Cero Reviews NJPW Wrestle Kingdom 16 - 1.4
Posted: Jan 4th, '22, 18:54
NJPW Wrestle Kingdom 16, Day 1
January 4th, 2022
Tokyo Dome, Tokyo, Japan
Pre-Show New Japan Rambo Match
Tatsumi Fujinami vs. Satoshi Kojima vs. TAKA Michinoku vs. Hiroyoshi Tenzan vs. Yuji Nagata vs. Yoshinobu Kanemaru vs. Tomoaki Honma vs. Togi Makabe vs. Minoru Suzuki vs. Toru Yano vs. CIMA vs. Bad Luck Fale vs. Chase Owens vs. DOUKI vs. Master Wato vs. Aaron Henare vs. Kosei Fujita vs. Ryohei Oiwa vs. Yuto Nakashima - 5/10
This was your usual Rambo match, with everyone getting a spot, some surprises in CIMA and Tatsumi Fujinami, and in a similar way to last year, Yano only came out for the finish, but at least he made it to the ring this time around.
YOH vs. SHO (w/Dick Togo) - 8/10
While I think this could had been a bit more violent, it was a pretty good match. Togo's interference, which you should already know is going to happen, happened in a way that didn't hurt the match as much. He jumped in to distract the referee from seeing SHO tap out, and later on for the finish when he tried to distract the referee from SHO using the wrench to attack YOH, but YOH dodged the move and won with an European Clutch.
As for the match, SHO worked the head and YOH the leg. They straight up started with topes con giro, but as the match went on, they changed their pace to submissions, which eventually led to SHO having to rely on Togo.
Post-match - SHO attacked YOH and tried to use the wrench again, but YOH once again stopped him on his tracks, this time with a superkick.
Hiroshi Tanahashi & Mega Coaches (Rocky Romero & Ryusuke Taguchi) vs. BULLET CLUB (El Phantasmo, KENTA & Taiji Ishimori) - 6.5/10
Let's write that on the record, Tanahashi lost by DQ after he attacked KENTA with a kendo stick, on purpose, after pushing away the referee. Tana and KENTA are wrestling in a No DQs match tomorrow, so they wanted to give Tana a bit of edge and show he's going to be violent tomorrow.
Match was a basic layout, with the babyfaces controlling early, but when Taguchi tagged in, he got cut off after KENTA attacked him from behind. Bullet Club worked over Taguchi until Tanahashi got he hot tag. After a couple of multi-man spots, KENTA brought a kendo stick to the ring, but Tanahashi took ahold of it. Referee tried to take it away, but Tana was fed up, pushed the referee away, attacked KENTA over and over and got DQd.
Los Ingobernables de Japon (BUSHI, SANADA & Tetsuya Naito) vs. United Empire (Great-O-Khan, Jeff Cobb & Will Ospreay) - 7/10
Ospreay, I think he realized the heat that MJF's hair gets him and decided to change his look.
Four of these men are facing off tomorrow in singles matches, so they had Cobb and Naito work together for a while, as did SANADA and O-Khan. The former focused on showing that Cobb has the power to block any of Naito's moves, but Naito hurt Cobb's knee, bringing him down, so we know Naito has a chance. As for SANADA and O-Khan, it was mostly about trying to pull each other into their own styles. Ospreay literally just came in to hit two moves and win, the final blow being the Hidden Blade.
Katsuyori Shibata vs. Ren Narita - 8.5/10
Narita was Shibata's mystery opponent, which makes a lot of sense given that he is his pupil and have been working together for the last two years or so. Prior to the match, Shibata took the mic and said he wanted Pro Wrestling rules, which Narita most definitely agreed with. The match originally had catch rules with no striking allowed. I don't know if this counts as Narita coming back from excursion, but it may potentially be since his persona has become a young Shibata.
The match was perfect and exactly what it needed to be. Two wrestlers competing for the win, one with a name to establish, and the other with a career to regain. They were really smart to have a couple of striking spots where Shibata could freely hit Narita's head, while Narita would instead kick or forearm the neck. Both men worked the leg for the most part, but kept relying on those strikes. Eventually Shibata won with a PK kick.
Post-match - Narita couldn't hold it in and was a waterfall of tears knowing that his teacher had been able to recover and come back to
NJPW Returns to AXS - They return to AXS tv on March 3, right after Impact on Thursdays. Awesome.
NEVER Openweight Championship Match
Tomohiro Ishii (c) vs. EVIL (w/House of Torture) - 3/10
This was a Togo match, with all the garbage interference. Ishii at one point was fighting one against four until YOH ran down and took out two of them, held off the third while Ishii went after EVIL. Numbers game eventually benefited HoT again and EVIL won with a belt shot and Everything Is EVIL. Meh, but NEVER title is the level that EVIL should be kept at.
Goto and YOSHI-HASHI never came out because they literally have next match to worry about. They'll have their chance tomorrow when they wrestle for the 6-Person titles.
IWGP Tag Team Championship Match
Dangerous Tekkers (Taichi & Zack Sabre Jr.) (w/Miho Abe) (c) vs. CHAOS (Hirooki Goto & YOSHI-HASHI) - 8/10
I don't know if people started getting their time cut around this match, but the entrances were somewhat rushed and the match went straight into the tornado tag action. It could be that after two other tag matches and a long ass rivalry between these teams, they didn't think it was necessary to see a heat section of the match, and I definitely would agree with the sentiment.
The match was great, it was all action, with the combined styles of all men. Taichi and YOSHI-HASHI were out there doing a thousand lariats and bombers and superkicks, Sabre stretching people out, and Goto slamming people into his knee. As the match went on, CHAOS gained momentum hitting double team moves on both men, who could only rely on breaking each other's pins, but at the end, Sabre was down and wasn't able to save Taichi from getting pinned.
Hate to see Tekkers lose the titles, but they've had a lengthy run and Goto and YH surely have earned a run with the gold.
Post-match - Taichi and Sabre acknowledged CHAOS' win and congratulated them.
IWGP Junior Heavyweight Championship Match
El Desperado (c) vs. Hiromu Takahashi - 8.5/10
I did not see Despy retaining, but I'm really really glad he did. Not only does this break this curse that Hiromu sins the title at WK, loses it due to injury, goes and wins the BOSJ only to restart the cycle. This time around, Despy retains and Hiromu is gonna have to keep chasing. Moreover, Despy has been fantastic for like two years now, him defending and retaining at a Tokyo Dome is so deserving.
The match wasn't their best, but it was still really good. Both men worked the head for the most part, but Despy also went after Hiromu's leg at one point with the Numero Dos. There were a lot of strikes and lariats, and as they went on and on, more and more slams, mostly by Desperado, who kept chasing the double Pinche Loco combo, which he failed at one, but landed it the second time for the win.
IWGP World Heavyweight Championship Match
Shingo Takagi (c) vs. Kazuchika Okada - 9.25/10
Okada came out with a gold and white Antonio Inoki looking robe, that if you zoom in and look really closely, it has the history of NJPW written on it, year by year.
The match was awesome, paced as an Okada match, with the slow build and both men showing off and antagonizing early on. There was some momentum trading early on, but if you see the match as a whole, there was a specific moment where it all just hits 3rd gear. Okada had been dominating for a while, he hits a diving elbow and does the Rainmaker pose, the goes for the Rainmaker, but suddenly Shingo exploded with a HUGE lariat out of the rotation. From there on, Shingo took down Okada, who would come back after Shingo mocked the Rainmaker pose, and they would continue exchanging lariats and big moves, until the end when Okada blocked a big Pumping Bomber with a dropkick, hit the piledriver, and finished Shingo with the Rainmaker.
I hardly doubted that Okada would lose this match, but they managed to make that small doubt believable enough to jump at some of the near falls.
This is actually the first time that Okada has won the title at Wrestle Kingdom.
Post-match - Once he was ready to get his belt, Okada first took the old IWGP belt, set it on the mat and vowed to it, thanking it for the legacy and finally accepting the transition.
Ospreay came out with this fake title. He called Okada the new interim champion instead, he made fun of his new attire, and told Okada that tomorrow he'll win so that Okada can leave and be an actor because NJPW will be safe on Ospreay's hands.
Ospreay left, but before he did, Okada called him fake champion and that he'll see him tomorrow. Okada then closed the show wishing everyone a happy new years and his 3 point speech, putting over Shingo as a great champion last year, about the old and new title, and about tomorrow's main event.
OVERALL THOUGHTS
Good start to the year. As usual, NJPW sets the standard with the first MOTYCs. Before you listen to journalists complain that it's not the same as previous years and that people can't chant (let it go, it's been 2 years already), know that this was a great show, felt like a big deal, the wrestling was great, and it's only going to get better tomorrow if you ask me. Plus freaking Shibata wrestled a match!
January 4th, 2022
Tokyo Dome, Tokyo, Japan
Pre-Show New Japan Rambo Match
Tatsumi Fujinami vs. Satoshi Kojima vs. TAKA Michinoku vs. Hiroyoshi Tenzan vs. Yuji Nagata vs. Yoshinobu Kanemaru vs. Tomoaki Honma vs. Togi Makabe vs. Minoru Suzuki vs. Toru Yano vs. CIMA vs. Bad Luck Fale vs. Chase Owens vs. DOUKI vs. Master Wato vs. Aaron Henare vs. Kosei Fujita vs. Ryohei Oiwa vs. Yuto Nakashima - 5/10
This was your usual Rambo match, with everyone getting a spot, some surprises in CIMA and Tatsumi Fujinami, and in a similar way to last year, Yano only came out for the finish, but at least he made it to the ring this time around.
YOH vs. SHO (w/Dick Togo) - 8/10
While I think this could had been a bit more violent, it was a pretty good match. Togo's interference, which you should already know is going to happen, happened in a way that didn't hurt the match as much. He jumped in to distract the referee from seeing SHO tap out, and later on for the finish when he tried to distract the referee from SHO using the wrench to attack YOH, but YOH dodged the move and won with an European Clutch.
As for the match, SHO worked the head and YOH the leg. They straight up started with topes con giro, but as the match went on, they changed their pace to submissions, which eventually led to SHO having to rely on Togo.
Post-match - SHO attacked YOH and tried to use the wrench again, but YOH once again stopped him on his tracks, this time with a superkick.
Hiroshi Tanahashi & Mega Coaches (Rocky Romero & Ryusuke Taguchi) vs. BULLET CLUB (El Phantasmo, KENTA & Taiji Ishimori) - 6.5/10
Let's write that on the record, Tanahashi lost by DQ after he attacked KENTA with a kendo stick, on purpose, after pushing away the referee. Tana and KENTA are wrestling in a No DQs match tomorrow, so they wanted to give Tana a bit of edge and show he's going to be violent tomorrow.
Match was a basic layout, with the babyfaces controlling early, but when Taguchi tagged in, he got cut off after KENTA attacked him from behind. Bullet Club worked over Taguchi until Tanahashi got he hot tag. After a couple of multi-man spots, KENTA brought a kendo stick to the ring, but Tanahashi took ahold of it. Referee tried to take it away, but Tana was fed up, pushed the referee away, attacked KENTA over and over and got DQd.
Los Ingobernables de Japon (BUSHI, SANADA & Tetsuya Naito) vs. United Empire (Great-O-Khan, Jeff Cobb & Will Ospreay) - 7/10
Ospreay, I think he realized the heat that MJF's hair gets him and decided to change his look.
Four of these men are facing off tomorrow in singles matches, so they had Cobb and Naito work together for a while, as did SANADA and O-Khan. The former focused on showing that Cobb has the power to block any of Naito's moves, but Naito hurt Cobb's knee, bringing him down, so we know Naito has a chance. As for SANADA and O-Khan, it was mostly about trying to pull each other into their own styles. Ospreay literally just came in to hit two moves and win, the final blow being the Hidden Blade.
Katsuyori Shibata vs. Ren Narita - 8.5/10
Narita was Shibata's mystery opponent, which makes a lot of sense given that he is his pupil and have been working together for the last two years or so. Prior to the match, Shibata took the mic and said he wanted Pro Wrestling rules, which Narita most definitely agreed with. The match originally had catch rules with no striking allowed. I don't know if this counts as Narita coming back from excursion, but it may potentially be since his persona has become a young Shibata.
The match was perfect and exactly what it needed to be. Two wrestlers competing for the win, one with a name to establish, and the other with a career to regain. They were really smart to have a couple of striking spots where Shibata could freely hit Narita's head, while Narita would instead kick or forearm the neck. Both men worked the leg for the most part, but kept relying on those strikes. Eventually Shibata won with a PK kick.
Post-match - Narita couldn't hold it in and was a waterfall of tears knowing that his teacher had been able to recover and come back to
NJPW Returns to AXS - They return to AXS tv on March 3, right after Impact on Thursdays. Awesome.
NEVER Openweight Championship Match
Tomohiro Ishii (c) vs. EVIL (w/House of Torture) - 3/10
This was a Togo match, with all the garbage interference. Ishii at one point was fighting one against four until YOH ran down and took out two of them, held off the third while Ishii went after EVIL. Numbers game eventually benefited HoT again and EVIL won with a belt shot and Everything Is EVIL. Meh, but NEVER title is the level that EVIL should be kept at.
Goto and YOSHI-HASHI never came out because they literally have next match to worry about. They'll have their chance tomorrow when they wrestle for the 6-Person titles.
IWGP Tag Team Championship Match
Dangerous Tekkers (Taichi & Zack Sabre Jr.) (w/Miho Abe) (c) vs. CHAOS (Hirooki Goto & YOSHI-HASHI) - 8/10
I don't know if people started getting their time cut around this match, but the entrances were somewhat rushed and the match went straight into the tornado tag action. It could be that after two other tag matches and a long ass rivalry between these teams, they didn't think it was necessary to see a heat section of the match, and I definitely would agree with the sentiment.
The match was great, it was all action, with the combined styles of all men. Taichi and YOSHI-HASHI were out there doing a thousand lariats and bombers and superkicks, Sabre stretching people out, and Goto slamming people into his knee. As the match went on, CHAOS gained momentum hitting double team moves on both men, who could only rely on breaking each other's pins, but at the end, Sabre was down and wasn't able to save Taichi from getting pinned.
Hate to see Tekkers lose the titles, but they've had a lengthy run and Goto and YH surely have earned a run with the gold.
Post-match - Taichi and Sabre acknowledged CHAOS' win and congratulated them.
IWGP Junior Heavyweight Championship Match
El Desperado (c) vs. Hiromu Takahashi - 8.5/10
I did not see Despy retaining, but I'm really really glad he did. Not only does this break this curse that Hiromu sins the title at WK, loses it due to injury, goes and wins the BOSJ only to restart the cycle. This time around, Despy retains and Hiromu is gonna have to keep chasing. Moreover, Despy has been fantastic for like two years now, him defending and retaining at a Tokyo Dome is so deserving.
The match wasn't their best, but it was still really good. Both men worked the head for the most part, but Despy also went after Hiromu's leg at one point with the Numero Dos. There were a lot of strikes and lariats, and as they went on and on, more and more slams, mostly by Desperado, who kept chasing the double Pinche Loco combo, which he failed at one, but landed it the second time for the win.
IWGP World Heavyweight Championship Match
Shingo Takagi (c) vs. Kazuchika Okada - 9.25/10
Okada came out with a gold and white Antonio Inoki looking robe, that if you zoom in and look really closely, it has the history of NJPW written on it, year by year.
The match was awesome, paced as an Okada match, with the slow build and both men showing off and antagonizing early on. There was some momentum trading early on, but if you see the match as a whole, there was a specific moment where it all just hits 3rd gear. Okada had been dominating for a while, he hits a diving elbow and does the Rainmaker pose, the goes for the Rainmaker, but suddenly Shingo exploded with a HUGE lariat out of the rotation. From there on, Shingo took down Okada, who would come back after Shingo mocked the Rainmaker pose, and they would continue exchanging lariats and big moves, until the end when Okada blocked a big Pumping Bomber with a dropkick, hit the piledriver, and finished Shingo with the Rainmaker.
I hardly doubted that Okada would lose this match, but they managed to make that small doubt believable enough to jump at some of the near falls.
This is actually the first time that Okada has won the title at Wrestle Kingdom.
Post-match - Once he was ready to get his belt, Okada first took the old IWGP belt, set it on the mat and vowed to it, thanking it for the legacy and finally accepting the transition.
Ospreay came out with this fake title. He called Okada the new interim champion instead, he made fun of his new attire, and told Okada that tomorrow he'll win so that Okada can leave and be an actor because NJPW will be safe on Ospreay's hands.
Ospreay left, but before he did, Okada called him fake champion and that he'll see him tomorrow. Okada then closed the show wishing everyone a happy new years and his 3 point speech, putting over Shingo as a great champion last year, about the old and new title, and about tomorrow's main event.
OVERALL THOUGHTS
Good start to the year. As usual, NJPW sets the standard with the first MOTYCs. Before you listen to journalists complain that it's not the same as previous years and that people can't chant (let it go, it's been 2 years already), know that this was a great show, felt like a big deal, the wrestling was great, and it's only going to get better tomorrow if you ask me. Plus freaking Shibata wrestled a match!