With the overwhelming praise of Wrestle Kingdom 11, this year's had a lot to live up to. With Alpha Vs. Omega, a Hair Vs. Hair match, the first ever fatal 4 way for the Jr. Heavyweight title & the two hottest stars in NJPW fighting for the Heavyweight Championship, this show certainly had the chops to not only equal WK 11, but also surpass it. Would Destino bring Naito to his Destiny? Or would Okada continue his historic reign? This is my review of NJPW Wrestle Kingdom 12!
NJPW IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Championship Match
The Young Bucks Def. Roppongi 3K (c) (18:49)
A very good opener here, what I liked was it felt different to a lot of Young Buck matches, while yes it had spots, there was a lot of submissions as well with a good story of both teams having an injured member. The commentary team put over The Young Bucks a lot which made Roppongi's comebacks and the team themselves look strong with them pushing the veteran tag team to the limit. I also liked that it had a similar moment to last year, Rocky being laid out much like what happened to his partner last year and the general flow being Bucks having a 2 on 1 advantage. While I think 3K should have won here, it can build to a nice story of the more inexperienced team rising above in the end, perhaps at one of the bigger NJPW shows.
Rating - ****1/4
NJPW IWGP NEVER Openweight 6 Man Tag Team Championship Gauntlet Match
Chaos Def. Bullet Club (c) Suzuki-Gun, Taiguchi Japan & War Machine & Michael Elgin
(17:03)
While enjoyable, much like last year the gauntlet was a little sluggish and the eliminations were rushed in the middle. Bullet Club coming out last defeated the whole point of the stipulation in my eyes, they'd be the freshest team so them winning wouldn't be surprising but them losing a team in this case that took on 2 teams prior, made them seem a little weak. Outside of that the match was fun, Zack Sabre Jr. choking out one half of WM was great and he looks fucking stella in black gear, Ishii looked like a beast and despite Rocky Romero's 3K falling, at least one half of Roppongi Vice, Beretta got to stand tall as one 3rd of Chaos along with Ishii and Yano.
Rating - ***1/4
Kota Ibushi Def. Cody (15:08)
The only match I predicted correctly and the only non title match on the card. This was a very enjoyable match, one of the better non WWE Cody matches, he played the dickhead heel perfectly here with his wife Brandi whilst Kota was the earnest babyface underdog. Cody pulled off some nice moves including a springboard hurricanrana and a Crossroads from the apron to the floor, Kota delivered as expected with his hard hitting strikes and agility to combat Cody's more slow methodical pace. I liked the targeting of Kota's neck with the commentary team emphasising it, which made Kota's eventual comeback even greater. Outside of his matches with Jay Lethal, I'd say this is Cody's best non WWE match.
Rating - ****
NJPW IWGP Tag Team Championship Match
Los Ingobernables De Japon Def. Killer Elite Squad (c) (14:14)
Really hard hitting match, I fucking love K.E.S, just two nasty guys who will beat the shit out of you. From the opening Killer Bomb until the finish, K.E.S had a lot of control, grounding Evil and Sanada with quick tags and a lot of double teaming, they looked unstoppable outside of a couple of hope spots for L.I.D.J. Davey Boy and Archer wouldn't look out of place in the NEVER Openweight division, single or tag. they were stiff as hell, a strong win for L.I.D.J overcoming everything for the win in a very good match.
Rating - ****
NJPW NEVER Openweight Championship Hair Vs. Hair No Seconds Deathmatch
Hirooki Goto Def. Minoru Suzuki (c) (18:04)
I fucking love this division, I fucking love Suzuki, and I fucking loved this match. Just pound for pound strikes, kicks and submissions, no fancy spots, no sequences, just a down and dirty fight, Suzuki is a mean fucker and arguably NJPW's best pure heel at the moment. Him and Goto had a fucking war, Goto was beaten senseless, strangled, took endless strikes to the face and even sickening headbutts but would not go down. The pace was deliberate and allowed Goto to rest making his comeback spots seem more realistic as oppose to him getting up right away after Suzuki's offence. Suzuki had to take a lot of abuse to be put away, Goto had the same uphill battle this year like he did with Shibata last year, and just like WK 11, Goto rose above and regained the title. Even the post match with Suzuki being carried out by his stable mates, only to shrug them off, return to ring under his own power and shaving his own head just shows how much of a badass he is. Hopefully this isn't the last we see of these two in 2018 or the last of Suzuki in this division, he is a fucking diamond.
Rating - ****1/2
NJPW IWGP Junior Heavyweight Championship Fatal 4 Way Match
Will Ospreay Def. Marty Scurll (c) Kushida & Hiromu Takahashi (21:18)
Holy shit this match was insane! The pace was quick and there were so many beautiful spots, all 4 men felt like absolute mega stars, Marty was a perfect heel in this match, letting the others fight amongst themselves, using the umbrella, taping Hiromu to the railings and blinding Kushida. Will Ospreay just isn't human, the shit he was doing in that match, he is without the doubt the best Jr. Heavyweight/Cruiserweight wrestler in the world. Kushida and Hiromu did brilliantly as well, with the sunset powerbombs from the apron and some amazing sequences reminding us why they were the hot feud in the division last year. Hopefully this is the last title change for a while as the title has changed hands a few times recently, plus it would be nice to see Ospreay have a long reign, I wish Marty had won here, he's very different in the division with a lot less high flying that his fellow wrestlers and would've been a unique champion. Overall, the Super Juniors do it again!
Rating - ****1/2
NJPW IWGP Intercontinental Championship Match
Hiroshi Tanahashi (c) Def. Jay White (19:56)
An awesome match, while not quite at the same 5 star standard as his previous few WK matches, it was still a damn good match. The story with the knees played similarly to last year with Naito, the match was in Jay's favour but not by much, showing he could hang with the top ace of NJPW even when Tanahashi was destroying his knee compromising Jay's usual quick speed style. I liked that Jay was being heelish, but not full on, still respecting the rules at times, only taking liberties every so often, which played into his run in with Omega at the following show. By the end, Jay had earned Tanahashi's respect as was clear in the post match. Jay White was made during this match, along with attacking Omega and joining Chaos at New Year's Dash, it's safe to say he'll be in the main event scene of NJPW for a while. A very good match despite not being at the usual heights of Tanahashi's previous WK matches
Rating - ****1/4
No Disqualification Match
Kenny Omega (c) Def. Chris Jericho (34:36)
This match was very fucking good and exceeded my personal expectations, but I do think it has been slightly overrated. For starters, rope breaks and countouts in a no DQ match? At the start Kenny tried to rope break and the ref even counted Jericho to break, then later on Omega gets another rope break to where Jericho let go of the hold, why?! Also the match had a very hot start with Kenny flying through a table and Jericho being a complete dick, but then once the big spots happened, the last third seemed to cool off and the build to the finish wasn't edge of your seat excitement. It was good to see Omega out of his element and commentary did a good job putting Jericho over with his experience in no DQ matches, making Kenny's win even more significant and thankfully, this isn't the last we'll see of Jericho in NJPW. So overall while this was better than I honestly expected it to be, it did have a few things that bothered me, and stopped it from being MOTN.
Rating - ****1/2
Second Half Of Double Main Event - NJPW IWGP Heavyweight Championship Match
Kazuchika Okada (c) Def. Tetsuya Naito (36:30)
An amazing main event, but like Tanahashi, this was a shade below what you'd expect from these two, but still the MOTN. Once again a body part was targeted, this time Naito targeting Okada's neck, but despite that, Okada actually had the upper hand for a lot of the match, making it feel like Naito had to prove himself to the ace, especially as Naito was who Okada beat to start this epic reign. Naito kicked out of the Rainmaker, landing on his neck and Okada didn't hesitate the cover, which showed how badly Naito wanted to win. The final stretch was a little annoying, one Rainmaker, both hit the mat, Okada rises and goes for a second, it gets countered into Destino which would've been the perfect ending but Okada kicked out. Next sequence sees Naito hit another Destino, goes for a second, but it gets countered into a jumping tombstone, followed by the final Rainmaker for the win. Whilst the crowd didn't boo or turn on Okada, you could tell they really wanted Naito to win, they knew it should've been his time and so did I, with how long it's been since the title has changed hands at WK combined with how white hot Naito is, it would've been a historic win. Thankfully New Year's Dash has brought us Naito Vs. Jericho which will be fucking amazing and will probably begin a full fledged face turn for Naito, perhaps becoming the next ace of NJPW with his insane popularity.
Rating - ****3/4
Final Thoughts:
Overall I thought this show, while a step down from last year, was still incredible and had a lot of variety. From the multi man chaos of the gauntlet, the spotty Jr. Heavyweights, the stiff hard hitting NEVER Openweight match, the attitude era style no DQ match and the epic main event, it had something for everyone as oppose to being more for the purist hardcore fans. Whilst I still believe Naito should have won here, time will tell if it was a truly bad decision to not pull the trigger on him, his feud with Jericho will draw more casual eyes to him and NJPW as a whole, so who knows, maybe Naito hasn't even reached his hottest yet, which is hard to believe. This is still a must watch show despite not having the 6 star rating nonsense of last year, not a single bad match, and like I said before, it had something for everyone!
Final Prediction Score -
Correct - 1
Incorrect - 8
Final Rating - 9/10
These were only my opinions, did you agree? Disagree? Do you think Naito should've had his crowning moment here? Let me know in the comments below or tweet me @BogglesTheOwl or discuss the show on my Facebook Page and don't forget to follow them if you haven't already. I hope you guys enjoyed, please share the article with fellow wrestling fans, and I look forward to wiriting to you guys again soon!
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