NJPW WRESTLE KINGDOM 17

Tokyo

BOLTIN OLEG vs. RYOHEI OIWA (3:00): I haven't watched that much of New Japan lately, mostly because Japan seems to think the pandemic is still going on and it's tough to watch shows in empty buildings with crowds still wearing masks and not allowed to cheer. This was a good show, though, as Wrestle Kingdom usually is. Thank Kenny Omega for this show being the best New Japan show in a very long time. It also helped that they decided to only have one night instead of two, as they had been doing the last few years. I'm not entirely sure who these two wrestlers were in this opening, 3 minute draw match. Boltin Oleg was probably a college/Olympic wrestler from the look of him. Why they did a 3 minute match is beyond me. -No Stars-

GREAT O'KHAN, SHINGO TAKAGI, SHO & TORU YANO NJPW KING OF PRO-WRESTLING TITLE 2023 RIGHT TO CHALLENGE BATTLE ROYAL (30:37): This was the traditional Rambo match. Shockingly there were big stars in this, from Ishii to Shingo to Evil to El Phantasmo. Seriously, why wasn't Shingo in a singles match on this show? He was in the main event of night 1 in last year's WK. Now he's relegated to the frigging opening Rambo match? And Ishii? Sigh. Really tragic he's going to retire without ever being IWGP champ. This match was a typical battle royal. The final four wrestlers won and got to be in a match for the coveted KOPW title on New Year's Dash. Shingo won that match. *1/2

SATOSHI KOJIMA, TOGI MAKABE & YUJI NAGATA vs. MINORU SUZUKI, TATSUMI FUJINAMI & TIGER MASK (9:10): This was the legends match. I bet Suzuki was mad he was in this because he's not exactly a retired, has-been like the others. Considering I didn't watch New Japan when guys like Fujinami were on top, I really have no idea how big these guys were so didn't really care about old guys lumbering around. 1/2*

CATCH 22 (FRANCESCO AKIRA & TJP) vs. LIO RUSH & YOH (10:29): This match was fantastic. It was all action, all at break-neck speed. Akira and TJP retained the Jr. tag titles. It's funny seeing Lio Rush wrestling considering he's retired a few times already. He was in AEW for a very short time until he bad mouthed Tony Khan on Twitter and then disappeared. I've always loved this division, but it is a bit bittersweet watching matches in this division now because I remember the glory days when The Young Bucks, The Time Splitters, Ricochet, and Rappongi Vice were in those incredible matches all the time. ***

KAIRI vs. TAM NAKANO (5:47): This was for the new, NJPW women's title. I'm not sure what the point of this title is considering New Japan and Stardom are both owned by the same company. Why not just put a Stardom title match on this show? The big deal was that after Kairi (who was in WWE for a while a few years back) won, Sasha Banks came out (she's Mercedes Mone now). She looked fantastic. She'll face Kairi for the title in San Jose in February at a NJPW PPV. This actual match was way too short and not exactly good. *

BISHAMON (HIROOKI GOTO & YOSHI-HASHI) vs. FTR (10:10): This was a good match. FTR is always in good matches, so that's not a surprise. Goto and Yoshi-Hashi won the tag titles. FTR is on quite the losing streak. They lost the Ring of Honor titles to the Briscoe's. They lost the AAA titles to Dragon Lee and Dralistico (which made no sense, considering Dragon Lee is going to NXT). They even lost to the Gun Club on Dynamite and failed at winning the AEW titles against The Acclaimed. Oh, well. Match was still very good. ***

ZACK SABRE, JR. vs. REN NARITA (10:32): I was watching this match thinking that, man, New Japan is fucked because all of their young wrestlers that will eventually be taking over from Okada and Naito and Tanahashi all suck. Then Shota Umino wrestled later and I remembered that he's awesome. Ren Narita is no Shota Umino, though. Sabre, Jr. won the TV title or whatever the hell this new title is called. This company had too many titles before, now they're adding this title and a women's title? Jesus Christ. They have more titles than AEW. This match was forgettable. Shingo and Ishii didn't get a singles match but Ren Narita did? What is the world coming to? *1/2

TAMA TONGA vs. KARL ANDERSON (9:36): Karl Anderson is in WWE so it was pretty obvious he was losing the NEVER title here. This match was kind of stale, though Anderson did more in this match that he's done in the last 6 months in WWE. Tama Tonga's outfit is so stupid looking and he looks like a clown. I can't take him serious in that red, latex, Superman suit. *1/2

HIROSHI TANAHASHI, KEIJI MUTO & SHOTA UMINO vs. LOS INGOBERNABLES DE JAPON (BUSHI, SANADA & TETSUYA NAITO) (9:20): This match was part of the Muto farewell tour. He can barely stand or walk so it's kind of sad to see him wrestling. He actually wrestled a few days before this in the main event on a NOAH show against Nakamura. I haven't seen that match yet, though don't really want to. Muto climbed to the top rope and one point and Tanahashi talked him down. Why did they even bother doing that spot? It just made him look pathetic. Was it supposed to be comical? The one shining spot in this match was Shota Umino. He tore the house down at Forbidden Door last year and I can definitely see him being in the main event of a future WK. *1/2

HIROMU TAKAHASHI vs. TAIJI ISHIMORI vs. EL DESPERADO vs. MASTER WATO (16:43): Hiromu won the Jr. title again. Yawn. He hasn't been that exciting for awhile now. Maybe put him in the heavyweight division? Master Wato hasn't lived up to his potential. Desperado is great but I'd have rather seen a singles match between any of these guys than a 4 way. Match wasn't bad, but wasn't memorable or anything. **

KENNY OMEGA vs. WILL OSPREAY (34:38): This was one of those matches that you kind of figured would never live up to the hype. It did. This will be hard to top for best match of 2023. This was fucking insane. It reminded me of those classic Naito/Ibushi matches from years ago where they looked like they were attempting to paralyze each other on purpose. This started slow but then turned into a brutal bloodbath. Omega laid a table onto Ospreay out on the floor then jumped off the apron onto the table, putting a big hole into it. Omega took off the padding in one corner. The big spot was both men standing on the top rope and Omega giving Ospreay a DDT down onto the exposed turnbuckle. This elicited gasps from the audience. This was one of the most gruesome and shocking moves I've seen in a long time. Ospreay was busted open. Kenny then smashed Ospreay's head into the broken table, smearing blood across it. At one point, Ospreay was on Kenny's shoulders and it seemed that Ospreay would counter this but no, Omega lifted him up and Ospreay fell back onto the exposed turnbuckle. That was a clever idea, to go back to the gruesome, exposed turnbuckle spot. Omega was destroying Ospreay at this point. Ospreay was a bloody mess. When Ospreay tried to climb the ropes he slipped off, acting the part of a wounded, shell of a man. That was great. Ospreay got a come back and they traded big moves and extremely painful looking shots. This was just a super violent, crazy, hard hitting afair. It was next level stuff. You really don't see drama and brutality like this very often. The one thing I liked was that instead of doing the typical, dramatic kick out right before 3, both guys would just move their shoulder slowly up to save themselves. That was unique. Another great moment in a match filled to the brim with them was Omega giving Ospreay a running knee to the head and Ospreay falling out of the ring from the impact. Omega finally won the U.S. title with a One-Winged Angel. This was epic and awesome and truly unforgettable. ****

KAZUCHIKA OKADA vs. JAY WHITE (33:03): I didn't expect much from this match. The crowd was super into the Omega/Ospreay match, obviously, so these two had a tough time trying to follow that anyway. This was probably better than the last few times these two wrestled. The first half was a bore but the second half was fairly entertaining with a lot of near falls and reversals and kick outs. Okada won the title with a Rainmaker. It was pretty basic and pretty standard but I think everyone knew this was never going to be a four star masterpiece or anything. Shingo came out after the match to challenge Okada. Seriously, how does he get a title shot? He was in the fucking opening Rambo match! Hopefully Shingo wins the title because Jesus Christ we're all sick of Okada as champion. **1/2