Post your feedback with reaction to Wrestle Kingdom 12 and best match on the show.
Also curious if you were a new viewer if you watched on New Japan World and if you will continue to be watching if this was your first show.
Our Wrestle Kingdom post-show will be out Thursday evening and exclusive to members of the POST Wrestling Cafe.
FAVORITE MATCH ON THE SHOW?
0 voters
J from Columbus.
Is there anyone Jericho doesn’t have a great match with? Think about his career. Último Dragon. HBK. Dean Malenko. Rey Mysterio. AJ Styles. Kevin Owens. Edge. CM Punk.
Add Omega to that list.
This was the best match on the card for me. I totally bought into Jericho as an asshole heel.
I enjoyed the juniors 4-way and of course Okada is the best in the world. Ibushi gave Cody his best match ever and it’s completely an afterthought after the rest of the card.
Not sure anything touches this show in 2018.
Great show, but I don’t think it competes with last year’s. WK11 felt like the last 4 matches kept besting each other, and ended with the right person winning. I felt that the best match was the 4 way, and that the main event was hurt based on the outcome. Regardless, this is still going to be a hard show to top and I trust New Japan to give us a great 2018.
Also, I think that No DQ match officially made rope breaks in No DQ matches one of my biggest pet peeves
8.5/10
Simon from Ottawa
This was my first time watching New Japan, and also first time watching it live on New Japan World. Great show, and I don’t have any intention of cancelling my subscription any time soon.
Three matches stood out for me, and that’s saying something because every match felt like it was at least good to great. Ibushi vs Cody was great, and got me to buy in to Cody’s heel persona in a way I never had before. Omega vs Jericho was vicious in a way that set it apart from everything else on the card, and Okada vs Naito felt like a fitting, quality main event for the show.
The show moved along at a great pace (even if the number of hours felt a little high!), but overall: awesome show, lots of fun, and I’ll watch again. They’ve got my intrigue for the heavyweight title scene moving forward.
Lara from Vancouver
A solid show. Nothing as good as last year’s Dominion or Wrestle Kingdom 11.
Goto/Suzuki was my personal match of the night. It told an incredible story from the opening bell to the post match head shaving. Suzuki’s flying dropkick was incredible , it looked straight out of Street Fighter or Mortal Kombat. Would love to see this cause Suzuki to split off from Suzuki-gun and it become Sabre-gun
Main event needed another 10 to 15 minutes… There was another gear left to hit and the finish felt like pouring ice water on a match that was really heating up.
I really wish Jericho hadn’t mentioned Benoit on social media. I sympathize with why he did, but Benoit ended up being all I could think of during that very violent match… especially those chairshots. Still Jericho’s best match in years and proof positive that Omega is just on another level.
All in all though it was a very good show. Looking forward to whatever surprises they have for us at New Year’s Dash.
8.5/10
Matt from Manchester UK
The show reminds of Wrestlemania 17. From beginning to end, the show was spectacular, an incredible mix of different styles with no one match feeling like a let down.
However, like Wrestlemania 17, the ending is going to be debated for years. Did they make the right choice? Right now I’m not sure. You could hear the energy being sucked from the crowd the moment Okada won. The positive is that I had a good idea of what would happen booking wise if Naito won. Now, I have literally no idea. Does Omega win the belt in LA? And where does Naito go from here?
Regardless of that however, the show was incredible and the best single card I’ve seen in years. Goto-Suzuki and Omega-Jericho blew away my expecations in a night full of fantastic matches.
Chris from Florida
Long time Puroresu fan, been a NJPWWorld subscriber for a little over a year. To me this is one of the best wrestling cards I have seen since NOAH’s Destiny card in 2005.
Incredible card top to bottom, and the best Wrestle Kingdom show I can remember.
Young Bucks and RP3K had a great opener which I think set the stage here.
Fantastic match with Ibushi and Cody that was probably Cody’s best match I’ve seen. Though to be honest Ibushi is capable of having a better match with a better opponent. Still a very well executed match with some great classic heel storytelling. Really disturbing looking Crossroads from the apron to the floor with Ibushi landing directly on his head.
The less said about the Gauntlet match the better, it was the one weak spot in an otherwise great show.
Goto and Suzuki was classic Suzuki. Stiff and brutal with everyone’s favorite angry yakuza grandpa.
Tag Match was very solid, nothing special though.
The 4 way was my match of the night, incredible spot after incredible spot in an incredibly well choreographed flow with some great storytelling if you are faimilar with the matches that set this up. I was ok with the finish but was hoping for a Hiromu win.
Jay and Tanahashi had a great storytelling match but it felt clear that the match would have benefited from a bit more time if Tanahashi was healthy. It definitely sold Jay as a credible contender for the IC title.
Jericho and Omega was just insane. Utter madness and I think the crowd didn’t know how to handle the early hardcore stuff. Once the match returned to the ring the crowd was extremely invested. Jericho had his best match in at least a decade, if not his best period. Huge respect to both guys…
The main event was just a showcase of what makes puroresu so great. Incredible build and an absolutely electric finishing stretch. The outcome was a bit of a shock but again I am fine with it. New Japan always earns their big match finishes and I never feel cheated.
Final thoughts: New Japan deserves all the respect in the world for doing a 6 hour show that feels like it flies by. one can only hope WWE can some day pull this off with Wrestlemania.
Dan from Liverpool,
The IWGP Jr Heavyweight Fatal 4-Way and Ibushi/Cody matches were the best on the card, the 4-Way edging it for me. Great psychology in both matches and the spots, finishes were good.
Okada/Naito was a decent match but the pacing was fairly poor, plus the fact that Okada won is pretty boring. Liked the finish but that’s the only remarkable thing from the match. Where does Naito go from here? This was the moment, I’m sure he’ll get it eventually but I feel like it won’t mean as much. As for Okada? I hope an Ibushi defence is in his near future, that match should be exceptional.
Omega/Jericho was somewhat disappointing. I was dubious of the No-DQ stip from the start, and it resulted in a fairly predictable American-style street fight. For me, it watered down the abilities of both men so much. For what it was, it was a good match and there was some great spots, especially the one winged angel on to the chair, but for me it’s like booking Cactus Jack/Atsushi Onita, two of the greatest hardcore wrestlers ever, and having them
wrestle a technical, mat based submission match. It just doesn’t make sense to me. I seem to be in the extreme minority here, and I’ll definitely give it another watch, but yeah, overall disappointing.
Overall 6/10 show and not a patch on last year.
P.S. Okada’s cowboy pants suck
Dave from St. Louis.
The biggest thing that stuck out to me about this show was the amount of casual wrestling fan friends that were asking me about it beforehand this week. I hadn’t even planned to watch it live, but my fiance saw the Jericho buildup and insisted we get up at 2 am.
I really enjoyed this show, even more than last year. Maybe it’s that I haven’t watched enough of the Young Bucks, but I was surprised at the style of match. I figured there would be more of the fun, goofy chains, but instead it was a pretty serious match. I was a bit baffled by the Okada finish, but perhaps they have something really big planned. Very tired today, but had a great time.
HeartbreakChef from Kep, Cambodia
This was my first full NJPW show. Watched highlights of certain matches before, kept a pulse etc. I can say that I am going to be watching more moving forward.
Aside from the great quality of the matches, the pace really impressed me as well. In an age of condensed highlight shows, and not enough time in the week to watch all the Wrestling offered, this was not the issue with this show. It felt very fresh to my eyes, I barely noticed the time.
It was great too see Jericho really work in that environment, heeling it up without any restrictions. His camera spot was classic as was “Look at your son” I feel the only thing missing from a well built and executed match, was the possible hint of a continuation for the story.
Gato/Suzuki was very captivating. Not knowing a lot about them as wrestlers, they were able to get me to bite into the match quite well. Thats good storytelling.
Okada/Naito build to the finish was electric. Is there a better looking dropkick anywhere. the answer is No! The finish was a bit of a shock, as I feel Naito is in a good position to run with the title. The crowd was super hot for him, perhaps they missed a good opportunity to cash in. we will wait and see where they take it.
I rate it 9 “Crossroads off the Apron” out of 10
MJ from NJ
What’s left to say that hasn’t been said in just a few hours after this show - what an awesome event.
Some observations and personal opinions since all the praise seems universal:
Brandon from Oshawa
Loved the show, but dont think it was on the same level as WK11. Okada walking away as the champ is a brilliant move, I think, as almost everyone was expecting Naito to win the title. The run that Okada is on right now, is legendary and even though Naito is a great option to end his reign, I’m curious to see where Okada will go now as the champ.
I would love to see Ibushi and Ishii become challengers. Ibushi, just because it would be outstanding and Ishii, because he never did get a title shot, after beating Okada in the 2016 G1.
What do you think the chances are of a triple threat match, between Okada/Naito/Omega? New Japan rarely has multi man matches for their singles titles and I think that would be a massive match.
This is my first actual New Japan show I watched. Listening to John’s coverage of the G-1 and the primer show a few days ago, I had a good idea of the storylines going in.
The 4 way was the best match of the night.
Tanahashi vs Jay White was my favorite match. I loved the story telling of the match and the announcers did a great job selling the “past his prime” angle with Tanahashi.
Alpha vs Omega match was great but a bit too long for me.
Main event was my second favorite match on the card. I don’t think this one went long enough and the wrong person won the match. I would of like to seen Naito win and carry the Japan side of New Japan and let Omega and Okada break into the US market more . Overall great show and I will continue to watch and follow.
Lewis from Glasgow,
Been watching NJPW fairly consistently since the G1 in 2016 and this is probably one of the best cards I’ve seen since then.
Jericho and Omega delivered in a huge way, it was an absolutely brilliant reminder that Jericho can still go at 100% and further cements Omega as the future of this company. Despite some funky rulings regarding the No-DQ stip, the match was fantastic.
Cody and Ibushi was definitely a lot better than I thought it would be with Cody’s best showing in years in a hard hitting match that even left room for a Kenny tease down the line.
The four way was what most of us thought it would be, a fast-paced big spot match with some great near falls and although I really wanted Takahashi to win, Ospreay finally pinning Scurll was a nice way to end it with Hiromu taking a lot of punishment so he doesn’t look any worse for wear, plus the crowd sounded huge for him.
I can’t believe it happened but I fell asleep during the Naito and Okada match purely from tiredness and not boredom. I went back and rewatched it after my snooze and thought it was also great with some cool callbacks and nearfalls. I really thought they’d put the belt on Naito but they must have something else cooking for somewhere down the line.
Even though I only mentioned 4 matches here it was an incredible show from top to bottom and, like last year, is the standard bearer for the next year, which I doubt any other PPV will hit any time soon.
Okada vs Naito was my favorite match Jericho vs Omega was good as well. I think having Cyrus on color made the match better. That table bump that took Kevin and Don was great. I have had New Japan world since I think day 2 and I sated on another comment would give up my WWE network before my New Japan World.
Chris from Carlisle, England
First off not a massive fan of NJPW but normally try to make time for any matches that are recommended by the likes of yourselves and the former JAW guys. However on this occasion I watched this show live this morning, mainly due to the build to the Jericho match. It was a stunning show on the whole, especially the 4 way and the Jericho Omega match and whilst I did watch live by “nafarious means”, I’m definitely going to invest in NJPW world when I get paid.
Quick question, what do you guys think makes these big NJPW shows go so fast in comparison to their WWE counterparts? Having sat through the last few Manias and been bored to tears come the end, this show flew by and it can’t just be that it was on at a reasonable time of day rather than being up till 4 in the morning like I normally would when I watch live
Great show, but the weakest WK in a few years. I found the rope break in a key moment of the Jericho/Omega match to be frustrating, seeing as though it was no DQ. Jericho’s chairshot to Omega’s head was totally uncalled for, and you would think that NJPW would finally put a stop to shit like this after Shibata’s retirement. I also found the IWGP title match to be very underwhelming, considering the talent of the two men involved. The scenario sure seemed like the right time to take the belt off Okada, so it will be interesting to see how things shake out from here.
It could be due to lack of boring filler content, like KFC chicken commercials, network plugs, and painfully scripted backstage segments. The matches also are much faster paced, and much easier to watch, I think. WWE’s match style can get very formulaic and dull. Also, I think that because we see the WWE guys so much each week, it makes the PPVs seem less special. I follow NJPW, but the fact that I’m not watching 5 hours of their stuff a few days BEFORE a PPV makes their guys still feel like a big deal to me. Back when WWE had 4 PPVs each year, and their weekly content was mainly squash matches, to have top guys square off was such an event. Now, they have matches that could go on PPV every week with no notice. I think that overexposure is a huge problem for WWE.
Patrick from Melbourne, Australia.
This was the first time I’d ever seen New Japan. It didn’t surprise me that match quality in general was through the roof, but what did was how much the presentation resembled quirky Japanese video games and how they’re advertised.
Specifically for Jericho vs Omega, Chris had the crowd in the palm of his hand and it looked like he was sun baking in all the heat he had drawn for himself.
Finally, if New Japan wants to make it big in the US they have a long way to go. Not having rights to entrance music, their obtuse website and the lack of video packages among other things all need to be resolved before they’re accepted.
I give it 7 Lance Hoyt tramp stamps.
Ryan from Saint John, NB
Amazing show, Omega vs Jericho was my favourite match. Definitely reckless but you have to admire the commitment to their craft.
I also love this never ending Okada title reign. I hope he keeps it until January. 4th next year then drops it to Omega.
Not sold on those pants though.