NEW JAPAN PRO WRESTLING
WRESTLE KINGDOM 19
JANUARY 4, 2025
TOKYO DOME
TOKYO, JAPAN
Watch: NJPW WORLD
MEET YOUR REVIEWERS:
Suit Williams: You can read Suit’s long-form previews and reviews of wrestling from around the world here at Voices of Wrestling. You can also find his weekly reviews of AEW Collision over at F4WOnline. Check out his brand-new wrestling blog Williams Watches Wrestling, where he’ll engage in watch projects and review requests like Williams Watches WrestleMania every Wednesday. This past week, he reviewed Wrestlemania 22, featuring Rey Mysterio wrestling with the Eddie Guerrero buff and Triple H turning the smarks on John Cena. Follow Suit on all social media platforms @SuitWilliams.
Jeri Evagood: Jeri is here to watch NJPW Pro Wrestling and eat cold pizza ridiculously early in the morning…. Two noble goals, if she does say so myself. She is attempting to get back into NJPW after a year plus off from watching its shenanigans! She’s looking forward to getting back into the swing of things. You can find her on BlueSky at Jeri Jeri Quite Contrary. Warning: She talks about kink just as much as she do pro wrestling—two different kinds of consensual violence.
NEW JAPAN RAMBO MATCH FOR FUTURE IWGP WORLD HEAVYWEIGHT TITLE MATCH
HIROOKI GOTO WINS
Eliminations in order: Josh Barnett, Boltin Oleg, Yuji Nagata, YOSHI-HASHI, KENTA, Yujiro Takahashi, Hiroyoshi Tenzan, Togi Makabe went through the middle rope but never got back in, Satoshi Kojima, Tomoaki Honma, Taichi, SANADA, Toru Yano, Tomohiro Ishii, Alex Zayne, Great O-Khan
Suit: There are 17 entrants in this match, according to the ring announcer. I woke up with a palpable buzz for this show, and I was greeted by Josh Barnett. Barnett couldn’t get eliminated by anyone, of course, so he tumbled over the top rope with Boltin Oleg as he had on some fuckin’ keylock or something. KENTA was back to racewalking mode after killing it with KENOH at the NOAH New Year show. I felt bad that Tenzan had to walk down the ramp for his entrance but immediately cheered up when Satoshi Kojima made his way out with his MLW World Heavyweight Title.
My expected winner SANADA walked to the ring with the same intensity he did when he main evented ¼ last year. He feigned a low blow from Taichi to eliminate him but then hopped over the top rope for some reason and got booted by Taichi to get eliminated. The final four were Big Tom Ish, Great O-Khan, Hirooki Goto, and Alex Zayne for some reason. O-Khan dumped Ishii and Zayne, but Goto got O-Khan over the ropes and lariated him out to win the match and earn his tenth IWGP Heavyweight Title match. Goto’s had a renewed push this year after reaching the New Japan Cup Final last year, reviving his credibility as one of the last men standing from his generation. You know what they say: it’s hard to lose NINE IWGP Title challenges in a row! *1/2
Jeri: It’s the Rambo. To win wrestling, you must become wrestling. A decent and acceptable pre-show match, not very exciting but the fun is seeing who pops up in it… as well as the bonus intrigue of who gets a future title shot! We got a lot of different personalities and styles in this match as you would expect, and I was really worried they go with a boring pick like SANADA… but was pleasently surprised they went with Goto. Is Goto going to win it? HA… no. But it will be fun to pretend. Not too much to write about otherwise. The action was mostly slow, the main interest was being who would show up. Even Tenzan showed up, although making him walk the Dome ramp was a choice. An acceptable pre show slog with a good result. **
IWGP JUNIOR HEAVYWEIGHT TAG TEAM TITLE LADDER MATCH
ICHIBAN SWEET BOYS (KOSEI FUJITA & ROBBIE EAGLES) DEF. INTERGALACTIC JET SETTERS (KEVIN KNIGHT & KUSHIDA) (C), CATCH 2/2 (FRANCESCO AKIRA & TJP), BULLET CLUB WAR DOGS (CLARK CONNORS & DRILLA MOLONEY)
Suit: These guys worked their asses off here to have a memorable opener, with this being the first ladder match in Tokyo Dome history according to commentary. They were very ambitious with their spots, with a good chunk of them just missing the impact point. Ultimately, this was another ladder match that I was fine with but that I could’ve lived without. Fujita and Eagles, who won Super Junior Tag League, won the titles after Fujita locked Akira in a Dragon Sleeper on top of the ladder. ***1/2
Jeri: I have been burnt out on ladder matches for sometime, so I wasn’t sure how I would enjoy this going in. Ultimately it was a fun opener. It didn’t go longer than needed which helped tremendously as it kept it compact and gave a sense of urgency. I was worried with four teams this could turn into a trainwreck that was hard to follow, but it was pretty focused and did not try to do an excessive amount at one time which allowed you to focus on the harder and more impactful spots. Some spots perhaps didn’t land as they had planned, but it didn’t ruin the rhythm or flow of the match. This was a good start to the main card. ***1/2
IWGP WOMEN’S TITLE MATCH
MAYU IWATANI (C) DEF. AZM
Suit: These two didn’t have any time to waste here, and they wrestled like it. They went balls to the wall here and threw bombs at each other. There’s a lot of conversation about match times in women’s wrestling, and I’ve always been on the side that a long match doesn’t necessarily make a good match. Look at any Triple H match, for example. A lot of matches fall into the trap of going long to say they went long instead of having a match that can actually fill the time. These two had the simple idea of just whipping each other’s ass until one couldn’t get up. It helped having AZM in there, as she’s mastered the quick matches as a long-reigning High Speed Champion. Iwatani retained with the Two Step Tiger Suplex. ***3/4
Jeri: I realized this match was going to get the shaft time wise….. but you make the most of the time you get and these competitors decided to go all out for what length they got. All action, very little downtime, a bloody mouth on AZM, this was energetic and entertaining. It felt like high stakes and both competitors wanting to put it away as soon as possible. That said the time restraints is a hamper as you could tell things were rushed not letting certain thing breath or fully sink in. This was a fast forward version of a classic match, but you got to applaud the effort they gave working with what they had. It turned iinto a hell of an effort! ***3/4
NJPW WORLD TELEVISION TITLE FOUR-WAY MATCH
EL PHANTASMO (W/ JADO) DEF. REN NARITA (C) VS. JEFF COBB VS. RYOHEI OIWA (W/ HARTLEY JACKSON)
Suit: This was another fine four-way match, one that I prefer over a Narita singles match. Cobb was the star of this match, at one point laying everyone out with a Tope Cobb Hilo. Roy The Mullet (credit to Lyric Swinton on that one) looked alright, but he’s going to be a player down the line in this company. Narita…got in where he fit in. Cobb broke Narita’s push-up board and laid him out with a Tour of the Islands, but Phantasmo broke it up with a dive before hitting Narita with the Thunder Kiss ’86 for the win and the title. ELP spent the year in a funk after the rest of Guerillas of Destiny left for WWE, but he ended it beating cancer and winning the TV Title here in a nice moment. ***1/2
Jeri: Hell yeah, if ever there was time to go for a feel good ending, this was it. I got off my couch and let out a “FUCK YES” when ELP got the win for the title change…. And I’m not even a huge ELP fan. Cancer can get fucked, and ELP overcoming cancer and winning a title afterward is awesome. Narita was probably the least interesting thing in this match, but he played his role well of being that annoying gnat trying to short change his way to victory only to finally get caught and receiving his come uppance. Oiwa is going to be more and more impressive as time goes on, a powerhouse, and I want to see more of him in the future as I get back into my NJPW watching, and Cobb is consistently entertaining, consistently talented, and this was a great compact match that didn’t feel rush despite the fifteen minute constraints. Well place, well executed, and a feel good ending. ***1/2
LUMBERJACK MATCH WITH TANAHASHI’S HAIR AND CAREER ON THE LINE
HIROSHI TANAHASHI DEF. EVIL
Suit: I wish EVIL had a better act, as I love his aesthetic. I wish they tortured people with holds and not bad wrestling matches.
Tanahashi’s body may be shot, but his ability to put a big match together remains intact. These two came out here, got the shenanigans out of the way with the lumberjacks early, then had a damn good closing stretch with EVIL coming ever so closely to winning before Tanahashi swiped it away. EVIL cut off the High Fly Flow, hit a superplex, Darkness Falls, a long stint in the Darkness Scorpion, and the EVIL. But as EVIL went for the pin after his finish, Tanahashi snatched him up in a small package to win and fight on.
After the match, House of Torture hit the ring to brawl with the lumberjacks and Tanahashi, but Katsuyori Shibata made the save and ran off the House of Torture. He asked Tanahashi for a match at Wrestle Dynasty tomorrow night, which Tanahashi accepted. An awesome match with a stunning post-match announcement. An overachiever if there ever was one. ****
Jeri: I shouldn’t have liked this. I remember not liking HOT shenanigans and tom foolery when I was still watching NJPW regularly, so I was prepared to hate it here, but there was a element that made it work… an element known as Hiroshi Tanahashi. This match worked because it told an excellent story of the dastardly, short cut taking, cheap shot-throwing bastard that is EVIL doing all he could to vanquish the virtuous, hard-working, and beloved Tanahashi and Tanahashi wanting to prolong his career until it’s destined time to end. That was a recipe for success, and the recipe was executed beautifully. This rocked with Tanahashi and his lumberjacks constantly doing what they could to overcome and defend themselves against the antics of House of Torture and the crowd, who was already behind Tanahashi, getting more and more into it. This is not a workrate match so if you are looking for that, I’m sorry my friend, you aren’t going to find it, this is good versus evil, pure versus corrupted, this is the survive against all odds and overcome scenario. . . and it freaking clicked in and worked! Also Shibata returned to save Tanahashi and then challenge him to a match… tomorrow! Fuck yeah! This all ruled. Our first four star affair of the evening! ****
WINNER TAKE ALL MATCH FOR BOTH AEW INTERNATIONAL & NEVER OPENWEIGHT TITLE
KONOSUKE TAKESHITA (INTERNATIONAL) DEF. SHINGO TAKAGI (NEVER)
Suit: This match fell in that odd spot of “great, but underwhelming.” It was the action you would expect from these two, as they hit each other hard and dumped each other on their heads. But it felt like they left a bigger closing stretch in their back pockets. I’d be bummed out about that normally, but that actually gives me hope for a rematch between the two with even more room to breathe. I’ve written before about being tired of Shingo in this spot with the NEVER Title, and hopefully this Takeshita reign leads to someone else rising up to take the title back from this AEW invader.
Takeshita won with the Raging Fire. ****
Jeri: I had a lot of confidence I would enjoy this going in, and I wasn’t wrong. This was great, hit so many good notes, but, whew, I could’ve used five more minutes of that stuff. I feel like this is a great match but they both have a better match in them they are waiting to unleash, and that’s not a knock on the effort of these men who put in a hell of a title versus title effort, and Takeshita as a double champion is intriguing going forward and I look forward to seeing what he gets into in NJPW (especially his match with Ishii tomorrow). There was some hard hits and drops in this match, and some of the sequences was just holy shit inducing in how they sounded and looked. Again, it’s a case of using the time you get to the best of your abilities, and while I wish I had five more minutes, they used their time well, paced it nicely, and it felt like a complete match in the end. I hope we can run this back with a bit more time in the future as I would like to see these competitors go at it again in the future. This card has been a positive so far, and this match was yet another great addition to a good card so far! ****
IWGP JUNIOR HEAVYWEIGHT TITLE MATCH
EL DESPERADO DEF. DOUKI (C) BY REFEREE STOPPAGE
Suit: Douki looked to either have broken his arm or dislocated his elbow on a corner dive to the floor, and the match was stopped immediately with the title being awarded to Desperado. Despe looked upset but grabbed the mic to say that these were the risks you took when you went all out like those two did. He wouldn’t apologize and promised that they would finish this fight one day soon.
An absolute bummer for Douki, who worked his way up from an injury replacement for Desperado in Super Juniors to walking into the Tokyo Dome as IWGP Jr. Champion. This is a horrible turn of events for him, but to look for a silver lining, this is the kind of situation that builds true emotional investment in fans for a wrestler. That empathy for Douki can help to make him an even bigger star upon his return. He now has two journeys to take, one back to the Jr. Title and one back to the Tokyo Dome. N/R
Jeri: …Shit.. This was building to something great, I could sense it, and then Douki hit a high risk move to the outside and… got badly hurt to the point of having to stop the match. FUCK. Safety first of course, and stopping the match was the right call and I applaud it, but this was such a bummer and sucked the wind out of things. But most importantly I hope Douki can recover fully and well and get back to doing the things he love. Take your time and come back 100 percent. N/R
IWGP GLOBAL HEAVYWEIGHT TITLE MATCH
YOTA TSUJI DEF. DAVID FINLAY (C)
Suit: For a while, David Finlay felt like a guy that was just going to be A Guy on the roster. He came in as a young lion, never got an excursion, and just slotted in an undercard babyface role alongside guys like Ricochet, Ryusuke Taguchi, and Juice Robinson. He seemed destined to stand alongside guys like YOSHI-HASHI and Tomoaki Honma at the bottom of the card. When he turned heel and took ownership of the Bullet Club, it felt like a spot he was never equipped to fill. He wasn’t the guy to take a match to the next gear and really step up to the main event level. I’m here to tell you folks, David Finlay has found that next gear.
He was an animal in this match, violently ragdolling Yota Tsuji around. There was one point where he hit three Dominators back-to-back-to-back on Tsuji where I just put my hands on my head and wondered what the hell got into this man. Finlay has found his lane as a dominating, bullying, power heel that is to be overcome. Tsuji survived the onslaught from Finlay, including a uranage through a table at ringside, to come back and land the Gene Blast spear to finally win the big one and leave with the Global Title. Tsuji got the much-needed win, but with this match, David Finlay put himself on the map as a real-deal player in New Japan. ****1/4
Jeri: This was needed after the deflation that was the previous match. This match was able to get the crowd back and deliver the goods. Great match, and it was mostly due to Finlay who had one hell of an effort. Tsuji did fine and did enough to keep his end of the bargain and make sure the match made it to great status, but Finlay who is someone I was really impressed with here, and once upon a time I can’t imagine myself ever saying that. He just really has a presence, confidence, and ability about him now. Tsuji has some good moves, a good look, and I think he can have continue success, but I feel there are some things that still need to fully click. All that to say this match was paced well, some impactful spots (the spot where Finlay put Tsuji through the table was awesome) and I felt good at the ending, felt earned through a hard fight. Good stuff, and another four star match of the evening, but I’m still waiting for something to break the four star barrier for me. ****
TETSUYA NAITO DEF. HIROMU TAKAHASHI
Suit: This was never going to be for me since I’m not an LIJ lore guy, and I’m also of the belief that Naito is fried. These two didn’t do anything to change my mind here, as this was a flat match with a surprising lack of heat at points. For the big money match on this show, the people didn’t really seem strongly invested in it. Naito has no explosion in any of his movements, and they didn’t work a match designed for one guy to be cheered over the other until the end. The end of the match saw Naito basically punk Hiromu out and beat him clean with the Destino. The post-match saw a defeated Hiromu crawl up Naito’s body as he stood holding up his fist for the LIJ pose. Hiromu bowed and put his fist up before the two walked off.
My only hope is that this is playing off of the Naito/Keiji Mutoh match from Wrestle Kingdom 6, where Hiromu got beaten soundly by the veteran, leading to a rematch at a future Dome show where Hiromu surpasses Naito. The end of the match was laid on too thick for me to believe that this was “one night only” as the announcers noted. But the problem is that I don’t want to see this match again, and I think Naito is only going to get worse as time goes on. This was a swing and a miss. Best case scenario is that it’s the start of the arc between these two that I don’t want to see. Worst case scenario is that this is a one-off that accomplished absolutely nothing. **1/2
Jeri: I don’t want to say too much, cause I could say alot, but this didn’t click, this didn’t resonate, this didn’t succeed on any platform. A great idea five years too late, Naito isn’t the same Naito he used to be, and Takahashi did not perform to the level he needed to for this match to excel. It was slow, it was plodding, the crowd for ¾ of it seemed very subdued (although they picked up in the final ¼) and the ending was… well… not the result I would’ve gone with. I’m not even sure I can call this match a disappointment, I definitely didn’t come in thinking it would excel in 2025, but I can’t pretend I wasn’t hoping to be proven wrong/a miracle either. Miracles have happened in wrestling before. Alas this was no miracle, this was a low end semi-main event match. I wouldn’t call it lifeless, but I definitely did have to make sure it was breathing a few times to be sure. I was orgiinally going to give it a Ladies three… but upon major consideration, I can’t even do that. It did not succeed at anything that would’ve garner my interest or enjoyment. **1/2
IWGP WORLD HEAVYWEIGHT TITLE MATCH
ZACK SABRE JR. (C) DEF. SHOTA UMINO
Suit: After this match ended, I sat for a while to think about whether I liked it or not. I got a good sense of what they were going for, with Umino getting dragged to the deep waters and not being able to be the ace he’s proclaimed himself to be. Umino drilled Zack with DDTs to soften up Sabre’s neck for the Death Rider, and when Zack got flustered, he worked over Umino’s already injured ankle. There was a subplot of Umino fighting through the boos he got to prove himself as a top guy. The ingredients were there, but they just didn’t come all the way together to make a great Dome main event.
There was a point deep into the match, after Umino hit a top-rope Death Rider but couldn’t follow up with a cover, where Umino’s anger boiled over and he just started stomping on Sabre’s neck in the ropes. He even shoved his father Red Shoes Unno away to keep on the attack to big boos. But the heavy reaction to that spot didn’t stick as Sabre eventually batted Shota down, dropped him with the Gotch Style Piledriver, then pinned him with a cross-legged Zack Driver for the win in 43:44.
Again, there were elements of a great match here. I think if these two were to run a big rematch in the next year, they could build on those elements to have a better match. It wasn’t as much the length of the match that bothered me as much as it just took too long to find its lane. There’s something there with Umino’s frustration and the fans turning on him, but they didn’t hone in on it strongly enough. This was an odd main event on paper, and it left me feeling odd in practice. Ultimately, I think this was a good match in a spot where you want a great one. ***1/2
Jeri: I’m not anti-long match, some of my favorite matches have gone a really long time, but I don’t think this needed to be 41 minutes. I feel like there was 4.5 star work for stretches followed by sub 4 work in other stretches. An inconsistent match that at times admittedly had me convinced they would go with Shota, but in the end I am glad they stuck with Zack to let him continue his reign. Umino is still missing elements in his recipe to success. I didn’t buy into all his strikes, and I felt he waited to long in the match to start losing his cool/compsure, felt that was needed ten minutes sooner. Zack, what can I say, he knows his moves, he knows his pacing, he gets pro-wrestling on a higher level and he helped keep things moving in a positive direction whether it be on offense or on the defensive. I’m not shoo pooing Umino’s efforts completely, he has ability and there was moments I got that fire and effort I am looking for from him, but it’s not completely put together, and I’m not convined he was Tokyo Dome main event ready. I didn’t dislike this match, in fact I’m giving it a positive rating, I just don’t think it achieved the level of epic they were clearly going for. There was 15 minutes of greatness in there, but the match itself went over 40. The match quality within the match itself was inconsistent, but when things clicked we got close to the fire that brings the good burn. I don’t know, I almost want to give a rare ladie’s 4, but in the end I think I have to settle with *** ¾. This show had a damn good undercard followed by a deflating top end of the card. In the end a good but not amazing Dome Show.
