Wrestle Kingdom 8 in Tokyo Dome 1/4/14

[Defrost]

IWGP Intercontinental Championship: Shinsuke Nakamura (c) vs Hiroshi Tanahashi



IWGP Heavyweight Championship: Kazuchika Okada (c) vs Tetsuya Naito



IWGP Junior Heavyweight Championship: Prince Devitt (c) vs Kota Ibushi



IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Championship: Young Bucks (c) vs Forever Hooligans vs Time Splitters vs Taichi/TAKA Michinoku



IWGP Tag Team Championship: Killer Elite Squad (c) vs Bullet Club



NWA World Heavyweight Championship: Rob Conway (c) vs Satoshi Kojima



Yuji Nagata/Kazushi Sakuraba vs Daniel/Rolles Gracie



Minoru Suzuki/Shelton X Benjamin vs Toru Yano/Great Muta



King of Destroyer Match: Togi Makabe vs Bad Luck Fale



Katsuyori Shibata vs Hirooki Goto

[Cewsh]

Sexy. I would put good money on the plan being Naito vs. Okada II. Especially after how unexpectedly amazing their first match was. Make it the match of the future.

I like what they've done with Okada, and I'm happy with him as champion and with Naito's rise to the top. But I have to say that it still feels very wrong to have Tanahashi working midcard feuds with shenanigans and putting people over left and right. I get WHY. I just can't get used to it.

[Defrost]

And out first match is Yuji Nagata and Kazushi Sakuraba vs Daniel and Rolles Gracie

Fucking hell...

[Tainted Eclipse]

well that's at the very least extremely intriguing

[Panther52]

And out first match is Yuji Nagata and Kazushi Sakuraba vs Daniel and Rolles Gracie

Fucking hell...

Interesting. Now the Gracies are chasing Saku into pro wrestling? This'll be one of the few times I care how it'll play it story-wise. They'll probably play up the whole Catch as Catch Can Wrestling vs GJJ and course Gracie vs Gracie Hunter. Should be some beautiful grappling atleast, if the Gracies don't try and turn it into a complete shoot.

[Defrost]

There be scuttlebutt that a certain current GHC Heavyweight Champion may perchance be making his way onto this card

[Defrost]

Oh have they got a problem with this main event

[Psycho666Soldier]

So far, we're looking at the Tag Match with the Gracies, Naito/Okada II, and Tanahashi/Nakamura. If Okada/Naito is as good as their last match, that could be something, and Tana vs. Swagsuke should be good, but not sure what to think going in.

[Defrost]

Match quality is not the problem. The way the crowd is reacting to Naito is.

[Tainted Eclipse]

the crowd is turning on naito? thank god.

[Cewsh]

You could tell there was a problem from the moment he came back and the crowd no sold it.

They pushed Okada down people's throats and they bought into him because he's a special talent who has already turned out some incredible stuff. Naito not so much.

[Defrost]

the crowd is turning on naito? thank god.

When it came time for the big Okada/Naito staredown Naito got some tepid boos amidst the giant Okada chants

[Tainted Eclipse]

elevate ishii, shibata and sakuraba to the main event instead.

[LarryLuv]

Okada/Naito
Nakamura/Tanahashi

I have no doubt Okada will get a good match out of Naito. Nakamura/Tanahashi has a chance to be special.

[Cewsh]

elevate ishii, shibata and sakuraba to the main event instead.

Ugh.

[DDT]

They're better than Naito. More relevant, and have better matches too. Well, Ishii and Shibata do, anyway.

[Defrost]

website is live

http://wrestlekingdom.jp/index.html

[Defrost]

Is it a bad sign for the world title match when the company is holding a poll to decide whether that or the secondary title match is the actual main event of the show?

http://www.tv-asahi.co.jp/wrestling/...111/index.html

[Cewsh]

I don't take it that way. Especially when the the other match is Tanahashi/Nakamura.

[Defrost]

First post updated with card

[Matthew]

i was gonna go to this but then i realize im prolly gonna get my haircut during this

i plan shit in advance

[Defrost]

What kinda haircut?

[Matthew]

[Defrost]

Also happening on this show



http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Momoiro_Clover_Z

[Defrost]

[Defrost]

[Defrost]

The votes are counted. For the third time since 2005 the 1/4 Toyko Dome main event is Shinsuke Nakamura vs Hiroshi Tanahashi

[thesamuelcooke]

Anyone else thinks this devalues the HW title? And their faith in Okada to close major shows? Or is this all on Naito not getting over as was hoped?

[Defrost]

All on Naito

[Defrost]

By the way full card is in 1st post

[Cewsh]

Yeah, their faith in Okada is clear.

[DDT]

How close was the vote, if I might ask?

[Defrost]

How close was the vote, if I might ask?

Twas a whoopin

[DDT]

PFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTT

[Defrost]

You know with the chip that will be on Okada and Naito's shoulders they will be so determined to prove a point that there is no doubt in my mind that'll be MOTN.

[Tainted Eclipse]

All in all this looks like a really fun show to me and I'm pretty excited. I don't suspect any of these matches will be MOTYCs for me but it should great to watch as an overall show. Tanahashi/Nakamura could be a dark horse great match (well, dark horse for me anyway) since Nakamura is outstanding at his best and Tanahashi definitely CAN have a great match regardless of how often I think he actually does.

Some of the undercard looks fun and I'm very intrigued with the Gracie match. No Ishii match is lame as fuck though especially since Makabe/Fale and the NWA match just look like space fillers.

[Tainted Eclipse]

Also this main event fiasco should end with Nakamura winning and the challenging Okada to prove the strength of the IC title. Okada would have to win of course though.

[Defrost]

Yano says he'll announce his partner at the 12/21 Korakuen show. Suzuki says it doesn't matter since everyone already knows it'll be Bob Sapp. Therefore ipso facto wrestling logic dictates X is not Bob Sapp

[takerson]

So what's the card so far?

[Cewsh]

Frosty has the updated card in the first post.

[takerson]

That card looks great. I fell out of NJPW half way through the G1, mostly due to knowing the winner. Killed the excitement. Can someone tell me 1) how we got to Nagata & Sakuraba TEAMING UP. I thought they hated eachother? And 2)Why Shibata & Goto are fighting for like the 10th PPV in a row.

[Panther52]

That card looks great. I fell out of NJPW half way through the G1, mostly due to knowing the winner. Killed the excitement. Can someone tell me 1) how we got to Nagata & Sakuraba TEAMING UP. I thought they hated eachother? And 2)Why Shibata & Goto are fighting for like the 10th PPV in a row.

If I remember right. The Gracie's came out before Nagata ad Saku's last match talkin some trash. After the match Nagata challenged them and Saku being the Gracie Hunter and all said "I Gotchu"

[Cewsh]

That card looks great. I fell out of NJPW half way through the G1, mostly due to knowing the winner. Killed the excitement. Can someone tell me 1) how we got to Nagata & Sakuraba TEAMING UP. I thought they hated eachother? And 2)Why Shibata & Goto are fighting for like the 10th PPV in a row.

It's a respect thing. I always read their feud as Nagata wanting to prove himself against maybe the biggest MMA icon in the country. Things grew heated, but when Sakuraba needed a partner to continue his much more significant Gracie feud, Nagata stepped in out of respect.

Also, Goto has been injured since the G1. So the whole feud was put on pause without either man actually winning it. This'll be the blow off.

[Defrost]

X is The Great Muta

[takerson]

AH-WUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUT

[takerson]

It's a respect thing. I always read their feud as Nagata wanting to prove himself against maybe the biggest MMA icon in the country. Things grew heated, but when Sakuraba needed a partner to continue his much more significant Gracie feud, Nagata stepped in out of respect.

Also, Goto has been injured since the G1. So the whole feud was put on pause without either man actually winning it. This'll be the blow off.

Thanks.

The "Wuuuut" was about MUT-TAHHHH!

[Glen]

That card looks great. I fell out of NJPW half way through the G1, mostly due to knowing the winner. Killed the excitement. Can someone tell me 1) how we got to Nagata & Sakuraba TEAMING UP. I thought they hated eachother? And 2)Why Shibata & Goto are fighting for like the 10th PPV in a row.

This is almost EXACTLY what happened to me.

[Defrost]

On Friday on Ustream NJPW is show a special WK retrospective and the ring construction for the Dome

By the way the normal Ustream page for the ppv will have Spanish commentary. For Japanese you have to go to http://www.ustream.tv/njpwjp which is actually cheaper.

[Beer-Belly]

There's an English option, right?

Also, when does this air for Americans?

[Defrost]

No English

It starts 3AM EST Saturday Morning or Friday Night depending on how you views things I guess.

[Beer-Belly]

Ah, for some reason I thought they hired Matt Striker for commentary. I don't like Striker, but having some English commentary might help me get into it a little more.

[Tainted Eclipse]

Embrace the Japanese commentary Beer-Belly, you will come to love it.

[Tainted Eclipse]

[Glen]

I won't be able to watch this as I'm (amazingly) in Barbados, but I will buy something NJPW based to make up for me undoubtedly having to illegally download it at some point next week.

[Beer-Belly]

Embrace the Japanese commentary Beer-Belly, you will come to love it.

I actually love it, but English commentary would help me understand the context of certain situations. I'm a very casual fan of puro, so having some insight during the event would be nice.

[Tainted Eclipse]

Here is a bunch of info to put the show in context. Different from being able to hear it during the show, but there's some digestible news/write-ups to give you an idea of whats going on:
http://www.newjapangaijin.com/catego...om-8-upcoming/

Also, from that site:

Togi Makabe told Tokyo Sports that one aspect of preparation for his match with Bad Luck Fale has been studying the layout of the Tokyo Dome and the surrounding area, anticipating their “King of Destroyer” match could take place all over the massive stadium and even spill out into the streets.

Alright, I'm interested in this match.

[Tainted Eclipse]

Also here's a working version of the preview video Defrost posted earlier:

[The Law]

This will be my first Japanese wrestling show. I'm really excited. Japanese wrestling seems to be the style of wrestling I like: respect for the action in the ring, respect for wrestling as an artform and legitimate athletic competition, and a focus on in-ring action over storyline bullshit. I'll keep reading the previews in the coming days, but I definitely think this will be a good time.

Why did they take the title off Tanahashi? It seemed like he was their stud. Is it common for the IC Championship to be defended in the main event? Or are they trying to raise the profile of the title by having Tanahashi challenge for it?

It's comforting to see some familiar faces on the card: Taka, DH Smith, Lance Archer, Festus, Rob Conway, Yuji Nagata, Great Muta, Shelton Benjamin. And maybe I'm just nostalgiac, but I like seeing the NWA Championship defended. Hopefully it can find a place in some of the international companies that are moving into America.

I'm intrigued to see what 2014 brings for wrestling in America. New Japan and AAA are both making their moves. With TNA on the brink of collapse and ROH in a rut, both have a legitimate chance at becoming the #2 wrestling promotion in America this year.

[Tainted Eclipse]

Defrost and probably others can answer questions about New Japan better than me but:

Tanahashi has been their ace (popular term for top guy in a Japanese promotion) for years but 2012 they sort of out of nowhere pushed this young guy, Kazuchika Okada, to the moon and had him win the title and embark on a high profile feud with Tanahashi, which he recently came out on top of during October's King of Pro Wrestling show where the stipulation was that if Okada beat Tanahashi, Tanahashi could not challenge Okada for the IWGP title again (though I think this was just something Tanahashi said, not a 'formal' stipulation).

The IC Title in the main event isn't really a deliberate booking decisions. Okada's challenger, Tetsuya Naito, won NJPW's big yearly Round Robin tournament called the G1 Climax which got him a title shot at this show. The crowd has since been pretty lukewarm on Naito, while Nakamura/Tanahashi is like NJPW's Austin/Rock, so NJPW put it up to a fan vote what the main event of the show should be and predictably Nakamura/Tanahashi won.

[Tainted Eclipse]

Oh and anyone new to NJPW looking to watch this, check out this tag. It's from the last show before this one and features the four main eventers matching up against each other in a tag match: Naito & Tanahashi vs. Okada & Nakamura. A very good indicator of the kind of style you can expect to see:

[Defrost]

This will be my first Japanese wrestling show. I'm really excited. Japanese wrestling seems to be the style of wrestling I like: respect for the action in the ring, respect for wrestling as an artform and legitimate athletic competition, and a focus on in-ring action over storyline bullshit. I'll keep reading the previews in the coming days, but I definitely think this will be a good time.

Why did they take the title off Tanahashi? It seemed like he was their stud. Is it common for the IC Championship to be defended in the main event? Or are they trying to raise the profile of the title by having Tanahashi challenge for it?

It's comforting to see some familiar faces on the card: Taka, DH Smith, Lance Archer, Festus, Rob Conway, Yuji Nagata, Great Muta, Shelton Benjamin. And maybe I'm just nostalgiac, but I like seeing the NWA Championship defended. Hopefully it can find a place in some of the international companies that are moving into America.

I'm intrigued to see what 2014 brings for wrestling in America. New Japan and AAA are both making their moves. With TNA on the brink of collapse and ROH in a rut, both have a legitimate chance at becoming the #2 wrestling promotion in America this year.

I wrote this big thing for Cewsh's website previewing this show that he hasn't posted yet. So I'll do a short explanation of stuff here and direct you to that whenever Cewsh posts it. And if he doesn't by tonight I'll post it myself in here.

The brief, it won't be brief, biography of Hiroshi Tanahashi. Early in the aughts NJPW set their hopes on 3 guys. Hiroshi Tanahashi, Shinsuke Nakamura, and Katsuyori Shibata. Shibata is an odd man and he ending up leaving the promotion for years, the pushed Nakamura too hard too soon in a role as sorta new Inoki which he was never comfortable in and it didn't take. That leaves Tanahashi. Tanahashi started out as a backyard wrestler. It took him a bunch of tries to get into the NJPW Dojo. He got stabbed by his girlfriend. He had a pretty boy not tough guy rep. So it took awhile for his push to stick. He was supposed to beat Brock Lesnar for the IWGP Title in 2006 but Brock quit the promotion and stole the belt. Tanahashi won the vacant title and had solid reign that was nothing special until the match he dropped the belt to Nagata. That is where things picked up. In 2007 he had 3 amazing matches with Yuji Nagata and an off the charts one with Hirooki Goto where he worked total heel. That is when he really started to get over. He has said that Shawn Michaels is his favorite wrestler. In late 2007 til mid 2008 he was doing a total 1997 heel HBK impression and it totally worked.

So in 2009 he beat Keiji Muto, Shinsuke Nakamura, and Kurt Angle 3 months in a row to solidify his place as the undisputed #1 guy in New Japan. They started calling him the Ace of the Universe. Since then Tanahashi has tied the record for most IWGP Titles reigns with 6, has the record for most successful defenses overall and in a single title reign, and if you count Keiji Muto and Great Muta as two different people he has held the title for the most days. So at 37 years old and with a ton of injuries, his knees are super shot, Jado and Gedo decided to avoid being stagnant and when Kazuchika Okada came back to Japan he had a new gimmick and was pushed to the moon and unlike Nakamura it worked. Although to be fair to Nakamura he was only a wrestler for a year while Okada had already been wrestling for 8 years when he won the title and Nakamura didn't have a manager to cut promos for him either.

As for the IC Title. That is a new belt. It was started in 2011 when NJPW did a little tour of America. It was a nothing title until Shinsuke elevated it to an amazing degree the last year and a half. In the last 5 years Shinsuke has really shed that Inoki super shooter gimmick and is now more an ass kicking art student if that makes any sense without seeing it for yourself. He is way more himself now and is way more over is the point. Meanwhile Tetsuya Naito who was over before getting hurt, I go deep in the weeds explaining this in the thing I sent Cewsh, is not as over at this point as he was or they hoped he'd be. Leading to that vote.


That was the short version. Still in the TL;DR range.

[Cewsh]

Go ahead and post it. I've been crazy sick all week and I'm only now compiling the Preview.

[Defrost]

Okay here is the super long winded version of what you'll see Saturday 3 AM EST

IWGP IC Championship: Shinsuke Nakamura vs Hiroshi Tanahashi

For the third time since 2005 Generation Rivals clash in the main event of the January 4th Tokyo Dome show with Stan Hansen overseeing the proceedings. These are the two men who have led New Japan out of the wilderness of the dark times and with Kazuchika Okada are the top stars of the company. Their rivalry has spanned many years including a tag team title reign together and 12 singles matches in a 6 year period. Shinsuke holds a slight edge with a 6-5-1 record against Tanahashi however he has dominated Tanahashi in the Tokyo Dome. In 2005 they were tapped to main event the Dome at a time NJPW was quickly careening toward rock bottom. It was supposed to be a showcase of the future for the now defunct IWGP U-30 (Under the age of 30) Openweight Championship. After 25 minutes of action Shinsuke forced Tanahashi to tap out to the Cross Arm Breaker. 3 years later Shinsuke again challenged Tanahashi. This time for NJPW's biggest prize the IWGP Heavyweight Championship. It was a long a winding road to get there. Tanahashi was supposed to have taken on Brock Lesnar for the title 9 months earlier but Lesnar left with the belt. Tanahashi would lose and regain the title probably in Shinsuke's place. Shinsuke, who had long been hurt by his Super Nova period and still miscast as an Inoki style shooter, had gone abroad and returned to Japan as NJPW's newest savior. He brought back a new finisher the Land Slide which was basically a Fireman's Carry Falcon Arrow, and as is traditional when Japanese wrestlers leave the country came back with much more muscle mass. Disaster would strike in the semi finals of the 2007 G1 when in a match with Yuji Nagata, Shinsuke totally destroyed his shoulder. He needed surgery to put it back together. Tanahashi would win the tournament and regain the IWGP Title. They finally crossed paths at the Dome where Shinsuke would beat Tanahashi with his new move. However, not long thereafter Shinsuke lost the title to Keiji Muto. Muto would lose it at the Dome to Tanahashi and from that point forward there was no debate that Tanahahsi was undisputed Ace of NJPW. Meanwhile, Shinsuke went through a profound transformation. He turned heel. He went to Mexico. He stopped being Kaz Fujita 2.0. And he unleashed his inner Swag. From that point forward Nakamura has gotten insanely over with the NJPW crowd. For the last 18 months Nakamura has built up the relatively new IWGP IC Title to the point it can main event the biggest show of the year. Kinda like what Taz and RVD did for the ECW TV Title. Tanahashi and Nakamura are at the peak of their popularity and working ability. This should be the best of their Dome main events even if it does have a Rock/Austin Wrestlemania 19 vibe to it.

IWGP Heavyweight Championship: Kazuchika Okada vs Tetsuya Naito

Now if you are not an avid follower of New Japan Pro Wrestling you may be wondering why this is not going on last. Well lets take the long way around to explain that. While Okada was toiling away on Alex Shelley's couch Tetsuya Naito was main eventing in CMLL and making a triumphant return to NJPW. Naito and Yujiro Takahashi, No Limit, would win the IWGP Tag Team Championship before doing their breakup angle. Naito struck off on his own having great matches with Hiroshi Tanahashi, and getting over to the point he semi main evented Wrestle Kingdom VI against the legendary Keiji Muto.

Also at Wrestle Kingdom VI Kazuchika Okada made his infamously horrid return. When Okada came out later that night to challenge Hiroshi Tanahashi the crowd booed and there were cat calls telling Okada to get out of wrestling. Then he won the IWGP Heavyweight Championship. Even though the match where he won the title went well fans were dubious. It would be Okada's first title defense that calmed those nerves. His first title defense came against his opponent at the Tokyo Dome Tetsuya Naito. From there it seemed like they would be linked as rivals just as Tanahashi and Nakamura had been. However, months later in the G1 Climax Naito tore his ACL. When he came back he was rusty, and his fans chalked it up to that but there does seem to be something missing. He won the G1 Climax, the premier tournament in wrestling and this year was the greatest wrestling tournament in term of match quality of all time, beating Ace Hiroshi Tanahashi. However, he is nowhere near as over as he was in the Summer of 2012. The situation is very similar to the one faced by Masahiro Chono in 1994. He had seen injuries pile up, the worst of which was caused by a Steve Austin Tombstone Piledriver, and he lost something with the crowd compared to Shinya Hashimoto and Keiji Muto. So he went from a clean cut wrestler to the black wearing future leader of nWo Japan everyone came to love. Naito is in a spot where NJPW made strides in growth when he was gone. He missed the entire rise of NJPW on iPPV. He stayed the same while times changed. So the fans did not take to him as they had before. So NJPW decided to put it to a vote. What match should be the main event. And overwhelmingly they chose Shinsuke vs Tanahashi. Now the last two times Okada and Naito wrestled the matches were off the charts great. They come into this one with a chip on their shoulder and a point to prove. This is my pick for MOTN going in.

IWGP Jr Heavyweight Championship: Prince Devitt vs Kota Ibushi

The Real Rock n Rolla vs The Golden Star. These two have been rivals for years, but there is a new dynamic in place. Prince Devitt is now a heel. The leader of the all evil Gaijin stable: The Bullet Club. Meanwhile things are different for Ibushi as well. This is his first singles match against Devitt since signing a contract with New Japan Pro Wrestling. What to expect out of one of their matches in the past was easy. now it is very open. Will it consist of the usual amount of Bullet Club interference? Or will the members of the Bullet Club have already been taken out by the time this match hits the ring from damage from their own matches? How will Devitt do having to wrestling another Junior having spent so much time this year wrestling Heavyweights? It is amazing how with a few tweaks you can take something that has been done to death and make it fresh again. I guess that is a perk of having bookers who actually have a clue unlike some other feds I can think of. Probably the easiest pick on the show with Ibushi almost the certain winner.

Katsuyori Shibata vs Hirooki Goto


These two childhood friends have spent the better part of 2013 beating the unholy fuck out of each other including their match from June in Osaka that many consider the Match of the Year. In two of their three matches they went to a double knock out. The stiffness in these matches can actually reach unpleasant levels at times. They were supposed to have their fourth match on the last day of the G1 Climax but Hirooki Goto broke his jaw in a match with Hiroshi Tanahashi and obviously didn't make that date. How Goto got hurt against Tanahashi and not in a match where headbutts sound like gun shots I'll never quite understand, but the world is a mysterious place. This match will mark Goto's return from that injury. And what better way to come back from a broken jaw than by working with your best friend? Your best friend who is going to hit you in the face as hard as he can.


King of Destroyer Match: Togi Makabe vs Bad Luck Fale

The rules are there are no rules. Always liked that phrase. Even though there are always rules. In this case it is basically just a Last Man Standing Match. Fale has been doing a gimmick where he uses a Splash Mountain bomb in the Border Toss style leading to ref stoppages. Makabe has been feuding with the Bullet Club dating back to the G1 Climax in August leading to this match with the Underboss of Bullet Club. They have been brawling with each other for months now so it is time to get to the big show to end it.

The Great Muta & Toru Yano vs Minoru Suzuki & Shelton X Benjamin

Yano is a troll. And he has spent the better part of 6 months trolling Minoru Suzuki. You need to understand one thing about Minoru Suzuki. He is an ill natured man. So when Yano handcuffs him to the railing causing him to be DQed, runs around the entire arena so Suzuki can't get to him, or shill his DVD while Suzuki is irately beating Young Lions this makes Suzuki ill nature even more iller. So when Yano said that he had a surprise for Suzuki at the Tokyo Dome there was much speculation over who his partner would be. Minoru Suzuki thought it would be Bob Sapp. Some thought it might be AJ Styles. Then Yano revealed it to be the legendary Great Muta. The Great Muta has not been seen in NJPW since the 1/4/08 Tokyo Dome. This reveal did not help Suzuki's ill nature. Also not helping was on the last NJPW show before the Dome after Suzuki's promo talking all about not being afraid of Muta, Yano then came out dressed as Muta. Many Young Lions were beaten.

Kazushi Sakuraba & Yuji Nagata vs Daniel Gracie & Rolles Gracie

Be vewy vewy quiet Sakuraba is hunting Gwacies. In the 1990s Kazushi Sakuraba was a lower midcard pro wrestler with the shoot style promotion UWFi. Then UWFi's penchant for grandstand challenges bit them in the ass when Yoji Anjo, the second biggest star in the company to Nobuhiko Takada, went to Rickson Gracie's dojo with a cadre of Japanese press to challenge Gracie to a fight. Problem was Gracie accepted. And beat the ever loving shit out of Anjo. This ruined UWFi's claim to be "real" wrestling and the promotion swiftly went from a huge money maker to out of business. In its wake rose the Pride FC with the idea of doing a Takada vs Rickson Gracie fight. Needless to say things didn't go well for Takada. The Gracies dominated the Japanese fighters. Until Sakuraba rattled off a string of victories over the Gracie family including in a 90 minute all time classic against Royce Gracie. This made Sakuraba arguably the biggest sports star in Japan. This match is an attempt to capture some of that in a pro wrestling setting.

NWA World Heavyweight Championship: Rob Conway vs Satoshi Kojima

Harley Race will be on hand to present to championship belt to the winner. At April's Invasion Attack iPPV Conway first appeared in NJPW beating Kojima. With NWA President Bruce Tharpe Conway has come in and made several successful defenses of this title. As mentioned this is Kojima's second crack at the title, and between that and NJPW being the stronger promotion one would think a title change is quite likely here.

IWGP Tag Team Championship: KES (Lance Archer/Davey Boy Smith Jr) vs Bullet Club (Karl Anderson/Doc Gallows)

Anderson and Gallows won the World Tag League in December so they are #1 contenders. This is odd in being an all heel gaijin match. That's really all there is to this one.

IWGP Jr Tag Team Championship: Young Bucks vs Forever Hooligans vs Time Splitters vs TAKA Michinoku/Taichi

For the past 15 months the Hooligans, Time Splitters, and TAKA/Taichi have had a slew of matches trading this title back and forth amongst each other. This title really needed new blood injected into it because even though the matches were always good there is only so much cake you can eat until you're sick of it. So in come the Young Bucks the newest members of the Bullet Club. They were brought in for the Tag Team Super Jr Tournament that they promptly won. Then beat TAKA and Taichi for the tag titles. After the match all the challenges were thrown around and that brings us to this match at the Dome.

[OD50]

I'm planning on catching this, so having some backstory to the matches is nice. Thanks.

[Defrost]

[Defrost]

More hype

[Panther52]

Great preview guys. Thanks for all your time and work.

[takerson]

Cewsh put up the full preview. Great read, a must read, really, if you wanna get hyped for the show.

http://cewshreviews.blogspot.com/201...w-special.html

I'll also throw in a "thanks" to everyone for the work put into that, to make us not-so-dedicated NJPW fans understand what's going on. I got into NJPW with last year's WK. And caught every PPV after that.... until the G1 Climax, which I was super excited for.... and WAS great.... but burned me out on NJPW. I made it to night 5 and just... my brain couldn't handle any more NJPW. I've kept tabs on it, and I STILL mean to check out the two Tanahashi/Okada matches that have happened during/since the G1 Climax...... Long story short, I plan on watching WK and hope it sucks me back in!

I was actually so intrigued by the preview... that I was actually disappointed when I came to the end of it!

[Cewsh]

You're a one man street team, you magnificent bastard you.

[takerson]

I bet you came in here to post that link, didn't you? Haha. It's on my FB too. XD

[The Law]

What time is this? My thumb calculation is it would probably air around 6:00 AM in the Eastern Time Zone. Assuming it starts at 8:00 PM in Tokyo.

[Tainted Eclipse]

Airs at 3am eastern time.

[Defrost]

The Time Splitters coming out to the BttF theme in a Delorean is the best thing ever

[Tainted Eclipse]

That Engrish opening was great. STRAIGHT FROM HELL, the Great Muta!

[Tainted Eclipse]

That opener was exactly what it needed to be. Fun stuff.

[Defrost]

Fun opener

[Tainted Eclipse]

NJPW is killing WWE in the Wrestlemania entrances department.

[Tainted Eclipse]

Decent enough match there with some cool stuff in it. They really seemed to win over the crowd throughout. Plus woo title change.

[Defrost]

Watching Harley Race try to get around makes me feel bad

[Defrost]

New World Champ.

[Tainted Eclipse]

Kojima winning and all the Harley stuff was cool of course but man did that match blow. Guess it's also cool that that was the highest profile NWA title match in like 2 decades I guess.

[Defrost]

Well that was a disaster

[Tainted Eclipse]

Well that was that. The Gracies were obviously very limited and the ending was terrible. I'd love to see NJPW go back to incorporating SOME more 'shooty' elements into their style because that's what made them great but that wasn't the way to do it.

[Defrost]

Muta's entrance was *****

[Tainted Eclipse]

@puro_yottsume 9m
Announce team "When Muta looks under the ring, it is connected to the hell!" #bitch_please

Fun nonsense match. Toru's noblest brain triumphs again.

[Defrost]

Holy Shit G1 in a Stadium

[Defrost]

Fale is going through the Spanish Announce Table

[Defrost]

Well Goto vs Shibata was quite good

[Tainted Eclipse]

I liked that for a modern juniors match. Last title change of the night hopefully!

[Defrost]

Attendance 35,000

Ibushi is new champ in a hell of a match

[Defrost]

HOLY FUCK WHAT AN AMAZING MATCH

[Tainted Eclipse]

Well god damn that was one hell of a home stretch. The first half of the match or so was weird though, I liked a lot of it but it felt weirdly spaced out and with a lot of down time. Still really liked that match. THE RIGHT MAN WON.

[Defrost]

Megadeth playing Tanahashi to the ring

[Defrost]

Holy fuck does this show murder Wrestlemania on production

[Tainted Eclipse]

Hahaha, that Nakamura entrance, beautiful.

[Defrost]

Just on the videos and entrances this show murders every wrestling show I have ever seen

[Defrost]

[Defrost]

Tana is IC Champ. Awesome stuff. Fucking Cloverleaf Styles Clash

[Tainted Eclipse]

I'm so tired I'll have to watch it again, but to me that match felt really good although somehow lacking something to make it great. I liked all the three main title matches a lot more than I expected to. And god damn that was a 5 hour PPV.

[Tainted Eclipse]

Thinking about it, Okada buried the fuck out of Naito there. Naito's whole story was chasing his "dream," Okada talks about how he had a dream too but didn't talk about it, he just did it; and he actually fulfilled his dream much quicker and easier than Naito, and now he's thinking that dream was too small and he needs to do bigger things. Then in their match he totally shuts down all of Naito's counters at the end and kills him with two tombstones and a rainmaker.