KAI-GO GO NOAH Rangers (Kaito Kiyomiya, Volume 2)

[Hi! This is the second of a three part series of my look at Pro Wrestling NOAH's current Heavyweight Champion and all around good boy Kaito Kiyomiya. The first part is here, it focuses on some of the matches he had when he was still a Young Boy, along with the first big singles matches he had upon his return from his learning excursion. Definitely suggest you read that article first, checking out the matches you want to, before coming back to this entry. Thanks!]

Where we last left our hero, he was...well Kaito was getting his ass kicked. Coming back from excursion didn't bode well for Kaito, even with a handful of multi man victories and one singles victory against Andrew Everett. But, now under the tutelage of Go Shiozaki, a man some guy on Cagematch says "has an air of royal arrogance about him and in that sense he reminds me of Vegeta from Dragon Ball Z" which is fucking poetic, maybe the young man will finally find his way and do better for himself. But the Global Tag League is no play-date for soft men, the competition is tough, a title shot awaits at the end of this road. Will the newly forged team of KAI-GO make it to the finals?


With Go Shiozaki vs. Akitoshi Saito and Masao Inoue, NOAH Global Tag League Night 1, 3.18.18
I had to look up what a "Dark Agents" was finally. I now have a...vaguely general idea. The answer is "It's Akitoshi and the lads defending Christmas". If anyone who works for or with Pro Wrestling NOAH somehow reads this, first off why? Secondly, Bring back the Great Happy Christmas Championship.

Anyway, Kaito and Go took the majority of the offense in this contest. I hate to say it, but they didn't seem to sweat their opponents here. Kaito started off handily out wrestling Saito, before letting Go come in to chop a motherfucker or two. Barring the laziest Total Elimination I've ever seen, nothing special actually came out of the Dark Agent camp (Note: I'm not trying to be overly critical of the Dark Agents here, but it was a clothesline and a calf kick. Saito may as well have been giving Inoue emotional support for all his kick did to bring Kiyomiya down). A few minutes later, Kiyomiya rolled up Masao with an O'Connor with a Bridge for the pin.
**1/2 (Despite how low I'm rating this, it was a pretty fun watch. If you only have 10 minutes on your hands I would actually recommend this.)

Kaito, The Agumon (Kaito Kiyomiya, Volume 1)

So I really like Pro Wrestling, but I haven't been watching a lot for it lately. Blame Grad School, blame work, blame the pit of despair and self loathing depression's sunken me into (but mostly that last one), but I just kinda stopped after the G1 this year. So I want to try and kick my ass into watching it again. So instead of trying and failing to cover big shows...I'm just gonna watch wrestling. Sometimes it'll be a single wrestler, other times a string of title defenses, and sometimes I'm just gonna watch random matches during the week. Fuck it, I don't have a format anymore.

Ask literally anyone who I'm friends with or have talked to for more than 5 minutes at a wrestling show, they'll tell you I love Pro Wrestling Noah. I don't know why. Maybe I like the little guys. Maybe it's the fanatical fan-base. I got in just as Suzuki-Gun and New Japan's booking influence was heading out, so a lot of my opinions on the company are skewed compared to contemporary fans. I never knew KENTA in NOAH, or Morishima, Kobashi, or Akiyama. I call Takashi Sugiura and Naomichi Marufuji "Uncle". I consider Junta Miyawaki, Yosiki Inamura, and Kinya Okada my Young Boy class (and occasionally think of myself as being in that class. If you tell me you've never even briefly fantasized about being a wrestler, you're lying). So I'm hoping to use my new style to watch literally as much NOAH as I can, as well as some good 90s All Japan to kind of grasp where NOAH's roots came from.

So, Kaito. I...I don't know how I feel about Kaito. My emotions are mixed. There's something about him I don't like, but everyone else loves him so I find myself grudgingly biting my tongue. I guess I'm hoping to use this and future entries on my blog to suss out what it is I don't like about him. So thanks for coming with me on this journey, for the three of you who didn't violently close the tab to this blog.

Vs. Minoru Suzuki, Great Voyage in Yokohama Vol. 2,10.26.16
Look at Kaito here. So tiny, so full of hope.

Suzuki's gonna crush him like an orange.

This match is from the first whole NOAH show I ever watched, the same show where Katsuyori Shibata and Go Shiozaki went 20+ minutes and Katsuhiko Nakajima won the GHC Heavyweight championship (Put a Big Ol' pin in this match, we'll be coming back to it and the following title reign one day.) I remember liking the whole card, but besides the two above mentioned matches, Suzuki vs. Kaito was the match I remembered the most vividly. Probably because I love any time Minoru (rocking his old theme here) takes apart Young Boys on a whim. The same proved true in this match, but Kaito honestly got more offense in than most trainees usually do against Suzuki. After a flurry of offense and trying his hardest to stand up to The King, Suzuki brutalized him with strikes for a good 30 second stretch, which includes Kaito being stood back up to take more by Suzuki more than. A great mauling.
**1/2

Coming up on New Japan's Wrestle Kingdom 13

3, Koraku 1-chrome, Bunkyo, Tokyo Japan
The Home of the Japanese Baseball Hall of Fame, and the Yomiuri Giants
42,000 seats
The Big Egg
The Motherfucking Dome.

It's the most wonderful time of the year. It's New Year's show time, and the biggest show of them all is New Japan's Wrestle Kingdom. Since I've started watching New Japan, it seems like they've successfully upped the ante and delivered each January 4th. The card this year looks to deliver the same high caliber insanity as years past, people are already calling this 2019's show of the year. Will it be? My bets are always on Dominion personally, but I don't know if they can make a card that can top this. We'll save that discussion for July. Ten matches, eight titles,five potential show stealers. I'm joined for the first time on my blog by Justin of Enuffa.com to break down these matches best as we can. Let's cut the filler and get right to it.

NEVER Openweight 6-Man Tag Team Championship #1 Contender's Match

Landon: We've got one clusterfuck of a bumblefuck replacing another this year, with the gauntlet taking place of the much loved (by me at least) New Japan Rumble. The winners get a title match the next night, so it'll either be the first team out or the last team out for the match. My money's on the piecemeal team of Yuji Nagata, Jeff Cobb, and David Finlay to take it here. Yes, really, that's a team.

Justin: First off, goddammit this show's gonna be insane.  As of this moment WrestleKingdom 9 is my favorite PPV of all time, and this could very easily eclipse that one.  There is so much variety, so much talent, and so many potential show stealers I'm not even sure which match I'm most excited about. 
Ok, on to the gauntlet match.  I'm actually glad this is replacing the Rumble this year, as I was never much into the NJ Rumbles.  I'm also glad this match is on the pre-show, as it's been a bit of a throwaway in past years.  But it should be entertaining nonetheless.  Gotta go with Suzuki and KES to take it down.  They're overqualified for this match and this division, but this'll be their consolation prize for not being on the main card.

NEVER Openweight Championship [1st Defense]
Kota Ibushi (c) vs. Will Ospreay (Chaos)

Landon: This match is the Opener. Hashimoto help us all. The past six months has been chaotic for the NEVER Openweight Championship, with a total of five title changes since Dominion. I'm legitimately afraid someone might die in this match, more so than the wild brawl I assume Jericho and Naito is going to turn into. I think Ibushi retains, where he goes from here I don't know. But we need a solid NEVER Champion to be able to hold onto the title for a long time.

Justin: They're nuts for putting this match first, as it's gonna be a really tough act to follow.  I just hope they don't get shortchanged on time.  Give Ibushi and Ospreay 20 minutes and this could be the Match of the Year.  At the very least it's gonna be in the running for greatest PPV opener of all time.  Ibushi just won the title so it should stay on him for a long while.  However, Ospreay will build his reputation as a new heavyweight with his performance here.


IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Championship [5th Defense]
El Desperado and Yoshinobu Kanemaru (Suzuki-Gun) (c) vs. SHO and YOH (Chaos) vs. Bushi and Shingo Takagi (Los Ingobernables de Japon)

Landon: Suzuki-Gun will have held the titles for a total of 304 days by the time the bell rings on this match, the healthiest reign a Junior tag team has had since I started watching four years ago. But I'm sure they're going to finally lose their stranglehold on the belts here tonight. I think Bushi and Shingo take the belts here, Shingo is destined for great things in New Japan and this would be the first stop in a great 2019. Sorry 3K, you deserve better, but the momentum falls in the corner of LIJ.

Justin: For some reason they made both tag title matches into 3-ways but I'm okay with it in both cases; the third team being added should undoubtedly improve each match.  SZGN obviously has to drop the belts here, but to whom?  Sho and Yoh are overdue for another run, but Bushi and Shingo are the hot Jr. team.  I'd say LIJ should get the belts here and RPG3K should chase them for a few months. 

RevPro British Undisputed Heavyweight Championship (3rd Defense)
Tomohiro Ishii (Chaos) (c) vs. Zack Sabre Jr. (Suzuki-Gun)

Landon: This is preemptively my pick for favorite match on this show. Zack is great at his craft, Ishii is great at being Ishii, and they've had 4 matches to build up strategy for each other. It's 3-1 to Ishii in singles matches over the past two years, but I think Zack wins here on the big show. Poor Ishii can't get a singles win at Wrestle Kingdom. I wish i had more to say, but I have no words besides the general grunts of excitement.

Justin:Another show stealing candidate pits the bruiser against the mechanic.  This match will be simultaneously brutal and balletic.  Striking vs. finesse.  I'll go with ZSJ to regain the strap.

IWGP Heavyweight Tag Team Championship [1st Defense]
Tama Tonga and Tanga Loa (Bullet Club Firing Squad) (c) vs. EVIL and SANADA (Los Ingobernables de Japon) vs. Matt Jackson and Nick Jackson (Bullet Club Elite)

Landon: My appetite for this match is really spoiled after I learned it was going to be a three way like the Jr. match. I really don't see a reason, other than having twin Magic killers to each Jackson, who will roll out of the ring for 15 minutes. Young Bucks, go home. Firing Squad wins.  Maybe it'll be a good tag match.

Justin: The Bucks will compete in the Dome for the Heavyweight Tag Titles for the first time.  That there is pretty cool.  This match should be a wild one, full of nonstop action.  Normally I'd say Matt & Nick would be a lock to regain the belts, but with this AEW business I'm not sure where things stand.  I assume AEW will essentially replace ROH as the de facto North American arm of New Japan, and the Elite guys will continue to be a major presence on both continents.  If that's the case, the Bucks would still be a safe bet to win.  But with everything still being up in the air one of the other two teams will probably win this.  Given all the other likely title changes I'll go with GOD to retain.



IWGP U.S. Heavyweight Championship [1st Defense]
Cody (Bullet Club Elite) (c) vs. Juice Robinson

Landon: I dunno. Was this supposed to be Beretta? Or was that ROH? Wait, that was a number one contenders...but then Cody...I need to pay more attention in 2019. Juice regains the title, and a lot of good that it did for anyone involved.

Justin: It's a rematch from two years ago.  Man, how far as Juice progressed since then?  Cody too, for that matter.  This match will be overshadowed on such a stacked card, but it's still gonna be a fine contest.  Juice should definitely get the win here.

IWGP Junior Heavyweight Championship [1st Defence]
KUSHIDA (c) vs. Taiji Ishimori (Bullet Club Firing Squad)
Landon:This one will be interesting. Ishimori's never held the IWGP Jr. Heavyweight title before, really his only claim of accolade in the division this year was leading his block in the Super Juniors, and there wasn't really much of a setup to this match besides "I want that". Which if the match is as good as I think it will be then that part doesn't matter. Ishimori takes it here from KUSHIDA in strong fasion, with no one else to challenge him in the near future unfortunately.

Justin: Looks like Ishimori will be taking Hiromu's spot in this division (I'm still upset about Hiromu).  This match will be excellent, and yet another potential show stopper.  Kushida winning the belt last fall in Hiromu's absence served as a bit of a division reset, and this match should mark the elevation of a new top Jr..  Hence Ishimori wins.

Jay White (Bullet Club Firing Squad) vs Kauchika Okada (Chaos)

Landon: Well, Jay's come a lot farther than I thought he would a year ago. In a way, being in a "Special Singles Match" at Wrestle Kingdom is something of a notable accomplishment; it means you did something to or with someone so big and impactful in the company that a title doesn't have to be on the line for the match to have meaning. I think I'm going to enjoy this match more than Jay's match with Tanahashi, but much like that match he's going to choke on what he bit off for himself. Rainmakers Everywhere.

Justin:Yet another hugely improved star, Jay White has had a rocket strapped to his back over the last year despite some initial reservations.  His WK12 match with Tanahashi was underwhelming, but White dug in and found a fantastically hateable villain persona, and it's worked wonderfully for him.  White is knocking at the door of the company's Big Four spots and will someday occupy one of them.  On this card this match seems like one of the lesser entries, but it could surprise everyone.  Jay White needs this win.


IWGP Intercontinental Heavyweight Championship [2nd Defense]

Chris Jericho (c) vs. Tetsuya Naito (Los Ingobernables de Japon)
Landon: What a wild turn of events this year has given us. Wouldn't have guessed that Chris Jericho would have been the first man to hold both New Japan's and WWE's intercontinental Championships, but 2018 had enough insanity to go around. It'd be interesting to see who they put up against Jericho if he retained the title here, but in my heart I think Naito takes it. Not that he wants the damned thing, but he'll have it whether he wants it or not. Would Jericho stay if he wasn't champion? Probably not, but it was a fun ride while it lasted.

Justin:The rematch from Dominion, this will serve as a great change of pace from the rest of the show.  Jericho's new Terry Funk style of brawling is perfect for this stage of his career, and as a way to change up whatever card he's on.  The Dominion match was rather slow-paced but felt like a real fight, and this being the probably blowoff, I think we'll see both guys swinging for the fences and cutting a faster pace.  Naito obviously regains the I-C Title here.

IWGP Heavyweight Championship [4th Defense]
Kenny Omega (Bullet Club Elite) (c) vs. Hiroshi Tanahashi

Landon: I never really had a feeling on Chris Charlton, besides that his book on New Japan was really, really good. Neither did I really have strong feelings about this match. I knew that Tanahashi and Omega would have to meet again eventually after their match in 2016, I wasn't interested in seeing it here for some reason. but then, on the last show of New Japan's 2018, Charlton got me hyped with one simple comparison. "Hiroshi Tanahashi considers Professional wrestling a Theocracy[...]Kenny Omega sees it as a Meritocracy". That fucking hit me right in the soul. It made me step back and ask myself how I saw wrestling. Was it a business or a church? Certainly, we need men and women in wrestling who see it both ways, and 2018 has been a year fueled by both. For every Elite running All In and AEW, we need Okadas, Miyaharas and Kiyomiyas who are here for their companies because they love them. So which do I solidly stand with? I can't believe I'm saying this, but I'm backing Tanahashi in this fight. Omega's pursuit and win of the IWGP Heavyweight title will still be one of the greatest journeys of my fandom, but his reign ends on January 4th

Justin: It's the clash of styles.  The time-tested Japanese gladiator vs. the iconoclastic gaijin.  I'd forgotten that we've only seen this match once before, nearly three years ago.  Omega has come so far since then, Tanahashi has defied his age so many times since then, and they're on the biggest possible stage when their company is on the cusp of attaining a global footprint.  Omega and Tanahashi will not allow themselves or each other to have anything less than a ***** match.  This main event will be on par with Tana-Okada, thus creating a brand new all-time great rivalry.  I think Tanahashi wins the belt one last time, setting up a rematch at MSG.

Thanks for reading! I'm glad that I can turn my passion for wrestling into something that so many people enjoy. If you want to get regular updates on when I release more reviews, you can follow me at Twitter at @LSWayne21. And if you're still looking for your fix on wrestling, check out Enuffa.com, where I got my start in reviewing and still contribute from time to time.
All of the New Japan I watch can be found on New Japan World. See you on the other side of New Years.

New Japan Pro Wrestling Presents: Dominion 2018

Fuck, I needed a Glass of Brandy and a Cigar after this one.

There was buzz in all the corners of my wrestling world about this one. People preemptively calling it the best show of the year, many saying of all time, caught me off guard. Was it going to be really? Wrestle Kingdom was packed, not to mention the other great shows of the year's past.
But Fuck, was I wrong.
This was, as I texted to my brother at 7:30 in the morning, the best wrestling show I've ever seen. Top to bottom the show flowed great, and while not every match was a homerun, they didn't all have to be. Now, I'm going to be reporting every match finish cause that's just how I roll. But if you want to avoid the spoilers, there's a star rating sitting all alone at the end of each match report for a TL:DR recommendation. All the fluff outta the way, let's get started.

IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Championships [3nd Defense]
El Desperado and Yoshinobu Kanemaru (Suzuki-Gun) (c) vs SHO and YOH (CHAOS)
There was no breaks in this match, and it was definitely better the second time watching it. At 92 days, Desperado and Kanemaru are the longest reigning Jr. Tag Champs in the past 2 years. That's crazy but it's also telling to how the Jr. Tag Titles are a proverbial hot potato. I thought that Roppongi 3K had this easily, their potential as individuals is huge but right now they could be very comfortable at the top of the tag team pile. I would have slated Desperado to challenge for the Junior Heavyweight title down the road, and he still might as one half of the tag champs. Whoops, let the ending slip, didn't I? After several attempts to cheat, Kanemaru planted SHO with his bottle of Suntory, before Despy pinned him with some variety of clutch pin. A good opener, but not phenomenal like I know it could be.
***

Zero1 Presents: Dream Series, Sozo no Jin

Alright, its been a month and a half since I reviewed anything. So it's time to get back into the swing of things. I have 50 days worth of All, New, and NOAH to catch up on ( still trying to figure out how I'm presenting all of that), but I figured before I publish my thoughts on all of that, I could take a few days to review one of my new favorite follows, Zero1. If you go back to my first Zero1 review, I really enjoyed what I found, walking in practically blind. So was the follow up show just as good?
 Better?
Horrendous?
Let's find out.

Highlights of Yoshikazu Yokoyama vs. Shoki Kitamura
 Yokoyama has the worst hair ever. It's like some strange lovechild of a Pompadour and a Mullet. I mentioned in the review for the New Year's show that there was obviously some joke I was missing with Yokoyama, and I was so right. He's basically the parts of Ryuske Taguchi and Tichi that no one likes and cranks it to 12. He's cocky and loudmouthed but is beyond satirical in how much he can't back it up. You may think this sounds terrible, but it works so well here/ Kitamura took it to him, including the goddamndest spear you've ever seen in your life from a Young Boy, before Yokoyama hurriedly cut him off and tapped him a Camel Clutch. Shoki joins Kohei Sato and Tomoyuki Oka  as my favorite Young Boys right now.

Highlights of TARU, KAMIKAZE, Hartley Jackson & Chris Vice vs. Super Tiger, Tatsuhito Takaiwa, Shoji Fukushima & Towa Iwasaki
The entire segment was just to show off VooDoo Murder's shiny new toy, Vice. Opening slaughtering of a Young Boy lead to the ending minute of the match with a Package Piledriver from hell on Iwasaki. Iwasaki is currently not one of my favorite Young Boys right now.

Pro Wrestling NOAH Presents: Navigation for The Future 2018

2017 could definitely be called a year of rebuilding for Misawa'a company. With Suzuki-Gun and the last of New Japan's influence gone, the fate of the company was in question more than ever as the year began. But, these men persisted, and all things considered it's looking much better than they were last year. Coming into 2018 we have a new Champion figurehead, a returning Young Boy, and one of the most solid midcards in Japan right now. Will the Navigation for The Future set a great pace for 2018 to come? Or will it set us up for a year of limping? Let's find out.


Junta Miyawaki vs. Yoshinari Ogawa
Junta, being a Young Lion who makes stupid decisions like this, jumped Ogawa hard before the bell. Streamers were still in the ring. He showed great courage, like Jack Burton of old, but was killed with a back suplex out of nowhere. I chortled.
*

All Japan Pro Wrestling Presents: New Year's War, 2018

I don't want to surprise anyone, but Grad School while working full time eats up any decent gaps for wrestling.


But I will persist, because people need to know about All Japan Pro Wrestling! (And NOAH, but we'll get to that). New Year's War is the usual 2 day event that sets the tone for the year in a whole. We had most of the company's titles on the line (Sorry, All Asia Tag) and some of the undercard shows a good amount of promise. We're losing watching time for NOAH before New Japan's New Beginnings, so let's get rolling


Night One

Atsushi Maruyama, Dick Togo and Masanobu Fuchi vs. Osamu Nishimura, Ultimo Dragon and Yohei Nakajima
Fuchi is so, ridiculously not good. I'm sorry if I'm missing something here, if he was much better when he was younger, or if I just have a lack of nostalgia, but I will never complain about Manabu Nakanishi again. Opening comedy about closed fists between Fuchi and Dragon, and thank Shinya that things picked up after Dick Togo and Yohei came in to bring life to the whole thing. Togo puts on the greatest crossface of all time, Yohei bent in angles that shouldn't be possible in a submission like this, and tapped out.
*1/2

Lemme Tell You About: Zero-1 Happy New Year

I'm trying really hard to expand my tastes and viewing in Japanese Pro Wrestling. Beside the New Japan that was already on my plate, I started watching All Japan and Pro Wrestling NOAH last year. I was richly rewarded with refreshing match up and wrestlers, and I walked out of it with a handful of new favorites to follow as they go on to other promotions, and maybe even come to New Japan. But, it's time to make the same, pointed effort to watch other companies. I've taken it, regardless of advice and warnings, to take a look at ZERO1 and Wrestle-1 throughout the year. Will I be left hurting, as such things as hotshot booking and Bob Sapp claim? Or am I going to have my curiosity rewarded? Only one way to find out.

Highlights of Ganseki Tanaka & Tsugutaka Sato vs. Shoji Fukushima & Towa Iwasaki
The two young ZERO1 men, Shoji Fukushima in red and Towa Iwasaki in black, want me to know their name. They threw themselves at their Wrestle-1 opponents (who were given no entrance on TV), and it doesn't go as well as they would hope. Towa was laid out with "A Judo throw that could kill a Bull Elephant" as I wrote, and Shoji was caught in the Boston Crab. He tapped out but showed great spirit.

New Japan Pro Wrestling Presents: Wrestle Kingdom 12

3, Koraku 1-chrome, Bunkyo, Tokyo Japan
The Home of the Japanese Baseball Hall of Fame, and the Yomiuri Giants
42,000 seats
The Big Egg
The Motherfucking Dome.

The best day of the Puroresu year has passed us by. The most hardcore of fans watched it live, while the rest of us couldn't or decided not to use a vacation day and watched it on Thursday night. While you can't deny that the show was good, this may be the first Wrestle Kingdom I've seen where the whole is greater than the sum of it's parts. Not to spoil my review going forward, but no match sticks out as a match of the year, or even as the definite best match on the card. That's not necessarily a bad attribute in the case of the latter, though. Each match on the show was unique, appealing in different ways, but all entertaining. It was for sure, however, a can't miss show from top to bottom.


IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Titles [1st Title Defense]
Roppongi 3K (SHO & YOH) (W/Rocky Romero) (CHAOS) (c) vs. Young Bucks (Matt Jackson & Nick Jackson) (Bullet Club)
It's only the first match, but I need to start with an aside. In 1994, Rick Rude's career effectively ended when he injured his back, on a dive to the outside of the ring, at a dome (specifically the dome in Fukuoka). When the crux of this match is that one member of each team has fucked up their back with falls, on a Dome show with a notoriously raised platform, I was on edge for the rest of the show.

That being said, Matt Jackson's selling was on point.
SHO and YOH needed to impress here, getting a hat-trick of victories to cement themselves as the next big things of the Junior Division. The Bucks, meanwhile, were coming off a string of well fought matches over the Junior Titles and ROH Tag Titles last year. They continued that trend here, working over YOH's back after one of the aforementioned falls. For the majority of his time in the ring, the defending champ was taking a lion's share of abuse to his back. SHO would try his best to get his team going after being tagged in, and for a while it seemed as if the young men would upset their challengers, but the injury was something that couldn't be overcome. A Meltzer Driver and a Sharpshooter made The Young Bucks a record-cementing seven time champions. A great way to start the night with a fast paced, hard hitting contest
****