NJPW KING OF PRO WRESTLING (10/8) iPPV Review

NJPW KING OF PRO WRESTLING

October 8, 2012

Ryogoku Sumo Hall, Tokyo, Japan

MATCH 1: Yuji Nagata, Manabu Nakanishi and Strongman vs. CHAOS (Toru Yano, Takashi Iizuka and Tomohiro Ishii)

This is Nakanishi’s return from injury. CHAOS jump Nakanishi immediately. Nakanishi fights them off. Double suplex on Iizuka and Yano. Strongman with shoulder tackles on Ishii. Flying shoulder tackle. ARRGH! Strongman is bald now by the way. Important note. Chops in the corner. Ishii ducks and hits some forearms. Powerslam by Strongman. Gorilla press and a tag to Nakanishi. Ishii wins a headbutt battle. They exchange chops. Nakanishi goes for the torture rack but Yano hits him with a chair. Nakanishi gets attacked on the floor with the chair as Yano exposes the turnbuckles. CHAOS work the neck. Ishii with a clothesline but Nakanishi doesn’t go down. Hammer blow and a tag to Nagata. Kick combo. Running boot in the corner. Exploder gets 2. Ishii blocks a suplex and they get into a forearm battle. Which turns to slaps. Ishii with a headbutt. Spin kick from Nagata. Lariat by Ishii. Second one countered into an exploder. Yano in and takes an enziguri. Nakanishi with forearms. He blocks a whip and hits the standing lariat for 2. Strongman charges Yano and Ishii in the corner. Muscle Orchestra fire themselves up. Double lariats. Nakanishi gets 2 on Yano. Double torture racks! Nagata puts Iizuka in the armbar! Yano and Ishii rake the eyes to escape. Nakanishi sent into the exposed turnbuckles for two. German folds up Yano! Referee gets caught up by CHAOS. Yano with the lowblow. IRON FINGER FROM HELL! Yano cradles Nakanishi for the pin.

Your usual CHAOS B-team match. Crowd were into everything, not least because of who the babyface team were.

Winners via pinfall (11:29): CHAOS (*3/4)

MATCH 2: IWGP JUNIOR HEAVYWEIGHT TAG TEAM CHAMPIONSHIP

Forever Hooligans (Rocky Romero and Alex Koslov) (CHAMPIONS) vs. Time Splitters (Alex Shelley and KUSHIDA)

The champions have matching fur jackets. Shelley and Koslov start. Shelley gets the better of things and hits a headscissors. Koslov goes to the eyes. Blind tag and a double back drop. Double hiptoss and fist drop on Rocky. KUSHIDA and Shelley attack the arm. Koslov gets hit coming in. Double chop to Romero but Koslov breaks a pin. They focus on Shelley. Shelley send both to the apron for a handstand kick by KUSHIDA. Double planchas. Shelley with a crossbody on Rocky for 2. Koslov trips Shelley and runs away, luring him into a clothesline by Romero. Koslov with a slingshot splash for 2. Koslov on the attack. Tags Rocky. Inverted atomic drop neckbreaker combo, but KUSHIDA saves. Koslov breaks out the cossack dance! Face stomp gets 2. Romero hogs the corner clotheslines and Koslov gets mad at him. They tease fighting, before hugging it out. Never gets old. Low dropkick for 2. Koslov controls Shelley. Shelley gets free but KUSHIDA is off the apron so no tag. Shelley hits an enziguri and makes the tag this time. KUSHIDA fights back. Romero and Koslov almost collide. Romero takes an errant. Handspring elbow and a standing moonsault on Koslov for 2. KUSHIDA tries a superplex. But Romero hits a hurricanrana, off of Koslov’s shoulders! Frog splash, but only 2. Assisted knee in the corner. Koslov with a superkick. Romero gets 2. Shelley intercepts Romero. Flatliner/missile dropkick by the challengers on Koslov. Double dives! Shelley off of KUSHIDA’s back with a forearm. Brainbuster. KUSHIDA moonsault, but Romero saves at 2.9! Koslov with a spinning roundhouse to Shelley. KUSHIDA ducks the Russian Strike. Elaborate double team ends with a dropkick to the face. Shelley and KUSHIDA hit Romero in the corner with a knee and enziguri. They set up the powerbomb/sliced bread, but Shelley is knocked to the floor. Romero then rolls up KUSHIDA for the pin.

Koslov and Romero are perfect together. I’m impressed at how well Shelley and KUSHIDA have gelled as well, almost instantly. This was fun and hopefully not these two teams’ last match with one another.

Winners via pinfall and still champions (14:55): Rocky Romero and Alex Koslov (***)

MATCH 3: IWGP JUNIOR HEAVYWEIGHT CHAMPIONSHIP

Kota Ibushi (CHAMPION) vs. Low Ki

Ibushi, maybe foolishly, tries to stand up fight with Ki. He avoids some shots in the corner. Ki gets control on the mat and tries a cross armbreaker. Breaks down to shoves. Big shoulder tackle by Ki. Kick to the chest. Ibushi ducks two clotheslines and hits a hurricanrana. Tries the corner moonsault but Low Ki shoves him over the top into the barricade! Ki slams Ibushi on the floor. European uppercuts. Hard kick to the back for 2. Bodyscissors. Ibushi tries to fight back. Ki shuts him down. Boy, these two are laying into each other. Ki with a hesitation kick to the back of the head. Ibushi fires up and starts kicking back, so Ki goes back to the bodyscissors. Cobra twist. Ki fakes a punch and kicks Ibushi instead. Ibushi hits the cartwheel kick to Ki on the apron! Top rope corner moonsault to the floor! Springboard but Ki ducks. Ibushi recovers with a kick. Standing shooting star for 2. Ki escapes a powerbomb. Ibushi with a german suplex out of the corner for 2. Ki avoids a moonsault and a standing moonsault, then hits the jon woo kick for 2! Ibushi blocks the Ki Krusher. Half nelson suplex, but Ki lands on his feet and double stomps Ibushi for 2. Chops from Ki. Misses a charge. Ibushi with a standing corkscrew splash for 2. Ki tries to fight out of the powerbomb. Last ride style buckle bomb! Only 2. Ki stops Ibushi climbing the ropes. Ibushi makes it to the top but is kicked and falls. After some trouble, a TOP ROPE FISHERMAN BUSTER wins it for Ki!

Devitt shows up after the match. He says he’s been to Europe and Mexico, but now he was home in New Japan. He challenges Ki for the belt. Ki tells him not to bite off more than he can chew and says this year is his year, not Devitt’s.

This wasn’t a balls to the wall, crazy Ibushi match and although those are always fun, I think this was better for it. It was well paced and

Winner via pinfall and new champion (17:05): Low Ki (***3/4)

MATCH 4: IWGP TAG TEAM CHAMPIONSHIP

Satoshi Kojima and Hiroyoshi Tenzan (CHAMPIONS) vs. Killer Elite Squad (Davey Boy Smith Jr. and Lance Archer)

The KES are a part of Suzuki-gun and have TAKA with them. Archer and Smith attack before the bell. Double shoulder to Kojima. Legdrop/splash combo for an early 2. Archer with a delayed suplex gets 2. Pair of slams by Smith. He stomps Kojima in the gut. 2 count. Into Archer’s boot. Archer misses a splash in the corner. Koji Cutter. Tag to Tenzan. Mongolian chops, with forearms from Kojima. Headbutt/slingshot elbow. Corner clothesline by Tenzan. Calf Branding gets 1. Suplex gets 1 as well. TAKA knocked off the apron. Blind tag allows Smith to blind side Archer. Russian legsweep. Into Archer’s boot. Hart Attack only gets 2. Smith applies a boston crab. Tenzan makes the rope. Smith runs into a spin kick. Archer prevents the tag. Rope walk, old school style, from Archer. Tenzan gets a boot up and fights back with mongolians. Spinebuster from Archer for 2. Samoan drop by Tenzan. He tags in Kojima. Kojima with machine gun chops on Smith. Top rope elbow by Kojima for 2. High knee cuts him off. Saito suplex and Tenzan saves. TenKoji Cutter! Archer gets a TenKoji Cutter as well! Kojima hits the lariat to the back of the head. Lariat for TAKA. Off comes the elbow pad. Smith blocks the lariat. Sitout powerbomb! Tenzan saves at 2. Chokeslam to Tenzan from Archer. Kojima clotheslines Archer’s clothesline attempt. Smith cuts off a Koji Cutter. Archer hits the Blackout! Double team full nelson slam/sitout powerbomb to Tenzan. They then hit it on Kojima to win the titles.

Not a big surprise Archer and Smith win the titles here. Whether Tenzan and Kojima move out of the title picture or not remains to be seen. At least now they have a new team to face if they don’t. Match benefited from a pro TenKoji crowd.

Winners via pinfall and new champions (12:47): Davey Boy Smith Jr. and Lance Archer (**3/4)

MATCH 5: Tetsuya Naito vs. Yujiro Takahashi

These two were of course former partners in NJPW, TNA and CMLL, as No Limit. Naito is coming in with a knee injury. Yujiro attacks before the bell. Naito with an early dropkick and Yujiro bails. Yujiro goes for the knee but misses. Naito blocks a charge but is taken off the top with an armdrag. He immediately sells the knee on landing. Yujiro goes after it with stomps and some elbows. Splash on the knee. Running boot in the corner, but Yujiro pulls Naito up at 1. Dropkick to the knee. Naito with a sunset flip for 2 and another roll up for 2. Yujiro blocks an inside cradle and turns it into a gordbuster. Lariat dumps Naito on his head and gets 2. Tokyo Pimps! Yujiro applies a modified figure four and the referee stops the match, deciding Naito can’t continue. After the match Yujiro brings in two steel chairs. He traps the knee with one and hits it with the other. Naito is stretchered out.

Not much of a match, obviously. I’d say this is a way to write out Naito with a knee injury, but a- they seem to do this every month and b- since they do this so often, nobody seems to know if this knee injury is legit, as some people believe, or not. It seems clear New Japan are elevating Yujiro in the past few months. More on that later.

Winner via referee stoppage (5:41): Yujiro Takahashi (*1/2)

INTERMISSION TIME!

One of the DVDs they plugged was, I’m fairly certain, a compilation Iizuka beating up the commentator and other commentator abuse related moments over the years. There was also a talking Inoki calculator app.

(Which makes me feel a little less guilty about shamelessly plugging my WWE weekly recaps, every Monday, here on the site, posted before Raw. Read them, skim them, skip to the part telling you what out of the 8 1/2 hours(!) is worth watching. Thank you.)

And now back to the show!

MATCH 6: Wataro Inoue and Togi Makabe vs. Katsuyori Shibata and Kazushi Sakuraba

Shibata and Sakuraba beat Inoue and young lion Hiromu Takahashi in their return match, basically destroying Hiromu and winning in 3 minutes, leading to Makabe volunteering to team with Inoue for a fairer rematch.

Shibata and Sakuraba come out to an Iron Man intro, wearing LOD shoulder pads. Shibata and Inoue start. Inoue takes the fight to Shibata. Corner dropkick. Shibata with a slap and back kick. He takes Inoue outside and into the post. It all breaks down on the floor with Makabe and Sakuraba wading in. Back in, Shibata blocks a suplex. European uppercuts and a straight punch (or “knuckle butt”). Tag to Sakuraba who kicks Inoue from the apron. Boot by Shibata. Sakuraba with repeated slaps as Inoue covers up. Front choke. Inoue grabs the ropes. Sakuraba attacks on the ground. Tries a jujigatame. Inoue gets the rope. Rear naked choke. Makabe in. Inoue getting ground and pounded. Shibata in and slaps Inoue, who fires up. Running forearm catches Shibata. Tag to Makabe. They trade punches. Headbutts from Makabe. Corner clothesline. Sakuraba takes Makabe down and applies a kimura. Double team kicks on Makabe. Makabe catches a kick and clotheslines Shibata. Tag to Inoue. Shibata catches him in a choke. Inoue escapes and knees him in the gut. Double suplex on Shibata. Inoue slam for Makabe’s kneedrop but Sakuraba shakes the rope. Inoue hits the Spear Of Justice on Shibata. Sakuraba saves Shibata with a rear naked choke on Inoue. He chokes Inoue half out. Penalty kick from Shibata gets 3.

The crowd were super into this. Clearly using shoot style guys with recognition has some value, as an attraction, in this part of the card. Key there being this part. Don’t go getting any old ideas, New Japan. The match itself? It was pretty much what you’d want it and expect it to be.

Winners via pinfall (7:10): Katsuyori Shibata and Kazushi Sakuraba (**1/2)

MATCH 7: TOKYO DOME #1 CONTENDER RIGHTS ACQUISITION MATCH

Kazuchika Okada (RIGHTS HOLDER) vs. “Machine Gun” Karl Anderson

Okada is carrying around a Money In The Bank style briefcase, with his title shot at the Tokyo Dome on January 4th 2013, won by winning the G1 Climax. His opponent in the final was, yes, Karl Anderson. He’s defending this title match, which means if Anderson wins, he gets the title shot at 1/4.

Starts with shoves. They fight for the advantage and Anderson wins out with forearms and a chop. Shoulder tackle by Anderson and a headlock. Okada with a hiptoss, but Anderson right back to the headlock. Elbows in the corner. Anderson kicks the arm and targets it. He misses a kneedrop. Flapjack from Okada. He sends Anderson to the barrier and boots him into the front row. Draping DDT off the barricade! Anderson beats the count. Low running dropkick by Okada. Cross arm neckbreaker for 2. He cranks the neck. DDT gets 2. Back elbow gets 2. Back to the neck. Anderson lands a chop. He ducks an elbow. One foot dropkick on the run. Anderson fights back. He does the Rainmaker Pose. Senton gets 2. Anderson runs into a boot but catches Okada with a leg lariat. Okada sends Anderson to the barrier. He misses a boot and Anderson lands a pump kick and another one foot dropkick. Anderson gives Okada a hangman neckbreaker off the barricade! Okada fights off Anderson and goes to the top but Anderson lands a boot. Superplex only gets 2. Okada escapes a powerbomb. Air raid crash neckbreaker on the knee for two. Heavy Rain gets 2. Okada hits a picture perfect elbow drop. He sets up the Rainmaker. Anderson blocks it. Flying neckbreaker off the top for 2. Anderson hits a TKO. Only 2! Anderson goes for the Bernard Driver. Okada shoves him off and hits a picture perfect dropkick! Forearm exchange. Anderson wins. He hangs on, avoiding another dropkick. Okada blocks the Gun Stun and dropkicks him from behind. Anderson reverses a tombstone into the Bernard Driver! ONLY TWO. Gun Stun is blocked. Rainmaker is ducked! Anderson tries a Rainmaker! DUCKED! Okada goes for the Gun Stun! NO! Anderson Gun Stun! NO! Tombstone from Okada! RAINMAKEEEERRRRRR!! Three count and Okada is still the Tokyo Dome challenger!

An awesome finishing stretch to cap a very good match. Okada’s story is pretty fascinating and this really has been his year, not just in Japan but worldwide. And the scary thing is, he’s only 24. Fingers crossed, he keeps the title shot and wins the belt back from Tanahashi at 1/4.

Winner via pinfall (16:26): Kazuchika Okada (****)

MATCH 8: IWGP INTERCONTINENTAL CHAMPIONSHIP

Shinsuke Nakamura (CHAMPION) vs. Hirooki Goto

If you haven’t seen Shinsuke in the past year and a half, he’s turned into an amazing man. Shinsuke gives his version of a clean break in the ropes, annoying Goto. Shoulder tackle doesn’t budge him. Nakamura runs into a shoulder tackle and goes down though. Reversed hiptoss by Goto. Nakamura sent into the guardrail and clotheslined over. He’s sent into the post. Kick to the back and a pair of elbow drops get 2. Chinlock. And a headlock. Shinsuke out at 2. Suplex is blocked. Nakamura gets caught in a head and arm submission. He makes the rope. Shinsuke kicks Goto from the apron. Running knee to the chest. And a kneedrop off the apron! Nakamura delivers some kicks. Enziguri. Goto fights out of a reverse powerslam. Roundhouse ducked, but not a back roundhouse. Only 2. Shinsuke with knees in the corner. He misses a running knee. Spin kick in the corner by Goto. Saito suplex. Goto with some kicks. Nakamura ducks a clothesline and hits a high knee. Forearm exchange. Goto wins it and attacks in the corner. Nakamura high kicks Goto as he goes to the top. Running knee to the ribs for 2. Sleeper. Backcracker and a reverse powerslam. Goto misses a clothesline. DVD across the knee from Nakamura. Shinsuke thinks Boma Ye. Goto catches him with a DVD across the knee of his own. Both hit clotheslines. Spinning clothesline from Goto for 2. Nakamura catches Goto with a knee but gets clotheslined. GOTO HITS THE DVD ACROSS THE KNEE, FROM THE TOP! Only 2! That looked painful. Goto ducks a roundhouse kick and hits the Ura Shouten! Shinsuke barely gets a shoulder up! Shinsuke goes for the knuckle butt and Goto goes for the headbutt. Goto’s head wins! He hits the headbutt. He goes for another but Nakamura hits the knuckle butt! High knee! BOMA YE! Shinsuke retains.

This took a while to get going. Particularly when Goto was in control at the start. By the end it picked up steam and turned into a really good match.

Winner via pinfall and still champion (15:12): Shinsuke Nakamura (***3/4)

MATCH 9: IWGP HEAVYWEIGHT CHAMPIONSHIP

Hiroshi Tanahashi (CHAMPION) vs. Minoru Suzuki

This is a rematch from this year’s Tokyo Dome main event, which Tanahashi won. He’s since lost and regained the title to, and from, Okada. Suzuki beat Tanahashi in the G1, which gave him cause to demand a title shot.

Tanahashi has his elbow taped and tries to shield it from Suzuki early on. Suzuki gets the arm and avoids a dropkick, kicking Tanahashi in the back. They exchange holds on the mat. Suzuki forces a break and delivers knees. Tanahashi gets a headlock. Suzuki doesn’t break clean. Whip reversed and Tanahashi applies a cobra twist. He PLAYS AIR GUITAR with the hold applied. Which many of the crowd boo. Suzuki looks PISSED and it turns into a fight. Suzuki catches Tanahashi in a triangle choke in the ropes! Tanahashi sent into the rail. Suzuki applies an armbar around the barricade. He then applies an armbar around the ring post. Inside, he delivers some kicks. Shots to the arm. Armbar on the mat. Tanahashi fires back on Suzuki. Suzuki grabs the hair to prevent being thrown to the ropes and delivers a headbutt. Kimura. Tanahashi gets the rope. Suzuki steps on the arm. He applies an armbar and tries to unwrap the tape. Tanahashi fires back again but a forearm rocks him. Kicks from Suzuki. Big slaps. Tanahashi blocks a soccerball kick. Inverted dragon screw! Suzuki grabs his knee in pain. Tanahashi with a slap and repeated forearms. Dragon screw. Dropkicks to the knee. Flying forearm. Suzuki manages to kick the arm to regain control. He takes Tanahashi down with a kimura. Suzuki tries to BITE OFF Tanahashi’s tape. Chops. Big boot from Suzuki. Back to the kimura. Sleeper hold. Suzuki catches Tanahashi in a jujigatame. He makes the rope. Tanahashi escapes a sleeper with one of his own. He turns it into a standing sling blade. Suzuki escapes a dragon suplex but gets his knee clipped. High Fly Flow to the knee! Texas cloverleaf is blocked, but Tanahashi gets a figure four. Suzuki yells at Tanahashi in the hold. Tanahashi slowly drags him back to the centre! Suzuki eventually gets to the rope! They got everything possible out of that one. Dragon screw by Tanahashi. Sling Blade ducked. Suzuki tries to run the ropes but can’t. So Tanahashi hits the ropes and SUZUKI DROPKICKS HIM IN THE FACE! Slap battle! Suzuki wears Tanahashi down. He ducks a shot and applies the sleeper. Hip throw! Tanahashi crawls to the ropes but passes out! NO! Tanahashi sits up and grabs the rope! Suzuki dares Tanahashi to his feet. He tees off with slaps! Tons of them! Front necklock. Suzuki tries the Gotch Style Piledriver, Tanahashi spins out and tries a dragon screw, but Suzuki avoids it and reapplies the sleeper!! Tanahashi blocks the Piledriver. He escapes it a second time! Ground dragon screw! Suzuki with some weary kicks. Tanahashi dropkicks the knee. Sling Blade! He goes for the High Fly Flow. SUZUKI GETS THE KNEES UP! More slaps. Tanahashi collapses. Suzuki pulls him up on the apron, for more slaps. He tries the triangle choke in the ropes but Tanahashi hits a DRAGON SCREW IN THE ROPES! HIGH FLY FLOW TO A STANDING SUZUKI! HIGH FLY FLOW! TANAHASHI RETAINS!!

After the title presentation Yujiro comes out, in a shirt saying “We Run Shit” and his sunglasses, to challenge Tanahashi for the title. He owns a pinfall victory over Tanahashi in a six man tag, so this was to be expected. Tanahashi, despite an ice pack on his injured arm, manages to play som air guitar to end the show.

This was one of the best matches of the year. Simple as that. The storytelling was great. Suzuki was always subtely focused on the injured arm. Tanahashi got cocky and Suzuki turned up the intensity. And from that point on this was an epic. They went 29 minutes with zero near falls and the simplest of formulas, one guy works the arm one guy works the leg, but it was always compelling. An excellent way to cap the show.

Winner via pinfall and still champion (29:22): Hiroshi Tanahashi (****3/4)

The VOD for people who’ve ordered the show will be available until 5PM JST on Thursday. So, basically, three days. I’m not certain if you can still order the VOD if you didn’t order a ticket in advance, as some people seemed to be having trouble ordering tickets last minute. But, if you can, it goes without saying that you should. And if New Japan put on another iPPV, chances are you should order that as well. The stream was immaculate. Money and effort was clearly spent on ensuring this iPPV stream worked. And the show itself, unsurprisingly, delivered and then some. If this isn’t the iPPV show of the year, then it’s probably because New Japan went and ran a better one.

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