Finally managed to finish Wrestle Kingdom 11. Watched it with Japanese commentary, of course. And yeah, it was an amazing show! 9/10
It's already a show of the year contender in my book. The undercard was decent to good and the top four matches delivered big time.
- Tiger Mask W vs Tiger The Dark was a decent enough opener. ★★
- RPG Vice vs The Young Bucks was solid. ★★½
Technically not a bad match, but I've seen it too many times in order to care. I liked the abrupt finish, though.
- LIJ vs Ricochet, Satoshi Kojima & David Finlay vs CHAOS vs Bullet Club was good. ★★★
Man, I wish there was some Ospreay/Ricochet interaction. And, my second gripe with this match is that a few minutes in the middle portion of the match were a bit boring, but the homestretch made up for it and overall, it was a good match. And of course, SANADA, EVIL and BUSHI winning was the right call.
- Cody vs Juice Robinson was solid, but a bit underwhelming. ★★½
Loved Juice catching Cody on the outside, hitting Belly-to-Belly followed by the Cannonball into the barricade, though.
- Adam Cole vs Kyle O'Reilly was good. ★★★
I like both guys, but O'Reilly was better here, and it's fun to watch him throw some good kicks, forearms and knees. His selling was good, too. However, what made this match feel a bit anticlimatic was the lack of crowd support. They weren't invested in it. But, oh well. As for the outcome, O'Reilly defeated Cole at Final Battle and drops the title here? Okay. I guess that makes sense since O'Reilly didn't re-sign with ROH. Hmm, could he be heading to NXT? I guess we'll find out in due time.
- Tomohiro Ishii & Toru Yano vs Guerillas of Destiny vs GBH was pretty good and fun. ★★★½
GoD dropped the titles and that's all that matters. I don't hate you, Tama Tonga, but your brother sucks. Also, loved the chaotic homestretch and the near falls. It made the match really fun. Oh, and the finish was great.
- Hiromu Takahashi vs KUSHIDA was great. ★★★★
This was the best thing on the show at this point. Takahashi is great and fun to watch and is a fresh opponent for KUSHIDA, who is also fun to watch. There were a couple of sloppy spots, but who cares? It was an intense match and they're probably going to top this one the next time they face each other. Also, Takahashi winning the title was the right call.
- Hirooki Goto vs Katsuyori Shibata was fantastic! ★★★★½
This is my type of shit, violence and aggression, and I absolutely loved every bit of it. It sucks to see Shibata lose, but it's also nice to see Goto win after failing so many times as a title challenger. Hopefully Shibata moves onto bigger and better things this year.
- Tetsuya Naito vs Hiroshi Tanahashi was amazing! ★★★★¾
Awesome match. Awesome crowd. Awesome storytelling. Awesome wrestlers. Enough said. God, I loved this match!
- Kazuchika Okada vs Kenny Omega was an excellent ME and MOTYC. ★★★★★
Wait, this match went on for nearly 50 minutes? It didn't feel like it. These guys were keeping it fun with their crisp work, insane action and intense drama. Okada and Omega tore the house down, man! Okada was great, but honestly, this was Kenny's match. He felt like the superior performer and he was elevated in the end despite losing. Excellent, excellent match. Loved it!
Damn, that was an amazing show. Now, I'm off to watch New Year Dash.