Topic: Wrestling?

Match itself is never a huge deal, and its significance varies from year to year. Some context that played a role in this one: Famous Japanese wrestler Yoshihiro Takayama has been paralyzed from the neck down for several months after a spot went bad during a DDT show. Several fundraisers have since started up in efforts to support Takayama and his family. A long time friend of Takayama's and recent cancer survivor, Masahito Kakihara, made a surprise appearance in the Rumble and won the match. He used the platform to encourage everyone to keep supporting Takayama so he too can one day overcome his obstacle and possibly stand in the Tokyo Dome again someday, and then made his exit while Takayama's music played. Again, match itself wasn't anything amazing, but that moment at the end was really cool.

Kind of expected a basic spottiest of a match, but we actually got a pretty good, story-driven match from the Bucks. Roppongi 3K, despite being the defending champions on a hot streak, were still the clear underdogs against the much more experienced veteran team, and the match played around that excellently. Wasn't the biggest fan of the finish, but this was the first of many matches that highly exceeded my expectations.

****

They did this same thing last year, though I thought it was better executed this time around. Probably the worst match on the card, but was still perfectly serviceable for what it was. A few cool spots, and it gets more people on the card.

**1/2

Some of y'all already know I've never been much of a Cody fan. Never felt like he was a good fit for NJPW. I'm not saying I'm a fan of his now, but I think he finally proved, to me at least, that he's capable of carrying his own weight in a great NJPW match. Wasn't looking forward to this at all because of my perception of Cody and because I was worried their styles wouldn't mesh at all. Was very happy to be proven wrong here.

****1/4

I had two worries going into this match: 1) K.E.S hasn't exactly had their best year in terms of match quality, and 2) it seemed a bit too obvious that L.I.J was going to win... And then K.E.S hit EVIL with their finisher right when the match started. Suddenly the outcome didn't seem so obvious anymore, and the drama as the match moved along was great. K.E.S delivered their best match in quite a while, and L.I.J delivered on their end too, especially EVIL.

****

This was another one I was worried about, for a number of reasons. Goto & Suzuki had two singles matches in 2017, and both were pretty bad. Factor in all their matches from years prior, and it seemed pretty clear they just didn't have good chemistry together. Also, while Goto losing and getting his head shaved could potentially be a cool start to a story of him re-inventing himself, NJPW flip-flops on their booking with him so often it's hard to tell if that would've been good or not. But holy shit, this blew me away. Goto's selling in this match was some of the best I've ever seen. Suzuki gave one of his best showings since his G1 match against Okada last year, and this might've been even better. I've gone back and forth on this a few times, but right now I'd go as far as to say it was the best match of the show in my opinion.

****3/4

This went pretty much exactly as I expected. Lots of wild, high-flying spots, equal amount of no-selling. This was basically what I thought the Young Bucks' match earlier in the show would be, and I really think they made a big mistake with how it ended. Still, some of the spots were pretty insane, and it was pretty fun to watch for the most part.

***3/4

Nothing on the show underdelivered more than this did. Was really disappointed, although this match had a lot of factors working against it. This was Jay White's first match with this new "Switchblade" gimmick, and he clearly still needs time to better establish his moveset and get used to this character. Okada had the same problem when he first came back as the Rainmaker, so I doubt this'll mean anything bad for White in the long run, but it didn't help this match. Tanahashi was also working injured, which he does all the time, but it showed more than normal here. And, as I saw someone on Twitter point out, it may not've been the best idea to have a match that revolved around Tanahashi selling the knee to come right after the car crash/acrobatic thrill ride that the Juniors had just put on. White seems to be in a decent enough spot now regardless, but this match, while not terrible by any means, was just painfully uninteresting.

***

I shit all over the idea of Jericho coming to NJPW when I first found out about it, then gradually warmed up to it until WK, but still went in with pretty low expectations. Didn't think Kenny Omega in his prime vs nearly-50-year-old Y2J had the potential to be all that great, but for what felt like the thousandth time on this show I was dead wrong. This match and Suzuki/Goto are what I go back and forth on as my "match of the night" pick. It went over 30 minutes and never felt like it dragged. I haven't seen a Jericho match I've liked this much since his HBK feud, and Omega was equally great. It felt like an intense fight, and I was totally invested from start to finish. These two knew this match would be a huge attraction, and they easily could've played it much safer. The fact that they went as all-out as they did to put on such a great match performance speaks volumes about both of them.

****3/4

I don't want to say this match underdelivered. It was an outstanding match, albeit with a questionable finish, but it had all the potential to completely steal the show and I don't think it did. There's an excellent YouTube video explaining Naito's story heading into this match, which goes back all the way to 2013. The buildup for this match was great, and the match itself was a great reflection of all the factors that lead to it. Naito was easily the star of the match, and rightfully so, though I think Okada could've done a bit more on his end to make this as special as it should've been. And the finish is a bit of a detractor for me.

But now we're getting a Naito/Jericho feud, so I'm all in for that!

****1/2

The biggest difference between this Wrestle Kingdom and a few of the more recent ones before it is consistency. The undercards on other WKs were mostly either unmemorable or just downright bad, while the upper cards featured blow-away instant classics. This one didn't have any individual matches that are on par with the best of some of the other recent Tokyo Dome shows, but as a whole I thought it was the best Wrestle Kingdom we've had in quite a while.