Wrestle Kingdom 12 Results

Kevin Kelly and Don Callis welcome us to the show and we get right to our first match!

New Japan Rumble

Katsuya Kitamura is in first with BUSHI in next. Announcers are saying over 20 guys will be in this one. Kitamura gets his yell on, BUSHI isn't bothered as he attacks from behind and tries to choke him out with a t-shirt. Out third, Delirious! He gets in the ring and tries chopping down Kitamura, both grunt at each other until Kitamura chops him down. Out fourth is Lao Tonga. Tonga with a body slam on BUSHI and he heads towards Kitamura with some strikes. Tonga is towering over everyone! Couple pin attempts, all two. Out fifth, Manabu Nakanishi. Everyone stomps away at each other, not much happening yet. Out sixth, Chase Owens. Delirious pulls Chase's shirt up and rakes both his back and stomach. Package piledriver on Delirious, pin, 1-2-3. Nakanishi then sends BUSHI out over the top rop.

Delirious and BUSHI eliminated.

Out seventh to a nice pop is Yuji Nagata! He goes after everyone, taking down Owens with a suplex. Nakanishi and Nagata go back and forth until Nagata gets speared. Two guys pin Lao Tonga, Nagata takes out his partner, a pack of guys pin Nagata and Owens package piledriver ends Kitamura's night.

Lao Tonga, Nagata, and Nakanishi, Kitamura are all eliminated.

Out eighth, Taka Michinoku, who goes back and forth with Owens. Out ninth, Yoshinobu Kanemaru. Michinoku and Kanemaru team up on Owens. At ten is El Desperado, Suzuki-gun suddenly has a huge advantage. Owens ends up getting water spit in the face and he's tossed out easily.

Chase Owens eliminated.

At #11, Jushin "Thunder" Liger, who gets the biggest pop of the match. Liger clears out two guys, tilt-a-whirl backbreaker. Goes for a submission, leaving himself open to get stomped in the face, 3-on-1 advantage at the moment. Coming in at #12, Tiger Mask. He goes right after El Desperado who tries to take off his mask, same for Liger as they try to take off his mask. Now Tiger Mask nearly ripping off El Desperado's mask! Tiger Driver, pin, two. Gino 'Juicy' Gambino out at #13. Desperado's mask gets taken off and somehow Liger gets pinned. Tiger Mask loses his mask and gets pinned. All of Suzuki-gun gets eliminated along the way, it was a bit of a mess.

Taka, Kanemaru, Desperado, Liger, and Tiger Mask are all eliminated.

At #14, Henare who nearly eliminates Gambino. YOSHI-HASHI out at #15, lots of striking from all three guys, no one in danger of being eliminated. David Finlay at #16 and goes right after Gambino. Double pin on Gambino sends him packing. Henare gets kicked over the top rope. Finlay is able to counter YOSHI-HASHI and gets the pin.

YOSHI-HASHI, Gambino, and Henare are all eliminated.

Yujiro Takahashi out #17. Finlay almost instantly gets dumps out over the top rope. Gets back in the ring, but is clotheslined back out. Out at #18 is Cheeseburger to a huge pop! Takahashi meets him outside the ring and gets in the first strike. Cheeseburger is able to work his way back into the match, getting a pin attempt. Coming out at #19, Satoshi Kojima. He goes to work on Takahashi, hits the cutter. Takahashi with a nice suplex, goes back to trying to send Cheeseburger out of the match. At #20, it's Hiroyoshi Tenzan. Tenzan in the ring, double chops on Takahashi. Four people in the ring right now. Last wrestler of the match at #21 is Masahito Kakihara, who was able to overcome cancer.

Takahashi is eliminated

Cheeseburger tries to machine gun chop Kojima, but gets turned around and destroyed by chops. Kojima heads to the top rope, but Cheeseburger slowly rolls away in pain. Tenzan and Kojima pair up to take out their opponents, they charge in, miss, and run into each other. Cheeseburger and Kakihara throw strikes, Cheeseburger with less impact. Kojima and Tenzan both charge again and end up going over the top rope.

Tenzan and Kojima are eliminated.

Down to two guys, Kakihara is able to make quick work of Cheeseburger with the Kaki Cutter to win the match!

Winner: Masahito Kakihara via pinfall

Roppongi 3K w/ Rocky Romero (c) vs. The Young Bucks (IWGP Jr. Heavyweight Tag Team Championship)

Bucks out first, looking for their seventh Jr. Heavyweight Tag Team title reign. Romero out with a super fire extinguisher as he hypes up his team. Matt and YOH start off the match with some taunting, Matt with an early superkick attempt, nope. YOH tries for a sharpshooter on Nick, now Matt locks in a sharpshooter in SHO. Matt and YOH start slapping each other while holding the submission. Double atomic drops/dropkicks on the Young Bucks. Announcers saying biggest crowd in over 15 years. SHO lifts his partner and YOH double kicks Matt in the corner. Stereo flips to the outside by Roppongi 3K.




YOH selling a back injury after, Nick Jacks gives him a high bridge suplex on the apron. Nick and Matt have cornered Romero on the stage, superkick to the face. Matt with a running powerbomb on the ramp. "Goodnight, Rock!" Back to the ring, Bucks are in full control. Matt with an apron bomb on YOH, who's back continues to be a focus. Matt charges YOH, who ducks him and Matt crashes down on the floor. He gets back in the ring, but tags in Nick, who beats up YOH a bit more. Matt comes in with a bad back. Backbreaker on YOH, SHO breaks it up, Nick hits another backbreaker and throws him to the outside. Nick then throw a big knee to SHO on the apron. Romero is still just crashed out on the apron. Matt tries for piledriver on the ramp, but gets back body dropped to the ramp.




YOH heads back, Nick looks to fly, but ducks and Nick splashes down on Matt. SHO finally tagged in and he goes to work on Nick, hurricanrana followed up by a clothesline in the corner. Multiple kicks to the body and face, pin, two. SHO hits a suplex on Matt, then a double suplex on both Young Bucks! Matt gets double jumping knee. Nick with two superkick, but YOH recovers and hits his own. Backcracker and one-legged drop kick by YOH and SHO. Nick counters out of 3k with a tornado DDT, spinning kick by Nick on YOH, but a lariat drops Nick and everybody is down. Matt and YOH are the legal men, both with bad backs. Matt trying for a powerbomb, finally gets it, and Nick also throws in a kick. DDT/Swanton combo, pin, two!



Matt with sharpshooter in the middle of the ring, YOH looks like he's going to tap, but he crawls quickly to the bottom rope to break it up. More bang for your buck, but Matt needs help lifting his guy. Matt nearly pinned, Two. Single-leg crab on both Bucks. Matt tries to tap and Nick holds his hand off the Matt. Nick kicks SHO into YOH to break up the submission. SHO and Nick start kicking each other's partners in the back over and over. They finally turn their attention to each other and swing away. Nick with a superkick to send SHO to the outside. Nick with a crazy corkscrew senton to the floor. Matt and YOH in the ring, Superkick lands, YOH comes back into the ring, but can't get up. Meltzer Driver, Nick locks in a sharpshooter and YOH is forced to tap.

Winners: Young Bucks via Submission to win the IWGP Jr. Heavyweight Tag Team Championship

Tama Tonga, Tanga Loa, and Bad Luck Fale (c) vs. Ryusuke Taguchi, Juice Robinson, and Togi Makabe vs. Beretta, Toru Yano, and Tomohiro Ishii vs. Hanson, Raymond Rowe, and Michael Elgin vs. Taichi, Takashi Iizuka, and Zack Sabre Jr. (NEVER Openweight 6-Man Tag Team Championship - Gauntlet Match)

We start out with Hanson, Rowe, and Elgin vs. Taichi, Iizuka, and Sabre. Jr. Elgin in there destroying people right off the bat, one-armed stalled suplex on Iizuka. Taichi with the ring hammer and smacks Hanson in the head with the ref is distracted. Iizuka tagged back in, Hanson with a nice cartwheel and clothesline to drop his opponent. Sabre Jr. in now and he tries to trade blows with Rowe, that does not work at all for him. Hanson with a huge moonsault off the top rope, misses, Sabre Jr. with a nasty kick to the face, Rowe flattens Sabre Jr. Taichi rolls the referee to the floor. Iron glove comes out as do other members of Suzuki-gun to get the victory. Sabre Jr. ends up choking out Rowe and the ref stops the first match.


Referee is again distracted as Suzuki-gun destroys the CHAOS team before they can even get to the ring. Yano gets booted in the face by Sabre, quick pin, broken up by Beretta. Taichi tosses off the pants and the crowd hates him so much. Iron glove out again, but he ends up hitting Taichi down low, Yano with the roll-up for the 1-2-3.

Ryusuke Taguchi, Juice Robinson, and Togi Makabe enter the match.

All three jump in the ring, but Robinson is left alone in the ring against CHAOS. Yano takes off the turnbuckle, Robinson punching his way through his opponents. Yano tosses him the pad, which he throws to the ref. Robinson with a leaping clothesline. Makabe in now and hammers away on Yano in the corner. Yano is completely stuck in the corner as the other team charges in one at a time with all kinds of strikes. Pin attempted on Yano, Beretta breaks it up. Makabe in the ring now (crowd is loving him) as he double clotheslines two guys. Robinson takes out Ishii and Beretta on the floor. Taguchi with a Nakamura like taunt, goes for Bomaye, but gets rolled up for the pin by Yano.

The champions are now in the match and go to work on CHAOS. Loa with a death valley driver to Beretta on the apron. Fale and Yano in the ring now, Yano nearly thrown in the exposed corner, Fale charges and does run into the corner. Ishii and Tonga for a moment, in comes Loa, who gets clotheslined a bunch of times in the corner. Ishii looking to suplex Fale, crowd wants it, headbutts, Ishii tries for it, but nope. Ishii behind Fale who backs him into the exposed corner, Fale with a splash attempt, misses.

Ishii goes for another suplex on Ishii and is able to pull it off this time, crowd goes wild. Fale recovers, lifts Ishii on his shoulder, kicks away Beretta, and samoan drop on Ishii. Beretta trying to fight off the champions, goes for a tornado DDT, but Guerrilla Warfare hits. Fale keeping the other members down as Tonga flies into the corner and takes out Beretta. Beretta put up on the second rope, facing the crowd. Loa goes up, looks for a suplex, but elbow sends him back. Beretta with a moonsault, but gets a gunstun in midair! Pin attempt, Yano breaks it up. Beretta is out of it still though as he hits a dude buster for the victory.

Winners: Beretta, Toru Yano, and Tomohiro Ishii via Pinfall to win the NEVER Openweight 6-Man Tag Team Championship

Cody vs. Kota Ibushi

Ibushi getting the best of Cody to start things off, Cody isn't impressed as he gives Ibushi the middle finger. Ibushi sends Cody out to the floor and hits a dive landing on both Cody and Brandi. Brandi is out of it, Ibushi checks on her, picks her up and Cody pops him right in the face, dropping Brandi again. Cody throws Ibushi in the ring and checks on his wife, who starts laughing as they were just acting.

Brandi grabs a chair, brings it to Cody, and pulls the ref away. Cody with a couple strikes on Ibushi. He goes for another swing, ref see him, Cody goes for it anyway, but misses. Ibushi with a big baseball slide and then a moonsault off the top rope in the corner. Action back in the ring, big kick by Ibushi, standing moonsault hits, pin, two. Cody gets some encouragement from Brandi. Cody on the apron, both men trade suplex attempts, Ibushi goes for another, but Brandi grabs his foot, stalling the move. Both wrestlers out on the apron, Cody almost gets a piledriver, counters, hits cross rhodes down to the floor! Ibushi lands right on his neck/head.

Ref starts the 20-count on Ibushi, Ibushi is able to get in at 19! He looks to be out of it those as Cody tries to pick him up and he just falls to the mat, ref checks on him. Cody puts Ibushi up on the top rope, and Cody with a springboard hurricanrana! He goes for the pin, two! Ibushi on the second rope, Cody kicks the rope, Cross Rhodes attempt, counter, Ibushi with a lawn dart right into the corner on Cody. Back and forth strikes, palm strike by Ibushi, Last Ride Powerbomb, pin, two. Cody recovers and hits a lariat that drops his opponent. Cody tries for a disaster kick, nope, kicked, straight jacket german suplex by Ibushi, only two. Huge knee to the face by Ibushi! Ibushi climbs to the top and hits the phoenix splash, pin, and that will do it! Great match between these two.

Winner: Kota Ibushi via Pinfall

Killer Elite Squad (Davey Boy Smith Jr. and Lance Archer) (c) vs. EVIL and SANADA (IWGP Tag Team Championship)

Lance Archer deciding to give the front row a shower by spraying and throwing water everywhere! Killer Bomb right off the bat, wow, they nearly stole that one. KES off to a fast start as they destroy EVIL in the ring. Both Archer and Davey destroy all the Young Lions at ringside, huge body slams on those poor guys! Archer chokeslams EVIL on SANADA and a pile of Young Lions. Ref starts a 20-count, Davey Boy throws SANADA in the ring, goes for a pin, two. Body splash in the corner on SANADA, double team move on him, pin, two. Archer yells at the ref. A massive lariat by Archer as he stares out to the crowd, who continue to cheer on the challengers.


EVIL gets knocked off the apron as SANADA goes for a tag. Archer then chokes SANADA with a shirt. Davey Boy in now, SANADA continues to get dominated, release suplex, pin, two. On the outside, Archer stomps EVIL and spits on him. Submission on SANADA, he taps SANADA's hand to the mat and says he tapped out. Archer in now, "Shut up!" to the crowd, who just get louder. SANADA dropped again, pin, two. Archer gets really mad at the referee. SANADA finally gets in some offense to tag in EVIL. He's slow to get in, but running senton, followed up by knocking Davey Boy off the apron. Bulldog on Archer, Davey jumps in, gets taken out. Archer tries for a chokeslam, nope, lariat by EVIL, and again. Third time is a charm, knocking Archer down, pin, two.

EVIL and Archer up on the top rope and superplex on EVIL. Both sides tag out, SANADA with a couple dropkicks, jumps Davey Boy twice, another dropkick. SANADA goes for skull end, Archer in, tries for chokeslam, but SANADA flips out of it. Third chokeslam hits though, oh my! Davey Boy side suplex with bridge, EVIL breaks it up. Heart Attack by KES. Killer Bomb on SANADA and he kicks out at 2.9! Everything is evil on Archer, he's out of the ring, Magic Killer on Davey Boy, pin, two! SANADA up to the top rope, moonsault, pin, 1-2-3! Massive comeback for the challengers to win this one.



Winners: EVIL and SANADA via Pinfall to win the IWGP Tag Team Championship

Minoru Suzuki (c) vs. Hirooki Goto (NEVER Openweight Championship - Hair vs. Hair/Nobody At Ringside)

Huge strike by both wrestlers to kick things off. Suzuki locks in a choke, gets back into the ropes, climbs up to the second rope and is strangling Goto. Finally he stops and Goto just drops to the mat. Doctor is in the ring and they are checking on Goto. Suzuki stomps the Doctor and sends him out of the ring. Ref shoves Suzuki away to check on Goto. Action spills to the outside, Goto thrown hard against the barricade. Suzuki grabs a chair at just hammers Goto's back. Ref is trying to pull away the chair and is finally able to do so.

Suzuki smiles in the ring as he continues to beat up the challenge, big kick to the back. Goto with chops to the chest and Suzuki is laughing at them. Slow, massive strikes by Suzuki as Goto tries to return fire to no effect. Suzuki goes for a penalty kick, blocked, Goto gets bashed right in the face. Goto tries to recover, but Suzuki with multiple submission to keep him slowed down. Gotch-style piledriver attempted, nope, Goto hits Ushigoroshi, both men down. Suzuki-gun attempts to get in the ring, but the Young Lions hold back most of them. Taichi sneaks in with a chair, but YOSHI-HASHI runs in and holds him back. Goto with a strike to drop Taichi. Suzuki slinks in from behind, multiple forearms.

Suzuki goes on an absolute flurry of strikes to the face and body, wow! Locks in another choke as Goto looks to be fading, but fights back. Ref almost stops it, Suzuki goes for the gotch-style piledriver to finish it off. Goto fights out and shoves him into the corner. Both on the top rope, Suzuki with a nasty headbutt. Front face lock on Goto while standing on the top rope. Goto switches it into a super Ushigoroshi! Ouch. Goto with multiple strikes to Suzuki's face, who keeps laughing at them. Goto with a headbutt, Suzuki didn't laugh at that. GTR by Goto. GTR again and that will get the win!

Winner: Hirooki Goto via Pinfall to win the NEVER Openweight Championship


- Post-match, Suzuki-gun try to pull Suzuki away from the ring. Referee stops them and Suzuki goes back to the ring on his own. Suzuki ends up shaving his own head.

Marty Scurll (c) vs. Hiromu Takahashi vs. Kushida vs. Will Ospreay (IWGP Jr. Heavyweight Championship)

Takahashi out with a masked Daryl, Scurll has entrance attire with wings! Scurll bounces to the outside and will let the others fight it out. Ospreay pops Takahashi. Ospreay with a quick pin on KUSHIDA, Scurll jumps in, breaks it up, and bounces. He does it against before getting into the match. Scurll and Takahashi in the ring, Scurll stomps his fingers and drop kicks him to the floor. Superkick from the apron on Takahashi. Ospreay and Scurll on the second rope, KUSHIDA with a handspring kick. KUSHIDA with a crazy senton all the way out to the floor, just missing the edge of the steps.

Action on the floor, Ospreay climbs up the stage structure and hits a moonsault off it, taking out all three opponents! Action back in the ring, Ospreay off the top rope and cross arm break caught in mid air. Scurll stomps the fingers, tornado DDT, holds on, goes for crossface chicken wing. KUSHIDA also locks in a submission, Scurll lets go and thrust kick to KUSHIDA's head. Scurll with some nasty kicks to KUSHIDA. Ospreay jumps in and takes out the champion. Pace is fast and furious with everyone landing some big clotheslines. Everybody's on the mat now.


All four start swinging at each other on the mat over and over again. Ospreay tries for Oscutter, crossface chicken wing in midair. KUSHIDA drops from the sky and ends that hold. Release overhead throw by Takahashi on KUSHIDA right into the corner. Takahashi and KUSHIDA up top, Takahashi gets head tucked in the corner, kicked away. KUSHIDA kicked away. Scurll gets his head tucked in the corner, and meets the same fate. Ospreay heads to the top rope, gets caught in midair by Scurll. Scurll goes for his own Oscutter, hits it, pin, Takahashi breaks up the pin.

Scurll tapes Takahashi's arm to the barricade, and ends up snapping the fingers on his other hand. Ospreay, KUSHIDA, Scurll all on the second rope, KUSHIDA ends up snapping Scurll's fingers. Avalanche cross armbreak from KUSHIDA on Ospreay! Ospreay is so close to grabbing the ropes, but gets pulled away. Triangle lock, Ospreay able to pick up KUSHIDA and buckle bomb him. Scurll on the outside, grabs a huge amount of powder and throw it into KUSHIDA's face. KUSHIDA with a back to the future, pin, Ospreay able to break it up though. Takahashi is back in the ring, sunset bomb on Ospreay and Scurll to the floor! Takahashi and Scurll in the ring, Time Bomb hits, Scurll kicks out! Chicken wing counter, super kick, Takahashi gets booted in the back of the head by Ospreay. Scurll and Ospreay with multiple kicks to Takahashi.

Ospreay nearly gives and Oscutter to Scurll, awkward Tombstone to Ospreay. Missile dropkick on Ospreay by Takahashi, pin, two. Death valley driver on the apron to Scurll. KUSHIDA with a sunset bomb to Takahashi. Ospreay with a shooting star press to the floor taking out Scurll and KUSHIDA. Throws the champion in the ring, Ospreay up to the top rope inverse 450, kick out! Crowd cheers big time. Oscutter, no good, clothesline sits him down. Time bomb connects, Scurll pulls the referee out and the crowd goes nuts. Scurll in the ring with the umbrella and hammers everyone. Oscutter hits on Scurll and that will do it.

Winner: Will Ospreay via Pinfall to win the IWGP Jr. Heavyweight Championship

Hiroshi Tanahashi (c) vs. Jay White (IWGP Intercontinental Championship)

Pretty even start with Tanahashi doing some air guitar taunting towards the challenger. White knocked out to the floor, Tanahashi goes for a leap over the top rope and nobody home. Looks like he's tweaked his knee (which White focused on last time the two were near each other) White wraps Tanahashi's leg around the barricade and kicks it. Getting back to the ring, White drops Tanahashi, goes for a pin, only two. White continues to dominate as Tanahashi is having trouble with a bum knee, crowd is cheering him on. The champ fights back with some punches, but can't string enough offense together for it to really matter.


Couple dragon screws by Tanahashi, White heads out to the floor. High fly flow all the way to the floor connects cleanly. Action back in the ring, deadlift german suplex by White. Tanahashi rolls to the floor, White follows, goes for a suplex and just drops his opponent head-first on the apron. Tanahashi thrown in the ring, White heads to the top rope, Tanahashi doesn't quite do what he wants, so White ends up jumping down, goes over and kicks at Tanahashi. "Show me the Ace!" White yells and he gets popped in the face.


White goes up top, missile dropkick misses, gets caught with another dragon screw. Both end up on the second rope, White gets sent crashing to the mat. Tanahashi seems amped up now, thanks to all of White's taunting. White with a snap dragon, but two sling blades drop him, pin, two-count. High fly flow drops White, he goes up again and White rolls out of the way. White into a modified crucifix with a bunch of elbows. Kiwi Crusher lands, pin, no! Nice bridged suplex by Tanahashi, another two-count. Tanahashi heads up top again, White climbs up and looks at him, he gets slapped in the face, Tanahashi hits high fly flow on his back and gives him yet another one for the victory.

Winner: Hiroshi Tanahashi via Pinfall to retain the IWGP Intercontinental Championship

Kenny Omega (c) vs. Chris Jericho (IWGP United States Championship)

Jericho out first with the light-up jacket and Omega out with quite the costume and gun. Jericho gets into a shoving match before the bell even rings. Hard back and forth punches to get things started. Omega with some big chops, Jericho pulls the ref between them and pokes Omega in the eye. Jericho looks for Walls of Jericho early on, Omega gets to the ropes, but since there's no DQ, Jericho just keeps it locked in. Jericho gets tossed to the outside. Omega goes for a baseball slide, Jericho blocks it, gets shoved to the barricade. Omega baseball slide again knocks him past the barricade. Omega goes for a springboard, misses, and crashes through the announce table. Jericho locks in walls of Jericho on the floor. He then shoves Red Shoes hard to the floor and puts Red Shoes' son in the walls of jericho in front of Red Shoes! Omega finally comes over and kicks Jericho.

The English announce table was destroyed with Kevin Kelly and Don Callis being silenced. Jericho continues to fight on the floor, throwing chairs at Omega. Omega puts a table on Jericho, climbs up the stage structure and double stomp through the table. Red shoes starts a 20-count as both wrestlers make their way back into the ring. Omega goes to springboard in and Jericho kicks him right in the knee causing Omega to fall on the top rope. Jericho looks under the ring and grabs a table, setting it up on the floor. Jericho looks to powerbomb him through the table, Omega fights him off, kind of, Jericho ends up doing it straight to the floor. Chairs find their way into the ring.

Jericho sets a chair up in the corner and hammers away at Omega. Both wrestlers nearly get sent into it. Omega with chop after chop. Jericho drops him, hits a lionsault to a nice pop from the crowd, pin, two. Jericho with some taunting, snap hurricanrana by Omega, clothesline sends Y2J out to the floor. Crowd with a "Terminator clap" as Omega pulls off a front flip over the top rope, clearing out Jericho. Both in the ring, v-trigger, no, walls of jericho, no, v-trigger hits. Walls of Jericho locked in the middle of the ring. "Give up!" yells Jericho. Omega claws to the edge of the ring and uses the ref to help him. Omega grabs a can of cold spray and hits Jericho right in the mug. Omega then sprays himself off, much to the crowd's delight. Jericho shoves Red Shoes into Omega and throws Omega into the chair that was set up in the corner. Jericho yells for a towel from the Young Lions he beat the hell out of earlier.

Twice more Jericho throws Omega into the chair in the corner. Jericho then taunts the crowd. Omega tries to fight back and gets thrown into the chair again! Jericho puts his feet up in the corner and is really enjoying life at the moment. Omega now has some blood coming from his forehead. Omega goes for his first one winged angel, Jericho counters, gets suplexed and then absolutely crushes Omega with a chair, breaking it. Chair grabs another chair and swings away at Omega's back. Jericho mocks the "Kenny" chants as he climbs up to the top, Omega with a dropkick that sends the chair into Jericho's face! Crowd reacts big time. Omega with a v-trigger, Jericho is woozy, and falls back through the table on the floor.


Action back in the ring, Omega with another sickening v-trigger, Omega drops Jericho to the mat, pin, two! V-trigger lands straight to Jericho's face, he looks out of it, One winged angel, reversed! Jericho with walls of jericho! They are in the middle of the ring, Jericho is yelling "Ask him! Ring the bell!" Omega slowly crawls for the ropes, but gets pulled away, crowd reacts with dismay. Jericho wrenches back on Omega's neck now, he looks like he's out for a moment, he wakes up and uses Red Shoes to help him get to the ropes. Jericho releases the hold, even though he didn't have to. Jericho shoves Red Shoes.

V-trigger lands again, one winged angel hits, pin, 1-2-Jericho grabs the bottom rope and the ref stops his count. Weird how it's no DQ, but that still counts. Omega heads to the top rope, Jericho shoves him down. Jericho climbs up, Kenny looks like he's going to powerbomb him, but slides under and drops Jericho face first on the top turnbuckle. You can't escape by Omega, Jericho rolls out of the way of the moonsault. Codebreaker by Jericho! Slow to get the pin, 1-2! Lionsault attempt, Omega throws a chair at him, one winged angel on a chair! Omega with the pin, 1-2-3! Wow, what a match.

Winner: Kenny Omega via Pinfall to retain the IWGP United States Championship

Kazuchika Okada (c) vs. Tetsuya Naito (IWGP Heavyweight Championship)

Crowd is hot right from the start of the bell, announcers saying it sounds pretty split in terms of who they support. Okada wearing trunks for this match, changing it up from the usual. Naito keeping things slow early on. Rope break, Naito initially backs off then kicks Okada in the stomach. Plenty of back and forth action, Naito goes tranquilo for a moment in the ring and bails out of the ring, slowing the pace back down. Naito fakes going into the ring a few times. Finally he gets in, finds himself up on the top turnbuckle and gets dropkicked all the way to the floor.


Naito and Okada fight on the floor, Naito pulls off a neckbreaker on the barricade, and heads into the ring. Red Shoes with his 20-count, Okada gets in around five. Naito with a missile dropkick and he stomps away at the champion in the corner. He ends up spitting towards Gedo at ringside. Naito continues to focus on the neck with another neckbreaker and low dropkick to the neck area. After getting worked over for awhile, Okada finally strings together some offense with a DDT and a couple back elbows. Naito rolls to the outside, Okada follows on the opposite part of the ring, runs around the ring and hits a big boot to the face.

Okada drapes Naito on the barricade and hits a DDT on the floor. Action moves back to the ring, Naito gets in a few moves before Okada lands a flapjack and drops Naito's neck over his knee. Okada heads to the top rope and hits a nice looking elbow drop. He then calls for the rainmaker, Naito elbows his way out of it, but can't escape Okada's cobra clutch.

Naito finally gets a rope break with his leg. Heads to the corner, dodges Okada, lands another neckbreaker on the champion. He puts Okada up on the second rope, reverse super hurricanrana! Pin, two! Naito with a side slam, stardust press misses. Both wrestlers down as the crowd chants for each competitor. Back and forth strikes, Naito with a bunch of forearms to the face. Okada with a running missile dropkick. Flying forearm by Naito, just back and forth offense at the moment. Both wrestlers end up on the second rope with forearms to Naito's face he gets sent to the mat. Okada hanging on the ropes, waiting, and goes for a huge missile dropkick and misses, landing hard. Naito goes to the top, Okada stops him, Naito trying to hold on, but a rainmaker lands, pin, two!


Okada looking for the tombstone, Naito able to get out of it, but can't get up. We're about 30 minutes into the match. Naito with a step-up enziguri, misses, Okada with another cobra clutch. Destino! He can't get the pin though. Both swing weakly away at each other from the mat, they both stand, back and forth strikes with the crowd yelling for every strike. Okada is fading and Naito slap the hell out of Okada! He crumbles to the ground and slowly crawls to the corner. Naito charges in, gets scooped up and counters with a spinning hurricanrana. Destino, countered into a rainmaker! Okada holds the wrist though, he looks for another and Destino hits! Pin 1-2-no! That was super closer. Naito calls for it again and gets an elbow to the face. Enziguri by Naito. Dropkick by Okada. This has been the story of the match, individual strikes, back and forth. Okada looks for the tombstone and hits it. The champion lifts him up and no rainmker, destino once, twice- no! Spinning tombstone by Okada, oh my! Rainmaker hits and flips Naito upside down, pin, 1-2-3! What an ending to that match!


Winner: Kazuchika Okada via Pinfall to retain the IWGP Heavyweight Championship

Been watching since 7, enjoyable show so far, nothing life changing but a really fun undercard

The Cross Rhodes of the apron was insanity

Scurll looked cool as Frak on his entrance

Annoyingly my partner wants to go to the shops now so time to dodge spoilers until I get home

Divorce them immediately

Watched the fatal fourway, was peak Marty.

Based on the results, need to go back and watch both Tag Title matches, Omega/Jericho and Okada/Naito

Finally finished, very enjoyable show with a few shock results

Tanahashi/White was a good match, I didn't expect the result, felt the 'injury' was the perfect chance put White over ****

Omega/Jericho was much better than I expected it to be, a real wild brawl ****1/2

The heat for Okada/Naito was incredible, the match was excellent, but I'm very curious as to where they go from here, I was 100% sure Naito would win and it's difficult to see who takes the title off Okada ****1/2

New Years Dash was great (the 2nd half of it that I saw live anyway)

Basically Jericho isn't done with NJPW!

-----------------------------

New Year Dash Results

Manabu Nakanishi, TenCozy (Hiroyoshi Tenzan & Satoshi Kojima), & Yuji Nagata over Ren Narita, Shota Umino, Tetsuhiro Yagi, & Tomoyuki Oka by pinfall with a lariat from Kojima on Umino.
Suzuki-gun (El Desperado, Taichi, TAKA Michinoku, Takashi Iizuka, & Yoshinobu Kanemaru) over Henare, Hirai Kawato, Jushin Liger, Tiger Mask IV, & Togi Makabe by pinfall with Pinche Loco from Desperado on Kawato.

“Switchblade” Jay White over Katsuya Kitamura by pinfall with Blade Runner. (Kitamura Challenge Series Match 1)

The Elite (Kenny Omega, Matt Jackson, & Nick Jackson) over Cheeseburger & Roppongi 3K (SHO & YOH) by pinfall with an assisted Indytaker on Cheeseburger.

Bullet Club (Chase Owens, Cody Rhodes, Leo Tonga, Marty Scurll, & Yujiro Takahashi) over Taguchi Japan (David Finlay, Juice Robinson, Kota Ibushi, KUSHIDA, & Ryusuke Taguchi) by submission with American Nightmare from Rhodes on Finlay.

Post-match, Cody attacks Ibushi and Bullet Club go to Pillmanize him but Omega makes the save! He and Rhodes are jawing at each other and shoving!

Kenny cut a promo about being sick of Bullet Club’s infighting and said he had the solution— Switchblade. But when White came down and accepted a BC t-shirt, he immediately hit Blade Runner on Omega!
Bullet Club (Bad Luck Fale, Tama Tonga, & Tonga Roa) over Chaos (Beretta, Tomohiro Ishii, & Toru Yano) (c) by pinfall with a Gun Stun from Tama on Beretta to win the NEVER Openweight 6-Man Tag Team Championship.

Suzuki-gun (Davey Boy Smith, Jr., Lance Archer, Minoru Suzuki, & Zack Sabre, Jr.) over Hiroshi Tanahashi, Michael Elgin, & War Machine (Hanson & Ray Rowe) by pinfall with Killer Bomb from KES on Hanson.
Post-match Suzuki continues to take his frustration out on Tanahashi’s knee before picking the IWGP Intercontinental Championship up and presumably issuing a challenge.
Los Ingobernables de Japon (BUSHI, EVIL, Hiromu Takahashi, SANADA, & Tetsuya Naito) over Chaos (Gedo, Hirooki Goto, Kazuchika Okada, Will Ospreay, & YOSHI-HASHI) by pinfall with Destino from Naito on YOSHI-HASHI.

After the match, LIJ continue the attack and SANADA chokes Okada out with Skull End.

Naito cuts the traditional show-closing promo and says he lost, no excuses... AND CHRIS JERICHO ATTACKS!

Jay's gimmick makes 100x more sense as part of the BC

Just to clarify as I haven't watched yet, does this signify an Elite/BC split or just Omega going it alone?

In a 5 Nerds Go Facebook discussion not all of us agree that Jay White has actually joined BC. I took it as he joined THEN laid out Omega, but maybe he didn't join and laid out Omega instead of joining.

I predict it'll be Cody/White/BC v Omega/Bucks/Elite, with the only debate being which side of the fence Marty sits.

It's what I'd assume as I'd always associated Omega and The Bucks as 'The Elite' but in terms of recent developments Cody & Scurll are much more part of the 'brand' particularly in terms of the 'All In' show they are planning to run, is it important that they keep a kayfabe united front in the run up to that, particularly in Japan, it's an interesting development, not that I wasn't expecting but at least one I wasn't expecting right now

Thoughts on Jericho v Naito?

Marky wrote:Thoughts on Jericho v Naito?

Fine with it, gives Naito something to pivot into as I really wasn't sure where they would go post the Okada match, it also plays to the Japan #1, Frak the US expansion slant that Naito has been playing up in recent months, that said I think the Omega match was probably about the best Jericho match we could have got at this stage in Jericho's career, if he tries to go hold for hold with Naito I'm not expecting a blow away match based on recent history with Styles and Owens etc

Apparently Jay White has joined Chaos while Omega and Cody have apologised for their actions at Dash, which rendereds yesterday's speculation kind of moot

Have to say even though I knew it was coming, I popped so hard for the Omega save

Okada has said he will accept Sanda's challenge for the IWGP title provided LIJ accept his challenge for the tag titles with Goto in return

Do my ears deceive me or are they actually doing something vaguely of interest with the tag titles

So the match will be for the Heavyweight and Tag Titles? Or there'll be separate matches?

They should put Goto's NEVER Openweight belt on the line too if it's the former!

Marky wrote:So the match will be for the Heavyweight and Tag Titles? Or there'll be separate matches?

They should put Goto's NEVER Openweight belt on the line too if it's the former!

Calm down there Russo!

It'll be seperate matches, I've done a little bit of research and there are 3 New Beginning shows this year so I imagine it'll main/semi main event one of those and maybe spin off to an Evil/Goto match on one of the others

Along with the World title match, Tana/Suzuki, Omega/White and Will/Hiromu that's 6 matches for the 3 shows, though that's just a theory

Why does suggesting a Champion defend his title make me Russo?

Marky wrote:Why does suggesting a Champion defend his title make me Russo?

3 titles on the line in a tag match....I'm just saying

Dr Gregory House MD wrote:Apparently Jay White has joined Chaos while Omega and Cody have apologised for their actions at Dash, which rendereds yesterday's speculation kind of moot

Have to say even though I knew it was coming, I popped so hard for the Omega save

They might have apologized but its been brewing for a while. Wouldnt surprise me if this becomes the big summer/autumn angle with The Bucks and Omega breaking away from Bullet Club and Cody taking over. Then you’ve got Marty in the middle trying to decide where his loyalty lies aswell.

The only problem is the Elite are almost synonymous with the Bullet Club so it could end up like and NWO wolfpack situation all over again.

Samo wrote:

Dr Gregory House MD wrote:Apparently Jay White has joined Chaos while Omega and Cody have apologised for their actions at Dash, which rendereds yesterday's speculation kind of moot

Have to say even though I knew it was coming, I popped so hard for the Omega save

They might have apologized but its been brewing for a while. Wouldnt surprise me if this becomes the big summer/autumn angle with The Bucks and Omega breaking away from Bullet Club and Cody taking over. Then you’ve got Marty in the middle trying to decide where his loyalty lies aswell.

The only problem is the Elite are almost synonymous with the Bullet Club so it could end up like and NWO wolfpack situation all over again.

I think they have to wait until after their self promoted show, and also with this being New Japan it could be years before something happens

Oh yeah. Forgot about that.

New Beginning cards announced, I can't be arsed typing up all the multi mans but the big matches are

Sapporo Day 1

Kitamura v Elgin
Never 6 Man- Bullet Club v Taguchi, Hernare & Makabe
IC- Tanahashi v Suzuki

Sapporo Day 2

Kitamura v Juice
Jr Tag- Bucks v RPG 3K
US- Omega v White

Osaka

Kitamura v Nagata
RPG 3K v Suzuki-gun
Gedo v Bushi
Naito v Yoshi-Hashi
Never- Goto v Evil
Jr- Ospreay v Hiromu
IWGP- Okada v Sanada

Also the Tag Title match that was promised has been announced for the 4/2 Kouraken show

Listen to Jim Smallman's podcast, he's had more negative things to say about Jericho/Omega than he had to say about Jinder's entire title run, I really enjoy his podcast but it baffles me sometimes

I'm yet to start listening to this weeks, it seems odd because he was really talking up Jericho/Omega last week.

It wasn't like he was vicious, he enjoyed it overall, but given how he can talk in circles around some of the utter pish WWE serves up, it seemed out of place

New Japan Rumble 1.5
Roppongi 3k vs. Young Bucks 4
Gauntlet Trios Match
Suzuki-gun vs. War Machine/Elgin 2.5
Suzuki-gun vs. CHAOS .75
CHAOS vs. Taguchi Japan 1.5
CHAOS vs. Bullet Club 2.75
Kota Ibushi vs. Cody 4.25
KES vs. EVIL/SANADA 4
Minoru Suzuki vs. Hirooki Goto 4.5
Marty Scurll vs. KUSHIDA vs. Will Ospreay vs. Hiromu Takahashi 4.75
Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. Jay White 3.75
Kenny Omega vs. Chris Jericho 5
Kazuchika Okada vs. Tetsuya Naito 4.5

Ive no idea what goes through Dave's head somedays i just imagine it's a gif of Kenny cold spraying his balls

Fernando wrote:New Japan Rumble 1.5
Roppongi 3k vs. Young Bucks 4
Gauntlet Trios Match
Suzuki-gun vs. War Machine/Elgin 2.5
Suzuki-gun vs. CHAOS .75
CHAOS vs. Taguchi Japan 1.5
CHAOS vs. Bullet Club 2.75
Kota Ibushi vs. Cody 4.25
KES vs. EVIL/SANADA 4
Minoru Suzuki vs. Hirooki Goto 4.5
Marty Scurll vs. KUSHIDA vs. Will Ospreay vs. Hiromu Takahashi 4.75
Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. Jay White 3.75
Kenny Omega vs. Chris Jericho 5
Kazuchika Okada vs. Tetsuya Naito 4.5

Ive no idea what goes through Dave's head somedays i just imagine it's a gif of Kenny cold spraying his balls

I think these are pretty fair, personally I went 4.5 on Y2J/Omega and I think I'm the high man on White/Tana but it's a man saying what he enjoys