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NJPW Wrestle Kingdom 8 (now with Results!)


The Natural

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Thanks to Ryan who posted this in the NJPW Power Struggle 2013 thread:

 

NJPW "WRESTLE KINGDOM VIII IN TOKYO DOME, 04.01.2014
Tokyo Dome


1. IWGP Jr. Heavyweight Tag Team Title, 4 Way Match: Matt Jackson & Nick Jackson vs. TAKA Michinoku Posted Image & Taichi vs. Alex Shelley & KUSHIDA vs. Rocky Romero & Alex Koslov
2. IWGP Tag Team Title: Davey Boy Smith Jr. & Lance Archer © vs. Sieger der WORLD TAG LEAGUE 2013
3. Special Singles Match: Togi Makabe vs. Bad Luck Fale
4. Hirooki Goto Return Match: Hirooki Goto vs. Katsuyori Shibata
5. Special Tag Match: Yuji Nagata & Kazushi Sakuaraba vs. Daniel Gracie & Rolles Gracie
6. IWGP Jr. Heavyweight Title: Prince Deivtt © vs. Kota Ibushi
7. IWGP Intercontinental Title: Shinsuke Nakamura © vs. Hiroshi Tanahashi
8. IWGP Heavyweight Title: Kazuchika Okada © vs. Tetsuya Naito

 

Matches I'm most looking forward to are the top two. Kazuchika Okada vs. Tetsuya Naito on NJPW's 40th Anniversary Show was my 2012 Match of the Year in Japan. Hoping Okada retains but I don't think I'll get my wish.

 

Shinsuke Nakamura vs. Hiroshi Tanahashi for the IWGP Intercontinental Title is a match I've wanted to see them have for that championship. Great seeing a secondary championship mean something.

 

I also have an interest in Hirooki Goto vs. Katsuyori Shibata as the match they had at Dominion 2013 was one of the best in NJPW this year.

 

NJPW is on such a roll in the ring. I started following them at the right time in 2012. 

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I doubt they're topping that 2012 match. The reactions from the fans to Naito since he's won the G1 have been hilarious. It'll be grand to see how the Tokyo Dome reacts to a guy that no crowd since the G1 final buys as a main event star.

I'm guessing Naito has gotten the quasi-Cena treatment from the NJPW faithful. Heard he got booed when he challenged Okada at the end of Power Struggle.
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I doubt they're topping that 2012 match. The reactions from the fans to Naito since he's won the G1 have been hilarious. It'll be grand to see how the Tokyo Dome reacts to a guy that no crowd since the G1 final buys as a main event star.

I'm guessing Naito has gotten the quasi-Cena treatment from the NJPW faithful. Heard he got booed when he challenged Okada at the end of Power Struggle.

 

 

the matchmaking has been atrocious since Naito won the G1. Getting the title off Tanaka in September was fine, I get that. But from there, the last two guys he should have been wrestling were Yujiro and Tanaka again. In August I wasn't worried at all about Naito main eventing the Dome. Now I am. The next tour won't do anything for him either.

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My problem with it is that it was probably a long term plan for Naito to win the G1 when he got hurt last year but so much changed and they could (should) have called an audible and given Shibata or someone else the G1 win. Shibata vs. Okada sounds way more like a Tokyo Dome main event than Okada vs. Naito.

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Agreed with much of the negative sentiment here re: Naito. Giving him the G1 so soon after his injury was stupid, and keeping his feud going with Tanaka made things even worse---the NEVER title is essentially their undercard title, and having Naito as undercard champ while simultaneously challenging for the IWGP confuses both the role of Naito and the role of the belt. They've created a similar problem in their Jr division with Devitt holding the belt for so long after having moved up to the heavyweight division. It's great for Devitt, but it's killed the credibility of their junior roster, who I guess will now go on jobbing to Ibushi all the time just like they jobbed to Devitt, until Taguchi comes back or until they start creating new homegrown junior stars.Anyway, Naito's spot in the company right now reminds me of when they gave Tanahashi the title after the Lesnar fiasco. It's the right guy for the push, but it's the wrong time to push him; he's being rushed through, and nobody really stands to benefit from it. Tanahashi didn't have any real credibility as champ until he lost to and then eventually regained the title from Nagata...if they are putting the strap on Naito prematurely, and if he does indeed  end up flopping, I could see Goto working really well in the Nagata-role as the cagey veteran who beats the young punk champion, only for said young punk to eventually regain once he's proven himself elsewhere (NOAH also used this same booking strategy when they traded the title from Shiozaki to Sugiura to Shiozaki a few years back, although in that case Go never became the superstar that Tanahashi did). 

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From the Strong Style Symphony message board:

 

Here is some news from @puro_yottsume from twitter regarding the Wrestle Kingdom 8 main event: "According to Tokyo Sports, the president of NJPW Tezuka spoke that the main event of 1.4 Tokyo Dome show will be decided by fan vote. So, the fans get to choose whether the Naito v. Okada IWGP HW title match or Tanahashi v. Nakamura IWGP IC title match comes for main event."

 

I'm guessing Nakamura/Tanahashi will win the vote, it's going to be something seeing the IWGP Intercontinental Championship going on last above the IWGP Heavyweight Championship. Poor Okada.

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They should have had a vote for Okada's opponent.  Speaking of Okada, is he the only case where pulling the trigger on a title win early worked out?  I know Nakamura got it super early too, but he took a few more years to really become a start.  I don't recall a HUGE backlash on Okada last February, even though I admit that I wasn't sold at first.  Dude has won me over since then, and I think he's going to be a great company ace once Tanahashi winds down.

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No need to have this buried in the other thread or start a new one since it's not that important. They announced all the teams for the tag league.

 

Block ATanahashi/CNJ, Shinsuke/Ishii, Makabe/Honma, Devitt/Fale, KES, Nakanishi/Strong Man, Tanaka/YujiroBlock BNaito/Sombra, Okada/YOSHI-HASHI, TenKoji, Conway/Dane, MiSu/Shelton, Yano/Iizuka, Anderson/Gallows

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Yeah, I'd agree with you Okada/Naito on NJPW's 40th Anniversary Shiw was crucial.

 

 


Posted Image

 

It’s finally official! G1 Climax 2013 winner Tetsuya Naito challenges IWGP Heavyweight Champion, Kazuchika Okada, in the main event of “WRESTLE KINGDOM 8″ at the Tokyo Dome on January 4th! This was one of five huge matches announced for the show tonight and will be half of a double main event.

 

The other half will see the two men on whom New Japan was rebuilt and who forged a great rivalry, Hiroshi Tanahashi and Shinsuke Nakamura, meet for the first time in nearly 2 1/2 for Shinsuke’s IWGP Intercontinental Title.

 

Fans can vote which of the two matches headline the Dome show. I have a sneaking suspicion it could be the IC Title match, but that may just be me… click here if you’d like to vote (IWGP Heavyweight is left option, IWGP IC is right option, then you have to confirm your vote).

 

Veterans unite as Yuji Nagata (more news on him below) and Kazushi Sakuraba defend the pride of pro wrestling against the famous Gracie fighting family, in this case Daniel and Rolles Gracies.

 

Bullet Club leader Prince Devitt can neglect his IWGP Jr. Heavyweight Title no more! The arrival of Kota Ibushi as a New Japan affiliated wrestler has given the Irishman a worthy rival again and he defends the junior belt against Ibushi at the Tokyo Dome. If rumours are true, this could be Devitt’s final match of his 7-year New Japan stay, with WWE thought to be in talks with him.

 

And the Young Bucks defend their newly won IWGP Jr. Tag Team Title in the most difficult of circumstances – a 4WAY Match, with previous champions TAKA & Taichi, Time Splitters, and Forever Hooligans up against them in what will mark Alex Shelley’s return from injury.

 

9-10 matches are planned so there is plenty more to come.

 

NJPW “WRESTLE KINGDOM 8 IN TOKYO DOME”, 1/4/14 (WPW/PPV/iPPV)
Tokyo Dome

1. IWGP Jr. Heavyweight Tag Team Title – 4WAY Match: Matt Jackson & Nick Jackson © vs. KUSHIDA & Alex Shelley vs. TAKA Michinoku Posted Image & Taichi vs. Rocky Romero & Alex Koslov
2. IWGP Jr. Heavyweight Title: Prince Devitt © vs. Kota Ibushi
3. Special Tag Match: Yuji Nagata & Kazushi Sakuraba vs. Daniel Gracie & Rolles Gracie
4. Double Main Event I – IWGP Intercontinental Title: Shinsuke Nakamura © vs. Hiroshi Tanahashi
5. Double Main Event II – IWGP Heavyweight Title: Kazuchika Okada © vs. Tetsuya Naito

 

Credit: puroresufan.com

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Yeah, I'd agree with you Okada/Naito on NJPW's 40th Anniversary Show was crucial.  

That was one of the two matches that got me into New Japan again. The other was the Tanahashi-Suzuki match from KOTW 2012 and that was due to Meltzer snowflaking it.

 

 

The great talk Okada/Naito got made me watch it, so glad I did. I then wen't back to watch Tanahashi/Okada at The New Beginnings 2012 and followed NJPW from Okada/Naito on. Picked a great year to start watching NJPW regularly for the first time ever.

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