Wrestle Kingdom 13
 

Last year we had some pretty active participation during the live broadcast so I feel like this deserves a dedicated thread separate from the NJPW thread.

0. NEVER Openweight Six-Man Tag Team Championship #1 Contender Gauntlet: Yuji Nagata/Jeff Cobb/David Finlay [Sekigun] vs. Hirooki Goto and Best Friends (Beretta/Chuckie T.) [CHAOS] vs. Minoru Suzuki and Killer Elite Squad (Davey Boy Smith Jr./Lance Archer) [Suzuki-gun] vs. Marty Scurll/Hangman Page/Yujiro Takahashi [The Elite] vs. Togi Makabe/Toru Yano/Ryusuke Taguchi [Most Violent Perverts]

1. NEVER Openweight Championship: Kota Ibushi (C) [Free] vs. Will Ospreay [CHAOS]

2. IWGP Jr. Heavyweight Tag Team Championship: El Desperado/Yoshinobu Kanemaru (C) [Suzuki-gun] vs. Roppongi 3K (SHO/YOH) [CHAOS] vs. BUSHI/Shingo Takagi [Los Ingobernables de Japon]

3. RPW British Heavyweight Championship: Tomohiro Ishii (C) [CHAOS] vs. Zack Sabre Jr. [Suzuki-gun]

4. IWGP Tag Team Championship: Guerillas of Destiny (Tama Tonga/Tanga Roa) (C) [Bullet Club] vs. SANADA/EVIL [Los Ingobernables de Japon] vs. The Young Bucks (Matt Jackson/Nick Jackson) [The Elite]

5. IWGP US Championship: Cody (C) [The Elite] vs. Juice Robinson [Sekigun]

6. IWGP Jr. Heavyweight Championship: KUSHIDA (C) [Sekigun] vs. Taiji Ishimori [Bullet Club]

7. Special Singles Match: Kazuchika Okada [CHAOS] vs. Jay White [Bullet Club]

8. IWGP Intercontinental Championship, No DQ Match: Chris Jericho (C) [Free] vs. Tetsuya Naito [Los Ingobernables de Japon]

9. IWGP Heavyweight Championship: Kenny Omega (C) [The Elite] vs. Hiroshi Tanahashi [Sekigun]


Pre-Show gauntlet begins at 11pm PST/2am EST/7am GMT
Main card at 12am PST/3am EST/8am GMT

I think it would be a pretty average event.

Is Ibushi suppose to win?

I'm considering ordering this. Tokyo is not too far behind me here. Watching a live event in the evening could be refreshing.

Meltzer talked like it's going to be impossible to follow Ibushi and Ospreay. Honestly, I can see the Junior Tag being a lot of harmless fun and Ishii and ZSJ being a sleeper for under-card match of the night -- especially if Ishii beats the piss out of ZSJ. I'm not too big on GoD, but The Bucks move around a lot and I like Sanada & EVIL. I'm curious to see Juice Robinson, and while I'm not that big a fan of Cody's work these days, he's far from horrible. They will both be busting ass, no doubt. Then you've got KUSHIDA, who is always awesome and Ishimori, who I am unfamiliar with and your main events.

Honestly, besides a potential lull when it gets to the Heavyweight Tag and possibly Cody and Robinson, this should be a fairly awesome card. But it's also got that thing where it appeals to you the more you think about it, so I think a lot of expectations might be "low" (not super-low, but just a bit reserved), which means a lot of people might be surprised.

Ishimori is incredible and the Jr heavyweight match will be a candidate for MOTN.

Speaking of, wrestle kingdom would be a perfect time for a first look at the Jr Heavyweight DLC for fire pro. HINT HINT SPIKE

I heard they had a really good match a year or two back? KUSHIDA won that, apparently, so I kind of expect Ishimori to win this one, which is probably fine, but bums me out because I like KUSHIDA. :lol:

Japanese guys age so gracefully. Ibushi is 36 years old, which is not a bad thing, but he looks early 20's. KUSHIDA is another guy that looks really young but is 35.

Minoru Suzuki is a year older than Triple H but is like 10 years better.

ZSJ probably wins his match, hey? That's a shame, because I kind of want Ishii to eat him. I haven't seen them wrestle each other before, but Ishii is exactly the sort of opponent I want that pristine twat against. I will probably discover strange sexual feelings I have to confront when Ishii beats the piss out of him.

(I accept that ZSJ is talented, by the way -- he just fucking annoys me with his prick features. He's very lanky and looks like he should be a swimmer. It's something that can be used to his advantage.)

I think it just adds to his smug bastard heel persona. Anyway, ZSJ deserves a win . He’s been putting in work for a while now.

Assuming Juice beats Cody, I think a program between him and Ishii for the US title could be interesting and yield some great matches. I think their styles would compliment each other really well.

Ishii vs. Robinson does have appeal.

They were in the same block in the G-1. Don’t think I saw their match though. Gonna correct that when I get home.

Has Robinson been getting over? It seems like he had a great 2018 where he impressed a lot of people stateside, but how has the interest been in him over in Japan?

Robinson consisitently gets really strong pops and girls especially seem to love him. Pretty sure he’s cleaning up.

I don't think I will watch live this year. I'll probably just watch tomorrow on watch wrestling.

Booooooo

What time does it start?

Oh, 3am eastern. I’ll probably stay up for most of it, but not all.

Predictions, confidence pool style.

10 points - Naito. Even if Jericho decides to do some more work with NJPW, I really can't imagine any scenario where Naito isn't getting his win back here to get the IC title back after it's been gone for nearly half a year.

9 points - Juice. Juice and Cody have history going all the way back to Cody's NJPW debut two years ago, and Cody's gotten the best of him. It's time for Juice to get one up on him, especially with no guarantee that AEW and NJPW will have a working relationship immediately.

8 points - Shingo and BUSHI. Their presence in this match makes the whole Junior Tag League feel like it was a waste of time, and if they don't win the belts it was kinda pointless to put them in it in the first place.

7 points - Taiji Ishimori. KUSHIDA doesn't feel like he has anything left to accomplish in the juniors division anymore. Not sure if he'll move up to heavyweights or explore other opportunities, but I see Bone Soldier getting a big win.

6 points - ZSJ. For about a year now I've been wondering if he was going to make a play to usurp Suzuki, and he's the only Suzuki-gun member getting a singles match so a win here would make sense.

5 points - Ibushi. If there was a belt they don't seem shy about passing along frequently, it's the NEVER belt...and Ibushi being a freelancer complicates things slightly. But still, he's so ridiculously popular I don't know they'll end his reign so fast. I could see him maybe dropping it to ZSJ down the line.

4 points - Tanahashi. I've been going back and forth on this one a lot, but the more I think about it the more I think Ace will prevail. Kenny's taken so many shots at NJPW in his build that it seems like Tana's gotta shut him up. Also, the G1 winner has a recent history of blowing it in their title match and I feel like that's gotta end eventually.

3 points - Guerrillas of Destiny. While Shingo/BUSHI probably got put into their match to win, I feel like the soon to be departing Bucks were put here simply to eat a pin for the eventual winner. I could see either of the other teams winning but I think G.O.D get the last laugh on the Elite and LIJ can still lay claim to getting a regular title match down the line.

2 points - CHAOS team to win the gauntlet. Makabe/Yano/Taguchi feel like they were thrown together just to get them on the card. Nagata/Cobb/Finlay is just a random team. The Elite aren't winning it with another guy about to leave. The only other team that I could see winning are Suzuki-gun, but I'll guess they lose and set up a Bullet Club/CHAOS title match for New Year Dash in which Goto or YOSHI-HASHI reveal themselves as the latest CHAOS mole.

1 point - Okada. I think it's a good thing I have the least amount of confidence predicting this match and it might be the one I'm most interested in as a result. It's the only one with a truly well-defined story, and it's honestly a total coin flip to me. On one hand I think White could use the big win more since Okada can always be rebuilt...but it's tough to lay money against Okada so I'll guess him and call it a day.

lol, I'm about to grab a 4 hour nap and hope to marathon through

If they go the BC mole route, it has to be Yoshi-hashi. Dude needs something...anything to stand out. He’s good enough in the ring, but he has nothing going on, in any other regard.

Besides Titus O’neiling himself that one time.

Very interested to see what happens with the KUSHIDA vs. Ishimori match considering the recent rumors of him possibly leaving for the WWE after this month. Even without the rumors, he likely was going to drop the title anyways since he's just been a placeholder champ after Hiromu got hurt. The rumors just make things a bit more juicier for this match.

Besides Omega, everyone else in The Elite already played their hands on where they are heading off to next. Only real surprise left is if NJPW is willing to partner up with AEW.

Does new japan world have a trial?

I can't log on anywhere. What a fucking joke.

Biggest show of the year and their server shits the bed.

I just read that WWE offered Kenny Omega a 23 million dollar deal or something. Dunno how true that is.

God I’d be so sad if Kenny goes to WWE. They’ll have no idea what to do with him, they just want to play keepaway.

Gauntlet match was good overall.

Anyway finally got this up on my PC. Not ideal since I wanted to watch on chrome cast but it’s still fucking up any time I try to access on my phone. Better than nothing.

There were rumors very recently of WWE breaking their pay system for new contracts and bumping up the offer they made to Omega to the point it made him hesitate on whatever he was planning before.

Depending on how many years its for, he might be looking at close to Cena tier money in the WWE ($4-$6 million per year).

I've only seen Omega doing fuck around work with the Young Bucks in ROH, and he was OK, I guess. Is he really worth all this?

Watched the gauntlet on my PC and then got the Chromecast to work less than a minute before the main card. Woooooooo!!!!!!!

The key seems to be NOT using the link at the top of NJPW World

Pretty much considering how much his value shot up the past 2 years and how important he was to NJPW for their US expansion plans and to ROH for helping break records for ticket sales.

Fucking nj world saying I need to pay despite my account showing they charged me yesterday. Whatever. Found a stream so it’s all good.

Timing is perfect for me but there's not enough star power to pull me towards this event

yeah, their site is fucked at the moment

guess it's sorta encouraging that so many people are trying to watch live, but still, gotta sort this shit

Ibushi kinda fucked up on the Spanish fly there. Still, fun sequence.

Is there any live stream? I would try to watch it but the chances are very less that I am gonna watch the whole show.

I guess my question should have been "is he really that good?".

This show would be so much better with anyone but Kevin Kelly on play by play

wtf ibushi just brained himself. Lucky he didn’t break his neck

Not Ibushi's face!!!

Ouch at Ibushi's face.

Kenny should ditch the Elite and come to WWE.

My stream is Japanese commentary. If I had the option I’d probably stick with this. I actually like jap commentators though. So much emotion.

I was worried about these guys fighting for this belt, but they’re beating the shit out of each other. Proper NEVER title match.

A pretty average show till now.

Ibushi vs Ospreay was really great.

Dam, Ibushi got legit KOed

Shit, was not expecting Ospreay to win it

Really good opener

Good fight.

Ibushi losing so early into his reign could indicate where he’s headed. Then again it is the never title so who knows

I think people were wondering if Kota and Will were gonna have a flippy match, instead it was a proper NEVER Title match with them beating the shit out of each other

Pulling for rappongi but LIJ are probably winning this. Not that there’s anything wrong with that. Actually have a soft spot for Shingo. Saw him live very early in his career against curry man.

Fucking BUSHI appropriating our culture

Really like Desperados theme

I think he is amazing and every match I've seen by him has been freaking sweet and very fun to watch and it makes WWE matches look like complete garbage shit

If he goes to WWE he will just have to work their shitty style though!!!

Fuuuuuck that chop

Take your merch off BUSHI, this is a fucking title match.

I think that’s my issue. He just says weird thing and at times seems bored

Well he made Dave Meltzer forget how numbers work with his 7/5 star match ratings for omega vs Olaf’s matches

BUSHI is great fun

LIJ going over seemed likely

Well that was quick.

I think Shingo's going to move up to heavyweight pretty quickly

Jr tag run has been a long time coming for LIJ. Hiromu was always embroiled in singles stuff until he, ya know.

ZSJ/Ishii could be an under the radar MOTN candidate

Fuck yeah, here we go.

Also, love NJPW.

No stupid bullshit. Just right into the next match.

Feels a bit weird there is no ROH title match on this year's card but then again those matches and the NWA title matches before usually got the weakest reactions at Wrestle Kingdom in recent years.

At least with this RPW title match, it has NJPW guys involved so the crowd should be really hot for it.

Maybe I’ll just stay up for everything. I can get by on 4 hours of sleep, right?

Easily.

4 or so hours of sleep is what I got, I usually don't go to bed til midnight but forced myself to sleep at like 9. I'll probably hit a wall at lunchtime and have a busy agenda at work today but fuck it

PROTIP: If you like guys like Ishii and Goto, go watch yourself some early 00’s Yoshihiro Takayama matches.

You can get by on no sleep if you really need to. 4 hours can be lovely sometimes.

Chris Roberts, a ref for RevPro, is reffing the British title match. Nice touch.

I really think NJPW sounds like a lot of fun, but I have a hard enough time keeping up with all of the other wrestling I already watch.

Fucking awesome guillotine counter.

What other wrestling do you watch besides WWE?

That sequence was fucking awesome

That match rocked

Great match. Fantastic ending stretch.

Ishii vs Sabre was amazing.

Started to laugh a bit when the ref just kept saying "Ishii" for like a minute or two straight.

The convoluted names of ZSJ's finishers are amazing. Like his Octopus hold is officially called "Hurrah! Another Year, Surely This One Will Be Better Than the Last; The Inexorable March of Progress Will Lead Us All To Happiness."

ZSJ is amazing

I'm very intrigued at NJPW coming to Dallas in July.

Just one wrestle kingdom I would like to see a tag title match that isn’t a 3-way or 4-way. Every year with this. Both tag title matches.

Without a shadow of a doubt that is his own little rib on the commentators, and I love it.

Sanada looks like an Asian Viking from the year 3029.

Both of last year's tag title matches were straight up. R3k/Bucks and LIJ/KES. But they offset that with a four-way junior singles title match.

They can't help themselves but pull a WWE at WM to get everyone onto the show.

Every time I see Jado now I forget who he is

Cool masks

shit wanted to watch ZSJ match... was gonna start watching in a lil...

Fucking Rama forgot his war paint. Now I want him to lose.

His holds have a pretty funny story attached to them in NJPW.

At one point, NJPW officials started to think he was BSing them with all the random names he was calling his moves till he showed them a tape of his Orienteering with Napalm Death move being announced in a different promotion.

Love the entrance for EVIL

ZSJ and Sanada are my two favorites in NJPW

Clever spot

I really dig the camera work/look of the dome

oof awful camera cut

Generally NJPW has excellent camera work, but when they do fuck up it’s a doozy

Definitely nice to watch the action without the camera violently shaking every 10 seconds tho

lol at the ref giving gedo his kendo stick back