the current WWE roster. He has to work smarter and mask his limitations (i.e. like Triple H, Shawn Michaels, Kane, and The Undertaker...) so almost all of his matches here have been No DQ matches for they can erupt into massive brawls in and out of the ring. This match was no different with Jericho and Naito brawling all over the ringside area.

That spike DDT spot onto the railing had to be the craziest thing in this match period. Bravo to Naito to selling the shit out of that. Ultimately, I found myself much more entertained by this match than I did going into it. From the looks of things from Jericho's tweets and interviews, he's not done with New Japan either, so don't rule out an appearance at that Madison Square Garden show during WrestleMania weekend either. 

IWGP World Heavyweight Championship: Hiroshi Tanahashi def. “The Cleaner” Kenny Omega


The second the bell rung and they had the first exchanges into this match, I'm reminded of one thing I can't stand in all of Kenny Omega's matches - his fucking retarded facial expressions. He ranges from taking a shit to imitating the Ultimate Warrior. That being said, I can't knock his talent in the ring. He's transformed himself from being regarded as pretty much a traveling goof to being one of the best wrestlers in the world today. Him and Tanahashi had a hard-hitting affair here with me (and I'm sure many watching live) unsure on who was going to walk away the winner from all of the near-falls and high spots.

The bigger conversation coming out of this match is where is Kenny Omega going to end up once his NJPW contract expires towards the end of the month. It's no secret that the Young Bucks, Hangman Page, Cody Rhodes, and Brandi Rhodes are "all in" on establishing All Elite Wrestling in prominent roles within the new promotion behind the scenes. Then there's rumors floating around about a "fantastic deal" that WWE offered Omega as well. With all of the podcasters and wrestling journalists hounding around and sniffing for clues, I'm sure we're going to hear something straight from the horse's mouth in all due time. 
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