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Wrestle Kingdom 12


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went to bed for a bit and just woke up and skipped ahead to Omega vs Jericho. Wow. Great stuff, the best Jericho gaga mixed with the best of Kenny Omega's nonsense put together in an Attitude Era/ late ECW type brawl with all sorts of bells and whistles. about to start the main event now

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I thought the show was solid and consistent throughout. It was better than I expected, and to be fair it had no hope of delivering what we got for WK11, however I felt some of the booking choices were odd.

 

I guess I'll have to wait and see how they play out, but honestly, what a waste of Jay White if he wasn't going to go over Tanahashi.

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Didn't watch the Rumble.

 

Opener match was fine; nothing more, nothing less. Glad they're taking the division seriously, but I wanted RPG 3K to win and became the true kings of the mountain.

 

Gauntlet match was mediocre as expected, but hey Ishii is champion of something.

 

Cody vs Ibushi was a good match, nice body and great climax. So happy they put Kota over, I'm no way a Cody fan (anymore, loved him in WWE).

 

I liked KES vs LIJ, the heat segment was golden and EVIL'S hot tag too. Would have prefered if they had a few more minutes 'cause the win felt too easy.

 

MiSu/Goto was great. Stiff, dramatic, without Suzuki-Gun... All I could ask for. Post-match was awesome too, Suzuki's the most badass wrestler alive when he wants to.

 

The F4W was nice, with some cool moments and some dull ones. Crowd didn't give a shit about Scurll/Ospreay, loved it. Hiromu cleaning the house near the end was amazing :'(

 

I wasn't too focused when the IC match happened, and I need a rewatch, but I loved White's offensive in this. Tanahashi was good enough. Repeat, I need a rewatch.

 

Omega/Y2j was fucking great. First half was funny, but when the bladejob happened the magic started. What a Jericho performance, his best one since... 2012? So cool. And thanks to Omega for not choosing his classic big match formula against such opponent, it was the right call.

 

Aaaand finally the main event.

 

 

That was WK 12, everybody!!!

 

 

 

 

 

Ok, fine. The ME was Incredible, nothing new in terms of NJPW's big match formula but the special feeling was there at every moment, because it was THE moment. Naito's moment, the fans moment. Aaaand it wasn't. And that was horrible. And they fucked up the most beautiful tittle-chase story since Bryan. And no, next year is not going to be the same. Terrible ending for a pretty good show (and a terrific match).

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The Young Bucks go over someone they had no business beating. Why?

 

Tanahashi goes over a returning talent that desperately needed a rub and a good showing. Neither happened.

 

Okada goes over the arguably most over wrestler in the world right now, in what was supposed to be a legendary crowning moment.

 

 

That's a hat trick of bad booking decisions on the biggest show of the year. Good God.

 

Event itself was pretty good tho, but those matches do leave a sour taste.

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I saw it mentioned on Twitter, but doesn't it seem the Switchblade gimmick was meant for someone else and Jay White was the last minute backup plan? He doesn't seem to fit at all, and it comes off as very WWE like seeing a round peg in a square hole like that.

 

Speaking of WWE like, having a card full of good to great matches and an undercard that mostly overdelivered only to have all the discussion after be about baffiling booking decisions made it seem like Vince had a hand in booking WK12.

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A lot of bad booking. A lot of the wrong guy going over. A couple decent matches. Worse show than last year. Omega/Jericho was fun. Main event felt lackluster. Never reached that next level & I felt ended abruptly. Suzuki/Goto was pretty good. Maybe MOTN.

 

Exceptionally disappointed in Naito/Okada. I expected so much more. And a different outcome.

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I don't get Tanahashi going over at all. Getting Jay White over aside, he's spent most of 2017 working on a body held together with duct tape and wishes. I thought for sure they would want to get the IC belt off him and maybe lock him in a room for a couple months to finally heal.

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I mentioned earlier on this thread that the tana match was the only one that interested me, but based on the feedback I did not bother watching it.

 

The main event was the only match I watched from the show and it just felt so lethargic for the first 15 min, and not at all a drama filled epic that they were going for, even though I do think it was better than last year's main event. Full thoughts on the match are in the match thread. However, everything with the cobra clutch was great I loved that little sequence.

 

As for the booking decision he did do it before at wk7 and 9 when everyone thought that okada would win. Here though it felt worse because while I have no investment in naito I have seen far more visceral support for him to an overwhelming level where he just had to win. Will he never be this hot again? That remains to be seen but for the moment it looks like a poor decision.

 

Unlike the okada losses to tana, here it is obvious that okada is not losing the position of ace any time soon and he is a good 6 years younger than naito. I could see naito becoming the nakamura to okada's tanahashi, winning the g1 winning the title but never really being the guy.

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Okada beating Naito feels a bit like when Lesnar beat Strowman in the autumn. Do you stick with the grand plan or do you strike when the iron is hot with someone else? I feel like they're reaching a point where Okada has mowed down all the potential challengers and there's not much drama about his title defences for the next year or so u til the inevitable rematch at WK13.

 

Edit: who gets the credit for the apparent increased attendance this year? Is Naito really that hot or is Jericho coming in the special attraction draw?

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I think Jericho led to increased interest outside of the U.S. and may have convinced more people to fly in from other countries to see the show but I don't think you can attribute that much of the 8,000 ticket increase to Jericho. Judging from all the stuff people said about the crowd being really quiet after the initial pop for the finish I'd say the majority of the increased ticket sales is due to people in Japan wanting to see Naito win.

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Okada beating Naito feels a bit like when Lesnar beat Strowman in the autumn. Do you stick with the grand plan or do you strike when the iron is hot with someone else? I feel like they're reaching a point where Okada has mowed down all the potential challengers and there's not much drama about his title defences for the next year or so u til the inevitable rematch at WK13.

 

Edit: who gets the credit for the apparent increased attendance this year? Is Naito really that hot or is Jericho coming in the special attraction draw?

 

The show was going to do well with or without Jericho. Most of us were expecting 30-35k paid before Jericho got involved. I'm sure he meant a lot more foreigners going to Tokyo but my guess is that if Ibushi/Omega was booked, those numbers would've been pretty much the same.

 

And judging by Naito's huge reaction, yeah, he really is that hot.

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I don't see Jericho raising attendance on a substantial level, no. He is a big name in Japan when it comes to foreign wrestlers, but I think the biggest player right now is Naito. People were ALL IN for his victory.

 

Imagine if Punk lost to Cena at MitB, or Bryan losing at Summerslam 2013 or Wrestlemania 30. They were going to stay over, no doubt, but it was the best possible time to take advantage of the momentum. NJPW didn't to that.

 

 

Tanahashi beating White could be compared to Wyatt losing to Cena, but I think it might actually be a tad little worse because it was Jay's FIRST match since his return. It's not even about stopping any momentum, but it pretty much killed any hope of that project even getting momentum.

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Oh yeah, I give Naito/Okada the lions share of the credit but I just wanted to reiterate that I don't think Jericho is completely dismissive even from a gate standpoint. Maybe he only attributed to 500 fans but in a 8,000 increase, that is 1/16th of the rise which is a material amount.

 

A really small sample size but just from myself, the traction he has had in the PTBN chats I am in has gained a couple of eyeballs and I had two co workers who are WWE Exclusive fans sign up for NJPW World to watch the match.

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My thoughts on Jericho vs. Omega (I didn't watch the rest of the card):

Pros:

- Intense match
- Told a great story
- BLOOD!
- Some really creative spots (particularly the aerosol can)

Cons:

- The commentary by Kevin Kelly and Don Callis was BAD and made me pine for Michael Cole. Their voices had only one volume and tone: LOUD and SCREAMING!

- The camera work was atrocious: missed spots, bad angles that exposed how much "air" some moves had, and they somehow made the massive Tokyo Dome look like an ROH bingo hall.
- The instant replays felt like glitches instead of replays because there were no graphics indicating a replay. NJPW is decades behind WWE in terms of presentation.
- The Omega win was too telegraphed. Jericho taking 80% of the match made it a forgone conclusion.

Overall:

- A very entertaining WWE-style match (but more intense) that felt like a WWE tryout for Kenny Omega - and I'm betting that's exactly what it'll end up being!

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I doubt Kenny will go to WWE until he gets to the "cash in on the last run" stage of his career. New Japan is building their US expansion largely around him and they give him the freedom to do pretty much whatever he wants. I don't see going to WWE appealing to him unless Vince makes a completely stupid money offer.

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I don't see Jericho raising attendance on a substantial level, no. He is a big name in Japan when it comes to foreign wrestlers, but I think the biggest player right now is Naito. People were ALL IN for his victory.

 

Imagine if Punk lost to Cena at MitB, or Bryan losing at Summerslam 2013 or Wrestlemania 30. They were going to stay over, no doubt, but it was the best possible time to take advantage of the momentum. NJPW didn't to that.

 

 

Tanahashi beating White could be compared to Wyatt losing to Cena, but I think it might actually be a tad little worse because it was Jay's FIRST match since his return. It's not even about stopping any momentum, but it pretty much killed any hope of that project even getting momentum.

Could you imagine the response if Cena went over Punk or Bryan clean on PPV in those circumstances? It's interesting how on the surface similar scenarios can engender such different responses from fan bases. The reaction to Okada winning has been mixed at best but plenty of the western New Japan acolytes have roundly defended it. I guess the real proof in the pudding is in the Japanese market if we see any decline in business. The crowd in the building certainly seemed like they were let down by the result.

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Cons:

 

- The commentary by Kevin Kelly and Don Callis was BAD and made me pine for Michael Cole. Their voices had only one volume and tone: LOUD and SCREAMING!

 

Is Kevin Kelly well regarded? He's just Michael Cole except he calls more moves and is even more shrill somehow. Callis gave me some 2012-2017 JBL vibes too and I remember being okay with his ECW commentary. Honestly, I'd prefer really disinterested JR over this.

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Kevin Kelly annoyed me at times, but I understood what was being said. As someone who speaks Spanish and watches a decent amount of lucha, even though I understand the commentary, it can be actively bad in CMLL and AAA at times. That's the other wrinkle when it comes to Japanese (sounds enthusiastic and "authentic" but if I knew what they were saying, I would hate it vs. Understanding everything and being annoyed because commentary can be badJericho with the carry job of the decade getting as good a match out of Omega as he did. The match had no business being as good as it was, but Jericho did all the heavy lifting in this one. He brought the intensity in the build-up, and he held his own athletically. The springboard dropkick counter was perfect. Kenny kept most of his bad habits to a minimum outside spraying his dick a la Joey Ryan. ***7/8 for me, match of the night. The rope break inconsistency to me hurts the match.

 

One more thing, Kevin Kelly can go to hell for telling Omega critics to go to hell after that match, when from my perspective it was Jericho that dragged Kenny kicking and screaming to a really good match.

 

Goto/Suzuki was really good. Suzuki is such a bad ass and has an aura almost no one else has. Goto held his own getting his ass whipped and was really sympathetic. The finish was neat and Suzuki coming back to shave his own head was cool. ***3/4.

 

I feel like I am on an island, but I still do not get Kazuchika Okada. He actively made this match boring for me. His control segments were so Randy Orton inspired (or lack thereof) that this dragged. Naito tried to make me care, but that finish is so incomprehensible. If this finish were done for Roman Reigns going over someone, especially the hottest act in the world on Naito, the Internet would be imploding from the bitchfest about shoving Roman down our throats. But somehow Gedo gets a pass. That's bullshit. **, although I was tempted to give this a DUD for that finish. Second Worst match of the show.

 

The worst match of this show without a doubt goes to the so-called Ace, Hiroshi Tanahashi vs Jay White. That match sucked. As someone who has found Tanahashi incredibly overrated over the years, this match has jusitified what I have felt about him for a long time. There was no reason for it to go as long as it did other than satiating Tanahashi ' s ego. There was no reason for Tanahashi to win if the plan is to make White a star. There was no reason to do both of those things outside of Tanahashi pulling a Hogan political job on White. Tanahashi was actively bad and did White no favors, making him look like a geek. DUD.

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I don't see Jericho raising attendance on a substantial level, no. He is a big name in Japan when it comes to foreign wrestlers, but I think the biggest player right now is Naito. People were ALL IN for his victory.

 

Imagine if Punk lost to Cena at MitB, or Bryan losing at Summerslam 2013 or Wrestlemania 30. They were going to stay over, no doubt, but it was the best possible time to take advantage of the momentum. NJPW didn't to that.

 

 

Tanahashi beating White could be compared to Wyatt losing to Cena, but I think it might actually be a tad little worse because it was Jay's FIRST match since his return. It's not even about stopping any momentum, but it pretty much killed any hope of that project even getting momentum.

Could you imagine the response if Cena went over Punk or Bryan clean on PPV in those circumstances? It's interesting how on the surface similar scenarios can engender such different responses from fan bases. The reaction to Okada winning has been mixed at best but plenty of the western New Japan acolytes have roundly defended it. I guess the real proof in the pudding is in the Japanese market if we see any decline in business. The crowd in the building certainly seemed like they were let down by the result.

 

 

I too was brutally disappointed in the finish of the main event. However, what I believe separates New Japan from the WWE in situations like this is the amount of good will they've built up with all their long term booking in the past. In the WWE, should Cena have beaten Punk or Bryan at those points, the crowd would deflated because odds are that'd be the last time either guy gets anywhere near the title anyway. In New Japan, there's a proven track record of wrestlers eventually getting their big win.

 

In fact, the problem with that is the track record is too rigidly set in stone as Naito is basically following a similar WK booking arc as Okada himself.

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