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Brocklock watches old NJPW

Brocklock

Brocklock

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I bought a NJPW World subscription a few weeks ago and have been going through every 1/4 Dome show since 1992. Here are some star ratings and thoughts for some of the early dome shows. I'm gonna try to watch all the Dome Shows, G1 Climaxes, BOSJ tourneys, Wrestling Donaku, etc that are on the channel. I will say there are some missing matches like any Naoya Ogawa match or the TNA vs NJPW matches from the 2008 show. But, I found those elsewhere.

Super Warriors In Tokyo Dome 1/4/1992 - Very plodding show with a brutal middle stretch and an underwhelming main event that never got out of first gear. The Tag Team Dream match is just the Superbrawl 91 tag with Muta plugged in for Luger, but it's a great spotfest tag.

Black Cat vs Hiroyoshi Yamamoto - * 1/4
Kuniaki Kobayashi/Osamu Kido vs Kengo Kimura/Kantaro Hoshino - *
AKIRA/Jushin Liger/Masashi Aoyagi vs Hiro Saito/Norio Honaga/Super Strong Machine - ** 1/2
The Enforcers vs Shiro Koshinaka/Michiyoshi Ohara - ** 3/4
Dusty and Dustin Rhodes vs Kim Duk/Masa Saito - * 1/2
Tony Halme vs Scott Norton - 1/2*
Shinya Hashimoto vs Bill Kazmaier - Negative *
Vader vs El Gigante - *
Antonio Inoki vs Hiroshi Hase - *** 1/4
Steiner Brothers vs Sting/Great Muta - ****
Lex Luger vs Masahiro Chono - ** 1/4
Riki Choshu vs Tatsumi Fujinami - **

Fantastic Story 1/4/93 - Really good show. A major improvement over 92 with good matches throughout the card and nothing as awful as the Halme/Norton, Hash/Kazmaier, Vader/Gigante stretch from 92. Liger vs Ultimo has some insane shit for the time, and Muta/Chono and the main are really solid 90's NJPW style main event matches. The contrast between this Muta/Chono match and their Starrcade 92 match a few days earlier was hilarious.

El Samurai/Akira Nogami/Takayuki Iizuka vs Nobukazu Hirai/Masao Orihara/Koti Kitihara - ** 1/4
Great Kabuki/Shiro Koshinaka/Masashi Aoyagi/Akitoshi Saito vs Super Strong Machine/Hiro Saito/Tatsutoshi Goto/Norio Honaga - * 1/4
Jushin Liger vs Ultimo Dragon - *** 3/4
Ron Simmons vs Tony Halme - * 1/4
Sting vs Hiroshi Hase - *** 1/2
Masa Saito/Shiro Koshinaka vs Dustin Rhodes/Scott Norton - * 3/4
The Great Muta vs Masahiro Chono - ****
The Hellraisers (Hawk and Kensuke Sasaki) vs The Steiner Brothers - *** 1/4
Tatsumi Fujinami vs Takashi Ishikawa - **
Genichiro Tenryu vs Riki Choshu - *** 1/2

Battlefield 1/4/94 - Meandering show with a really good Steiners tag, a good but long Chono/Hash match, and lots of importance. Main event was epic, but didn't quite hit for me as much as I wanted it too. The fans laughing at Brutus Beefcake's offense was funny otoh. It did have a big atmosphere with both Hogan and Inoki having matches on the show. Steiners match is notable for the debut of the Steiner Screwdriver and Scott looks so excited before he hits it.

Kabuki/Kimura/Koshinaka/Kobayashi/Ohara vs Kido/Nakanishi/Nagata/Kojima/Samurai - ** 1/4
Nogami/Iizuka vs Hiro Saito/Aoyagi - * 1/4
Brutus Beefcake vs Black Cat - DUD
Super Strong Machine vs Tatsutoshi Goto - 1/2*
Jushin Liger vs Tiger Mask III (Koji Kanemoto) - *** 1/4
The Hellraisers vs The Jurassic Powers (Scott Norton and Hercules) - ** 1/4
Hulk Hogan vs Tatsumi Fujinami - ** 1/2
Riki Choshu vs Yoshiaki Fujiwara - **
Shinya Hashimoto vs Masahiro Chono - *** 1/2
Steiner Brothers vs Hiroshi Hase/Keiji Muto - **** 1/4
Genichiro Tenryu vs Antonio Inoki - ***

Battle Seven 1/4/95 - A long and excruciatingly awful show sandwiched between two really good matches. Otani/Samurai and Hash/Kensuke are both worth looking for, the rest is horrible. Well, the oddness of seeing Sabu tag with Chono was worth it too.The BVD Martial Arts tourney matches killed the show's pacing and were all pretty bad. It was hilarious to watch Sting take on a sloppy kickboxer wearing sweatpants though. Wish they would've done a regular Inoki vs Sting match than a faux MMA bullshit match. Steiners vs Muto/Hase was also a big step down from their match the previous year.

Shinjiro Otani vs El Samurai - *** 3/4
Norio Honaga vs The Great Sasuke - ***
Akitoshi Saito/Kuniaki Kobayashi/Great Kabuki vs Akira Nogami/Takayuki Iizuka/Osamu Kido - * 1/4
Koji Kanemoto vs Yuji Nagata - ** 1/2
Hiroyoshi Tenzan vs Manabu Nakanishi - * 3/4
Tiger Jeet Singh Sr and Jr vs Michiyoshi Ohara/Shiro Koshinaka - Negative **
BVD Martial Arts Title Semi Final: Sting vs Tony Palmore - Negative *
BVD Martial Arts Title Semi Final: Antonio Inoki vs Gerard Gordeau - Negative **
Riki Choshu/Yoshiaki Yatsu vs Kengo Kimura/Tatsutoshi Goto - * 1/4
Masahiro Chono/Sabu vs Tatsumi Fujinami/Junji Hirata - ***
Road Warrior Hawk vs Scott Norton - **
BVD Martial Arts Title Final: Antonio Inoki vs Sting - 1/4*
Steiner Brothers vs Keiji Muto/Hiroshi Hase - *** 1/4
Shinya Hashimoto vs Kensuke Sasaki - ****

I'll post more later.
 
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Gigante looked much better than Bill Kazmaier on that show and has the funniest selling ever. I'll give him that.

Tiger Jeet Singh Senior and Junior going 11 minutes on the 1995 show might be the worst match on any of the dome shows I've watched so far. Although, there is some 2000's Inokism nonsense that comes close. I'm already up to 2008 on my watch through, but I started at the end of December.
 
What's the oldest show available? History of these libraries just fascinates me. I don't know if the whole first NJPW show still exists, either.
 
Does NJPW own the Rikidozan era or is that like Baba or Inoki's estate or something?
 
I would assume that it's owned by the tv network like a lot of older AJPW footage is but I don't know for sure. Any NJPW footage that isn't up on World is probably not up for similar reasons.
 
Wrestling World In Tokyo Dome 1/4/96 - Best dome show so far with some amazing matches and big moments. Inoki/Vader is a huge match for Inoki's legacy and holds up wonderfully. NJPW was on fire at this point with the UWFI feud and the roster is loaded.

NJPW (Shinjiro Otani/Tokimitsu Ishizawa/Yuji Nagata) vs UWFI (Hiromitsu Kanehara/Kazushi Sakuraba/Kenichi Yamamoto) - ** 1/4
Hiroyoshi Tenzan vs Satoshi Kojima - ** 1/2
Jushin Liger vs Koji Kanemoto - *** 3/4
Shiro Koshinaka vs Masahiro Chono - * 3/4
Hiromichi Fuyuki vs Yoji Anjoh - * 1/4
Kensuke Sasaki vs Hiroshi Hase - *** 1/2
Antonio Inoki vs Vader - **** 1/4
Riki Choshu vs Masahito Kakihara - * 1/2
Shinya Hashinmoto vs Kazuo Yamazaki - ** 1/2
Nobuhiko Takada vs Keiji Muto - ****

Wrestling World in Tokyo Dome 97 1/4/97 - Excellent main event and very good J Crown Title match help this, other wise this would be one of the worst 1/4 Dome shows they've done. Lots of Inokism bullshit combined with some dull and uninteresting matches and nonsense like Michiyosha Ohara, Kendo Nagasaki, Tatsutoshi Goto, Shoji Nakamaki, and Great Kojika taking up time on a Dome show in 1997. Super Liger was so bad it was good at least. And, Hash and Choshu deliver a big time main event. It's just so long. It feels like the Wrestlemania IV of Dome shows.

Junji Hirata/Manabu Nakanishi/Osamu Nishimura/Satoshi Kojima vs Kazuo Yamazaki/Osamu Kido/Takashi Iizuka/Yuji Nagata - **
Super Liger (Chris Jericho) vs Koji Kanemoto - 1/2*
Jinsei Shinzaki vs Michiyosha Ohara - 3/4*
Shinjiro Otani vs Yoshihiro Tajiri - *** 1/4
Kendo Nagasaki vs Tatsutoshi Goto - Negative *
Masahiro Chono vs Shoji Nakamaki - * 1/4
Masa Saito vs Great Kojika - DUD
Antonio Inoki vs Willie Williams - Negative *
Jushin Liger vs Ultimo Dragon - *** 3/4
Kengo Kimura/Tatsumi Fujinami vs Tenzan/Chono - ** 1/4
Power Warrior (Kensuke Sasaki) vs The Great Muta - **
Shinya Hashimoto vs Riki Choshu - **** 1/4

Final Power Hall In Tokyo Dome 1/4/98 - Pretty good show overall. Kindof forgettable, but nothing as bad as the worst from the year before. Otani/Ultimo was terrific, Kensuke and Muto both redeem themselves after a really disappointing 97 match in different gimmicks, and Frye/Ogawa had an electric atmosphere.

Kendo Ka Shin vs Koji Kanemoto - ** 1/4
Shinjiro Otani vs Ultimo Dragon - ****
Yuji Nagata vs Hiroyoshi Tenzan - ** 1/2
Osamu Nishimura/Tatsumi Fujinami vs Manabu Nakanishi/Satoshi Kojima - ** 1/4
Riki Choshu Retirement Gauntlet: Riki Choshu vs Kazuyuki Fujita/Yutaka Yoshie/Tatsuhito Takaiwa/Takashi Iizuka - * 3/4
Riki Choshu vs Jushin Liger - ***
Don Frye vs Naoya Ogawa - *** 1/4
Shinya Hashimoto vs Dennis Lane - DUD
Masahiro Chono vs Shiro Koshinaka - ** 1/2
Kensuke Sasaki vs Keiji Muto - *** 1/2

Wrestling World 1999 1/4/99 - Pretty bad show, but with two really good Junior Heavyweight matches and a fun MMA goofy slugfest in Frye vs Johnston. I like Scott Norton, but it shows you where NJPW was at in the beginning of 1999, if he's Main eventing a dome show. Hashimoto getting made to look like a jabroni was a bummer and pissed off the fans big time in 1999. It still annoyed me in 2026.

Manabu Nakanishi vs Kazuyuki Fujita - **
Tatsumi Fujinami/Osamu Kido/Tadao Yasuda vs Kengo Kimura/Michiyoshi Ohara/Tatsutoshi Goto - * 1/4
Dr. Wagner Jr./Kendo Ka Shin vs Shinjiro Otani/Tatsuhito Takaiwa - *** 1/2
Jushin Liger vs Koji Kanemoto - ****
Kensuke Sasaki vs Atsushi Onita - ** 3/4
Yuji Nagata vs Dave Beneteau - DUD
Don Frye vs Brian Johnston - ** 1/4
Naoya Ogawa vs Shinya Hashimoto - * 1/2
TenKoji (Hiroyoshi Tenzan and Satoshi Kojima) vs Genichiro Tenryu/Shiro Koshinaka - *** 1/4
Keiji Muto vs Scott Norton - * 3/4
 
Takada is so much fun.

How do people rate Ogawa now? He's become someone i appreciate more now but I am really due for a revisit. Also Frye's a little underrated. Always felt he got it.
 
If Frye was a little younger, he would've been the top gaijin for decades. He got it immediately and he was crazy athletic for his size. Knew when to bump big too and his offense looked nasty as well.

Ogawa was hit and miss in the ring, but he has aura and feels like a big deal when he shows up.
 
Frye is what I wish Norton was, if that makes sense, and I like Norton. Frye just felt like a star in everything he did and with time could've become crazy versatile as a performer.

Semi related but I have never seen Kevin Randleman's pro wrestling stuff but I see praise here and there so I'm in.
 
Frye was really cool. Dr Wagner Jr was godly. I love Z1 Otani when he bulked up but I always thought junior Otani was something special.
 
Junior Otani is my favorite but that's because I always saw Junior Otani as a natural heel while Z1 Otani was more of a likable puro dad.
 
NJPW Wrestling World 2000 1/4/00 - Good show with the Ogawa/Hash tag being the highlight. Had way more intensity than their singles match the year prior, and Kazunari Murakami was a heat magnet back in the day. Great facial expressions too as he looked like he was possessed by the devil at times. Main event was a great old guy vs young ace match with Tenryu making Kensuke look like a beast. The only true stinker was the Macho Man/Rick Steiner match, but everything else is good, watchable, or really short like Kimo vs Fujita.

Shinjiro Otani/Tatsuhito Takaiwa vs Kendo Ka Shin/Minoru Tanaka - *** 1/2
Shiro Koshinaka vs Satoshi Kojima - ** 1/4
Hiroyoshi Tenzan vs "Wild Pegasus" Chris Benoit - ** 1/2
Jushin Liger vs Koji Kanemoto - ** (Don't let the score fool you, as this is more of a very energetic squash to establish Liger's new all black look, and get it over with the fans. Very effective short match.)
Manabu Nakanishi vs Kenzo Suzuki - *
Yuji Nagata vs Kazuo Yamazaki - * 3/4
Kimo vs Kazuyuki Fujita - DUD
Rick Steiner vs Macho Man Randy Savage - DUD
Shinya Hashimoto/Takashi Iizuka vs Naoya Ogawa/Kazunari Murakami - ****
Masahiro Chono vs Keiji Muto - *** 1/4
Don Frye vs Scott Norton - ** 1/2
Kensuke Sasaki vs Genichiro Tenryu - *** 3/4

NJPW Wrestling World 2001 1/4/01- Fuck yeah, KAWADA is HERE and he's pissed off. It was great to see the man and he delivered big time in both of his matches. I'm still not much of a Tenzan fan, but Kawada's selling was on point as usual, and made it a more compelling match than the usual Tenzan fare for me. This is one of the better paced dome shows to this point. The tournament gave it a sense of urgency and the ring work was inspired throughout.

Kensuke Sasaki vs Satoshi Kojima - ***
Hiroyoshi Tenzan vs Yuji Nagata - ** 1/4
Koji Kanemoto/Minoru Tanaka vs Shinya Makabe/Tatsuhito Takaiwa - ** 1/2
Takashi Iizuka vs Kendo Ka Shin - *
Kensuke Sasaki vs Masahiro Chono - ** 1/2
Toshiaki Kawada vs Hiroyoshi Tenzan - *** 1/4
Shinjiro Otani/Keiji Muto vs Jushin Liger/Manabu Nakanishi - ** (Similar to the Liger/Kanemoto match at 2000, more of an angle and a squash to get the new persona of Muto over, as well as get Heavyweight Otani established. Finish made Otani look like a killer and Muto was pretty much reignited immediately following his look change.)
Riki Choshu vs Shinya Hashimoto - *** (Finish hurt this for me, but it was their usual rocking slugfest before)
Kensuke Sasaki vs Toshiaki Kawada - ****

NJPW Wrestling World 2002 1/4/02 - Getting to the dregs of Inokism. This might be the most skippable and unimportant Dome show so far. Akiyama/Nagata is the best match, but still kind of felt stuck in first gear for most of it. Their match in NOAH was way better.

Masahito Kakihara/Masayuki Naruse vs Katsuyori Shibata/Wataru Inoue - * 3/4
El Samurai/Minoru Tanaka vs AKIRA/Koji Kanemoto - ** 1/2
Kazunari Murakami/Yuki Ishikawa vs Kings of The Hills (Hiroshi Tanahashi and Kenzo Suzuki) - ** 3/4
Jushin Liger/Great Sasuke/Tiger Mask IV vs Gedo/Jado/Dick Togo - ** 1/2
Manabu Nakanishi vs Giant Silva - 1/4*
Kendo Ka Shin vs Daijiro Matsui - Negative * (This or one more match coming up in a couple shows might be the low point of the Inokism bullshit at the Dome shows.)
Hiroshi Hase/Keiji Muto vs Osamu Nishimura/Tatsumi Fujinami - *** (Big Nishimura fan here so I dug this more than most people. Hase is perfect to pair against the grappling of Osamu and Fujinami.)
Kensuke Sasaki vs Naoya Ogawa - ** 1/2 (More of an angle, but fun while it lasts)
TenKoji (Hiroyoshi Tenzan and Satoshi Kojima) vs Giant Singh (GREAT KHALI IN THE HOUSE) and Masa Chono - * 1/4
Jun Akiyama vs Yuji Nagata - *** 1/4

NJPW Wrestling World 2003 1/4/03 - Another waste of a dome show with lots of MMA influence. Two damn Makai Club matches for example. The Young Generation cup was shit as well. The last two matches were good (But, not really Dome quality) as TK and Barnett are both really good in the ring. Barnett especially got it (Ringwise) right away, but did look a little lost with the character stuff. Rookie Nakamura going against Murakami was also really enjoyable. Even the Fujinami/Osamu grappling felt undercooked and rushed. And, the juniors division felt pretty tired at this point.

Osamu Nishimura vs Tatsumi Fujinami - ** 1/4
Young Generation Cup Semi Final: Yutaka Yoshie vs Shinya Makabe - 3/4*
Young Generation Cup Semi Final: Ryushi Yanagisawa vs Kenzo Suzuki - 1/2*
Dai Makai (Giant Silva) and Makai 1 (Super Strong Machine) vs Hiro Saito/Tatsutoshi Goto DUD
Makai 4 (Katsuyori Shibata) and Makai 5 (Mitsuya Nagai) vs Takashi Iizuka/Masahito Kakihara - * 1/4
Jushin Liger/Koji Kanemoto/Takehiro Murahama vs Heat/Masayuki Naruse/Tiger Mask IV - ** 1/2
Young Generation Cup Finals: Ryushi Yanagisawa vs Yutaka Yoshie - * 1/2
Shinsuke Nakamura/Michiyoshi Ohara vs Kazunari Murakami/Tadao Yasuda - ***
TenKoji vs Manabu Nakanishi/Masahiro Chono - ** 1/2
Yoshihiro Takayama vs Tsuyoshi Kohsaka - *** 1/4
Yuji Nagata vs Josh Barnett - *** 1/2
 
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NJPW Wrestling World 2004 1/4/04 - Second half of this show is some of the best NJPW action of the 2000's that I've seen, but the first half is a total slog with lots of unimportant filler matches. Honestly, you can start watching the show with the Gedo/Jado match and not miss anything with the previous six matches. Having 15 matches alltogether makes this feel like a early Wrestlemania. Nagata/Sasaki is one of the bloodiest matches I've ever seen, and it's kind of crazy that it's rarely if not ever mentioned as a great match. Probably a career best of either men (Or at least on par with the Kobashi and first Kawada matches for Kensuke) and it was a war. The finish is kind of weak, but everything else is a master class in hate. Main event is also great, and I'm really loving early Nakamura so far on this watch through. Maybe he deserves the WON HOF spot after all. I'm digging him slightly more than Tana so far (I'm almost finished with the 2012 show).

Hirooki Goto vs Naofumi Yamamoto - * 1/2
Katsushi Takemura vs El Samurai - * 3/4
Makai Club (Super Strong Machine/Mitsuya Nagai/Ryota Chikuzen/Ryushi Yanagisawa) vs Crazy Dogs (Enson Inoue/Hiro Saito/Michiyoshi Ohara/Tatsutoshi Goto) - **
Shinya Makabe/Toru Yano vs Blue Wolf/Wataru Inoue - * 1/4
Masayuki Naruse vs Tadao Yasuda - DUD
Ryusuke Taguchi vs Akira Anzawa - * 1/2
Gedo & Jado vs Tiger Mask IV/Heat - ** 1/2
Jushin Liger vs Takashi Suguira - ***
Hiroshi Tanahashi vs Yutaka Yoshie - *** 1/2
Josh Barnett/Takashi Iizuka vs Kazunari Murakami/Katsuyori Shibata - *** 1/4
Osamu Nishimura vs Minoru Suzuki - ***
Manabu Nakanishi vs Genichiro Tenryu - *** 1/2
Yuji Nagata vs Kensuke Sasaki - **** 1/2
Bob Sapp/Keiji Muto vs Masahiro Chono/Hiroyoshi Tenzan - **
Shinsuke Nakamura vs Yoshihiro Takayama - ****

Wrestling World 2005 1/4/05 - Probably most well known for the first 1/4 Tana/Nak match, and infamously the Ultimate Royal Match. Ultimate Royal was god awful and pissed me off. Made Nagata look like a scrub for freaking Ron Waterman, wtf. Show is pretty solid outside of it, but feels way smaller than last year's show, aside from the main event which is historic now. On the plus side, I really thought Kojima and Osamu had fantastic chemistry, and had a very good match. Nak/Tana was really good for where they were, but they'll have better matches.

Gedo & Jado vs Wataru Inoue/Katsushi Takemura - ** 1/4
Jushin Liger vs Koji Kanemoto - *** 1/4
Tiger Mask IV vs Heat - *** 1/4
Amateur Wrestling Exhibition Match: Yuji Nagata vs Katsuhiko Nagata - No Rating because it's a grappling exhibition
Minoru Suzuki vs Takashi Iizuka - ** 1/2
Satoshi Kojima vs Osamu Nishimura - *** 1/2
8 Man Ultimate Royal Match with (Yuji Nagata, Ron Waterman, Blue Wolf, Dolgorsuren Sumyaabazar, Manabu Nakanishi, Toru Yano, Masayuki Naruse, Mitsuya Nagai) - Negative **
Three Way Dogfight: Masahiro Chono vs Hiroyoshi Tenzan vs Riki Choshu - **
Shinsuke Nakamura vs Hiroshi Tanahashi - *** 3/4

NJPW Toukon Shidou 2006 1/4/06 - Kind of a meh show with a very disappointing main event. Brock was checked out, and it's the worst Nakamura 1/4 match I've seen so far. Not awful, but way below what you'd hope for with those two. Tana/Shibata was killer otoh though. Opener kind of surprised me too with Yoshi Tatsu being really good, and much better than like Kenzo Suzuki or other young lions from the 00's. He was very much a diet version of Shibata at this point.

Ryouji Sai vs Naofumi Yamamoto - ***
Bad Boy Hido/Kintaro Kanemura/Masato Tanaka vs Gedo/Jado/Jushin Liger - ** 3/4
Minoru Tanaka/Tiger Mask IV vs Tatsuhito Takiawa/Tomohiro Ishii - ** 1/4 (Ishii with hair is frightening)
Riki Choshu/Deisuke Sekimoto/Kamikaze/Kohei Sato/Takashi Uwano/Yoshihito Sasaki vs Tatsumi Fujinami/Toru Yano/Hirooki Goto/Osamu Nishimura/Takashi Iizuka/Hiroshi Nagao - **
Akebono/Yutaka Yoshie vs Super Strong Machine/Hiro Saito - * 1/4 (Akebono may of gassed harder than anyone I've seen in a wrestling match)
Yuji Nagata vs Kazunari Murakami - *** 3/4
Shinjiro Otani vs Koji Kanemoto - ***
Katsuyori Shibata vs Hiroshi Tanahashi - **** 1/4
Giant Bernard vs Manabu Nakanishi - 3/4* (Oof, both these guys need someone to lead them to a good match, and this went like 10 minutes and was so boring)
Hiroyoshi Tenzan/Masahiro Chono vs Shiro Koshinaka/Takao Omori - ** 1/4
Brock Lesnar vs Shinsuke Nakamura - ** 1/2
 
WRESTLE KINGDOM BEGINS and we see the start of the TNA/NJPW relationship in these next few shows.

Wrestle Kingdom I In Tokyo Dome 1/4/2007 - First half is pretty much all filler, and the main event isn't my thing, but the rest of the card is quite good. We got Kawada again against Nak and they didn't put on a classic, but it was still damn good. I'm reminded of how much I liked Taiyo Kea and his moveset is still fantastic and dynamic. He had a great showing against Tana. And Nagata and MiSu always bring the goods against each other. I think this might be one of the earliest Nagata eyerolls too cause the crowd loses their mind. Muto/Chono vs TenKoji never got out of first gear for me, and everyone except Kojima seemed a little lazy at times.

El Samurai/Masa Fuchi/Ryusuke Taguchi vs Akira Raijin/Nobutaka Araya/Kikutaro - * (I loved Ebessan as a kid and maybe this wasn't his best comedy showing, but I was stone faced the entire time here. Maybe because it was the first match and the building wasn't full yet.)
Gedo & Jado vs MAZADA/NOSAWA - * 3/4
Togi Makabe/Tomohiro Ishii/Toru Yano vs Bull Buchanan/Dlo Brown/Tomko - **
Giant Bernard/RO'Z/Suwama/TARU vs Riki Choshu/Manabu Nakanishi/Takashi Iizuka/Naofumi Yamamoto - * 1/2
Kaz Hayashi/Koji Kanemoto/Taka Michinoku/Tiger Mask IV/Wataru Inoue vs Jushin Liger/Minoru/Milano Collection AT/Shuji Kondo/Brother YASSHI - ***
Toshiaki Kawada vs Shinsuke Nakamura - *** 1/2
Yuji Nagata vs Minoru Suzuki - *** 3/4
Hiroshi Tanahashi vs Taiyo Kea - ****
Keiji Muto/Masahiro Chono vs TenKoji - ** 1/4

Wrestle Kingdom II 1/4/2008 - Completely missable show except for the last two matches. Muto/Goto pissed me off in 2008 and still annoyed me 18 years later lol. I was calling TNA era Angle overrated last week, but he was terrific in the Nagata match. Wrestled a more psychological approach and Nagata's style matched with his perfectly. Which isn't a shock considering how many Benoit moves Nagata uses. Main event was great as well. They delivered kind of a precusor to the NJPW style to come, and brought so much more than their 2005 match. Undercard is kind of baffling. Can't believe they have AJ and Liger in random multi matches. A singles match with the two is right there.

AJ Styles/Christian Cage/Petey Williams vs Milano Collection AT/Minoru Tanaka/Prince Devitt - ** 3/4
Christopher Daniels vs Wataru Inoue - ***
Manabu Nakanishi vs Abyss - * 1/2
Masato Tanaka/Tatsuhito Takaiwa/Yutaka Yoshie/Katsushi Takemura vs Koji Kanemoto/Ryusuke Taguchi/Tiger Mask IV/Takashi Iizuka - **
Hardcore Match: Team 3D vs Togi Makabe/Toru Yano - * 3/4
Legend (AKIRA/Masahiro Chono/Riki Choshu/Jushin Liger/Tatsumi Fujinami) vs Gedo/Jado/Shuji Kondo/TARU/Brother YASSHI - * 1/2
The Great Muta vs Hirooki Goto - ** 1/4
Giant Bernard/Travis Tomko vs The Steiner Brothers - * 1/4
Kurt Angle vs Yuji Nagata - ****
Shinsuke Nakamura vs Hiroshi Tanahashi - **** 1/4

Wrestle Kingdom III - 1/4/2009 - First of the WK era to properly feel like a Wrestlemania type of show the entire way through. Main event is polarizing. I like aspects of it, but it's just too long and repetitive. If I never see a dropkick to the knee, shining wizard, or dragon screw legwhip again, I am fine. It still felt like a massive passing of the torch match and Tana needed it to really cement him. Rest of the show is excellent. Nagata/Masato was a freaking war. Kind of bittersweet to see Misawa months before his death though, but Akiyama is also here and gets a good match out of Nakanishi. You also get NASHJPW. I'm curious if Nash and Misawa met each other lol.

Mistico/Prince Devitt/Ryusuke Taguchi vs Averno/Gedo/Jado - ***
Jushin Liger/Takuma Sano vs Wataru Inoue/Koji Kanemoto - ** 1/2
Motor City Machine Guns vs Team No Limit (Tetsuya Naito and Yujiro Takahashi) - *** 1/4
Tiger Mask IV vs Low-Ki - ***
Masahhiro Chono/Riki Choshu/Kurt Angle/Kevin Nash vs Giant Bernard/Karl Anderson/Tomohiro Ishii/Takashi Iizuka - * 3/4
Yuji Nagata vs Masato Tanaka - **** 1/4
Jun Akiyama vs Manabu Nakanishi - *** 1/2
Hardcore Match: Team 3D vs Togi Makabe/Toru Yano - **
Hirooki Goto/Shinsuke Nakamura vs Mitsuharu Misawa/Takashi Suguira - *** 1/4
Hiroshi Tanahashi vs Keiji Muto - ***

Wrestle Kingdom IV - 1/4/2010 - Typical show of the era with the first half mostly being multi-mans and fillers, and then the show is saved by the second half. Last four matches are all good to great and worth seeing. Wasting Masato, Tajiri, and Nagata in a Akebono match is kind of criminal though.

Jushin Liger/Koji Kanemoto/Kazuchika Okada vs Super Strong Machine/Wataru Inoue/Mitsuhide Hirasawa - * 1/4
Apollo 55 (Prince Devitt/Ryusuke Taguchi) vs Averno & Ultimo Guerrero - ** 3/4
Team No Limit vs Team 3D vs Bad Intentions (Giant Bernard/Karl Anderson) - ** 1/4
Masato Tanaka/Tajiri vs Yuji Nagata/Akebono - ** 1/4
Terry Funk/Masahiro Chono/Manabu Nakanishi/Riki Choshu vs Abdullah The Butcher/Tomohiro Ishii/Toru Yano/Takashi Iizuka - * 1/2
Togi Makabe vs Mohammed Yone - * 3/4
Naomichi Marufuji vs Tiger Mask IV - *** 1/2
Hiroshi Tanahashi vs Go Shiozaki - ****
Hirooki Goto vs Takashi Suguira - ****
Shinsuke Nakamura vs Yoshihiro Takayama - *** 1/2
 
I legit thought Kea would be a big star in the US back in the day. Like he'd be what Joe was.
 
Wasn't one of those Team 3D matches the one with the hilarious WASSUP Drop botch where DVon comes up short and flops across the ring into the headbutt?
 
Yeah that happened. I also have the infamous Jeff Hardy vs Naito match coming up too where Jeff's phone falls out of his pocket and he discards it quick. Bless you TNA
 
Wrestle Kingdom V 1/4/2011 - Very long show with some solid matches towards the end stretch. Devitt and Ibushi throw everything at each other and Nak/Go is a great dream match for that time. Tana vs Kojima was a slight letdown and they didn't really get out of second gear for me. The show is infamous of the dissolution of the TNA/NJPW relationship because Jeff Hardy shows up in his match against Naito in no condition to perform, and as I mentioned, even loses his cell phone during the match. RVD otoh has a much funner match than I was expecting with Yano, but Hardy was just not there. I think him and Naito is a weird styles matchup regardless.

Tama Tonga/Tiger Mask IV/Tomoaki Honma/Wataru Inoue vs Gedo/Jado/Yujiro Takahashi/Tomohiro Ishii - **
Koji Kanemoto/Ryusuke Taguchi vs Kenny Omega/Taichi - * 3/4
Bad Intentions (Giant Bernard/Karl Anderson) vs Manabu Nakanishi/Strong Man vs Beer Money Inc - ** 1/4
La Sombra/Mascara Dorada vs Jushin Liger/Hector Garza - ** 1/2
Hiroyoshi Tenzan vs Takashi Iizuka - * 1/4
Rob Van Dam vs Toru Yano - ** 1/4
Yuji Nagata vs Minoru Suzuki - *** 1/2
Prince Devitt vs Kota Ibushi - ****
Takashi Suguira/Yoshihiro Takayama vs Hirooki Goto/Kazuchika Okada - ** 1/2
Jeff Hardy vs Tetsuya Naito - 1/2*
Shinsuke Nakamura vs Go Shiozaki - ****
Masato Tanaka vs Togi Makabe - *** 1/4
Hiroshi Tanahashi vs Satoshi Kojima - *** 1/2

Wrestle Kingdom VI 1/4/2012 - One match show with an excellent main event. 2012-2013 is the period to me when NJPW really starts to take off again, so it's odd that this is such a muted card for the most part. Lots of filler. Other than the last two matches with Tana/MiSu and Muta wrestling, there is a big feel lacking. Tana/MiSu have an amazing match and somehow top it with the rematch in October of that year. Show might be most well known for the start of Okada's Rainmaker character and push. He has an awful haircut and looked like a goober when he tried to punk Tana out at the end, but they course correct and he gets a good haircut soon. I'm not enjoying this Togi Makabe push either. Great charisma and I get why he's over, but his strikes look pillow soft for a brawler, and his moveset sucks imo.

Captain New Japan/Tama Tonga vs Kyosuke Mikami/Tomoaki Honma - * 1/4
Apollo 55 (Prince Devitt/Ryusuke Taguchi) vs No Remorse Corps (Davey Richards/Rocky Romero) - *** 1/4
Jushin Liger/Kushida/Mascara Dorada/Tiger Mask IV vs Taka Michinoku/Taichi/Atlantis/Valiente - * 3/4
Kazuchika Okada vs Yoshi-Hashi - * 1/2
Stack Of Arms (Masa Funaki/Masayuki Kono) vs Yuji Nagata/Wataru Inoue - * 3/4
MVP/Shelton Benjamin vs Masato Tanaka/Yujiro Takahashi - **
TenKoji vs Bad Intentions - ** 1/4
Hirooki Goto vs Takashi Suguira - ***
Go Shiozaki/Naomichi Marufuji vs Shinsuke Nakamura/Toru Yano - ** 3/4
Togi Makabe vs Yoshihiro Takayama - ** 1/2
Keiji Muto vs Tetsuya Naito - ***
Hiroshi Tanahashi vs Minoru Suzuki - **** 1/4

Wrestle Kingdom VII 1/4/2013 - Now we are cooking with the first Tana vs Okada WK main event. Nak and Saku both give there all in the semi main as well. NJPW really takes off and dominated the rest of the decade at this point. Very good show, and you can really feel their momentum here.

Captain New Japan/Tama Tonga/Wataru Inoue vs Jado/Yoshi-Hashi/Tomohiro Ishii - * 1/4
Bushi/Kushida/Ryusuke Taguchi vs Jushin Liger/Tiger Mask IV/Hiromu Takahashi - ** 1/4
Manabu Nakanishi/Strong Man/Akebono/MVP vs Takashi Iizuka/Toru Yano/Bob Sapp/Yujiro Takahashi - * 1/2
Killer Elite Squad (Davey Boy Smith Jr/Lance Archer) vs Hirooki Goto/Karl Anderson - ** 1/2
Masato Tanaka vs Shelton Benjamin - **
Yuji Nagata vs Minoru Suzuki - *** 3/4
Prince Devitt vs Kota Ibushi vs Low-Ki - *** 1/2
TenKoji vs Keiji Muto/Shinjiro Otani - ** 1/4
Togi Makabe vs Katsuyori Shibata - *** 1/4
Shinsuke Nakamura vs Kazushi Sakuraba - **** 1/4
Hiroshi Tanahashi vs Kazuchika Okada - **** 1/2

Wrestle Kingdom VIII 1/4/2014 - Now, we are firmly in the stacked show like a Wrestlemania era. This show reminds me of Wrestlemania 19 with more of a filler first half with lots of tags and multimans, then 4 main event level matches to end it. Even Makabe/Fale was better than I was expecting. The Gracie match was godawful though, and felt like it would be on an Inokism 2000's dome show. The next 3 or 4 WK's after this are absolute classics, but this still is a pretty fantastic show if you ignore Rob Conway and The Gracies.

Bushi/Captain New Japan/Hiroyoshi Tenzan/Tomoaki Honma vs Jushin Liger/Manabu Nakanashi/Super Strong Machine/Yohei Komatsu - * 3/4
Young Bucks vs Forever Hooligans (Rocky Romero/Alex Kozlov) vs Taka Michinou/Taichi vs Timesplitters (Alex Shelley/Kushida) - ** 1/4
Doc Gallows/Karl Anderson vs Killer Elite Squad - **
Satoshi Kojima vs Rob Conway - * 1/4
Kazushi Sakuraba/Yuji Nagata vs Daniel and Rolles Gracie - DUD
Great Muta/Toru Yano vs Minoru Suzuki/Shelton Benjamin - ** 1/4
Togi Makabe vs Bad Luck Fale - ** 3/4
Hirooki Goto vs Katsuyori Shibata - ****
Kota Ibushi vs Prince Devitt - *** 1/2
Kazuchika Okada vs Tetsuya Naito - **** 1/4
Hiroshi Tanahashi vs Shinsuke Nakamura - **** 1/2
 
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His spider suplex was cool. Makabe was for sure more about charisma and seeing a guy who had been in the midcard sort of come out of nowhere and catch on.

Shibata/Sakuraba coming in was such a huge thing. Sakuraba didn't last long but the impact was giant.
 
Now we are into shows with some of the greatest wrestling matches of at least the last 25 years. NJPW is deep into their boom. They were able to replace some big stars eventually too with Naito taking over for Nakamura, Omega for Styles, Sabre Jr for Shibata, and so on. This run is legendary, and I hope they can eventually get back on track.

Wrestle Kingdom IX 1/4/2015 - Incredible show that is consistently good. Even the not great stuff is pretty short. The last two matches are fabulous with Ibushi/Nak slightly edging out Tana/Okada since imo they have an even better match the next year. I will say the Bucks are so much better now than in in the 2010's. They were just too damn much. The one taunt where Matt yells "SUCK ITTTTTT" in a whiny high pitch voice was the worst and I'm glad they ditched that one lmao. Also, I was expecting not to like Toru Yano because I just don't find a lot of comedic wrestling funny, but he's very entertaining.

New Japan Rumble with (Yuji Nagata, Captain New Japan, El Desperado, Hiro Saito, Jushin Liger, Manabu Nakanishi, Sho Tanaka, Taichi, Taka Michinoku, Tama Tonga, The Great Kabuki, Tiger Mask IV, Yohei Komatsu, Yoshi Hashi, and Yoshiaki Fujiwara) - **
ReDragon (Kyle O'Reilly/Bobby Fish) vs Forever Hooligans vs The Young Bucks vs The Timesplitters - ***
TenKoji/Tomoaki Honma vs Bad Luck Fale/Yujiro Takahashi/Jeff Jarrett - * 1/4
TMDK (Mikey Nicholls/Shane Haste)/Naomichi Marufuji/Toru Yano vs Killer Elite Squad/Shelton Benjamin/Takashi Iizuka - * 1/2
UWFI Rules Match: Kazushi Sakuraba vs Minoru Suzuki - *** 1/2
Togi Makabe vs Tomohiro Ishii - *** 3/4
Kenny Omega vs Ryusuke Taguchi - *** 1/4
Hirooki Goto/Katsuyori Shibata vs Gallows and Anderson - ** 3/4
AJ Styles vs Tetsuya Naito - *** 3/4
Shinsuke Nakamura vs Kota Ibushi - *****
Hiroshi Tanahashi vs Kazuchika Okada - **** 3/4

Wrestle Kingdom X 1/4/2016 - This show has gotten best wrestling show ever hype and with good reason. Lots of great variety all over and some huge matches to close. Okada/Tana is a masterpiece imo. Just a perfect changing of the guard match with Okada finally conquering Tana at the Dome. AJ/Nak is a classic as well and they just go balls to the wall the entire way. Speaking of my dislike of comedy, man Cheeseburger stunk. That's meme stuff I just don't get, but he was really popular with the crowd and announcers in the mid 2010's. Also, we are pretty deep in Honmamania when he was arguably the most over guy in the promotion. He was really fun and made Makabe tolerable for me. And Naito is officially Tranquillo.

New Japan Rumble with (Jado, Captain New Japan, Cheeseburger, Hiro Saito, Hiroyoshi Tenzan, Jushin Liger, Kazushi Sakuraba, King Haku, Manabu Nakanishi, Mascara Dorada, Ryusuke Taguchi, Satoshi Kojima, Shiro Koshinaka, The Great Kabuki, Tiger Mask IV, Yoshi-Hashi, Yuji Nagata, Yoshiaki Fujiwara) - ** 1/4
The Young Bucks vs Re-Dragon vs Roppongi Vice vs Matt Sydal/Ricochet - *** 1/4
The Briscoe Brothers/Toru Yano vs Bad Luck Fale/Tama Tonga/Yujiro Takahashi - ** 1/2
Jay Lethal vs Michael Elgin - ** 1/2
KUSHIDA vs Kenny Omega - *** 1/2
Togi Makabe/Tomoaki Honma vs Gallows and Anderson - ***
Tetsuya Naito vs Hirooki Goto - *** 1/2
Katsuyori Shibata vs Tomohiro Ishii - **** 1/4
Shinsuke Nakamura vs AJ Styles - **** 3/4
Kazuchika Okada vs Hiroshi Tanahashi - *****

Wrestle Kingdom XI 1/4/2017 - This show is right with the year before as one of the greatest wrestling shows ever imo. The main event is incredible and reminds me of Kobashi/Misawa on crack. I can see why Meltz broke his scale for it, but I stay with 5 stars. I almost went 5 plus, but I thought they did start dragging it out a tad after the 40 minute mark. Hiromu/Kushida, Goto/Shibata and Tana/Naito are awesome as well. It's crazy that Cody, Hangman, and Ospreay are all here before they really blow up. What a show.

New Japan Rumble with (Michael Elgin, Bone Soldier, Billy Gunn, Cheeseburger, Hiro Saito,Hiroyoshi Tenzan, Jushin Liger, Kuniaki Kobayashi, Manabu Nakanishi, Ryusuke Taguchi, Scott Norton, Tiger Mask IV, Yoshitatsu, Yuji Nagata) - **
Tiger Mask W (Kota Ibushi) vs Tiger Mask Dark (ACH) - ** 1/4
Roppongi Vice vs The Young Bucks - ***
Six Man Tag Team Gauntlet with (Bushi/Evil/Sanada, David Finlay/Ricochet/Satoshi Kojima, Jado/Will Ospreay/Yoshi-Hashi, Bad Luck Fale/Hangman Page/Yujiro Takahashi) - ** 3/4
Cody Rhodes vs Juice Robinson - ** 1/2
Adam Cole vs Kyle O'Reilly - *** 1/4
Tomohiro Ishii/Toru Yano vs Guerillas Of Destiny vs Togi Makabe/Tomoaki Honma - ***
Hiromu Takahashi vs KUSHIDA - **** 1/4
Hirooki Goto vs Katsuyori Shibata - **** 1/2
Tetsuya Naito vs Hiroshi Tanahashi - **** 1/2
Kazuchika Okada vs Kenny Omega - *****
 
The quality continues and the thankfully brief 2 show Wrestle Kingdom era begins. These are all incredible shows, not much else to say really.

Wrestle Kingdom 12 1/4/2018 - Hugely important show and Jericho/Omega is probably one of the most influential and important wrestling matches of this century at this point. Main event of Okada/Naito is pretty great too, but not as good as their next WK main. Jay White's ascent begins here and imo it took him til he got the beard for me to buy him as a threat. Quality is consistently good throughout the show. Even the dull Killer Elite Squad stuff was pretty short and inoffensive. The worst part of the show was probably this damned Cheeseburger push, but that was in the New Japan Rumble on the preshow. Bummer to see Nagata apart of these old timer/jabroni undercard Rumble matches when he's still a really good worker and could contribute. Same with Kojima and Liger. But, that's not the way they do things.

New Japan Rumble with (Masahito Kakihara, BUSHI, Chase Owens, Cheeseburger, David Finlay, Delirious, El Desperado, Gino Gambino, Hiroyoshi Tenzan, Jushin Liger, Katsuya Kitamura, Leo Tonga, Manabu Nakanishi, Satoshi Kojima, Taka Michinoku, Tiger Mask IV, Toa Henare, Yoshi-Hashi, Yoshinobu Kanemaru, Yuji Nagata, Yujiro Takahashi) - * 1/2
The Young Bucks vs Roppongi 3K (SHO and YOH) - *** 1/2
Six Man Tag Team Gauntlet with Zach Sabre Jr./Taichi/Takashi Iizuka, War Machine/Michael Elgin, Guerillas Of Destiny/Bad Luck Fale, Juice Robinson/Ryusuke Taguchi/Togi Makabe, Trent Beretta/Tomohiro Ishii/Togi Makabe - ***
Kota Ibushi vs Cody Rhodes - *** 3/4
EVIL/Sanada vs Killer Elite Squad - ** 1/2
Death Match: Hirooki Goto vs Minoru Suzuki - ****
Will Ospreay vs Marty Scrull vs Hiromu Takahashi vs Kushida - ****
Hiroshi Tanahashi vs Jay White - *** 1/4
No DQ Match: Kenny Omega vs Chris Jericho - **** 1/2
Kazuchika Okada vs Tetsuya Naito - **** 1/4

Wrestle Kingdom 13 - 1/4/2019 - Undercard had a few underwhelming matches like Juice/Cody and the two triple threat tags, but the big matches all deliver big time. Main event might be my favorite Tanahashi performance so far as I continue to go through NJPW. Naito/Jericho deliver a really entertaining brawl. Jericho looked better in the ring than the year prior, but the Omega match was slightly better. Ospreay/Ibushi was nuts. Jay White/Okada was good, but White still isn't there yet. I'm sure they're other matches will be great. Sabre/Ishii was intense as fuck and I thought had an awesome pace

Six Man Tag Team Gauntlet with Ryusuke Taguchi/Togi Makabe/Toru Yano, Bullet Club (Hangman Page/Marty Scrull/Yujiro Takahashi), Best Friends/Hirooki Goto, Killer Elite Squad/Minoru Suzuki, David Finlay/Jeff Cobb/Yuji Nagata) - ***
Will Ospreay vs Kota Ibushi - **** 1/2
BUSHI/Shingo Takagi vs Roppongi 3K vs El Desperado/Yoshinobu Kanemaru - ** 1/4
Zack Sabre Jr vs Tomohiro Ishii - **** 1/4
EVIL/Sanada vs Guerillas Of Destiny vs The Young Bucks - ** 3/4
Juice Robinson vs Cody Rhodes - ** 1/2
Taiji Ishimori vs Kushida - *** 1/4
Jay White vs Kazuchika Okada - *** 3/4
No DQ Match: Tetsuya Naito vs Chris Jericho - **** 1/2
Hiroshi Tanahashi vs Kenny Omega - *****

Wrestle Kingdom 14: Night One 1/4/2020 - Kind of a nondescript show until the last 3 matches delivered big time. The legends match was fun though. Okada/Ibushi was crazy and I can see why all these classic NJPW matches made Meltzer change his ratings scale. Jay White had a fantastic heel performance against Naito as well.

Clark Connors/Alex Coughlin/Karl Fredericks/Toa Henare vs Togi Makabe/Tomoaki Honma/Yota Tsuji/Yuya Uemura - * 3/4
TenKoji vs Manabu Nakanishi/Yuji Nagata - * 1/2
Naoki Sano/Ryusuke Taguchi/Shinjiro Otani/Tatsuhito Takaiwa vs Jushin Liger/Tiger Mask IV/Great Sasuke/Tatsumi Fujinami - ***
Suzuki-gun (Minoru Suzuki/Zach Sabre Jr/Taichi/El Desperado) vs BUSHI/EVIL/Sanada/Shingo Takagi - ** 1/2
Hirooki Goto/Tomohiro Ishii/Toru Yano/Yoshi-Hashi vs Bullet Club (Bad Luck Fale/Chase Owens/KENTA/Yujiro Takahashi) - * 3/4
FinJuice (David Finlay/Juice Robinson) vs The Guerillas Of Destiny - ** 3/4
Texas Death Match: Jon Moxley vs Lance Archer - *** 1/4
Will Ospreay vs Hiromu Takahashi - **** 1/2
Jay White vs Tetsuya Naito - **** 1/2
Kazuchika Okada vs Kota Ibushi - *****

Wrestle Kingdom 14: Night Two 1/5/2020 - Pretty much a great show from top to bottom. I much prefer these Six Man tag gauntlets to get everyone on the preshow over the Rumbles. Every match was good. The Liger match was a blast, and Naoki Sano got into great shape and did a good job keeping up. Liger was Liger, and had a flawless performance in his final match ever. Sabre/Sanada has some of the smoothest chain wrestling you'll ever see. KENTA was amazing as the dickhead heel against Goto. Meltz didn't seem to dig Ibushi/White, but I thought it was very good, although maybe a tad too long. Both guys were a little beat up from their matches the previous night, but it was still really good. With White again bringing a great legit heel performance. He's not trying to be cool or funny or cutesy, just cheating and being a dick. Jericho/Tana was a dream match that delivered. Jericho in NJPW was huge for them imo. Naito vs Okada was amazing, but just slightly below Ibushi/Okada the night before or some of the other recent WK matches I rated 5 stars.

Six Man Tag Team Gauntlet with Tomohiro Ishii/Yoshi-Hashi/Robbie Eagles, Bullet Club (Bad Luck Fale/Chase Owens/Yujiro Takahashi), Suzukigun (El Desperado/Yoshinobu Kanemaru/Taichi), Ryusuke Taguchi/Togi Makabe/Toru Yano, BUSHI/EVIL/Shingo Takagi - ** 1/2
Hiromu Takahashi/Dragon Lee vs Jushin Liger/Naoki Sano - *** 1/2
Roppongi 3K vs El Phantasmo/Taiji Ishimori - *** 1/2
Zack Sabre Jr. vs Sanada - ****
Jon Moxley vs Juice Robinson - *** 1/4
Hirooki Goto vs KENTA - *** 3/4
Jay White vs Kota Ibushi - *** 3/4
Chris Jericho vs Hiroshi Tanahashi - **** 1/4
Tetsuya Naito vs Kazuchika Okada - **** 3/4
 
Finishing off the two night shows.

Wrestle Kingdom 15: Night One 1/4/2021- Last two matches are incredible. Okada/Ospreay is incredible. It's hard for me to choose between their two WK matches. They are both close to flawless to me. Just two guys fully clicking and nailing intricate sequences and having an epic atmosphere. Ibushi beating Naito to win the big one is also excellent. Slightly behind Okada/BillyGoat, but Ibushi getting the big moment to close Night One was awesome. Rest of the show is good to watchable. The Rumble is still mostly boring and this one had a lot of filler. The Rumbles have not been as fun since Great Kabuki stopped appearing. Tana tried his ass off, but O-Khan wasn't very good at this point. Hiromu/El P is a really good opener with some crazy spots.

New Japan Rumble with (Bad Luck Fale, Chase Owens, Toru Yano, BUSHI, DOUKI, Gabe Kidd, Hirooki Goto, Hiroyoshi Tenzan, Minoru Suzuki, Rocky Romero, SHO, Tiger Mask IV, Toa Henare, Togi Makabe, Tomoaki Honma, Tomohiro Ishii, Yoshi Hashi, Yota Tsuji, Yuji Nagata, Yujiro Takahashi, and Yuya Uemura) - * 1/2
Hiromu Takahashi vs El Phantasmo - *** 3/4
Guerillas Of Destiny vs Dangerous Tekkers (Zack Sabre Jr./Taichi) - ** 1/4
KENTA vs Satoshi Kojima - *** 1/4
Hiroshi Tanahashi vs Great O-Khan - ** 3/4
Kazuchika Okada vs Will Ospreay - *****
Kota Ibushi vs Tetsuya Naito - **** 3/4

Wrestle Kingdom 15: Night Two 1/5/2021 - Great show with every match getting time for better or worse. Opener stunk though. Fale and Chase Owens are awful. Fale was really out of shape around this time too and had a horrible look. I had fun with him at times in the 2010's, but he was so washed here. White/Ibushi was terrific. Best Jay White performance I've seen yet. He' puts on another heeling masterclass here and Ibushi is an incredible babyface. Great stuff. Jeff Cobb and Shingo put on a banger as well. Truly had to be a big surprise. They got time and put on a great 20 minute match. Sanada vs EVIL dragged a little though. Way too long. Sanada is kind of dry in the ring imo. He's technically and fundamentally great and does some cool shit, but I don't really find him compelling so far. Evil is Evil at this point. I was a fan when he debuted and he legit does a great sharpshooter, but he fell off bad.

Toru Yano vs Bad Luck Fale vs Chase Owens vs BUSHI - * 1/4
El Desperado/Yoshinobu Kanemaru vs Ryusuke Taguchi/Master Wato - ***
Shingo Takagi vs Jeff Cobb - **** 1/2
Sanada vs EVIL - ** 1/2
Hiromu Takahashi vs Taiji Ishimori - **** 1/4
Kota Ibushi vs Jay White - *****

Wrestle Kingdom 16: Night One 1/4/2022 - Maybe the weakest card since the early years of the Wrestle Kingdom era. Just didn't feel like a big show. Still had some good stuff. Okada/Shingo was way too long to reach classic status, but they had a great 20 minute match stretched to 35 minutes. They did some nifty stuff and it was the best of the show, but still was the weakest WK main event since 2011 or so. Despy/Hiromu was a really good juniors match. I like Desperado and he does a lot of gritty heel stuff. Evil/Ishii was sad and a huge waste of Ishii again. I haven't seen much of the House of Torture bullshit so far, but if every match is like this, it's going to be excruciating to watch. Evil showed his talent level when he had one of the worst Ishii matches I've seen since his renaissance in the early 2010's. The Rumble was enjoyable this time around and had a much better lineup. YOH/SHO should've been great, but didn't get out of first gear. And, also House Of Torture bullshit hampered it. One highlight was Shibata vs Ren Narita though. That was a blast. Weird use of a lot guys on this show too. So many big stars are in filler matches.

New Japan Rumble with (Chase Owens, CIMA, Minoru Suzuki, Toru Yano, Aaron Henare, Bad Luck Fale, DOUKI, Hiroyoshi Tenzan, Kosei Fujita, Master Wato, Ryohei Oiwa, Satoshi Kojima, Taka Michinoku, Tatsumi Fujinami, Togi Makabe, Tomoaki Honma, Yoshinobu Kanemaru, Yuji Nagata, and Yuto Nakashima) - ** 1/2
SHO vs YOH - ** 1/4
El Phantasmo/Taiji Ishimori/KENTA vs Hiroshi Tanahashi/Rocky Romero/Ryusuke Taguchi - **
United Empire (Great O-Khan/Will Ospreay/Jeff Cobb) vs Tetsuya Naito/BUSHI/Sanada - ** 1/4
Katsuyori Shibata vs Ren Narita - *** 1/2
Evil vs Tomohiro Ishii - *
Hirooki Goto/Yoshi-Hashi vs Dangerous Tekkers - *** 1/4
El Desperado vs Hiromu Takahashi - ****
Kazuchika Okada vs Shingo Takagi - **** 1/4

Wrestle Kingdom 16 Night Two 1/5/2022 - Now this is more like it. Okada/Ospreay almost got a 5 plus and it's somehow better than their first WK match. Tana/KENTA was crazy. I can't believe two guys in their 40's with their injury history went so damn hard. This took off a few years of Tanahashi's final years. The spots were insane and the weapons added so much since they rarely use some of these weapons in NJPW. Only thing that docked it was the long ladder setup spot and lack of familiarity with both guys using ladders and tables. There were some dead time, but I still enjoyed it a bunch. Naito/Cobb took a minute to get going, but they had a good finishing stretch and solid match. Only stinkers were the first preshow match and the House of Torture match.

So much better than the first night, but I'm glad they went back to one night the next year.

Togi Makabe/Tomoaki Honma/Yuji Nagata vs Bad Luck Fale/Gedo/Jado - *
TenKoji/Master Wato vs Taka Michinoku/El Desperado/Yoshinobu Kanemaru - ** 1/2
Shingo Takagi/Hiromu Takahashi/BUSHI vs Zack Sabre Jr./Taichi/DOUKI - ***
Robbie Eagles/Tiger Mask IV vs Taiji Ishimori/El Phantasmo vs Rocky Romero/Ryusuke Taguchi - ** 3/4
Saya Kamitani/Tam Nakano vs Starlight Kid/Mayu Iwatani - *** 1/4
Minoru Suzuki vs Chase Owens vs CIMA vs Toru Yano - **
House Of Torture (Evil/SHO/Yujiro Takahashi) vs Hirooki Goto/Yoshi-Hashi/YOH - * 1/2
Sanada vs Great O-Khan - *** 1/4
Tetsuya Naito vs Jeff Cobb - *** 1/2
No DQ Match: Hiroshi Tanahashi vs KENTA - **** 1/4
Kazuchika Okada vs Will Ospreay - *****
 
That Tana/KENTA match was amazing but it also fucked KENTA up badly too. He's never really been the same since.

And yes HoT matches will continue to be that bad if not worse.
 
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