WRESTLE KINGDOM 13

Beretta, Chuckie T & Hirooki Goto vs. Davey Boy Smith Jr., Lance Archer & Minoru Suzuki vs. David Finlay, Jeff Cobb & Yuji Nagata vs. Hangman Page, Marty Scurll & Yujiro Takahashi vs. Ryusuke Taguchi, Togi Makabe & Toru Yano

The gauntlet gimmick killed some of the flow, but it was an alright match overall. Highlights included CHUCKIE T wrestling in the TOKYO DOME, Nagata & Suzuki slugging it out & Taguchi’s great energy as he hit those funky hip attacks on Suzuki. **

Kota Ibushi vs. Will Ospreay

These two brought the flippy stuff, sequences w/ shitload of counters & the hard hits. My personal favorite moments were Ibushi’s killer moments on the offense - in particular the Boma Ye spot was absolutely terrific. Some questionable selling, but that was to be expected, and it was nothing offensive. Could’ve done without the “dramatic” bits of Ospreay staring Ibushi when he had him on the tree of woe & then the same thing they did at that one Road To show w/ Ibushi being SHOCKED by Ospreay landing on his feet. But hey, they be telling stories™. Good match. ***

BUSHI & Shingo Takagi vs. El Desperado & Yoshinobu Kanemaru vs. SHO & YOH

Last year SHO & YOH had a wonderful match vs. The Young Bucks, but here they actually brought the match quality down - their offense, for whatever reason, looked really weak & shitty. Shingo destroying them with lariats in the ending sequence is the only memorable thing in an otherwise super forgettable match. *1/2

Tomohiro Ishii vs. Zack Sabre Jr.

With this only going about 11-12 minutes, they didn’t have enough time to tell their story, so it felt like they just rushed through it. It was still good & very enjoyable, but definitely the weakest of the Ishii vs. ZSJ matches so far, and that makes it quite disappointing. Zack's limb destruction vs. Ishii's bombs commanded at least 20 minutes I feel - that is when this could've hit the level of their previous, brilliant meetings. ***

EVIL & SANADA vs. G.O.D. vs. The Young Bucks

This was a lot like the junior tag 3-way, in that there was one clear standout performer, and here that honor goes to SANADA. His dives were easily the highlight of this forgettable, rushed & generic spotfest. *1/2

Cody vs. Juice Robinson

The only saving grace of this match is both Cody & Juice throw some great looking punches. Other than that though, this was an absolute borefest. Brandi's interruptions were AWFUL & Cody's heel work was the most generic it has been in a while. *1/2

KUSHIDA vs. Taiji Ishimori

This suffered from the same fate Ishii vs. Zack did - it just felt way too rushed, and never kicked into the 2nd gear I am sure they could've kicked it to. They didn't get to showcase their explosiveness much at all, and what it ended up being was a very generic, movez showing by Ishimori. At least KUSHIDA was solid as always w/ his sneaky arm work throughout & that signature PUNCH of his. Not a good match at all though. *1/2

Jay White vs. Kazuchika Okada

The pop Okada got for revealing his OG Rainmaker trunks made me smile. The match itself was very much how I imagined a match between the two would look like. Robotic & forgettable, and yet another match that never kicked into the 2nd gear because of the length. Okada going too long has been a real annoyance of mine for the past few years, but here the match actually could've done w/ 10 more minutes or so. Bleh. *1/4

Chris Jericho vs. Tetsuya Naito

“HEY CHONO, YOU LIKE THAT SHIT?” - when Jericho said that, I knew we were in for a banger tbh. Naito’s bumping was on top form to say the least - that one he took when Jericho gave him the DDT on top of the announcer table was absolutely sick. Jericho delivered a fun beatdown, and Naito’s comebacks ruled - he was very much on point w/ his work over Jericho's neck, as almost every move he dished out was targeted towards it. Him playing BASEBALL with the kendo stick was fun too & the kendo stick shots overall were pretty damn brutal in this one. Couple of very good nearfalls also. Thumbs up! ***1/2

Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. Kenny Omega

This was pretty damn great apart from one thing - the selling. Kenny did the typical NJPW main event selling where he holds his leg a bit & then he can run full speed to deliver his knees and everything. Tana also didn't sell the back too much, but I'd say overall the positives overwhelm the negatives; the drama was great, I totally got sucked into the battle of ideologies story they told, and I loved Kenny's heel work throughout. His over the top facial expressions, and cockiness has annoyed me in his big matches as a babyface, but it works SO well when he's a heel. Such a flamboyant prick. His striking also looked some of the best it ever has - loved those slap combos he delivered. On par w/ the last two Dome main events (Naito/Okada, Omega/Okada) & the best match of the night. The selling is what prevents it from being a 4*+ one. ***3/4