NJPW King of Pro Wrestling 2012
NJPW King of Pro Wrestling 2012, October 8th, 2012. Tokyo Ryogoku Kokugikan
Opening Promo - Great!
Manabu Nakanishi Return Match
Manabu Nakanishi, Yuji Nagata & Strong Man vs. Toru Yano, Takashi Iizuka & Tomohiro Ishii - 6/10
Great opener for a show, using the return of Nakanishi to hype the crowd for the rest of the show was quite intelligent. The match was pretty much about showcasing Nakanishi and making him look amazing. Worked perfectly. Strongman was kinda weird, it sometimes seemed like roles where reversed everytime he was in the ring up until the end of the match. I wasn't expecting this end, but it worked.
IWGP Jr. Heavyweight Tag Team Title Match
Forever Hooligans (Rocky Romero & Alex Koslov) © vs. The Time Splitters (Alex Shelley & KUSHIDA) - 7/10
I am amazed at Forever Hooligans, Romero and Koslov work great together!! Time Splitters on the other hand, they're not bad, but it just feels like Shelley is cheating on Sabin. Good face vs heel stuff, great wrestling, amazing tag team wrestling. I wanna see more from both teams!
IWGP Jr. Heavyweight Title Match
Kota Ibushi © vs. Low Ki - 8.5/10
dang, i think these guys were stiffing each other at first, but then again, it's Low Ki, he always looks stiff. This wasn't the fast paced match I was expecting from Ibushi, Ki made a great job at grounding him. There was a point where Low Ki locked in a submission and when Ibushi gets to the ropes, Low Ki can't unlock it by himself and needed the ref to unlock it for him, I don't think I have ever seen that in a non-comedy match.
Aftermath with Prince Devitt - GOD! i wish i knew Japanese!!
IWGP Tag Team Title Match
TenKoji (Satoshi Kojima & Hiroyoshi Tenzan) © vs. Killer Elite Squad (Lance Archer & Davey Boy Smith Jr. W/TAKA Michinoku) - 7/10
Harry looks bad ass!! Ancher looks crazy! I never noticed how huge Ancher is. With this match i have learned to love Japan's reaction to Mongolian Chops. Holy Shit! I wasn't expecting this finish!! Good tag team wrestling, a lot more clinical than the previous tag matches. Another example that WWE releasing Harry Smith was the worst mistake ever.
Tetsuya Naito vs. Yujiro Takahashi - 5/10
They played the leg injury waay to early in the match. That Small Package to Front Suplex...holy shit! Match was waay to short, which makes sense in a match with such an injured knee, it does leave you with the sour taste that you wanna see Naito destroy Takahashi. Regardless of the length, the match was intelligently booked. Aftermath was good, I saw it coming once i saw that Naito wasn't taking getting the upper hand.
Togi Makabe & Wataru Inoue vs. Kazushi Sakuraba & Katsuyori Shibata - 7/10
WOW what's up with the spikes on Shibata, they seem a bit out of character for him. Holy shit, this escalated quickly! I can't stop but mark out for Sakuraba fighting Makabe! For those who don't know him, Sakuraba loos like a harmless thin guy, but the dude has the mat wrestling skills of Danielson and Angle combined, this guy could legit make anyone tap out. Match ended faster than I wish, but i think Inoue was actually out when this happened.
IWGP Heavyweight Title #1 Contendership Match
Kazuchika Okada © vs. Karl Anderson - 8/10
First and foremost, i want to thank WWE And TNA for making this possible. Second of all, amazing match! I was for the most part the slowest match of the night, but by the end it had me on the edge of my seat. Great near falls here and there. I'm surprised by how much the crowd was behind Okada, even if he is (or so i think) supposed to be a heel. This match has an awesome finishing sequence that makes wrestling finishers seem strong.
IWGP Intercontinental Title Match
Shinsuke Nakamura © vs. Hirooki Goto - 7/10
Good back and forward match. Not much to say about this one. Goto was amazing for the last half of the match, which lead to several great near falls, but Nakamura just wouldn't go down.
IWGP Heavyweight Title Match
Hiroshi Tanahashi © vs. Minoru Suzuki - 10/10
Amazing Match!! Amazing Wrestling!! Amazing Story!! Crowd LOVES Tanahashi, and Suzuki IS A BEAST!! Nothing bad about this match other than Suzuki doesn't wear knee pads.
AFTERMATH: Great, Takahashi is the perfect contender (aside from the actual No 1 contender) and allows Naito to take some time off before he comes back for revenge. Again, I wish I new Japanese.
OVERALL THOUGHTS:
Truly a Show of the Year Contender if not the winner already. Not a single match was bad, and even thought I have no idea what the commentary is saying nor I know all the back bone to each feud and match, I was easily able to understand what most matches were about. That is the beauty about a wrestling promotion that is driven about wrestling and titles and not convoluted stories.
Opening Promo - Great!
Manabu Nakanishi Return Match
Manabu Nakanishi, Yuji Nagata & Strong Man vs. Toru Yano, Takashi Iizuka & Tomohiro Ishii - 6/10
Great opener for a show, using the return of Nakanishi to hype the crowd for the rest of the show was quite intelligent. The match was pretty much about showcasing Nakanishi and making him look amazing. Worked perfectly. Strongman was kinda weird, it sometimes seemed like roles where reversed everytime he was in the ring up until the end of the match. I wasn't expecting this end, but it worked.
IWGP Jr. Heavyweight Tag Team Title Match
Forever Hooligans (Rocky Romero & Alex Koslov) © vs. The Time Splitters (Alex Shelley & KUSHIDA) - 7/10
I am amazed at Forever Hooligans, Romero and Koslov work great together!! Time Splitters on the other hand, they're not bad, but it just feels like Shelley is cheating on Sabin. Good face vs heel stuff, great wrestling, amazing tag team wrestling. I wanna see more from both teams!
IWGP Jr. Heavyweight Title Match
Kota Ibushi © vs. Low Ki - 8.5/10
dang, i think these guys were stiffing each other at first, but then again, it's Low Ki, he always looks stiff. This wasn't the fast paced match I was expecting from Ibushi, Ki made a great job at grounding him. There was a point where Low Ki locked in a submission and when Ibushi gets to the ropes, Low Ki can't unlock it by himself and needed the ref to unlock it for him, I don't think I have ever seen that in a non-comedy match.
Aftermath with Prince Devitt - GOD! i wish i knew Japanese!!
IWGP Tag Team Title Match
TenKoji (Satoshi Kojima & Hiroyoshi Tenzan) © vs. Killer Elite Squad (Lance Archer & Davey Boy Smith Jr. W/TAKA Michinoku) - 7/10
Harry looks bad ass!! Ancher looks crazy! I never noticed how huge Ancher is. With this match i have learned to love Japan's reaction to Mongolian Chops. Holy Shit! I wasn't expecting this finish!! Good tag team wrestling, a lot more clinical than the previous tag matches. Another example that WWE releasing Harry Smith was the worst mistake ever.
Tetsuya Naito vs. Yujiro Takahashi - 5/10
They played the leg injury waay to early in the match. That Small Package to Front Suplex...holy shit! Match was waay to short, which makes sense in a match with such an injured knee, it does leave you with the sour taste that you wanna see Naito destroy Takahashi. Regardless of the length, the match was intelligently booked. Aftermath was good, I saw it coming once i saw that Naito wasn't taking getting the upper hand.
Togi Makabe & Wataru Inoue vs. Kazushi Sakuraba & Katsuyori Shibata - 7/10
WOW what's up with the spikes on Shibata, they seem a bit out of character for him. Holy shit, this escalated quickly! I can't stop but mark out for Sakuraba fighting Makabe! For those who don't know him, Sakuraba loos like a harmless thin guy, but the dude has the mat wrestling skills of Danielson and Angle combined, this guy could legit make anyone tap out. Match ended faster than I wish, but i think Inoue was actually out when this happened.
IWGP Heavyweight Title #1 Contendership Match
Kazuchika Okada © vs. Karl Anderson - 8/10
First and foremost, i want to thank WWE And TNA for making this possible. Second of all, amazing match! I was for the most part the slowest match of the night, but by the end it had me on the edge of my seat. Great near falls here and there. I'm surprised by how much the crowd was behind Okada, even if he is (or so i think) supposed to be a heel. This match has an awesome finishing sequence that makes wrestling finishers seem strong.
IWGP Intercontinental Title Match
Shinsuke Nakamura © vs. Hirooki Goto - 7/10
Good back and forward match. Not much to say about this one. Goto was amazing for the last half of the match, which lead to several great near falls, but Nakamura just wouldn't go down.
IWGP Heavyweight Title Match
Hiroshi Tanahashi © vs. Minoru Suzuki - 10/10
Amazing Match!! Amazing Wrestling!! Amazing Story!! Crowd LOVES Tanahashi, and Suzuki IS A BEAST!! Nothing bad about this match other than Suzuki doesn't wear knee pads.
AFTERMATH: Great, Takahashi is the perfect contender (aside from the actual No 1 contender) and allows Naito to take some time off before he comes back for revenge. Again, I wish I new Japanese.
OVERALL THOUGHTS:
Truly a Show of the Year Contender if not the winner already. Not a single match was bad, and even thought I have no idea what the commentary is saying nor I know all the back bone to each feud and match, I was easily able to understand what most matches were about. That is the beauty about a wrestling promotion that is driven about wrestling and titles and not convoluted stories.