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NJPW Wrestle Kingdom 13 in Tokyo Dome 1/4/19


Raziel

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There's something to that narrative, but practically, it would also make it easier for each of them to walk the other to the ring. Plus, lest we forget (and I nearly have, since it's been a while), Kenny has tried to challenge Kota a couple times, and Tanahashi (should he win) has stated a desire to run back the G1 finals as well. So, even if he still has the NEVER title, it may be important for Ibushi to be present for the main event.

(I also think they just don't want to put it near the slower Okada/White and Naito/Jericho matches.)

It's obvious but probably worth pointing out anyway: Suzuki's going to be on the preshow, while Sabre gets a singles match on the main card. This will be a thing in 2019.

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Chaos and the NJPW army are allied, not sure if Gedo will Russoize Okada being part of Bullet Club the whole time and betrays Chaos.

Suzuki might be phased out eventually, he is 50. 

Not surprised with the never title opening and more non native vs Japan matches, it's part of the western expansion. I'm actually looking forward to NJPW to morph even further. 

 

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4 minutes ago, D.Z said:

Chaos and the NJPW army are allied, not sure if Gedo will Russoize Okada being part of Bullet Club the whole time and betrays Chaos.

Suzuki might be phased out eventually, he is 50. 

Not surprised with the never title opening and more non native vs Japan matches, it's part of the western expansion. I'm actually looking forward to NJPW to morph even further. 

 

You go tell Suzuki he's being phased out... ?

 

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5 hours ago, D.Z said:

Chaos and the NJPW army are allied, not sure if Gedo will Russoize Okada being part of Bullet Club the whole time and betrays Chaos.

Suzuki might be phased out eventually, he is 50. 

Not surprised with the never title opening and more non native vs Japan matches, it's part of the western expansion. I'm actually looking forward to NJPW to morph even further. 

 

tenor.gif

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Minoru's not going to live forever.  The fact he made it to 50 as a main event-level player, I can't see anyone other than Okada doing that.  (Tana could but he'll prob be unable to get in the ring in 9 years)

I'm waiting for ZSJ to try and take the throne from Minoru at some point.  That's the feud I want to see out of NJPW more than anything else.   (with Taichi stuck in the middle as Suzuki-Gun's most loyal soldier)

 

 

 

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So I had some time to think about the card and move past the initial "fuck Young Bucks" reaction. And here is what I think about the entire thing:

Ibushi/Ospreay is going to be crazy and I think Ibushi has to win to start the "Golden Lovers are winning this" train rolling. But overall I'm not sure about the whole thing. Optimistically this could be perfect opportunity to start actual open weight division since Ospreay might still actually be junior and Ibushi is really a super junior all things considered. But NJPW clearly doesn't care about that and I doubt that anything will come out of this opportunity asides of Ospreay competing in next G1. Which is overall a good thing, but at the same time isn't fixing NEVER title problems.

Jr. tag team match. If LiJ are winning then I understand the logic. So let me explain it: first half of the year was essentially about R3K being unable to deal with cheaters. In tournament they finally managed to defeat them and they even pinned them in the finals. Even if they don't take the belts argument can be made that R3K managed to overcome Desperado/Kanemaru. Enter LiJ team. They defeated Bushi/Hiromu last year in jr. tag tournament, but since then lost non-title match to them, didn't win 2 three-ways that they have been in and lost to Bushi/Shingo this year in the tournament. They haven't pinned them this year and if LiJ win the belts at WK (by pinning R3K) then it naturally puts R3K in chase mode again and they might finally regain those titles at, for example, Sakura Genesis. LiJ not having pinned Desperado/Kanemaru this year also leads naturally into LiJ vs SZGN feud early next year, who isn't excited for another Naito/Suzuki match? So it kinda makes sense. But if R3K or Desperado/Kanemaru win then I don't get this shit at all. As for the match itself, I enjoyed the finals so I'm going to enjoy this as well, but I expect it to be one of the weaker matches on this card.

Ishii/Zack is gonna be great and Zack will probably get his big win here. One interesting thing is that Zack has match scheduled against PAC two days later in RevPro. If PAC loses then his other upcoming match at RevPro against Ospreay sounds less hype. And if PAC wins, is it title match? Or does it set up title match at later date? And how does this work with PAC being in Dragon Gate while RevPro is almost NJPW's feeder promotion. Interesting situation that I think gives some arguments for Ishii's win here and I wouldn't mind it. Overall I think this is going to be one of my favorite matches because I like both guys and it will be interesting to see what happens in the January/February.

Heavyweight Tag team match. Ugh, fuck Young Bucks. If LiJ win by pinning Bucks as a revenge for those shitty Dominion/G1 Special matches then I'm okay. If Young Bucks or GoD win then I'm really not okay. Either way I'm sure that the match is going to have some cool spots, but I'm not excited for it at all.

Cody/Juice is going to be the worst match on the card. When their first match was set up I was kinda optimistic, story looked to be that Juice has now grown a lot and can take down Cody. But that didn't happen and as a result we arguable got worst IGWP title match since who knows when. So either Juice gets killed here completely or he does what he should have done at FSU. So I'm not hyped for this match at all. And as far as quality goes, Juice is not good enough to carry Cody to anything above mediocre.

Kushida/Ishimori I'm really looking forward to. I think that Ishimori has to win and have a big match when Hiromu returns. Even if Hiromu, unfortunately, won't return another Kushida reign does nothing for anyone at this point. That plus there are some rumors about WWE being very interested in Kushida so for all we know this might be his swan song.

Okada/White is a match that I'm also looking forward to. I think this story has revitalized Okada and gave White a purpose. Is it going to be as good of a match as Okada's previous Dome matches? Probably not, but I think that story is rather compelling and will make up for it. There is still a question of who White's inside man is or if it was just a misdirection. That plus you can easily make arguments for why each guy should win so finish should be hot. Imagine if Goto is the traitor? I think that would go over pretty well.

Jericho/Naito is ehhh. Their Dominion match wasn't very good and I see no reason why this should be any better. Naito should win and get his third IC reign, which is not very exciting for Naito's fans. Or Naito loses for some bizarre reasons, not that exciting for Naito's fans either. I think they have booked themselves into the corner here and lots of people will be unhappy either way.

Omega/Tanahashi, I really haven't enjoyed the build towards this match. But the match itself is going to be good and crowd should be loud for Tanahashi. I hope he wins and gets his last big moment in the sun, but I won't get very mad if Omega retains unless he'll cut some ridiculous promo to close the show. And he totally will.

Overall I like that the card has little filler, but I'm excited only for like half of it and other half of it can seriously trigger me with weird booking decisions. This is also probably first time in a while that we won't have any "beat the shit out of each other" match like we'd get with Goto/Suzuki, Shibata/Suzuki, Shibata/Ishii, Ishii/Makabe in previous years.

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Looking forward to  the main event, Kenny Omega vs. Hiroshi Tanahashi for the IWGP Heavyweight Championship the most. Team Tana' all the way. Hope Tanahashi can dial back those Kenny Omega irritations and win the big one, one more time.

Interesting Kazuchika Okada sits out the main event unlike recent Wrestle Kingdom events. I think Okada's the 2018 Wrestler of the Year.

There'll be crazy athletic shit going down in Kota Ibushi vs. Will Ospreay.

Tetsuya Naito will reclaim the IWGP Intercontinetal Championship from Chris Jericho and that's where he will be until he gets called back into main events. I think back to last year when nearly all including myself thought Naito would become a 2X IWGP Heavyweight Champion.

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