NJPW “WRESTLE KINGDOM 11” Results & Review

Results NJPW “WRESTLE KINGDOM 11”, Wednesday 1/4/2017 @ the Tokyo Dome in Tokyo.

0) New Japan Rumble.
⚫ Michael Elgin came out first, which was a bit of a surprise since it was expected he’d miss the show due to an injury he had suffered at the hands of Naito, weeks ago. Unsurprisingly though, from the get go of this battle royal, it became clear that Big Mike wasn’t here for fun but determined to be in there until the end.

Other participants in this Battle Royal included: Billy Gunn, BONE SOLDIER, Jushin Liger, Kuniaki Kobayashi, Tiger Mask IV, Manabu Nakanishi, Ryusuke Taguchi, YOSHITATSU, Yuji Nagata, Hiroyoshi Tenzan, Hiro Saito, ánd legendary gajin wrestler and former IWGP World Champion Scott Norton.

Order of elimination: BONE SOLDIER (3:50), Billy Gunn (5:46), Kuniaki Kobayashi (8:59), Manabu Nakanishi (12:00), Jushin “Thunder” Liger (12:00), Tiger Mask IV (12:49), Yoshitatsu (16:26), Yuji Nagata (19:20), Ryusuke Taguchi (21:02), Hiro Saito (22:24), Scott Norton (22:38), Hiroyoshi Tenzan (23:34)

In the end it all came down to Elgin and Cheeseburger, but the mismatch proved to be to much for the ROH representative. Elgin won, eliminating Cheeseburger (25:13) following the Elgin Bomb.

1) TV Anime Special match: Tiger Mask W vs. Tiger the Dark.
⚫ It was obvious that Kota Ibushi once again donned the mask of Tiger W and Tiger the Dark was portrayed by former ROH star ACH.
This was a fun match, also taking in consideration that it’s based on an animated tv-series transcending into real-life.
As expected, they worked at a quick pace with some big spots. Tiger Dark took a dive on his opponent to the outside, but Tiger W soon retaliated and came back with a Double Jump Moonsault to the outside as well. The match went back and forth, but it was Tiger Mask W who won (6:34) following a Tiger Suplex and a Modified Tiger Driver.

2) IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Championship match: “The Young Bucks” Nick & Matt Jackson (c) vs. Super Junior Tag Tournament 2016 Winners “Roppongi Vice” Rocky Romero & Trent Barreta.
⚫ The Young Bucks came out wearing all of their championship belts, including their own Superkick Party titles, which was pretty funny.
The match was OK for what it was. The Bucks once again played their heelish tactics to the fullest and Romero was left all alone early on, as Trent took a sick fall to the outside that kept him out for most of the remainder.
Going with the “dissension in Roppongi” storyline, it was Rocky who redeemed himself here and somehow scored the surprise pin-fall for the team, when he reversed the More Bang For Your Buck into a Crucifix Hold on Matt Jackson for the win (12:57).
So, RPG became the new Jr. Tag Champions and all seemed well again in Roppongi Ville.

3) NEVER Openweight 6-Man Tag Team Championship Gauntlet match: “Bullet Club”- Yujiro Takahashi, Bad Luck Fale & “Hangman” Adam Page vs. “CHAOS”- YOSHI-HASHI, Will Ospreay & Jado vs. “Los Ingobernables de Japón”- SANADA, EVIL & BUSHI vs. Satoshi Kojima, Ricochet & David Finlay Jr. (c)
⚫ Bullet Club vs. CHAOS: It started with a brawl, until Ospreay did some of his wacky stuff. It was short-lived however. Jado got in but was soon pinned by Takahashi (7:30) following the Pimp Juice.
⚫ Bullet Club vs. L.I.J: This was even shorter (are they already saving time for the bigger matches later on?). After some back-and-forth action, it was SANADA who made Takahashi submit (2:06) with the Skull End.
⚫ L.I.J vs. Kojima, Ricochet & Finlay Jr.:
For the final part of this gauntlet, the defending champions got in at last.
Finlay and Ricochet started off with some crazy dives, but Finlay ended up being double-teamed by L.I.J. BUSHI then hit the MX on Ricochet, which took him out. Kojima tried to make the safe, but was misted by BUSHI, which led to an EVIL Powerbomb on the wily veteran. EVIL then nailed him with his STO finisher (6:30) for the pin and the trio of Los Ingobernables de Japón became the new NEVER 6-Man Champions.

4) Juice Robinson vs. ” The American Nightmare” Cody.
⚫ So Cody is the newest addition to the heel stable of Bullet Club, but oddly enough there was no visible sign whatsoever of him being in that gang. Hmm.
The match itself was pretty OK, Cody received some nice responses from the crowd and Juice once again worked his ass off here. They had some action outside of the ring, which made Robinson look really good, but once inside it was all Rhodes. Cody went for Juice’s leg, which he had hurt while attempting a Powerbomb, and hit a second Cross Rhodes on him.
Cody pinned Juice (9:37) and won his New Japan debut match. Let’s see where this whole BC/Rhodes story goes from here.

5) ROH World Championship match: Kyle O’Reilly (c) vs. Adam Cole.
⚫ I actually liked the match very much, even though it seemed a bit rushed, but the crowd wasn’t really into it. Can you blame them? They hardly even know of ROH in their country, let alone some of the major stars. This partnership between ROH & NJPW seemingly works best the other way around.
Cole and O’Reilly did some heated exchanges and tried to make the best of it. There were lots of kicks and strikes and then some. In the end it was Cole who regained the title to become the first-ever 3-time ROH Champion, when he pinned O’Reilly (10:14) following the Last Shot.

6) 3-Way IWGP World Heavyweight Tag Team Championship match: “Guerrillas of Destiny” Tama Tonga & Tanga Loa (c) vs. World Tag League 2016 Winners “Great Bash Heel” Togi Makabe & Tomoaki Honma vs. “CHAOS” Toru Yano & Tomohiro Ishii.
⚫ This was a fun match, if you like Yano and his antics. Other than that, it was pretty much all of the guys getting some of their stuff in to work a relatively dull match. GoD and GBH had already clashed at the World Tag League finals, but there wasn’t a chance they were going to top that performance. Add the CHAOS team in the mix to freshen things up, but there wasn’t anything we haven’t seen from these guys before. Everybody did their stuff and that ended with a bit of a turmoil. Yano came in to save Ishii from a GoD Double Suplex attempt, by hitting them with a double Low Blow. Ishii then floored the Tongan brothers with a double Lariat, resulting in Yano pinning Tanga Loa with a School Boy roll-up for win (12:24), becoming the new Tag Champs in the process.

7) IWGP Junior Heavyweight Championship match: KUSHIDA (c) vs. Hiromu Takahashi.
⚫ This was the best match of the night so far. Takahashi turned out to be that great, new opponent KUSHIDA so desperately needed and they delivered. There was tons of heat and crowd investment, mainly because of KUSHIDA once again showing his more vicious side.
Somewhere at the beginning, Hiromu hit a sick Powerbomb to the floor from the apron on KUSHIDA. From thereon, this match was a train wreck, with both guys trying to “kill” eachother move for move. You have to see it to believe it. Just crazy.
Near the end Takahashi battled out of another Hoverboard Lock, this time from the top rope, countering it into an Inverted Destroyer. A corner Splash later, Hiromu hit his Modified Side Slam TIME BOMB finisher for the pin-fall (16:15), thus becoming the new Jr. Champion.

8) NEVER Openweight Championship match: Katsuyori Shibata (c) vs. Hirooki Goto.
⚫ This was a bout between two former tag partners, but that didn’t seem bother either man, as they literally went to war. It was hard, nasty and sometimes cringeworthy. Well, it was strongstyle at its finest and I love it.
There was lots of offense, kicks, strikes and even some sickening Headbutts from both men, but it was Goto who prevailed.
Hirooki Goto became the new NEVER Champion (16:17), when he pinned Shibata following a second GTR.

9) IWGP Intercontinental Championship match: Tetsuya Naito (c) vs. Hiroshi Tanahashi.
⚫ Tanahashi debuted his new theme (and look ??) here, but I’d rather prefer the old one. Maybe I get used to it over time, but for now it’s just meh.
Anyway, these two were destined to blow the roof off of the Tokyo Dome, and boy did they ever. This was just great and up until that point, it was to go down as the match of the night (not knowing about the main event match up next).
Both guys went for the the leg at the beginning and sold it very well. Tana performed an incredible Slingblade onto Naito on the apron, followed by a High Fly Flow to the outside that seemingly knocked the lights out of Naito. However, back in the ring, Naito came back with some big offensive moves. Tanahashi tried for another High Fly Flow, but missed and Naito hit his Destino. It wasn’t enough. After some more exchanges and one more High Fly Flow by Tana, Naito retained the IC Title (25:25), when he pinned Tanahashi following two Destino’s.

During Tetsuya Naito’s backstage interview after the match, Michael Elgin showed up, as he wants to be the next challenger for the Intercontinental Championship.

10) IWGP World Heavyweight Championship match: Kazuchika Okada (c) vs. G1 Climax 26 Winner Kenny Omega.
⚫ This was the match everybody was waiting for. And what a match it turned out to be!
Both guys had some amazing entrances, Omega even had his own Terminator-esque intro video made, which was actually pretty cool.
They started off with a bit of a feeling out period, but after that the match really took off. I can put up a whole diatribe here of actions and moves, but that probably wouldn’t do the match its justice, as it would (later) turn out to be one of the greatest pro-wrestling bouts ever. The match went long, 45+ minutes and both competitors performed at their top level and then some. This is a Must-Watch for every wrestling fan.
A table was brought into play and the match really got going. Omega busted out an incredible Ibushi-like Moonsault from the corner, but also took a sick Back Body Drop from Okada, all the way through the table outside the ring. Omega somehow mounted a comeback and hit a crazy Super Dragon Suplex onto Okada. Okada however, wouldn’t budge to anything thrown at him by Omega and the big story here was that Kenny couldn’t put his patented One-Winged Angel finisher on the IWGP champ, which would probably have had the job done and seen Omega crowned as the new champ. It wasn’t to be. The final sequence came and it was awesome. It is what Okada is known for. We saw an amazing back-and-forth exchange with multiple Rainmaker (attempts) by the champ and a flurry of vicious V-Trigger spots by Omega.
Okada then retained the IWGP Championship (46:45 !!), when he pinned Omega following a Tombstone Piledriver and a final Rainmaker.
What A Match! What An Event!!