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FIRST MATCH: NEVER Openweight 6-Man Tag Team Championship #1 Contender Gauntlet: Most Violent Players (Togi Makabe & Toru Yano) & Ryusuke Taguchi vs. Yuji Nagata, Jeff Cobb & David Finlay vs. CHAOS (Hirooki Goto, Chuckie T & Beretta) vs. Suzuki-gun (Minoru Suzuki, Davey Boy Smith Jr. & Lance Archer) vs. The Elite (Hangman Page, Yujiro Takahashi & Marty Scurll)
This is a stellar way to open a giant show like Wrestle Kingdom. While not as goofy or fun as the New Japan Rumble that it replaced, pulling the usual NEVER gauntlet off the main card and on to the preshow gave talent a chance to shine. Usually the red-headed step-child of the undercard, instead this was a dramatic bout, given significant time, and spotlight.
Need To Watch Rating: (10.0)
SECOND MATCH: NEVER Openweight Championship Match: Kota Ibushi (c) vs. Will Ospreay
This match broke every expectation that fans had for it. Instead of an acrobatic display of agility and style, these two men tried to utterly destroy each other. Ospreay specifically brought a kill or be killed mentality to this match that lit a fire under Ibushi the way few wrestlers can. This is a truly spectacular contest.
Need To Watch Rating: (10.0)
THIRD MATCH: IWGP Jr. Heavyweight Tag Team Championship Match: Suzuki-gun (Yoshinobu Kanemaru & El Desperado) (c) vs. Roppongi 3K (SHO & YOH) vs. Los Ingobernables de Japon (Shingo Takagi & BUSHI)
This author is so sick of these three teams that it physically hurts him to say how good this match was. A simple, effective triple threat that felt far more grounded than the multi-man clusterf*cks of Wrestle Kingdoms past, this felt like the blow-off to a year-long stalemate at the top of the IWGP Jr. Tag Division.
Need To Watch Rating: (8.7)
FOURTH MATCH: RPW British Heavyweight Championship Match: Tomohiro Ishii (c) vs. Zack Sabre Jr.
A simple, effective matchup of brute strength vs. wily technical pizzaz. Sabre continues to be the absolute greatest physical storyteller of his generation. There are very few wrestlers that can actually convey their snark during a submission and Sabre is one of them. Add the Stone Pitbull to the mix and things get wild.
Need To Watch Rating: (9.2)
FIFTH MATCH: IWGP Heavyweight Tag Team Championship Match: Guerrillas of Destiny (Tama Tonga & Tanga Loa) (c) vs. Los Ingobernables de Japon (EVIL & SANADA) vs. The Young Bucks (Matt Jackson & Nick Jackson)
These are easily three of the most entertaining, cohesive teams in the world today. With so much up in the air about The Bucks, they end up feeling like odd men out, but nonetheless no team in here phones it in. Like the other tag title match, it suffers from how overexposed these teams have been. Still a great contest, with plenty of great moments.
Need To Watch Rating: (9.4)
SIXTH MATCH: IWGP United States Heavyweight Championship Match: Cody (c) vs. Juice Robinson
This is a short, sweet, simple bout between two boys that definitely made Dusty Rhodes proud. Juice is a bonafide star in Japan. Cody is one of the most captivating wrestlers on the planet today. While not the workrate classic that a lot of NJPW fans clamor for, this is a great match.
Need To Watch Rating: (9.1)
SEVENTH MATCH: IWGP Jr. Heavyweight Championship Match: KUSHIDA (c) vs. Taiji Ishimori
There’s been an active effort in making Junior division matches look like a struggle. While there’s plenty of displays of agility and acrobatics, this match is a FIGHT. Ishimori is a scrappy little bruiser, and KUSHIDA is no slouch in the submission department. The landscape of the Jr. Division was marred by Hiromu Takahashi’s injury in San Francisco, but this match is a promising start to Juniors action in 2019.
Need To Watch Rating: (10.0)
EIGHTH MATCH: Jay White vs. Kazuchika Okada
The only non-title contest on the main card is likely to be the most talked about. Simply put this match was a masterclass in building to the finisher. Considering the shenanigans that White & Bullet Club have been up to, this is a surprisingly straight-forward affair. Okada is back in fighting form. White has finally grown into his Switchblade persona. The results are staggering.
Need To Watch Rating: (10.1)
NINTH MATCH: IWGP Intercontinental Heavyweight Championship No Disqualification Match: Chris Jericho (c) vs. Tetsuya Naito
Far superior to their match at Dominion, Naito & Jericho have utterly flawless chemistry. Both men are willing to destroy themselves and each other to win. This reckless brawl is like the jazz-version of a deathmatch, it was all about the notes they DIDN’T play. Vicious and violent, while at times cerebral, this is definitely going to go down as one of Jericho’s best matches.
Need To Watch Rating: (11.1)
MAIN EVENT: IWGP Heavyweight Championship Match: Kenny Omega (c) vs. Hiroshi Tanahashi
Kenny Omega felt like a final video-game boss against Hiroshi Tanahashi. It is no small feat to put The Ace of New Japan in peril the way the IWGP Heavyweight Champion did during last night’s main event. This match was pulled straight from Tanahashi’s matches against the likes of Keiji Mutoh or young Shinsuke Nakamura. It felt like a classic NJPW match from the early days of the Wrestle Kingdom name. Omega successfully wrestled a the “NJPW style” when so many seemed convinced he couldn’t.
Tanahashi has never seemed this angry. Not even is his punishing bouts with Kazuchika Okada or Minoru Suzuki has The Ace ever been fueled by the kind of rage that he seemed to have for Omega. These two men tried to kill each other, and the match is all the better for it.
Need To Watch Rating: (12.1)
NEW RECORD
This match is a single decimal point better than Kazuchika Okada vs. Kenny Omega (Dominion, 6/9/2018) (12.0) & Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. Kota Ibushi (G1 Climax Finals, 8/12/2018) (12.0)
