It's nearly time for NJPW's biggest show of the year: Wrestle Kingdom at the Tokyo Dome! As usual the card is star-studded and action-packed. All championships on the line!



IWGP Heavyweight Championship
Kenny Omega (c) vs Hiroshi Tanahashi
2018 has been the best year of Kenny Omega's career. It started with a huge win over Chris Jericho at the Tokyo Dome. A month later he reunited with best friend and lover Kota Ibushi, starting a new chapter in Omega's career. The culmination of Omega's 2018 came at Dominion, when he was finally able to defeat arch nemesis Kazuchika Okada in a 2 out of 3 falls match to become IWGP Heavyweight Championship for the first time. The match was recently announced as Tokyo Sports Best Bout of 2018, reaffirming Omega's status as the Best Bout Machine. His 2019 will start off with a bang as he is said to defend the most coveted prize in New Japan at the Tokyo Dome for the first time.

The challenger, Hiroshi Tanahashi, also had a fantastic 2018. It started off badly, with a dramatic loss to Minoru Suzuki that put him on the shelf for several months. However, with his limitless heart and omnipresent fan adoration, he bounced back strongly to win the G1 Climax tournament, defeating Kota Ibushi in the final. He sealed his victory by defending his Tokyo Dome contract against Kazuchida Okada and Jay White. The resurgence of Tanahashi could culminate in a career-defining victory, which would potentially reestablish him as the Ace of the company, a moniker he lost to Okada in 2015.

The stakes are tremendously high for both participants. Both men enter the Tokyo Dome with huge momentum, and neither can afford a loss.


IWGP Intercontinental Championship
Chris Jericho (c) vs Tetsuya Naito
The day after losing to Kenny Omega at Wrestle Kingdom 12, Jericho shocked the world by attacking Tetsuya Naito at New Year's Dash. This would lead to match at the two at Dominion, where Jericho shocked the world again by upsetting Naito and winning the IWGP Intercontinental Championship. The bad blood between the two wasn't over. Jericho attacked Naito after the match, prompting Naito's stablemate EVIL to come to the rescue. Jericho successfully defended against EVIL at Power Struggle. After the match, the Dominion roles were reversed: Jericho attacked EVIL, Naito made the save. Naito then issued a challenge for a rematch. Jericho adamantly refused, stating that he had defeated Naito once and didn't need to do so again. However, NJPW made the match official in spite of Jericho's comments, so Chris Jericho will defend against Naito at the Tokyo Dome.

Jericho's wild, barbarian approach to his matches is sure to catch a first-time opponent off guard, but with the experience of the Dominion match under his belt, will Naito be able to catch Jericho off guard, or is the unpredictable Canadian too strong? Find out at Wrestle Kingdom!



Grudge Match
Kazuchika Okada vs Jay White
Another match that's a year in the making. At New Year's Dash, Jay White joined CHAOS after rejecting an invitation to Bullet Club. Moments after joining, he stated that he would come for then IWGP Champion Okada. Okada laughed him off, not taking the fresh-off-excursion wrestler seriously. Jay White had some success in CHAOS, most notably defeating Kenny Omega for the IWGP United States Championship. However, he was the black sheep of the group, sowing seeds of dissent, and wrestling in a nefarious way not shared by any of his teammates.

Okada experienced a downward spiral after Kenny Omega ended his historic reign as IWGP Champion. He started with two losses in the G1 Climax, including a memorable bout against Jay White. Okada would recover with a slew of victories, coming very close to winning his block, but failed to beat Tanahashi in the final round. During the tournament he dismissed Gedo as his manager. They parted on apparently good terms. After Tanahashi defeated Okada at Destruction in Kobe, Jay White attacked both wrestlers. Gedo then came out and hit Okada with a chair, establishing himself as Jay White's manager. White's prophecy came true.

From that point, Okada and White have been in a heated rivalry, meeting in tag team matches throughout November and December. White's team won every single match, usually through nefarious tactics. Okada would get a measure of retribution by defeating Gedo on the Road to Tokyo Dome tour, but Jay White got the last laugh by attacking Okada after the match. No titles on the line here, just personal pride.



IWGP Junior Heavyweight Championship
KUSHIDA (c) vs "Bone Soldier" Taiji Ishimori
The IWGP Junior Heavyweight Championship went into brief turmoil after Hiromu Takahashi was forced to vacate the title after breaking his neck. The new champion was crowned in a four man single elimination tournament won by KUSHIDA. Ishimori did not participate, and was perhaps justifiably annoyed for not being placed in the tournament, for he was a finalist in the Best of Super Juniors. Retribution would come his way when he pinned KUSHIDA in a tag team match on the World Tag League tour. This led to the title match being set for Wrestle Kingdom. Ishimori is a fairly fresh face in the Junior Division. It will be interesting to see how he copes on the biggest stage.



IWGP Tag Team Championship
Guerrillas of Destiny (Tama Tonga and Tanga Loa) (c) vs Los Ingobernables de Japón (EVIL and SANADA) vs The Young Bucks (Matt Jackson and Nick Jackson)
In 2017 EVIL and SANADA rose to prominence as one of the top heavyweight tag teams when they won the 2017 World Tag League and defeated Killer Elite Squad at Wrestle Kingdom 12 to win the gold. LIJ repeated the feat the following year, defeating current champions Guerrillas of Destiny in the final to become back-to-back World Tag League champions. After the match, The Young Bucks came to ring and issued a challenge, despite not being on the tour up to that point, claiming that they never had their rematch after losing to GoD. That's how you walk into a title match at Wrestle Kingdom!



IWGP United States Championship
Cody Rhodes (c) vs Juice Robinson
Juice Robinson had the day of his life when he defeated Jay White to become the third IWGP United States Champion at the G1 Special in San Francisco. Unfortunately, his victory became a curse, as it preceded a horrible G1 Climax and a subsequent title loss to Cody Rhodes. A rematch was soon booked for the Tokyo Dome. Robinson hopes to give Cody a taste of his own medicine: a title reign with no successful defenses.



British Heavyweight Championship
Tomohiro Ishii (c) vs Zack Sabre Jr.
For almost two years the British Heavyweight Championship has been held by Ishii or Suzuki-gun. Ishii defeated Zack Sabre Jr in April. Minoru Suzuki defeated Ishii in July, then lost the title back to Ishii in October, thus ending the violent rivalry between Ishii and Suzuki-gun's leader. However, the group's number 2, Zack Sabre Jr., takes exception to Ishii holding the belt of his company and his country. Furthermore, ZSJ never received a rematch after losing the belt. For the first time in its history, Revolution Pro Wrestling's British Heavyweight Championship will be defended and showcased at a New Japan event.



IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Championship
Suzuki-gun (Yoshinobu Kanemaru and El Desperado) (c) vs Roppongi 3K (Sho and Yoh) vs Los Ingobernables de Japón (BUSHI and Shingo Takagi)
This is a rematch of a match from the March 6 Anniversary Show in which Suzuki-gun won the championships from Roppongi 3K, except that Shingo Takagi replaces Hiromu Takahashi.



NEVER Openweight Championship
Kota Ibushi (c) vs Will Ospreay
Will Ospreay was originally supposed to face Taichi for the NEVER Openweight Championship at Power Struggle, however, the match was cancelled due to an injury suffered by Ospreay. On the final day of World Tag League, Ospreay defeated Taichi to become the number-one contender to the NEVER Openweight Championship on the same night that Kota Ibushi defeated Hirooki Goto. Ospreay then challenged Ibushi, to a championship match at Wrestle Kingdom 13. Although this will likely open the show, it could be a show stealer.

When did Chris Jericho turn into King Diamond?

May need to edit the tag/us title descriptions.

That said, it seemed like only yesterday Jan 4th was here. Time sure does fly. It's interesting as I was so siked for Omega to get the belt, then once he did I kinda lost interest in the promotion altogether. Maybe the business is correct when they talk about the chase.

Dec 16, 2018 17:03:10 GMT Baker said:

When did Chris Jericho turn into King Diamond?

:lol: He started donning that goofy makeup for some reason. Guess he wanted to reinvent himself again.

Dec 16, 2018 17:09:34 GMT @ness said:

May need to edit the tag/us title descriptions.

Fixed, thanks!

Dec 16, 2018 17:09:34 GMT @ness said:

That said, it seemed like only yesterday Jan 4th was here. Time sure does fly. It's interesting as I was so siked for Omega to get the belt, then once he did I kinda lost interest in the promotion altogether. Maybe the business is correct when they talk about the chase.

It is still about the chase. Naito hasn't become the Ace yet!

This card is amazing. I haven't been paying attention to New Japan during the second hald of the year (which is how it normally goes) but am very pumped for this.

Also holy crap... Shingo's in NJPW now? Wow I gotta start paying better attention.

Dec 17, 2018 0:16:21 GMT @ness said:

Also holy crap... Shingo's in NJPW now? Wow I gotta start paying better attention.

Yes, you do. Naito brought him in as LIJ's 6th member. Yet another reason to boy to the altar of Tranquilo.

The only thing that would make this card better would be Hiromu, but even still...every time I look at this card I'm just blown away.

Maybe he's recovered somewhat and can do a run-in or appearance after the JH title match. That'd be dope. Haha or have the lights go out and then they come back on and Daryl is in the ring.

I'm going to be traveling on January 4th but there's a chance the show will be done before I do so and I can download it before said traveling, and watch it during my flight. That's my goal, anyway. Failing that, I'll watch it over the weekend some time.

I might actually wait until the weekend so I can sit down uninterrupted with a six pack and just take it all in. I'll be flying with my family and kids tend to need attention for some reason.

UGH IT'S GOING TO BE SO GOOD. I CAN'T WAIT.

Jericho and Naito’s segment was pretty good at Fan Fest or whatever they call it. Jericho went off and Naito offered him a chair, telling him to be tranquilo. Jericho kept throwing the chairs away.

Naito wrote “no DQ” on the contract and then signed it, then Jericho thanked Naito before hitting him and powerbombing Naito through the table.

So yeah...NO DQ IC TITLE MATCH, BAYBAAAYYYY

So do we all agree if Kenny loses, he's leaving NJPW given reports of how heavy WWE is making a play for them (not to mention AEW launching)?

Also, heard a fun (concerning?) stat: The same six wrestlers from last year's top-3 matches are in this year's top-3 matches.

Was that a legit KO?

Will Ospreay and Kota Ibushi didn't waste any time - what an opening! They were having their athletic showcase bout when all of a sudden Ibushi nailed Ospreay with a Nakamura style bomaye. The match became extremely physical and despite Ibushi's efforts to avoid the Storm Breaker, Ospreay was eventually able to nail it after a huge roundhoude elbow to the back of Kota's head.

Good luck following that.

Will Ospreay your new NEVER Openweight Champion.

That was a good showcase of Shingo. Love the intensity in which he hits the ropes with and the Last Falconry is a sweet move. Otherwise the Jr. Tag Belt was pretty ho-hum stuff. LIJ win the belts and go 1-0 up for the evening.

Can Ishii make it 2-0?

Nope, ZSJ stretches Ishii in a fairly one-sided contest. A very straight forward match that showcased both guys strengths (ZSJ smooth submissions and Ishii's selling) without blowing me away.

Another gold rush for WK13.

Wait, Ishii is CHAOS, dow! LIJ are 2-0 with SANADA and EVIL retaining the tag belts in an absolute cluster of a match.

Two years on, Cody and Juice was hardly better than their first encounter.

KUSHIDA and Taiji will get this show back on track. Ever since Ospreay/Ibushi it's been an underwhelming event.

KUSHIDA with the best entrance of the night.

We're off to a good start here.

Finally got access to PW. Not sure what happened but I couldn't connect at all to the forum.

KUSHIDA-Ishimori was hampered by the run-time. By this point the crowd was antsy for the triple main event so they didn't seem into the match until KUSHIDA sinched in the Hoverboard Lock. That got a healthy reaction, but before you know it, Ishimori is man-handling KUSHIDA and the match is over and another new champion.

Okada-White I'll have to catch again as I was preparing dinner. From what I summised, it seemed like typical Okada where the match was cruising along until he busted out some drop-kicks and then got into the Rainmaker sequences.

Naito-Jericho was as good as all of Jericho's other NJPW outings. This time around, Naito kicked things off with a flurry and it wasn't until Jericho introduced the kendo stick he was able to restore the status quo. Jericho is great at putting false finishes together and you can see a lot of the WWE polish to the way he puts certain spots together. Jericho going for the IC belt is a good example, it's a cinematic quality that doesn't resonate with a lot of the NJPW workers but it adds something to the match. I thought the match was good, whatever issue I have is all the circumstances surrounding it. I don't really care for Jericho playing dress up and I find the whole face-paint, Bruiser Brody tribute distracting.

I thought Tanahashi-Omega was fantastic and outside of them throwing away another Top Rope Dragon Suplex just cause, I thought there was a clear narrative at play. Omega was the new generation, a faster, more vicious and show-boaty version of Tanahashi. Not only can he some of the most daring and brutal offence in all of Pro Wrestling, he can also hit Tanahashi's moves better than Tanahashi. Meanwhile Tanahashi is the everyman zero to hero story who took NJPW to where they are today and has more heart than any wrestler in the company. Lots of highlights through out and it may just be my favourite Kenny Omega match.

All in all, it seemed like Gedo made a point to showcase four matches. Ospreay-Ibushi, White-Okada, Jericho-Naito and Tanahashi-Omega received all the time and were by far the best matches on the card. The rest of the show was fine but seemed like a way to flesh the show out and was missing a strong match.

Oh and Kenny Omega may have stolen best entrance from KUSHIDA with the Toby Fox entrance.

I've not watched the show or read any of the new posts yet, but I had to come in here to share an anecdote.

I was on the train home from work. I was not listening to music or a podcast, which is extremely rare. The train was almost empty. The two gentleman on the same carriage as me start talking loudly about WRESTLE FUCKING KINGDOM. Perhaps it's not such a big coincidence that people are talking about Wrestle Kingdom the day it happens, but I've honestly never heard a conversation about wrestling in years, maybe even a decade, and on the one day I was not listening to music. Anyway they mentioned the result of Jericho/Naito, which is probably the most predictable match on the card. Then I promptly plugged into some music and heard no more. I was actually tempted to talk to them but shyness consumed me.

Word leaking Kenny is out, and that he’ll be written out like Styles at New Year Dash this weekend.

Omega/Tana was really great. Everything else, except Cody/Juice, ranged from good to really good. Pains me to say it, but Cody/Juice was garbage. They laid a big fat egg. Layout of the match was garbage and the in-ring work was average at best.

They're really going #allin with White to take the belt from Tana, aren't they?

Jan 4, 2019 21:43:07 GMT SM said:

Omega/Tana was really great. Everything else, except Cody/Juice, ranged from good to really good. Pains me to say it, but Cody/Juice was garbage. They laid a big fat egg. Layout of the match was garbage and the in-ring work was average at best.

Cody is still hurt.

Well that wasn't great was it?

Ibushi/Ospreay was hugely disappointing to me. It was good but it was the match I was looking forward to the most and it was no more than a solid **** match. Probably my own fault for expecting too much.

I really enjoyed ZSJ/Ishii. Probably ****1/4. I thought it made ZSJ look incredible but in a really believable way.

The next however many matches felt like something you'd see on Backlash. Just middle of the road nothing matches. Cody/Juice was actively bad,

I liked the story of Okada/White but the match itself did little for me. I marked out so hard for Okada's shorts and I respect what they're doing with Jay White and Okada...I just don't think White is good enough in the big matches to justify the push. I like the presentation and the story but then the bell rings and its all a bit meh. Loved how behind Okada the crowd were.

The two main events saved it by really delivering. I wasn't hyped for Jericho/Naito at all because there previous match did nothing for me - this was awesome, however, and maybe as good as Kenny/Jericho last year. ****1/2. The storytelling was fantastic from Naito jumping Jericho this time, to Naito dominating in-ring and Jericho dominating out of the ring, and the use of the belt itself throughout the match was great. Really surprised by how much I liked this one.

The main event was great and a real shock as I expected Kenny to retain to try and make us think he's staying even if he isn't. So I popped hard when Tana won because I can't not love this man. Really good match but not one I'll probably ever want to revisit. ****1/2.

I really like Kenny Omega as an in-ring talent but I just can't get on board with his character at all. He looks like a total dork when he cosplays with a stupid looking sword calling himself the best bout machine. If he were to go to WWE they would have to work hard at his presentation otherwise Vince will take one look at him and give up after two months.

A **** match isn't just disappointing (which I could see if someone thought it was going to be a Match of the Year contender) but "hugely disappointing"?

A show with two ****½ matches, a ****¼ and a **** (and those 4 matches taking up about two-thirds of the in-ring time of the show) and it gets a "that wasn't great was it?".

I know we live in a ******* Meltzer world and many people seem to throw snowflakes at New Japan like it is going out of fashion, but I just need some sort of context for this.

Even if the other third of the in-ring stuff was the worst stuff ever seen, I can't imagine giving out those ratings for that much of the show and not giving the show a massive thumbs up.

Jan 5, 2019 0:09:51 GMT KJ said:

Jan 4, 2019 21:43:07 GMT SM said:

Omega/Tana was really great. Everything else, except Cody/Juice, ranged from good to really good. Pains me to say it, but Cody/Juice was garbage. They laid a big fat egg. Layout of the match was garbage and the in-ring work was average at best.

Cody is still hurt.

Yeah, but still should have had a better match than they did.

Jan 5, 2019 0:17:57 GMT PB said:

I really like Kenny Omega as an in-ring talent but I just can't get on board with his character at all. He looks like a total dork when he cosplays with a stupid looking sword calling himself the best bout machine. If he were to go to WWE they would have to work hard at his presentation otherwise Vince will take one look at him and give up after two months.

I really hope he goes to the NXT, and he gets out of it, what Styles got out of NJPW. AJ was a massive dork in TNA. Maybe, it's just refinement. With Kenny, I'd love one Takeover match, a special attraction if you will, with someone like Johnny or Cole prior to a main roster debut. Down South he can learn to cut a decent promo, or reign in that weird speech pattern - it would be a fast-track masterclass through NXT rather than coming in all guns blazing and murdering the main roster.

Jan 5, 2019 3:51:05 GMT SM said:

Jan 5, 2019 0:09:51 GMT KJ said:

Cody is still hurt.

Yeah, but still should have had a better match than they did.

That feels like a really unfair criticism. And I’m not even a big fan of Cody in the ring.

I'm late to the party, but here's some context behind Omega's entrance.