NJPW Wrestle Kingdom 17 - January 4, 2023

[Canadian Dragon]

 

[Canadian Dragon]

IM NOT CRYING

 

[Canadian Dragon]

I love this so much. Tama got to share this moment with his daughter and Karl gives him his love and respect on his way out and gives him a hug. This is family.

torch passed

 

[Kross Rhodes]

torch passed

You can tell that means a lot to Tama.

Also, interesting fact is Karl has never been beaten out of the club. This is twice now he’s left and there wasn’t an attack to boot him from it.

 

[Alexa]

IM NOT CRYING

Me neither. Goddamn onion cutting Ninjas

 

[Canadian Dragon]

You can tell that means a lot to Tama.

Also, interesting fact is Karl has never been beaten out of the club. This is twice now he’s left and there wasn’t an attack to boot him from it.

White was losing it about Hikuleo too so its interested GB made peace. one has to assume they are no longer fully loyal to Jay, at least not vs the Tonga family

 

[Kross Rhodes]

White was losing it about Hikuleo too so its interested GB made peace. one has to assume they are no longer fully loyal to Jay, at least not vs the Tonga family

Hikuleo fully defected to the GoD making a legit stable too I believe. So it’ll be interesting to see if more follow. Fale and Owens, perhaps?

I hope most of the peeps Jay brought in stays with him though. I still think Jay’s leadership has a lot left in his tank. I’d only remove him if he’s leaving in ‘24.

 

[Alexa]

Exhibition Match: Boltin Oleg vs. Ryohei Oiwa: Honestly, just a short fun match and I could see Oleg having a good career in New Japan

New Japan Rambo: It was fun, nothing much to really say

Antonio Inoki Memorial 6-Man Tag Match: Togi Makabe, Yuji Nagata & Satoshi Kojima vs. Tiger Mask, Minoru Suzuki & Tatsumi Fujinami: This was a good match for what it was and considering who was in it and their history I enjoyed it a bit more. Though didn't care for Togi being in it, lol.

IWGP Jr. Heavyweight Championship Match: United Empire (TJP & Francesco Akira) (c) vs. CHAOS (Lio Rush & YOH): I honestly, really enjoyed this match a lot. TJP and Akira are a great team and work well together. Still not sold on Lio, but that could be do to several things, but yeah it was fun.

IWGP Women's Championship Match: KAIRI (c) vs. Tam Nakano: It was alright. Needed more time, and the only thing I like was that Tam got her WK time, but I knew Kairi was winning so. Yeah, it was decent, and i have no comments on the aftermatch.

IWGP Tag Team Championship Match: FTR (Dax Harwood & Cash Wheeler) (c) vs. Bishamon (YOSHI-HASHI & Hirooki Goto): I love this match. All four guys have a hard-hitting style and they went at it. Both teams showed out and both gave it their all, and the way Kevin Kelly and they were putting over my boy Yoshi, made me happy. But all around super solid and def watch.

NJPW World TV Championship Tournament Final: Zack Sabre Jr. vs. Ren Narita: This was a good match. Aside from Blonde ZSJ being a thing now, it was a good showing for Ren as well. It showed that ren could the next technical guy in New Japan if need be. ZSJ winning was a good call and him joining TMDK was base.

NEVER Openweight Championship Match: Karl Anderson (c) vs. Tama Tonga: Solid match for it was. Not going to say it was super great or super bad, but it was better than I could have thought it would be.

Keiji Muto's Last Match In NJPW: Keiji Muto, Hiroshi Tanahashi & Shota Umino vs. Los Ingobernables de Japon (Tetsuya Naito, SANADA & BUSHI): Okay, so where do i begin on this match. So the team of Mutoh, Tanahashi, and Umino is a dream one for me as the commentary said The Past, The Present, and The Future, which is fitting. Mutoh passed th etorch to Tanahashi and soon I feel like he will do it to Umino. And even the fact, Naito, SANADA, and BUSHI all have connections to Mutoh, like my god this match was such a nerd one, and i fucking love it. Def a watch

IWGP Jr. Heavyweight Championship Match: Taiji Ishimori (c) vs. Hiromu Takahashi vs. El Desperado vs. Master Wato: Before I say anything I will say one thing, Wato showed out in this match. This showed his skill and showed he is the next Jr. star. The match itself was solid as well given all who was in it and this showed what a Jr. match could be. Hiromu winning makes sense, but I feel like New Japan is relying on him too much to carry this division. Again, great match a def watch.

IWGP United States Heavyweight Championship Match: Will Ospreay (c) vs. Kenny Omega: Holy fuck, where do I begin with this. This match was fucking awesome and beyond simple words to explain how great it was. Kenny entrance and look was top notch and my little nerd heart couldn't handle it. Mean, honestly I can't say anything about this match that wasn't said before or even find the words for it. Each man put in their work and really showed out. I barely give out ratings, but if I gave one to this one, I would get a 07/05. Highly recommend this watch.

IWGP World Heavyweight Championship Match: Jay White (c) vs. Kazuchika Okada: Yeah, again just a solid match and I am glad Okada won, but honestly, I felt like if you wanted to honor Inoki than Jay should have won. Why? Because Inoki booked heels to win to better tell a match and because of the reaction. All around though super solid and fun, and the Cobra Flowsion was a move I made up in a e-fed and boom this mother fucker doing it, lol. But yeah another def watch.

So as you can see, I really enjoyed this a lot and shows I break my facade, lol.

My ranking of matches to watch would go
Kenny v Will
Jay v Okada
IWGP Tag
IWGP Jr.
IWGP Jr. Tag
NEVER
Six Man Mutoh (Though this could be higher if you are a nerd)
TV
Women's

 

[Kross Rhodes]

White was losing it about Hikuleo too so its interested GB made peace. one has to assume they are no longer fully loyal to Jay, at least not vs the Tonga family

I think specifically though GB and Tama made up because they’re basically the founding family. Doc was only a couple months behind the first 4.

 

[Canadian Dragon]

English commentary referred to Kenny's last WK appearance as "Kenny's Final Fantasy"

 

[Alexa]

My opinion has been posted/updated.

 

[Apoho Creed]

If you can survive a 6 Hour Wrestle Kingdom you people can survive a G1 Climax with Chris and myself. Really enjoyed the hell out of Ospreay vs Omega truly the Dream Match that didn't fail the hype for me. Both deserve a good couple of Weeks off after what both went through during that War. It's been a long time since I've seen Omega especially be this evil in the Ring. So many times I felt like Jesus both of these guys are going to seriously injure the other with these spots especially that Guardrail bump Ospreay took back first. That back injury he had you can see every time he took a bump or do something to Omega it was harder for him to work. He was really working on adrenaline for a good amount of that Match and see once his body had slowed down and the Match was over both felt the damage they had done to the other.

Okada beating White was expected and Chris and I have had discussions on how I feel about Okada as a whole. A great Champion when he's in the spotlight but when it's someone else boy he loves to takes shot don't even let me bring up how he acted when Shingo was Champion. I'm just bored at this reigns these days because the run into the same matchups and them trying to figure out how to take it off of him when he's gone through everyone. Shingo is the first Batter up and honestly it will be great but nothing I haven't seen before between the two. The only 2 guys I would want a Match with him is Shibata and Ibushi and both are up in the air when it comes to their futures. At least I don't gotta see Okada win another G1 Climax maybe they give it someone new not named Naito. Who knows if this working relationship with Omega and New Japan continues will be knocking on the Door at some point.

The Four Way for the Junior Heavyweight Title was a great watch but when you've seen 3 outta 4 of these guys work each other a Million of times the past few Years it takes the luster out of the Match for me. I think Hiromu is 5 times the holder of that Title and I'm like what does he go from here? You know he's running through Despy who I think is the best in the Division, and Ishimori again, but Wato is a personality away from moving up in the World too. KUSHIDA eventually you're going to need to give him a run so I'm confused at why have Hiromu Champ again when he's been wanting to challenge for the other Titles for a few Years now.

Muto's last Match in New Japan was just a showcase to honor Muto while also telling the audience Shooter is going to be a Top Star for us going forward. Chris can back me up with this when he was a Young Lion I was praising the guy even before Moxley took him under his Wing. He has all the tools and drive to want to be up there with the best in Wrestling. I'm hoping I'm right on him and maybe within a Year or 2 he's knocking on the Door of Okada or Tana saying it's my time. He just might get that opportunity early after he was staring down Naito after the Match.

A pretty solid Match with Sabre JR and Rerita. Never thought Rerita had a shot in hell to beat Zack but him getting work with one of the best Technically sound guys is a good thing to raise his stock in New Japan. I'm a huge LIJ and Suzuki fan with me liking a few others from BC and Chaos but those two groups are neck and neck for my loves. It pained me see Sabre JR join TMDK because to me they aren't on Zack's level and they are going to make waves as a group but sure as hell Sabre JR will. Suzuki Gun is no more but man it hurts seeing my homies Taichi and Sabre JR never to be tagging again.

Tama beating Anderson was expected sucks that they had a botch to end it but still Tama winning is a damn good thing. He's proved in 2022 he can carry a Singles Title and run with it. It should be fun who if not EVIL to start with wants a piece of him first.

The IWGP Tag Title Match was amazing. I might of been put it if I had to rank it 2 or 3 in Best Matches of Wrestle Kingdom 17 for me. I'll never been a fan of Bishamon but those two guys won me over through the program they had with Naito/Sanada and Taichi/Sabre JR. People watch those Matches because every one they had with each other stole the freaking show. As for FTR they might be my favorite Tag Team in the States for all the reasons why I loved the Brainsbusters and the Midnight Express with Eaton and Lane. They need to run that Tag Match back in the future for sure.

I thought they gave Tam Nakano and Kairi way too little time during their Match for the IWGP Women's Title. Granted they made it work it still doesn't sit well with me seeing one of the Icons of Stardom, and a future one and two ladies who held multiple titles in Stardom be capped for time. I think another 10 more mins would of the possibility of them being a Top 3 Match from the Show knowing what those two can do with the lights on bright. Mercedes Mone debuts and I'm happy as hell for her. Mercedes wants a challenge in her life and she is going to have plenty of it overseas so I know I'll be enjoying this run of hers no doubt.

Now to the Rambo because it made me so sad. I'm seeing guys like Shingo, KENTA, and my Brother Taichi being involved in this when they should be up on the Card. Taichi nearly gets me emotional everytime I see him wrestle. I feel like he's the Black Sheep of New Japan how can you not see a World Champion in this guy? He has the look, the charisma inside in the Ring, and outside of it and now he's directionless with Suzuki finished up. I still say a group of Taichi, Kanemaru, Despy, Douki could work with them needing a new guy maybe but why all the pussyfooting around with this and the talk about guys going to other groups don't break my heart further New Japan.

So some stuff I really enjoyed from WK 17, some I was like meh seen it next, and some of stuff I was okay I'm interested where this could go.

 

[Canadian Dragon]

 

[Canadian Dragon]

@Lethal Jade

 

[Canadian Dragon]

Guess i gotta watch nydash