NJPW THE NEW BEGINNING IN OSAKA

YUJI NAGATA vs. KATSUYA KITAMURA (10:58): Somebody test Kitamura for steroids, like, today. He's a muscled hulk. And for no good reason he's amidst a 7-match challenge/series against random opponents. This reminds me of the WWE's stupid Cesaro vs. Sheamus 7 match series a few years ago. If you're going to do something like this, do it with wrestlers we care about. Nagata at least is semi-entertaining. And Kitamura is amusing to look at and ponder what drugs he's taking. **

EL DESPERADO & YOSHINOBU KANEMARU vs. RAPPONGI 3K (10:22): The lame, boring Suzuki Gun team won the Jr. tag titles tonight from Sho and Yoh, who just won them two weeks ago from The Young Bucks (who were wrestling in the states for ROH this weekend). When Sho and Yoh burst on the scene in the Fall I thought they were going to be awesome. They're young, they fly, what could go wrong? Well they're so-so. I don't really know what it is but they're only a tad better than pedestrian. This was fast paced at least. **

RYUSUKE TAGUCHI, KUSHIDA, MICHAEL ELGIN & TOGI MAKABE vs. TAKA MICHINOKU, TAICHI, TAKASHI IIZUKA & MINORU SUZUKI (11:52): I guess Elgin wasn't fired yet. Maybe Japan hasn't had the #MeToo movement. I don't even know what he did. Something about sexual text messages in Michigan. He did apologize and quit his wrestling promotion in the states. As for this match...it was fast, fun, superfluous. **

TORU YANO, TOMOHIRO ISHII & JAY WHITE vs. DAVID FINLAY, JUICE ROBINSON & TOA HENARE (7:33): Jesus. Ishii is one of NJPW's best wrestlers but is never in singles matches anymore. Worse, he's super serious and tough as nails but lately has been teaming with the clown, Yano. This wasn't bad, just another forgettable New Japan multi-tag match. **

BUSHI vs. GEDO (10:07): There were more singles matches on this show than I've ever seen on a NJPW show. That's a good thing...except this was one of them. Gedo is the head writer/booker. He should have booked a better match! Bushi sucks, anyway, even when wrestling awesome dudes like Kushida. 1/2*

TETSUYA NAITO vs. YOSHI-HASHI (16:46): Good match. Shocking, because Yoshi-Hoshi blows. But he apparently knows this (maybe he reads his Twitter replies) so he attacked Naito on Naito's way out and it went full-bore throughout. Good stuff but I feel bad for Naito. He should be champ and he's stuck wrestling Yoshi-Hashi and next Taichi. ***

WILL OSPREAY vs. HIROMU TAKAHASHI (20:05): This should have been at Wrestle Kingdom. It wasn't (for no good reason), but we at least got it here. This was by far the best match so far this year and another Ospreay classic and Takahashi classic. But of course it was. They started going 100 M.P.H. and then it slowed for a bit then picked up when they both did insane moves dropping each other on their heads and kicking out of everything. Takahashi countered Ospreay's finisher twice with his own 'Stone Cold' Stunner and then a snap suplex. Takahashi also delivered his should-be-illegal over the top rope power-bomb to the floor on Ospreay. This was just nuts and dramatic as hell. Ospreay retained the Jr. title and is surprisingly facing Okada next month for the title. ***1/2

HIROOKI GOTO vs. EVIL (20:19): Goto retained the NEVER title in a slow, very dull match. 1/2*

KAZUCHIKA OKADA vs. SANADA (32:12): This was too slow paced. Sanada does high-flying like a moonsault and flips over the top rope to the floor but his matches aren't fast paced enough. And I never thought he'd win the title, not after they refused to give it to Omega or Naito. Probably ten minutes of this match had Sanada holding Okada on the mat in an arm bar. Yawn. The end had some good drama and near-falls but on the whole this was only a little better than average. The hot crowd definitely helped.
**1/2

WWE ROYAL RUMBLE

KALISTO, GRAN METALIK & LINCE DORADO vs. TJP, JACK GALLAGHER & DREW GULAK (13:20): Gran Metalik is awesome. He should just go back to Mexico because his awesomeness is meaningless when he's stuck wrestling in a match like this before a mostly empty arena an hour and a half before the show even starts. 205Live has been a total disaster and it got worse last week when the WWE fired the 205Live champ, Enzo Amore, for raping a 19 year old. This was superfluous fun while it lasted. **

THE REVIVAL vs. LUKE GALLOWS & KARL ANDERSON (9:10): Remember how great The Revival were on NXT? Yeah, what happened? -No Stars-

BOBBY ROODE vs. MOJO RAWLEY (7:45): Ah...the coveted U.S. title. Roode's entrance is cool. 1/2*

AJ STYLES vs. KEVIN OWENS & SAMI ZAYN (15:55): Good match. I'd have rather seen a singles match between any of these three. This all seems to be leading to either a Shane vs. Owens match (which already happened at Hell in a Cell) or a Shane vs. Daniel Bryan match (which can't happen because Bryan isn't cleared to wrestle). So what is the point? **1/2

THE USO'S vs. CHAD GABLE & SHELTON BENJAMIN "2 OUT OF 3 FALLS" (13:55): The first fall was excellent and action packed by the end...then The Uso's quickly did a roll-up for the second fall and won and it was quickly over. The WWE really needs to start giving matches more time...although they gave two hours plus to the Rumbles and they were both too long. But this match deserved more. **1/2

MEN'S ROYAL RUMBLE (SHINSUKE NAKAMURA) (1:05:33): My pick won. The crowd booed Reigns like he was Hitler. Rey Mysterio and The Hurricane, Shane Helms, were surprises. Finn Balor lasted most of the match. Reigns and Nakamura were the last two left. This was slow in spots and too long but the crowd was great and loud and it was entertaining. **1/2

CAESARO & SHEAMUS vs. SETH ROLLINS & JUSTIN JORDAN (12:49): Jordan got hurt and dazed and so most of this was a 2 on 1 match and Caesaro and Sheamus won the tag titles. This was a bore. After the Rumble the crowd was dead and tired. *

BROCK LESNAR vs. KANE vs. BRAUN STROWMAN (10:55): Wow. Only ten minutes? Kane sucks. They broke tables and two announce tables. Lesnar pinned Kane. It was just okay. **

WOMEN'S ROYAL RUMBLE (ASUKA) (59:10): A women's Rumble match is a good idea. What's not a good idea is having two Rumble's on one show. It's too much of the same thing (two hour's worth). The problem with this match was that a bunch of old stars came out like Trish Stratus, Lita, Michelle McCool, Jackie, and Vickie Guerrero. They all got big pops but turned the match into a sloppy mess. The final three were the Bella twins and Asuka. Since the Bella twins don't even wrestle anymore it was obvious that Asuka was winning, robbing the finale of any drama. Ronda Rousey showed up after the Rumble and pointed to the Wrestlemania sign. So...why wasn't she just in the Rumble? Weird. *1/2

NJPW WRESTLE KINGDOM 12

Tokyo Dome
attendance: 33,995

THE RUMBLE (MASAHITO KAKIHARA) (31:06): This was the standard, pre-show Rumble match where every few minutes a new, surprise entrant comes out. The crowd popped big for ROH's Cheeseburger for some reason. Most of the surprises were old Japanese wrestlers I never heard of, so I guess I missed out on any of this being cool. It was the usual, forgettable thing. *1/2 (out of ****)

RAPPONGI 3K vs. THE YOUNG BUCKS (18:49): Blasphemy, but lately the Bucks have had more entertaining matches in the other promotions they wrestle in. I guess I enjoy their comedy matches more than their more serious fare like this. And they were in much better matches years ago in NJPW when they were stuck in three and four team melees. There was more brutality in this than usual (head drops on the apron, back slams on the entrance ramp). A lot of crazy high flying but it never reached a pinnacle. The Bucks won the Jr. tag titles. **1/2

BERETTA, TOMOHIRO ISHII & TORU YANO vs. BAD LUCK FALE, TANGA LOA & TAMA TONGA vs. MICHAEL ELGIN & WAR MACHINE vs. TAICHI, TAKASHI IIZUKA & ZACK SABRE, JR. vs. JUICE ROBINSON, TOGI MAKABE & RYUSUKE TAGUCHI (17:03): This was for the coveted 3-man titles, which the random team of Yano, Ishii, and Beretta won. A lot of these guys deserved better singles matches (like Ishii, Elgin, and Zack Sabre, Jr.). And I kind of hope this doesn't mean we won't be seeing Ishii in singles matches anytime soon. The whole match I was just mystified that Bad Luck Fale is dating that hot chick with the bunny ears. The highlight was Ishii suplexing Fale. Maybe he's mad and mystified, too. This was entertaining in spots. **

KOTA IBUSHI vs. CODY (15:08): Good match, shockingly. Ibushi is like the fucking horse whisperer but with wrestlers. He pulled a great match out of the injured Tanahashi in November, and now he's having a good match with the ultra-bore, Cody. I will admit that Cody did more here than usual. He did a wicked spin DDT to Ibushi from the apron to the floor. And he's going full bore Ric Flair heel, which is good. ***

EVIL & SANADA vs. LANCE ARCHER & DAVEY BOY SMITH, JR. (14:14): Almost unwatchable. This was a WWE squash then miraculous comeback win. Which is always dull. Evil and Sanada won the tag titles. 1/2*

HIROOKI GOTO vs. MINORU SUZUKI "HAIR VS. HAIR MATCH" (18:04): Yawn. Suzuki lost then just sat down and buzzed his shark fin and not the rest of his hair then left. So even the ending was lame. I really hope that Suzuki Gun disappears in 2018. *1/2

WILL OSPREAY vs. HIROMU TAKAHASHI vs. MARTY SCURLL vs. KUSHIDA (21:18): Excellent in spots but a little too long and a little too much of a mess. We all wanted an Osprea/Takahashi match and that would have been better. Ospreay did a moonsault off a lighting platform at ringside. And there were of course a million dives and flips. It was pretty wild but just not exceptional. Ospreay won the Jr. title. ***

HIROSHI TANAHASHI vs. JAY WHITE (19:56): This was lousy. Tanahashi is hurt. But he's the IC champ. I just wish he'd go recuperate for awhile since he's been wrestling hurt since May. Jay White is a good wrestler. His match with Ospreay in NYC last Spring for ROH was awesome. But maybe he didn't want to hurt Tanahashi because he didn't do much of anything here. Tanahashi is a pro, hurt or not, so he did all of his big moves like the High Fly Flo off the top rope to the floor. This just never truly heated up to much. *1/2

KENNY OMEGA vs. CHRIS JERICHO "NO DQ MATCH" (34:36): Ugh. This was atrocious. When Naito won the G1 and would be in the main event tonight I sighed. That meant no Okada/Omega 4 tonight. Then when Omega and Ibushi were probably going to wrestle tonight I was okay with that. It meant that at least we'd have one four star match on the show. Then Jericho showed up. I get it. He's an international name. They'd get international media buzz from this match. But Jericho is old (and tonight he was fat) and slow and dull now. So this was a hardcore match with blood and tables and chairs. It went on forever. Omega couldn't do a lot of his crazy moves like the Dragon Suplex and the hard-knees. He did his dives and fell through the announce table. This was just a slog, though. I truly hope we don't get a sequel to this anytime soon. *1/2

KAZUCHIKA OKADA vs. TETSUYA NAITO (36:30): Surprise! I was fucking shocked when Okada won. What the fuck? Why? He's the Ace, yes. And apparently, the Ace doesn't lose at the Dome. But he's been champ since June of 2016. Omega should've won the title last year and Naito, as super popular as ever, should have tonight. As for this match: it was good, great in spots (they did a spectacular, back and forth sequence early that was awesome and the final few minutes were dramatic as hell with the Destino's and Rainmaker's and pile-driver's and reversals), but throughout it never reached the type of dizzying heights Naito/Omega have done or Omega/Okada did last year. A lot of it was fairly boring. And it capped an entertaining show that was still a disappointment when compared to past Dome shows. With Omega being in a lame match and Tanahashi wrestling hurt against a new opponent and Shibaata out, we didn't really get a stellar card to begin with. I hope this isn't the end of NJPW's glory days, because in a lot of ways it kind of felt like that. ***
 

Best Show of 2017: NJPW WRESTLE KINGDOM 11

It's kind of unfair for any show that takes place during the rest of the year. New Japan's big show at the Tokyo Dome, Wrestle Kingdom, is always right after New Years, and, at least lately, it's been by far the best show of the year. WK11 was no exception. It was perhaps the best WK ever and one of the best wrestling shows ever (it certainly helped that the main event was a match that many said was the greatest pro-wrestling match they had ever seen). It had three 3-star matches and three 3.5 matches. The last four matches were the best string of matches in history...and they seemed to be just getting better and better until the epic 47 minute Omega/Okada main event. Takahashi/Kushida. Goto/Shibata. Naito/Tanahashi. Fuck. This was just breathtaking in its historical awesomeness. 

Best Match of 2017: KENNY OMEGA vs. KAZUCHIKA OKADA 8/12/17

These two went 47 minutes in January and 60 minutes in June. Those matches were good but obviously had some slow spots since they went on so long. Not this one. It was the second to last night of New Japan's G1 Climax and the B-block finals. Whoever won would go on to face Naito the next day in the finals. If there was a draw in this 30-minute limit match, Okada would go on to the finals. Because of a time limit, this started as fast as humanly possible and never let up. It had non-stop action, big moves, high drama, a hot crowd, and a satisfying ending when Omega hit the One Winged Angel and finally pinned Okada after trying to beat him all year long. It wasn't for a title and it was only the semi-final but it felt like this match mattered more than anything ever possibly could. It was just pro-wrestling at its apex. And this is the second year in a row that the match of the year is a Kenny Omega G1 semi-final match. I guess we all can't wait to see next year's.


Other Notable Matches: 

Hirooki Goto vs. Katsuyori Shibata   1/4   NJPW Wrestling Kingdom 11


Tetsuya Naito vs. Hiroshi Tanahashi   1/4   NJPW Wrestling Kingdom 11

Kenny Omega vs. Kazuchika Okada   1/4   NJPW Wrestling Kingdom 11

Dragon Lee vs. Hiromu Takahashi   2/11   NJPW The New Beginning in Osaka

Kazuchika Okada vs. Katsuyori Shibata   4/9   NJPW Sakura Genesis

Pete Dunne vs. Tyler Bate   5/20   NXT Takeover Chicago

Kushida vs. Will Ospreay   6/3   NJPW Best of the Super Jr.'s Finals

Kenny Omega vs. Tomohiro Ishii   7/2   NJPW G1 Special in USA

Kenny Omega vs. Tetsuya Naito   8/13   NJPW G1 Climax Finals

Best Wrestler of 2017: KENNY OMEGA

I named Kenny Omega the best wrestler of 2016. And his ascension to the top was apparently only just starting. Four days into 2017 he was in a match that some called the best match they had ever seen. In June he was in a 60 minute match that Wrestling Observer's Dave Meltzer gave ******1/4 stars on a 5 star scale. And I thought the best match of the year was his match against Okada in August. So 2017 was another huge year for the international star. His trilogy against Okada was perhaps the greatest trilogy and series of matches in history. But he also had some stellar matches without Okada. He feuded with Ishii during the year and they had a great match in May, then he won the U.S. title by beating Ishii in California in July in another great match (his Dragon Suplex on Ishii from the apron through a table at ringside was one of the year's craziest moments). His match against Elgin during that U.S. title tournament was also very good. His G1 final match against Naito was brutal and awesome. Omega is also a comedy highlight when he teams up with The Young Bucks and random Bullet Club members on their various stops in the U.S., Europe, Canada, and Japan. He's just an all around a pro. Super entertaining, fun to watch, and always in some of the wildest, most dramatic matches that have taken place in the last few years. He probably should've won the NJPW title this year and that's a shame but, fuck, it doesn't even really matter. He's that damn good. 

WWE CLASH OF CHAMPIONS

Boston

MOJO RAWLEY vs. ZACK RYDER (6:55): The pre-show match. I don't regularly watch Smackdown...but are these two even on TV anymore? The last time I remember seeing Rawley was at Wrestlemania. Rawley was on fire (probably because he's never on TV and so he wanted to show his worth) but this was forgettable. 1/2*

DOLPH ZIGGLER vs. BARON CORBIN vs. BOBBY ROODE (12:45): Better than I expected, although triple threat matches usually are all action and thus usually good. The great Boston crowd even chanted, "This is awesome!" at one point. It wasn't, but it was decent. Ziggler won the title from Corbin here for some unknown reason. **1/2

THE USO'S vs. THE NEW DAY vs. CHAD GABLE & SHELTON BENJAMIN vs. RUSEV & AIDEN ENGLISH (12:54): This was the match of the night. The final five minutes or so were wall to wall action and big moves and pure entertainment. Gable was the highlight, doing some wicked suplexes. The crowd roared approval for Rusev and English for some reason (when two guys in WWE are floundering around they sometimes just put them in a joke tag team like they did Caesaro and Sheamus). ***

CHARLOTTE FLAIR vs. NATALYA "LUMBERJACK MATCH" (10:32): A mess. Flair did a top rope moonsault to a pile of women at ringside. That was about the only good part. Natalya did a post-match whining plea on the mic to the booing crowd for some reason. 1/2*

THE BLUDGEON BROTHERS vs. BREEZANGO (1:58): Harper and Rowan are now a cheesy, 80's style tag team with dumb, Dungeon & Dragons-esque outfits that look they were bought from a Xena: Warrior Princess basement sale. -No Stars-

KEVIN OWENS & SAMI ZAYN vs. RANDY ORTON & SHINSUKE NAKAMURA (21:37): So Shane and Daniel Bryan were refs for this. If Owens and Zayn lost they would be fired. So the end was kind of interesting when Bryan almost counted to 3 but was knocked over by Shane...then Shane stopped at 2 when counting a pin to have Owens and Zayn win (Shane hates them...I guess because he had a HITC match with Owens two months ago). Eventually Bryan retaliated and did a fast count and Owens and Zayn won and kept their jobs. The problem with this too long match was that there were two refs in the ring which meant all of the action was awkward. Owens did do a splash onto Nakamura on the announce table. Story wise it worked. **

AJ STYLES vs. JINDER MAHAL (23:04): Ugh. Jinder lost the title to AJ in Manchester last month on Smackdown. Jinder then went to India and lost to HHH. So I guess they decided to keep him at least sort of powerful by having him beat down AJ for the majority of this match. AJ is awesome but this was awfully boring. So how was Jinder's title reign? He won it against Orton in a ** match. Their re-match was **. Their third match in the Punjabi Prison got 1/2*. His Summerslam match against Nakamura got 1/2*. The re-match got *1/2. Fuck. I hope I never see him again. *