Mike Reviews NJPW Wrestle Kingdom 19 in Tokyo Dome

Happy Weekend Everyone!

I’ve actually got a bit of a free weekend, so I decided to get a Wrestle Kingdom review up. I’ve done literally zero research into the show and I haven’t watched a New Japan show in ages, but I usually enjoy it, so let’s see how it goes.

You can view the full card below;

NJPW Wrestle Kingdom 19 in Tokyo Dome Card

Wrestle Kingdom is emanating from the Tokyo Dome on the 4th of January 2025

Calling the action are Chris Charlton and Walker Stewart

Pre-Show Match
IWGP World Heavyweight Title Contendership/ New Japan Rambo

So this is kind of like a Royal Rumble, but you can be eliminated by pin as well as being thrown out. Winner gets a Title shot at the big belt as opposed to winning a chance at the King of Pro Wrestling trophy, as that isn’t going to be a thing anymore going forwards

Entrant #1
Great O-Kahn

Entrant #2
Josh Barnett

Barnett is a pretty big guest star. O-Kahn and Barnett do some stuff on the mat as they both have legitimate sport backgrounds.

Entrant #3
Boltin Oleg

Oleg is a student of Barnett, so they do a bit together and it’s fun.

Entrant #4
Hirooki Goto

There are some big names in this one so far. Goto suplexes O-Khan onto Oleg, but then walks into a spin kick from Barnett.

Entrant #5
Yuji Nagata

Nagata gets a nice pop and he’s previously wrestled Barnett in the Tokyo Dome back in 2003, so they of course got at it for old time’s sake. It’s not great, but it’s nostalgic to see at least.

Entrant #6
Togi Makabe

Oleg and Barnett both tumble over the top rope at the same time to eliminate one another.

OLEG BOLTIN AND JOSH BARNETT ELIMINATE EACH OTHER

Makabe has his trademark chain with him, and he uses it to choke out O-Kahn, whilst Nagata kicks away at Goto.

Entrant #7
KENTA

KENTA has been wrestling in the west quite a lot this year, and he powerwalks down to the ring for this one, drawing some laughs along the way. When KENTA makes it to the ring, he trades some strikes with Nagata and then dumps Nagata over the top after Nagata hangs on the apron as long as he can.

YUJI NAGATA ELIMINATED BY KENTA (1)

Entrant #8
YOSHI-HASHI

YOSHI and Goto are normally a tag team together. KENTA and YOSHI don’t like one another, so they have a bit of a chop fest whilst Makabe tries choking O’Khan in the corner.

Entrant #9
The remains of Yujiro Takahashi

Yujiro and KENTA look to work together as they are both Bullet Club, with them doubling up on YOSHI. YOSHI runs them into one another though and almost throws out KENTA until Yujiro makes the save and eliminates YOSHI.

YOSHI-HASHI ELIMINATED BY YUJIRO TAKAHASHI (1)

Entrant #10
Toru Yano

Yano runs wild and throws KENTA out by throwing Yujiro into him, before then rolling up a stunned Yujiro for the double elimination.

KENTA AND YUJIRO ELIMINATED BY TORU YANO (2)

Entrant #11
Hiroyoshi Tenzan

Why are they letting Tenzan still in the ring when he can’t even walk down the ramp anymore? Don’t get me wrong, I love Tenzan, but this is starting to get a bit sad. He goes manage to get some Mongolian Chops onto O-Khan for old time’s sake at least.

Entrant #12
Satoshi Kojima

Kojima is the MLW World Champ, so they get their belt displayed in the Tokyo Dome at least, which is good for them. Kojima comes down and starts helping out buddy Tenzan whilst he’s getting beaten up by Yano. TenKoji end up having a miscue though, and that leads to Yano rolling up Tenzan for three.

HIROYOSHI TENZAN ELIMINATED BY TORU YANO (3)

Entrant #13
Tomoaki Honma

Honma is another guy who can barely move, but he can still get work in matches like this for New Japan. Honma is in great cosmetic shape though, so I’ll give him that. Honma misses his trademark falling headbutt, which leads to Charlton getting a good line saying we’re now going to get 3 more months of winter. Based on how things were in the UK last year, he’s probably right, as it was still winter-like weather well into March and the early parts of April.

Entrant #14
SANADA

SANADA recently went Bullet Club, and is now wearing some aviators in order to ram home his newfound Bullet Clubness. Kojima meets SANADA with some chops in the ring, with Makabe also wanting a piece of SANADA. SANADA then goes low on Kojima and throws him out.

SATOSHI KOJIMA ELIMINATED BY SANADA (1)

Entrant #15
Taichi

Taichi and SANADA used to be stablemates prior to SANADA’s betrayal, so SANADA of course bails rather than fight his old friend, leading to Taichi following him out so that they can brawl on the floor. We’ve got something like 5 people fighting out there right now whilst Goto and Honma fight outside.

Entrant #16
Tomohiro Ishii

Ishii and Honma used to team, so they do a little bit, with Honma managing to get the falling headbutt onto Ishii. However, Ishii manages to shrug that off elbows Honma down before getting the Brain Buster for three.

TOMOAKI HONMA ELIMINATED BY TOMOHIRO ISHII (1)

Entrant #17
Alex Zayne

So the winner is going to be one of SANADA, Taichi, Zayne, Makabe, O-Khan, Ishii or Yano. SANADA ends up shoving the ref and then catching a Taichi kick. SANADA spies the ref still looking away, so he drags Taichi’s foot into his crotch area to make it look like there was a low blow, and the referee believes it meaning that Taichi is DQ’ed. That’s actually a pretty creative finish that I don’t think I’ve seen before.

TAICHI ELIMNINATED BY SANADA (2)

SANADA then stupidly leaps onto the apron to beg off from Taichi, which allows Taichi to just kick SANADA to the floor to eliminate hime.

SANADA ELIMINATED BY TAICHI (TAICHI ALREADY ELIMINATED)

Yano tries to clock Zayne with the turnbuckle pad, but Zayne ducks and Yano eliminates himself.

TORU YANO ELIMINATED BY ALEX ZAYNE (1)

Zayne gets involved with Ishii and O-Kahn’s fight, which leads to Zayne and Ishii fighting on the apron and O-Kahn knocking Ishii out.

TOMOHIRO ISHII ELIMINATED BY GREAT O-KAHN (1)

Zayne looks good doing a bit with Goto, but he ends up getting clocked by O-Khan when O-Khan is going for Goto, and that leads to Zayne being eliminated.

ALEX ZAYNE ELIMINATED BY GREAT O-KAHN (2)

So that leaves us with O-Khan and Goto, and they do a fun little bit together with some good false elimination teases. Goto eventually clotheslines O-Kahn out to win.

WINNER: HIROOKI GOTO
MOST ELIMINATIONS: TORU YANO (3)
RATING: **1/2

Thoughts: This wasn’t as wild or wacky as previous iterations due to the bout having a more serious prize at the end, but it was still a fun Pre-Show battle that gave the fans something to react to before the main Wrestle Kingdom card kicked in. It was nice to see Goto get a win here, but I’d be shocked if he actually went on to win the Title match he earned here

Opening Match
Ladder Match for the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Titles
Champs: Intergalactic Jet Setters (Kevin Knight and KUSHIDA) Vs Bullet Club War Dogs (Clark Connors and Drilla Maloney) Vs Catch 22 (Francisco Akira and TJP) Vs Ichiban Sweet Boys (Kosei Fujita and Robbie Eagles)

This would appear to be the “let’s have a ladder match to fit as many people onto the big event as we can” section of Wrestle Kingdom. I’m kind of over ladder matches at this stage, as it’s a really overdone stipulation and it isn’t really special anymore. That happens a lot with all kinds of special stipulation matches in wrestling though, as you see them so often that they kind of become routine. I’m glad everyone is getting booked, as they all seem to be talented lads, but did we really need the ladder stip for this when a standard four way match would have been fine?

We’ve of course got tables and chairs out there as well, and the tables don’t want to cooperate at points being that this is Japan and Maffew has household bills that require payment. This is a parade of high spots, but the high spots are mostly all well executed (except when tables refuse to break sometimes) and the crowd responds well to them. We’ve got people jumping off high things either onto people or through objects like ladders, we’ve got numerous wacky double teams, and we’ve just generally got some organised chaos.

Everyone takes care to look after their opponents, which is very good to see, although it does mean that some of the spots take a bit of setting up so that everything can be done as safely as possible. New Japan fans getting into a ladder based spot fest is interesting to witness, as I think if you tried this in the 1990’s it might not have got as favourable a reaction. Fujita ends up having a battle atop the ladder with Akira and manages to come out on top, giving TMDK the belts.

WINNERS AND NEW CHAMPIONS: ICHIBAN SWEET BOYS
RATING: ***

Thoughts: Seriously, ENOUGH with the ladder matches that exist just to get people on shows. Just do a multi-person tag match. It’s safer and easier on the wrestler’s bodies. This goes for every promotion out there. As far as the match itself went though, this was a good example of the genre but the stipulation itself is so overused and overplayed that I struggled to get that invested in it. It’s weird that we live in a world where we’ve had so many multi-person ladder matches that the stipulation fails to really excite me anymore, but that’s where we are I guess

Match Two
IWGP Women’s Title
Champ: Mayu Iwatani Vs AZM

I hardly ever watch Joshi, so hopefully Charlton and Stewart can help me out with the commentary so I know what’s going on here. Apparently Iwatani has had the better of AZM over the years, but AZM finally managed to get a big singles win over Iwatani in 2024 and that has set her up for a Title match here at Wrestle Kingdom. That all makes sense, so kudos to the booking and kudos to the commentary team for explaining it to folks like me who don’t know any better.

This one is fought at a high pace, with AZM getting the better of it from the early stages, getting a big dive. The Dome crowd gets into it for the most part and it’s an energetic scrap that has a good atmosphere and some exciting moves. They only get 8 minutes to work with here, which I’m guessing is less than they’d get on a Stardom show, but they make the best use they can of it by turning it into a festival of MOVEZ, which seems to be what the crowd wants out of it anyway.

Some of the counter sequences are really well done, as they seem to have good chemistry together as opponents and the timing from both is on point. It’s so easy for a match like this to fall apart if one of the moves or sequences go awry, but the execution in this one is generally really good. There are some positively mental moves in this, such as AZM getting what is essentially a Canadian Destroyer Pedigree at one stage, which is basically treated as a transition move in this.

There are some tight near falls in the closing stages, mostly of which come from AZM roll-ups as she tries to catch the Champion out. However, Iwatani flattens AZM with a big piledriver in response and heads up with a Moonsault, but amazingly that combo only gets a two. Iwatani follows up with a terrifying looking high angle Dragon Suplex though, and that’s enough for three. I should chuffing well hope so!

WINNER AND STILL CHAMPION: MAYU IWATANI
RATING: ***1/4

Thoughts: This won’t be for everyone as they literally just went out there for 8 minutes and did ALL THE MOVES, so if you like a match to be built gradually or for big head drop moves to be protected, then this will potentially offend your sensibilities. However, if you’re happy to switch that part of your wrestling fan brain off and just enjoy the fireworks show, then this one was good fun

We get a handshake following the match, as it looks like we’ll get this one again sometime.

Match Three
NJPW World Television Title
Champ: “Souled Out” Ren Narita Vs “The Grip” Ryohei Oiwa Vs “The Headbanga” El Phantasmo w/ Jado Vs Jeff Cobb

ELP has been away from New Japan for a bit due to health issues, but he’s back now and looking to become Champion. Oiwa is apparently back from an excursion to Pro Wrestling NOAH and now he’s a member of Zack Sabre Jr’s TMDK faction. Cobb is a Philippine tank of a wrestler who is in the United Empire group. Narita was formerly a traditional black boots and shorts New Japan styled wrestler, but now he’s gone all villainous and joined EVIL’s House of Torture faction, which I believe is still an offshoot of Bullet Club, but feel free to correct me if HoT is no longer associated with Bullet Club. Narita previously cheated Cobb out of the belt, so he’s especially looking to hurt the Champ.

We have only 15 minutes for this match, with all wrestlers being legal and the first pin/submission winning the fall and the belt. This kind of becomes the standard 3/4 way match, with two wrestlers going at it in the ring whilst the others sell on the periphery until it’s time for them to come in and do something. Cobb busts out an incredible TOPE CON HILO out onto the other three wrestlers at one stage, which gets the expected big reaction from the crowd. I’ve not seen a lot of Oiwa, but he seems totally fine here. You usually expect New Japan’s youngsters to be mechanically sound at the very least, and Oiwa seems to conform with that stereotype.

The main story of the match is that Narita keeps trying to use underhanded tactics in order to retain the belt, including using a ceremonial stick as a weapon. Jado prevents that though, which gives us the three challengers all going at it, and that’s solid action. Oiwa gets to do a few feat of strength spots, and the crowd responds well to that, especially when he gets the Doctor Bomb onto Cobb. Narita drags the referee out of the ring to rescue his belt though and uses the ceremonial stick on Oiwa.

Cobb manages to block an attack and destroys the stick, but Narita clocks him right in the islands to block it. Cobb still manages to get the Tour of the Islands onto Narita, but ELP breaks up the pin and then gets a springboard splash onto Narita for the three count and the Title. I like how they at least pinned the Champion there, as the Champ losing the belt without getting pinned is always kind of a lame finish.

WINNER AND NEW CHAMPION: EL PHANTASMO
RATING: ***

Thoughts: Good four way action there, with everyone getting a chance to do something and Cobb being the star of the match really. Oiwa looked solid and Narita played the scheming villain well. ELP probably got the least of the shine there, but he was winning in the end so I guess they thought they could focus more on the other three instead

Match Four
Luchas de Apuestas
Hiroshi Tanahashi’s Career On The Line
Lumberjack Death Match
EVIL Vs Hiroshi Tanahashi

EVIL is the leader of the House of Torture faction, whilst Tanahashi is the New Japan president and has been battling the group for a long time. EVIL normally has his HoT faction get involved to help him, so the lumberjack stipulation might help with that. It sounds like kind of a meta storyline, with President Tanahashi taking on HoT because everyone hates them and wishes they weren’t in the company, which probably mirrors how a lot of long time New Japan fans feel. We’ve got Dick Togo, Yoshinobu Kanemaru, Sho and Yujiro Takahashi at ringside for EVIL, whilst Tanahashi has brought Tiger Mask IV, Toru Yano, Boltin Oleg and Master Wato.

The lumberjacks fight early on, which distracts the ref and allows EVIL to clock Tanahashi with chair for the cut off. What follows is the usual EVIL stuff, as he cheats like a 1970’s Memphis Heel whilst the crowd groans along. Tanahashi sells it all well and I must admit that a storyline match built more around heat is actually a bit of pleasant change of pace after having three quick paced matches based more around high spots and big moves. Tana eventually starts making the comeback with some Dragon Screw’s, which leads to EVIL trying to bail and Oleg bringing him back to the ring.

Eventually the referee gets bumped, which leads to HoT entering the ring and beating up both Tanahashi and his lumberjack’s. Next time you might want to pick better back up there Hiroshi. Tiger Mask IV and Toru Yano do at least manage to help out a little bit, which sets up Oleg coming in for the big power spot as he suplexes both Sho and Kanemaru. That leads to Wato getting to do a dive out onto the Heels, as they’ve rehabbed the babyface lumberjacks a bit with that flurry as they looked like absolute goofs prior to that.

With it now finally being just EVIL Vs Tanahashi with HoT taken out, we get a decent closing stretch, with EVIL getting a near fall from a clothesline until Tanahashi fires back with an STO (which is basically EVIL’s finisher) before following up with a big flurry of moves, which looks to end with his trademark Frogsplash finisher. However, our replacement ref takes a knock as well, which leads to Togo throwing salt in the eyes of Tana, with EVIL getting the Darkness Falls (Fireman’s Carry into a Powerbomb) for two.

We get a submission tease following that, with EVIL going to the Scorpion Deathlock, but Tanahashi won’t tap and that leads to EVIL voluntarily breaking the hold and getting Everything Is Evil (STO) to seemingly end things. However, Tanahashi is a canny veteran and he catches EVIL with a pinning hold OUTTA NOWHERE for the three count (at least I assume that’s what happened as New Japan World froze and then the next thing I saw was Tanahashi pinning EVIL. I tried rewinding quite a few times and kept getting that, so apologies if I’m wrong).

WINNER: HIROSHI TANAHASHI
RATING: **3/4

Thoughts: This was fine. EVIL’s antics won’t be for everyone, but they told a decent story in there and Tanahashi’s selling is top notch

Katsuyori Shibata (complete with AEW hoodie) runs down to save Tanahashi from House of Torture attack following the match and challenges Tanahashi to a match a Wrestle Dynasty on the 5th of January.

Match Five
Double Title Match
AEW International Champ: “The Alpha” Konsuke Takeshita w/ Don Callis Vs NEVER Openweight Champ: “Rising Dragon” Shingo Takagi

We’ve got AEW Vs NJPW here, with the winner getting both belts. Hopefully it’s Shingo so that we don’t get ANOTHER belt on AEW TV with Takeshita having to bring the NEVER Title with him. This one is our first big slugfest of Wrestle Kingdom, with the focus being on strikes and heavy hitting offence here, such as when they quickly head to the floor and Shingo gets a Spicolli Driver out there onto the mats. Back inside we get a feast of suplexes, as both wrestlers fling one another around until they both collapse.

Like the Women’s Title match earlier on, they aren’t wasting any time here, as they start it hot and it stays that way throughout, with some of the stiff strikes reverberating through the cavernous Dome. Takeshita keeps finding a lot of joy with an elbow strike, with him always able to rely on it to put Shingo down and on the defensive. There are a few double downs, with the idea being that both wresters are hitting one another so hard that at times they both need a breather, which at least shows that the offence from both wrestler is having an effect.

It’s a mostly even match, although Takeshita generally seems to get the better of it. Shingo does get plenty of offence of his own and even gets to kick out at one following a big move at one stage in order to show how tough he is and how up against it Takeshita is here against someone who can both take and dish out the big punishment. There’s a terrifying looking moment when Shingo tries Last of the Dragon (Fireman’s Carry into a Michinoku Driver) and I think he struggles doing it on a person Takeshita’s height, as he basically drills Takeshita head first into the mat with it.

Thankfully Takeshita seems okay and they keep going, with both wrestlers getting reverse rana’s. Takeshita’s elbow strike once again proves to be the difference though, as he uses it to take out Shingo following one of the rana’s and then gets it for a fourth time for a great near fall. Shingo is still rocked though, so Takeshita follows up with a spinning Falcon Arrow for the three and the NEVER belt.

WINNER AND STILL/NEW CHAMPION: TAKESHITA
RATING: ***1/4

Thoughts: I liked the story with the elbow strike being Takeshita’s secret weapon that Shingo just couldn’t handle. Even when Shingo was able to kick out of the blow itself, it left him sufficiently weakened that Takeshita could hit the finishing move to pick up the win. There were a few instances of sloppiness with some of the bigger head dropping moves, possibly due to Shingo struggling with the heigh difference, and that took it down a bit for me. It was still an exciting heavy hitting outing, and Takeshita having that killer blow with the elbow strike made him look like an opponent everyone should fear, so it did an effective job of making the new Champ look good

Tomohiro Ishii is going to get the winner of that on the 5th of January, so he has a face off with Takeshita following the contest.

Match Six
IWGP Junior Heavyweight Title
Champ: Douki Vs El Desperado

Desperado was having the run of his career until a knee injury caused him to lose the belt, with Douki stepping in to fill the void in that time. These two are former stablemates. Shido Nakamura, a famed theatre actor according to Chris Charlton, is here for Douki’s entrance, which gives everything some Wrestle Kingdom pageantry that the crowd enjoys. Sadly it’s time for the injury bug to bite Douki, which is especially sad considering that Douki had such a cool entrance and really did look like a star. However, after a good opening 5 minutes between the two wrestlers, Douki ends up breaking his arm following a dive to the floor and the match has to be stopped, leading to Desperado winning the belt on a technicality.

WINNER AND NEW CHAMPION: EL DESPERADO
RATING: N/A

Thoughts: I won’t rate the contest just because it feels like it would be in poor taste. It’s an horrifically sad way for a big Wrestle Kingdom match to end, but at least it was an arm and not something like the neck or back, which is what you’re dicing with when you do a big dive to the floor. It will hurt like heck, and Douki will certainly be out for some time, but it could have been worse and Douki will hopefully be able to bounce back from it. Wishing him all the best and a speedy recovery. You could kind of see something coming though, as even during the opening exchanges they seemed a little bit excitable and Desperado ended up banging his ankles on the metal railings and his head off the floor on a dive attempt. I don’t think Desperado was at fault for the injury, as it was down more to there not being enough room at ringside for some of the moves they were going for. The dive was like a seated senton styled one in the corner of ringside, and Desperado really had nowhere to go upon taking the move and that caused Douki to land how he did. Fair play to them for stopping it so quickly as well. Hopefully that saved Douki from further injury on top of the one he already suffered

Match Seven
IWGP Global Heavyweight Title
Champ: “The Rebel King” David Finlay w/ Gedo Vs “Gene Blast” Yota Tsuji

Finlay is the leader of his own version of The Bullet Club, whilst Tsuji is in Los Ingobernables de Japon and has really impressed people since returning from excursion. I believe the Global belt replaced the US Title in New Japan, with Finlay being the one to essentially banish Will Ospreay from New Japan and stake a claim to the Title. Finlay is going for the Bryan Fury tribute on the entrance here as New Japan are working with Tekken 8 for some corporate synergy. I’ve barely played as Bryan on Tekken 8 thus far actually. I quite like the coffee drinking lass from Peru. She’s like an Eddy Gordo for people who don’t want to button mash.

Finlay is focused on playing Heel here, and he does a decent job at it, although he’s never really excited me as a wrestler or character that much. I can see why folks rate Tsuji so highly, as he has buckets of charisma and he can go in the ring as well. Tsuji gets the better of things in a fair fight, but the fight heads to the floor and Finlay puts Tsuji through a ringside table in order to gain control of the contest. Tsuji does a great count out tease following that, even miming that his leg gets caught in a cable, thus meaning he almost can’t make it.

Finlay gets three (count em!) Dominator’s inside the ring following that, but somehow Tsuji manages to kick out. Finlay did that all as one smooth sequence and it looked very impressive. I don’t know if that was all Finlay just heaving Tsuji up or if he had some help from Tsuji posting/jumping for him, but it looked cool regardless. Tsuji eventually manages to catch Finlay with some desperation knee strikes but the Champ replies with a trio of Powerbombs for a two count. Goodness me, David Finlay certainly eats his Weetabix every morning doesn’t he?

Tsuji is strong looking muscular man, but Finlay was flinging him around with ease there. Tsuji manages to get a top rope Double Stomp to a bent-over Finlay in response to that, which gets him two, as I’m impressed with how light on his feet Tsuji is. Finlay keeps bringing the big moves, getting a Brain Buster onto the knee, but Tsuji replies with Spear, which gets two when Finlay manages to get his foot on the ropes. Finlay replies with yet more incredible offence, including a kind hip toss into a knee to the head move, but Tsuji even survives THAT and then blocks another knee strike with a Powerbomb and a Spear for three.

WINNER AND NEW CHAMPION: TSUJI
RATING: ***

Thoughts: I can see what they were going for here, with Finlay hitting Tsuji with every move under the sun in order to make Tsuji looking impressive for continuing to kick out and eventually find a way to win. What I will say though is that Tsuji took so many moves that after a certain point it was less that he looked strong and more than Finlay looked weak for hitting so much offence and still being unable to put the challenger away. I think if they’d dialled it back a bit then the story they were telling would have been more effective, but the work was still decent overall and seeing Finlay throw a Heavyweight around with such ease was very impressive to witness. Tsuji definitely has “it” and New Japan will surely build around him in the coming years, with this Global win being just the start of that

Co-Main
Tetsuya Naito Vs Hiromu Takahashi

These two are stablemates in the Los Ingobernables de Japon faction, with Naito previously saving Takahashi from getting fired back in the day. However, both of these guys want a match on the grand stage, and supposedly it will be a one time only meeting under these circumstances as Naito has some serious eye issues that mean he’s going to have to hang up the boots pretty soon. The early exchanges kind of go Naito’s way until Takahashi gets a Sunset Flip Bomb to the floor and then adds a German Suplex and his Time Bomb finisher (It’s hard to describe, a bit like a Fireman’s into a wacky Powerslam type move) for two.

Naito is moving pretty gingerly, due to the litany of injuries that have utterly ravaged his body, but he manages to fire off a Destino (float around Reverse DDT) around the 10 minute mark and then adds another soon after for a near fall. Takahashi manages to counter another Destino into the Time Bomb though, and that gets him a two as well. I do like how the counter sequences play into their association with one another, because clearly they know one another really well and that means they can counter one another like this.

Takahashi does a good job selling a series of elbow’s to the head from Naito, as he bravely keeps coming before finally collapsing. However, Takahashi just won’t stay down, as he gets his own Destino and a more devasting version of the Time Bomb called Time Bomb II, but Naito manages to survive that. The kick outs keep coming, with Takahashi getting to kick out of the Destino again, as they’re ramping this one up really well. Naito teases his Stardust Press (flippy splash off the top rope) move, but Takahashi grabs him by the ankle to stop him, almost as if to say “yeah, please don’t try that with bad eyes” and Naito relents before getting another Destino for the win.

WINNER: NAITO
RATING: ***

Thoughts: I liked how they didn’t force this one into being a 40 minute epic, because Naito probably wasn’t going to be up to doing that and having it be a more quick paced 17ish minute bout like this worked a lot better and it ended up being an enjoyable contest where Naito ended up looking better than I’ve seen him in a while, even though it’s clear he’s not doing well physically for a number of reasons. Takahashi did a good job of being gutsy and giving everything he could to the senpai before finally getting worn down, and the live crowd seemed to like the match. I didn’t think it was a Tokyo Dome classic or anything, but it was a decent outing and both wrestlers did a solid job out there

Takahashi bows to Naito following that before slapping the mat in sadness that he couldn’t get the win in this one time meeting.

Main Event
IWGP World Heavyweight Title
Champ: Zack Sabre Jr Vs “Roughneck” Shota Umino

ZSJ spent years in the upper mid-card never quite being able to crack that glass ceiling to the Main Event scene, but he managed it in 2024 and is now the top guy. Umino is a homegrown New Japan wrestler who has also made some appearances in AEW due to an association with Jon Moxley, although that appears to have soured now. ZSJ is looking to be one of the few international wrestlers to walk into a Wrestle Kingdom styled event whilst Champion and walk out with the belt. Umino beat ZSJ earlier in the year, so that makes sense for him to be a challenger here.

Umino apparently is carrying both a bad ankle and a bad back here, although ZSJ goes after the arms to start. Umino actually looks decent on the mat with ZSJ, which could either be because he’s a good technician, or because ZSJ is guiding him through it, or a combination of the two. We of course get ZSJ targeting the body part with holds and kicks whilst being all cold blooded and sadistic, with Umino’s left arm being the target. Umino sells well whilst getting turned into the human pretzel, and ZSJ does his usual excellent job of attaching himself to an opponent like some kind of Pro Wrestling octopus (apologies to Jonathon Gresham).

Umino eventually manages to catch ZSJ with a desperation DDT from the ring onto the apron, with ZSJ doing a great knocked out sell by just hanging on the ropes until slowly tumbling to the floor. Umino batters ZSJ outside of the ring for a bit, and draws some audible boos for it, which also apparently happened when Umino attacked ZSJ in order to set him up as the challenger for Wrestle Kingdom. Umino actually does a great job of reacting to the boos, as you can see that the boos are hurting his feelings but he also knows that he has to take them on the chin if he’s going to come out the winner here. Umino gets yet another DDT outside the ring, using the metal railings for a boost, and that leads to Umino going after the neck back inside the ring.

Interestingly, even though he’s a sadistic mat wrestler who likes putting people in torturous holds, ZSJ hasn’t really made any effort to go after the already injured areas of Umino, whilst Umino has attacked ZSJ outside the ring, which shows that ZSJ kind of has more honour than his opponent and delineates him as more of the babyface of the two, even though he’s also a bit of a jerk. That’s quite an interesting bit of storytelling. ZSJ manages to fight back inside the ring, and he keeps focusing on the arm, showing that he’s still fighting with more honour than the challenger, as by rights he could have just started destroying the ankle after Umino’s actions outside the ring and no one would really blame him. Umino shows some guts by surviving a Triangle Choke, although Red Shoes Umino the referee could have arguably stopped it before that, but didn’t perhaps because his son is challenging for the big belt at Wrestle Kingdom here.

We get the dramatic strike battle at one stage (very cool you can do those in WWE 2K24 by the way) which leads to both wrestlers throwing stiff European Uppercuts at one another, and it’s great fun. Umino actually gets the better of most of that, which leads us into the final stretch, with both wrestlers having a chance to win it. ZSJ gets a beauty of a Zack Driver (Michinoku Driver, although I can never keep track of which numbered variant is which) at one stage, but it only gets two. In a nice touch, the two wrestlers both go for moves that past mentor figures have used, with ZSKJ going for Minoru Suzki’s Gotch Style Piledriver whilst Umino goes for Jon Moxley’s Death Rider.

With things being sufficiently bleak for the Champ, he decides that he finally has to go after Umino’s injured ankle, which is a great twist in the match and puts Umino over as a viable challenger that ZSJ has to goes to such levels in order to try to win. Umino does a fantastic sell job in an Ankle Lock, with the crowd totally buying it as a submission tease as we hit the 30 minute mark. Zack has been seconded by his TMDK stablemates, and they are looking at the ref to stop it when Umino is trapped in the middle of the ring in another nice touch, but Umino won’t submit and does the big dramatic crawl to the ropes.

That was a fantastic bit of drama there, with not just the two wrestlers in the match playing their part in it, but both the referee and the seconds at ringside really adding to it as well. Umino tries firing up with elbow strikes, but they have no real effect and that actually draws some more boos for Umino, even though he’s doing a good job of being the gutsy fighter who is giving everything he can. That’s just cold Tokyo Dome! Umino keeps coming though, although he slips off the top rope at one stage whilst trying to set ZSJ for a Superplex, which was either part of the match or a great adlib to cover a botch, and I can’t tell which one it was so fair play regardless of which one it was.

ZSJ chokes out Umino from the Superplex position, but Umino fights ZSJ off and delivers the Death Rider off the top, which is not only a huge move but it also plays into all the work that’s been done to ZSJ’s neck throughout the match. Umino keeps getting booed despite busting out some cool moves and being all gutsy, which actually leads to Umino shoving down his ref dad at one stage when Red Shoes tries to stop his son stomping away at a downed ZSJ. ZSJ is limper than an overcooked piece of spaghetti, showing off some fantastic selling ability in the process, whilst the fans continue to boo Umino when he does some Danielson Stomps to the downed Champ at one stage. We hit the 40 minute mark as ZSJ fights back with kicks and stomps of his own, although he doesn’t get booed as Umino was the one to start us down that path, so the challenger is getting what he deserves here in the fan’s eyes.

We get a slap fight, as both lock wrists with the left hand and throw slaps with their right hands, and that battle decisively goes the way of ZSJ, but Umimo just KEEPS coming, leading to some big moves from the challenger, including a moment where he turns the Champ inside out with a clothesline. Umino’s ankle goes out when he’s set up to go for the finish though, which leads to ZSJ getting the Zack Driver for two in a good near fall. ZSJ manages to successfully get the Gotch Piledriver though and another Zack Driver finally gives the Champ the win.

WINNER AND STILL CHAMPION: SABRE JR
RATING: ****1/2

Thoughts: This was fantastic, as it went 40+ minutes but never really felt like it dragged due to them splitting the bout up into clearly delineated sections. You had the opening stretch on the mat where Umino held his own with the Champ to show that he was capable of doing so. We then had the part with the DDT out on the floor from Umino where he took control, which then led up to some head dropping moves where Umino again looked to have control of things. That led to ZSJ attacking the ankle because things were getting hairy enough that he had to, leading to submission teases, which then moved onto the big strike exchanges before giving us the dramatic closing section of near falls. The match was well-paced, told a good story, the work was crisp and the live crowd was invested in the story being told. Umino being hated by sections of the crowd gave the bout a fun atmosphere, but I thought he carried his end really well here and ZSJ entered an impressive World Champion level performance. Definitely one that’s worth tracking down

ZSJ shows respect to the challenger and does the thank you speech in Japanese, as surprisingly we don’t get any challenges or interruptions.

In Conclusion

Wrestle Kingdom was a solid show with nothing I’d class as bad. I won’t hold what happened in the Junior Heavyweight match against the show itself. It was a tragic circumstance and these things can happen, and if anything New Japan went up in my estimation by quickly ending the match and making sure Douki got the assistance he needed. Hopefully Douki is okay and the injury isn’t severe enough to put him out for a long time.

There’s a good chance that some of these matches would be rated higher depending on what sort of wrestling you like to watch and whether you’re burnt out on things like ladder matches or multi-person bouts. I personally didn’t think the opener needed the ladder stipulation, but if you’re into that kind of stuff then you might possibly have liked it more than I did. I can the Women’s Title match dividing some depending on how they like their wrestling, but the two wrestlers certainly put on an high octane exhibition that the live crowd seemed to enjoy

The Main Event was an excellent show closer, and is the bout I think is most worth tracking down. The rest of Wrestle Kingdom was an easy watch though, and there should be something for everyone here depending on what sort of wrestling you like to tune in for. There were spot fests, weapon spots, hard hitting action, storyline focused bouts, and it was all capped off by an excellent World Title match that could have easily graced the Main Event of any big event for any company in the world.

Wrestle Kingdom 19 comes recommended!

If you like reading about Japanese Wrestling; then I suggest checking out the work of Phred, Maffew, Alex, Rick and J, as they all dabble in a mixture of classic and modern Japanese stuff here on the blog