Lions, Pillars, and Arks: New Japan Wrestle Kingdom 9

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.
(I'll never get tired of that.)

This is a significant show for a lot of people, including me. It was the first time, I believe, that there was an English broadcast of a Wrestle Kingdom. It was my first ever Wrestle Kingdom, and my first New Japan show if you don't count the War of The Worlds tour from the previous year (I'll be getting to those some day). While I didn't have Jim Ross and Matt Striker this time, I was perfectly alright with the Japanese commentary this time around (You get used to the white noise, I promise). Every title in the company was on the line this night, and the single matches that didn't have a title per see still had consequences. So, does nostalgia cloud my memory of how good this night was? Or do the matches hold up to my memory? Let's find out.

IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Title [1st Defense]
reDRagon (Bobby Fish & Kyle O'Reilly) (c) vs. Forever Hooligans (Alex Koslov & Rocky Romero) (CHAOS) vs. The Young Bucks (Matt Jackson & Nick Jackson) (Bullet Club) vs. Time Splitters (Alex Shelley & KUSHIDA)
This match is all action from bell to bell, and depending on your taste it was either great or just above alright. I'm stuck in the latter, not being that big a fan of a match that has more than four men in it to begin with, combined with being out of the loop of any stories that went into the formation of this match. I love ReDRagon well enough, but two of the teams here ceased to be shortly after this show, and the Bucks were right in the middle of Kliq parody heights. If all you want is to see insane action and pinfall breakups, look here. Koslov made the mistake of Chasing The Dragon, leading to Fish and O'Reilly successfully defending. I should go back and watch more Timesplitters and Forever Hooligans. They were very fun here.
** 3/4

Bad Luck Fale & Yujiro Takahashi & Jeff Jarrett (w/Karen Jarrett & Scott D'Amore) (Bullet Club) vs. TenKoji (Hiroyoshi Tenzan & Satoshi Kojima) & Tomoaki Honma
This match was absolutely nothing. Honma was in the thralls of popularity here, though, both 3rd generation men got their shtick mostly out of the way early so that Honma could get  killed. Jarrett waffled Takahashi with a guitar by mistake (in my favorite weapon spot of all time) and Honma nailed the pimp with a top rope headbutt. The crowd dis-proportionally exploded.*1/2

Davey Boy Smith Jr., Lance Archer, Shelton Benjamin & Takashi Iizuka (Suzuki-Gun) vs. TMDK (Mikey Nicholls & Shane Haste), Naomichi Marufuji & Toru Yano
Short, but calling it inoffensive would be a lie. There was even less here than in the six man above. The important takeaway is that TMDK and Marufuji are Pro Wrestling NOAH wrestlers, who came in to help Yano fight Suzuki-Gun. Marufuji knee'd Iizuka, whatever. I'm sure Suzuki-Gun will never cross paths with wrestlers from NOAH ever again.
*

Kazushi Sakuraba (CHAOS) vs. Minoru Suzuki (Suzuki-Gun)
UWFI Rules (Submission or Referee Stoppage)
For anyone who hasn't seen this match, let me start by warning you that this match will not be everyone's cup of tea. What these two presented was a very realistic, Mixed Martial Arts heavy, worked shoot match. There wasn't a lot of flash, or crowd participation, or big "Moves". But what there was a shit ton of strikes, ground time, and submissions. I'm in no way an MMA expert, so I can't speak too much about the action in detail, but I can recognize the realism and intensity that came out of this match. This was possibly the first time many of you will see Minoru Suzuki in some kind of peril, and that tells you the respect he has for Sakuraba. Sakuraba is deceptive in how deadly he can be in the ring. At one point, he managed to duplicate a feat from the previous day's All Japan show and lock in a Scorpion Deathlock in a legitimate and struggling manner. It was bewildering in this MMA fight but it was awesome. After having his arm crippled, Suzuki managed what is the only time I've seen anything related to a babyface comeback out of him, before choking the fuck out of Sakuraba. Go watch this match
****

NEVER Openweight Title [2nd Defense]
Tomohiro Ishii (CHAOS) (c) vs. Togi Makabe
This was The Match.This was where I knew I'd love Puroresu, and started to cement who I'd choose to follow. I remember watching this match and being in awe of what I was seeing. People talk about Ishii and Shibata's matches being the tops of strikefests, but for my money I would watch Ishii and Makabe go at it every day of the week. I think the best part about this match is that Tomohiro is nowhere near 100% for it, his leg and shoulder were heavily taped up, because Pitbull refuses to miss time over something as small as a separated shoulder. The entire match is just each man trying to prove to the other that they're the stronger, the harder, the most resilient. Open hand slaps, chops, clubbing fists, and elbows are exchanged, before Makabe is finally able to keep the champion down with a King Kong Kneedrop. But it was over, the man who won my heart was already decided. I knew here I'd follow Ishii to the bottom of the card or the top, wherever he may go. And then I remembered that these two continue to go at it for the better part of this year.
****1/4

IWGP Junior Heavyweight Title [3rd Title Defense]
Ryusuke Taguchi (c) vs. Kenny Omega (w/Matt Jackson & Nick Jackson) (Bullet Club)
This isn't the Kenny Omega of today, three years makes a world of difference. The Kenny of 2015 came off Affable, extremely serious in his role as a Bullet Club Junior Heavyweight. That, and the grey trunks are a very stark contrast to the colorful or monochrome tights of today. Taguchi, who some fans may only know as the comic relief riddled Junior or, at best, that guy a stable is named after, was in one of his working moods this night more than comedy. Since this was how I was introduced to the man, I took it as his standard, and over the next years would find myself being disappointed that this was not the case. The veteran Junior was, unfortunately, on the wrong end of a showcase. Kenny comfortably had control of 80% of the match, only briefly losing it as Taguchi fired up. But a successful defense was not to be, with Kenny planting the incumbent with a One-Winged Angel for the win, to start a long and prosperous title reign. This match did a lot to establish Omega's signature spots for the next year and beyond.
***1/2

IWGP Tag Team Title [7th Title Defense]
Doc Gallows & Karl Anderson (w/Amber Gallows) (Bullet Club) (c) vs. Hirooki Goto & Katsuyori Shibata

You know, after two and a half years of the Sangoku Basara look, I miss Goto's chain-mail coat get up. After this year's Wrestle Kingdom, we're getting a hybrid of the two, so that's neat. Gallows and Anderson may be, I've decided, one of my favorite tag teams active today. Karl is surprisingly strong for his size and Doc is surprisingly fast for his size. The match started breaking down into a series of double teams about four minutes in, and each pair had their time to work over a man from the other. Goto and Shibata took out Anderson, which left them to deal with an irate Gallows. This made for a great "Kill the Gaijin Giant" dynamic that has worked since the days of Rikidozan. Shibata and Goto won, in a moment of absolute joy for the fans and for the two of them. I don't think I've seen such pure camaraderie and joy in the ring before. As the best friends strapped the belts on each other, it really felt like a new era was coming for the Tag Division.
Shame.
***

AJ Styles (Bullet Club) vs. Tetsuya Naito
The people screamed at the very notion that AJ may hit Naito with a Clash a minute in. Seeing as he just broke Yoshitatsu's neck a month ago I understand why. This was in the middle of the awkward AJ Styles' bowl-cut days, and if you think his Soccer Mom hair is bad now you haven't seen shit. This was something of an unofficial number one contender's match, the winner going on to challenge at the New Beginning shows next month. AJ immediately got on the offense, tried for the Style's Clash once or twice, but then went for Naito's leg throughout the match. The simplest things often work the easiest for the most people, and here it was all the match needed. Naito was on the ending thralls of backlash in his popularity, but the sympathy from the crowd grew as the match went on. Even better, once Naito got the momentum back on his side briefly, he never lost the pain in his leg. Throughout his high velocity comeback he would have to keep going back to the injury, slowing it down just enough for AJ to put on the Calf Slice-Kill-Crusher. At this point the Dome crowd decided they really liked Naito and didn't want him to tap out, erupting in shouts for him to not give up. He got to the ropes, but the damage was done. Naito tried his best to fire back, but made the mistake of chasing Styles to the top rope, where he got caught trying a Frankensteiner and got leveled with a Styles Clash. Not an instant classic, but certainly a good match to watch.
***3/4

IWGP Intercontinental Title [2nd Title Defense]
Shinsuke Nakamura (CHAOS) (c) vs. Kota Ibushi
Holy fuck. Absence makes the heart grow fonder, and boy have I missed Shinsuke Nakamura. He comes off, both in this match and in the pre and post match promos, as the coolest man in the history of the world. It's something I've missed since I cut Connecticut Cold Turkey. One of the things I like most about Shinsuke, something I couldn't put into words until recently, is how he treats his knees. His primary offensive weapons, he carries himself when both moving and striking like they're made of iron. It's something unique about Shinsuke that I cant remember any other wrestler doing. This was a pairing made in heaven. Both men have legitimate combat sport experience, have a great grasp of who they are and what they do, and clicked almost instantly in this match. The story was simple: Kota is a man trying to shake the stigma of the junior heavyweight division and, to an extent, his DDT comedy roots, while Shinsuke is Shinsuke, and you can take his title from him when he's dead and you fight his zombie. Even then, his zombie might beat you. The match also felt very organic, nothing really felt set-up, and all the beats of the match flowed into the next. When Kota hit Shinsuke with a German off the second rope, from the apron to the ring, it didn't feel contrived. It just felt like an opportunity that was taken in the heat of a contest. Nakamura started the match not thinking much of his challenger, but as Kota kept kicking out of moves, and landing more near falls, Shinsuke got desperate and bolder with what he used. When the two ran at each other at the end and clashed knees, it was beautiful, before Shinsuke hit a Landslide (a newly considered cousin of the Falcon Arrow), and a Boma-Ye for the pin. Ibushi lost, but the champion had to give him everything and more to keep him down. The DDT veteran walked out of this one stronger than ever.
****3/4

IWGP Heavyweight Title [1st Defense]
Hiroshi Tanahashi (c) vs. Kazuchika Okada (w/Gedo) (CHAOS)
I'm going to be honest with all...if we're going by the views from last article, 232 of you...when I say that I don't like Kazuchika Okada Wait don't go yet I have a point. I have a tremendous amount of respect for the man, for the position he was thrust in, for his work since he was put in said position, and for what he means as a performer and as a star. I just don't like him compared to so many other people in New Japan Pro Wrestling. But I can admit when a match is awesome, and it's more than half due to Okada being in it. He is so much better to me as a chasing guy than a champion on top to me. At least in this dynamic with Tanahashi, and that may be in whole not part to Tanahashi being excellent. What's very special about this match is how the theme of the match shifted halfway through. At the beginning, Okada is very dominant, in control, and controlling the pace and almost controlling what Tanahashi does. However, at some point in the match the switch flips, and Tanahashi takes control. And a Tanahashi in control is a deadly premise, while he destroys your leg with Dragon Screws and High Fly flows come out of nowhere. After 3 of those Splashes set Okada down, a final Flow put him out, putting an end to a very game challenger. As Okada is taken from the ring, we see him overcome and weeping, knowing he's failed to finally put Tanahashi away on New Japan's biggest stage, and that eats away at him. An honest to God, quintessential viewing.
****3/4

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. See you down the (Bushi)Road.

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.
Next Time on Lions, Pillars, and Arks
Pro Wrestling NOAH
New Year Navigation, 1/10/15