Leave us any feedback or questions related to NJPW’s Wrestle Kingdom 11 card from the Tokyo Dome on Jan. 4, 2017.
WRESTLE KINGDOM 11
*Kazuchika Okada vs. Kenny Omega for the IWGP heavyweight title
*Tetsuya Naito vs. Hiroshi Tanahashi for the Intercontinental title
*Katsuyori Shibata vs. Hirooki Goto for the NEVER Openweight title
*KUSHIDA vs. Hiromu Takahashi for the IWGP junior heavyweight title
*Guerrillas of Destiny vs. Togi Makabe & Tomoaki Honma vs. Tomohiro Ishii & Toru Yano for the IWGP tag titles
*Kyle O’Reilly vs. Adam Cole for the ROH title
*Juice Robinson vs. Cody
*Gauntlet Match for the NEVER six-man tag titles
*The Young Bucks vs. Roppongi Vice for the IWGP junior heavyweight tag titles
*New Japan Rumble
The event that got many into New Japan and it did a great job of doing so. The main event has gotten a lot of love and rightfully so with it’s mix of athletics and hard hitting ferocity. But the other matches delivered in their own ways, whether it’s Tanga Loa doing his best George Carlin impression to Shibata and Goto laying into one another or Naito getting his revenge on Tanahashi, this show truly has it all. And this kicked off one of the best years that a company had along side WWE in 2000, ROH in 2006-2007 and so on. 10/10.
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Alex from Minneapolis
Although this show was stacked and had many great matches, in many ways Okada/Omega has treated this as a 1 match show. It was the match that set a higher standard and many ways exposed WWE matches. I always believed that Cena/AJ III had the unenviable task of putting on a high quality match at the rumble as Okada/Omega was still on everybody’s minds. Their own blow away match drew comparisons to Okada/Omega and even made it onto Okada’s radar. This show and the next night featured the end of Steve Corino’s commentary career and allowed to open the door for Don Callis to have a resurgence in the wrestling business.
2 questions
- Given the lay of land, Do you guys think Cody will end up as the only wrestler to have Performed on WrestleMania, BOLA, Bound For Glory, Final Battle, and Wrestle Kingdom all in less than 12 months?
2.do you guys know if there was ever any real attempt by WWE to have Omega at the rumble or just rumors?
Chris Thunder from Down Under
What a difference two and a half years can make, eleven wrestlers from the main card have left New Japan, Shibata has since retired, and Rev-Pro now have their championships defended in the Tokyo Dome instead of Ring Of Honor.
Honestly while I enjoyed Steve Corino on commentary, I felt he never had great chemistry with Kevin Kelly in New Japan. It’s also somewhat jarring hearing so much generic music because of copyrights.
Juice Robinson seems to be the go-to for debut matches of ex-WWE guys in New Japan (Cody & John Moxley), and G.o.D. certainly adding into the curse jar on this night.
All four of the top matches delivered, but ultimately this event will be remembered for the incredible “Okada-Omega” main event.
Questions:
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Cheeseburger seemed hugely over with the Japanese audience at this time, why was he never apart of a Best Of The Super Juniors tournament?
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I remember their were reports of the masks used in the “Tiger Mask W vs Tiger The Dark” match being both heavy and hard to see out of, is this why they didn’t make a return? No offence to Tiger Mask IV but at 48 he isn’t getting any younger.
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David_H form the UK
Took a while to get in to the show, a pre “WWE style” Ricochet was nice to see but the first few matches left a lot to be desired. Cole vs O’Reilly had a good match and Naito vs Tanahashi was also a solid match.
Watching Shibata against Goto felt bittersweet. This guy had it all, the presence, the big fight feel, great technical wrestling. It’s a shame he’s not active anymore. This would be my match of the night If Okada Omega wasn’t on this show.
In terms of Omega v Okada nothing else can be said about this match. Still holds up today just outstanding.
I had the same takeaway as @Chris_Thunder about Juice Robinson. He seems to have cemented his place in the company for now but overshadowed by other gaijins. Do you think he’ll ever break out of the US Title picture and challenge for IWGP Titles in the future?
Jesse from the 6
Bury me with a screenshot of Okada’s facial expression after Omega kicked outta the Rain Maker.
That’s some good shit.
Question: At what point (presumably in 2016) did you see Omega as a main event player? I liked his work as IC champ but he never struck me as particularly special until the latter stages of the G1. It was that match against Naito where I truly began to appreciate that he was extraordinary.
Take Care
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Christian from Oklahoma
I’ve been watching New Japan since Wrestle Kingdom 9, but I’d say this was the first Wrestle Kingdom to hit on all strides for me. The undercard didn’t have anything blow away, but everything was different and kept you interested. Things really picked up in the final four matches. The main event speaks for itself, but the three matches before were all amazing in their own right. I think it’s hard to find a card from the past several years where all the marquee matches delivered like these. Overall a great show, 18/20 on the PPV scale for me.
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