NJPW Wrestle Kingdom 12 - Alpha vs. Omega

WRESTLE KINGDOM 12 IS UPON US! Kitamura is out for the Rumble as is BUSHI. Not much until Delirious is out and he chops away at Kitamura. Try something else. Anything else. Maybe a shotgun. Leo Tonga is out to no reaction, but gets an elevated complete shot for 2 on Kitamura. MONSTER MORNING TIME with Nakanishi. Chase Owens is out and eats five million back and chest rakes from Delirious. Chase's package piledriver gets three after two counts, so Don buries him. Bushi is tossed out and YUJI NAGATA IS OUT! YES! TAKA MICHINOKU! MOTHERFUCKER! Nagata takes out Nakanishi, and then everyone dogpiles on Yuji to take him out. Chase hits the piledriver on Kitamura and beats him.

TAKA and Kanemaru destroy Chase for a bit. DESPERADO IS OUT and Chase is scared shitless. Chase is gone. LIGER IS OUT WITH HIS THEME. Romero special to Desperado! They gang up on Liger to try and remove his mask but Tiger Mask makes a save. Mr. Juicy Gino Gambino is out and Liger is gone. Kanemaru is out via dogpile. Big lariat to TAKA takes him out. Leo Henare is out and destroys Gambino. YOSHI-HASHI is out and chops away at Gambino. David Finlay's out and Gambino eats a cutter and is dogpiled. Henare is tossed out. Finlay wins with a cradle and Yoshi's right shoulder is up the whole time. YUJIRO IS OUT!

Yujiro celebrates before CHEESEBURGER RETURNS. Burger flame-broils up! Kojima darts out to a huge pop. Kojima hits a lariat on the arm and a cutter, but eats a fisherman buster. Tenzan attempted to sprint for about half a second there. MONGOLIAN CHOPS! Kakihara returns from cancer.  Cheeseburger chops away at Kojima and that doesn't quite work out. Tencozy collides and Kakihara hits away and they low bridge Tencozy until Kakihara beats Cheeseburger. He wears a Takayama shirt

Big hype video for the show. Cody vs. Ibushi is a HANDSOME BATTLE! Rocky annoys Don by spraying his fire extinguisher near him. Yoh gets trash-taslked by Matt AND WE GET STEREO SHARPSHOOTERS! Nice double team flying back elbows by R3K. Double flip dive and Yoh just goes splat. Well, he won't be worrying about his lower back after taking a high angle German on the apron. That...solves that problem...ROCKY EATS A SUPERKICK AND A RUNNING POWEBROMB ON THE RAMP! APRON BOMB TO YOH! MATT SPLATS TOO! Matt teases an apron bomb to Yoh, but Yoh backdrops him! Deadman dive, but Sho moves and Matt catches Nick! Sho lands a bunch of superkicks for 2. Sho lands a series of Germans! Doctor bomb/cutter gets 2! JUMPING KNEES! Sho eats a superkick, skins the cat in, superkicks him and Yoh hits a backstabber!

WINDMILL KICK FROM NICK AND YOH HITS A LARIAT! BUCKLE BOMB AND A KICK HIT! Swanton and DDT hit and Yoh kicks out! Matt locks on a sharpshooter and it's on for eons. HE MAKES IT TO THE ROPE! MORE BANG IS COUNTERED WITH A CRUCIFIX FOR 2. Stereo half crabs for R3K! FOREARM EXCHANGE! Stff kicks to the injured backs of the guys and this is great. It's non-stop reverse Yes kicks! SHO RUNS INTO A SUPERKICK. Yoh eats another superkick, but can't spring in again. MELTZER DRIVER AND THE SHARPSHOOTER ENDS IT. Bucks are 7X champs! This was the best overall Bucks match I've seen - they are getting more diverse, and that's good. The non-stop flippy-do stuff they did in TNA and forever isn't something they can sustain forever, but you can do a bit of that and work it into regular matches.

NEVER 6-man tag titles are on the line. Izuka is chasing folks and ZSJ is out. It was amazing seeing Izuka in WCW when he was young and he's still here not looking like he's ever been younger than 45. Big Mike and War Machine are out, with Kevin talking about how they don't really like Mike now. Elgin looks like a fat Red Ranger in this getup. Big fallaway slam/Samoan drop combo. BEARD RAKE BY HANSON. Rowe hits a giant shotgun flying knee. HANSON MISSES A MOONSAULT! Suzuki-gun attacks War Machine and ZSJ gets a triangle, then an armbar into a triangle for a ref stoppage. ZSJ looked awesome there. Yano, Berretta, and Ishii are out. YANO EATS A DOUBLE TEAM AND IS NEARLY PINNED. YANO PUSHES TAICHI INTO THE IRON GLOVE sorta and wins with the low blow and cradle. Kevin shouts out Corino for the shot to the ding ding.

JUICE RUNS WILD. MAKABE HITS A BILLION CORNER LARIATS. CHAIN OF LARIATS LEAD TO A HIP ATTACK FROM TAGUCHI! Springboard hip attack! Taguchi goes for the Kinashasa, but YANO HITS A SCHOOLBOY AND WINS IT! Bullet Club is out to end this. Apron DVD hits from Tonga Roa. Ishii goes for power spots on Fale, which fail. ISHII HITS A BIG HEADBUTT. BERRETTA MOONSAULTS INTO A GUN STUN FOR 2! GUNSTUNOUTTANOWEHERE. Best one since the SSP>RKO eons ago. DUDEBUSTER HITS AND ENDS IT. TRENT GETS HEAVYWEIGHT GOLD IN NEW JAPAN!"As has become commonplace since the titles were created, WE HAVE NEW CHAMPS DON!"
Thanks Kevin, I almost thought this was important for Trent for half a second there.

Cody's Iron Man color scheme is pretty solid. Cody poses and does goofy stuff. Kota's theme is tremendous still. Goddamn is Ibushi over. GIGANTIC IBUSHI chants. Cody evades dropkicks and standing moonsaults. Cody locks on the nightmare lock, but eats a snap rana. Kota takes out Cody, but accidentally hits Brandi too. Kota lifts him up and Cody forearms him in the jaw. They reveal it's a ruse and we get some great shots of Brandi. Cody chairshots Kota, but he still gets the golden triangle moonsault. Brandi prevents an outside-in suplex and Cody necksnaps him on the rope. Kota goes for the apron driver, but CODY TURNS IT INTO A CROSS RHODES OFF THE APRON!

THAT GETS A 19.5 COUNT ON THE FLOOR. Kota is just down and out every time Cody lifts him. Goddamn do I want to see modern-day Ibushi versus like any era of HBK. SPRINGBOARD RANA HITS. CROSS RHODES TURNED INTO A LAWNDART! PALM STRIKE LEADS TO THE SITOUT LAST RIDE FOR 2. Knockout knee is teased, but Cody hits a lariat for 2. Headbutt to the balls prevents the knee, but CODY EATS A GERMAN AND THE KNOCKOUT KNEE! Phoenix splash ends it!

EVIL and Sanada are out with a tremendous presentation. Kevin Kelly hypes up the Voices of Wrestling ebook on New Japan's 2017 - it's 700 pages long. DBS Jr. wearing Bulldog's '99 jeans and a Union Jack vest with bleach blonde hair. What on Earth. Archer spews water on everyone. Lance Archer had one of the biggest career upgrades one could ever ask for - he went from being an over dude to TNA, to just a dude, to less than that in WWE and has been a major gaijin force for years in New Japan. Killer bomb hits instantly for 2.5. DBS hits a giant slam over the top to Sanada before beating up young boys. Damn, DBS Jr. actually has a characte rnow! ARCHER CHOKESLAMS EVIL ON YOUNG BOYS! Giant corner lariats by Lance! Big butterfly suplex hits for DBS and gets 2.

EVIL RUNS WILD with a discus lariat and a bulldog. Big lariat to Archer. SPANISH FLY BY ARCHER! TONS OF DROPKICKS BY SANADA. Sanada flips out of a chokeslam,but eats another one. Bridging Siato suplex by DBS gets 2. HART ATTACK BY KES. KILLER BOMB GETS 2.9! KES gets run together and the STO hits for EVIL. Magic Killer hits DBS and the MOONSAULT PRESS ENDS IT!

 

 Goto-Suzuki gets an epic hype video before it just on the circular video wall above the ring. FOREARMS APLENTY and Suzuki gets the RNC on instantly. CORNER RNC CHOKEOUT. Suzuki sits on top with his arms crossed before beating up the doctor for trying to stop it. Big forearms on the floor from Suzuki. SLAPS! Kevin talks about the AK48 singer shaving her head in contrition. Suzuki and Goto trade forearms and Suzuki likes his bloody mouth. Goto traps the leg off the PK and lands an elbow, but Suzuki hits a big shot.

Goto lands a Saito suplex for 2. Yushigoroshi is countered by the front choke! RNC! SUZUKI GUN INTERFERES AND Yoshi Hashi makes a save! Suzuki sneaks in and forearms him! GIANT RUNNING DROPKICK. WOW. FIVE BILLION SLAPS TO THE FACE OF GOTO! RNC is locked on and he goes for the Gotch, but Don points out once again that this is a huge mistake and now it is! Goto fights out and hits a big lariat. Clonking headbutt up top and a front choke from Suzuki! SUPER YUSHIGOROSHI!

Holding forearm strike by Goto! GTR FROM THE FRONT HITS! GTR ENDS IT! SUZUKI LOSES THE MATCH and the title! Goto is champion once again! Suzuki-Gun rushes Suzuki away. Oh this is gonna be great. Suzuki goes back on his own because dammit, HE'S A MAN OF HIS WORD! Suzuki shaves his head to some degree and is probably lucky that his hair is already so low because all he lost was the goofy bits.

Hiromu Takahashi does a Rey WWE intro. KUSHIDA is out with slick mirror garb. MARTY GETS AWESOME WINGS! Tremendous match for entrances along so far.

KUSHIDA wins a cartwheel and dropkick exchange with Will. Ospreay walks on KUSHIDA'a back to hit a rana out of the corner. Marty lands a simple basement dropkick and an apron superkick. They fight in the crowd and WILL HITS A MOONSAULT OFF THE LIGHTING RIG. Marty gets the tornado DDT and goes for the chickenwing, but gets countered. Hoverboard lock by KUSHIDA while the chickenwing is on - so Marty releases his hold to ensure he doesn't lose the title. Four way random flailing on the mat. DEY BE CLUBBERIN TONY Corner belly to belly by Hiromu! Ospreay hits the wacky trapped superkick on Kushida before trying it on Marty. Marty avoids it and handstands...ONLY TO EAT THE SUPERKICK. Ospreay finds a new and organic way to hit the wacky corner superkick - I like it!

MARTY HITS AN OSCUTTER! Marty grabs some tape and tries to tape up Hiromu to the guardrail. THEN HE DOES THE FINGER SNAP ON THE OTHER HAND! Marty goes up top for a double finger break, but they break his fingers! AVALANCHE ARMBAR FROM KUSHIDA! Marty grabs more tape and tapes his own fingers up. POWDER TO THE EYES OF KUSHIDA, BUT KUSHIDA HITS THE BACK TO THE FUTURE FOR 2 BEFORE WILL BREAKS IT UP. Hiromu is in and hits a big German! SUNSET BOMB TO WILL. MARTY EATS ONE TOO! TIME BOMB HITS and Marty avoids another with a chickenwing. Will and Marty double kick KUSHIDA and go for a double team cutter, but Marty is moved and Will eats a tombstone by Hiromu. Missile dropkick hits for 2. DVD ON THE APRON AND KUSHIDA HITS A SUNSET BOMB. DOUBLE JUMP SSP BY WILL!

IMPLOSION 450 GETS 2. Oscutter misses, but a Hiromu lariat doesn't! TIME BOMB HITS AND MARTY MAKES A SAVE! UMBRELLA TO THE JAW! C4 TO MARTY FROM WILL! OSCUTTER HITS AND ENDS IT. Holy shit! Goddamn, he did it! They told a great story about him always losing the big one to Marty and here, he wins the title at NJPW's signature event and from his rival - who was even willing to team up with to win it.

From the stuffed cat to a horror movie intro with Switchblade. Switchblade's serial killer marking jeans are awesome. Tana having an airbrushed arm covering is great. Bell rings... HERE ARE THE COMMENTATORS! What the fuck? Did TNA's crew get work in Japan? Tana gets an armdrag but they go to the floor. Dive misses and White attacks the knee. Big European uppercut leads to a barricade knee smash. CORNER UPPERCUT AND A SNAP SAITO SUPLEX HITS FOR 2.

Tana is now begging off. Wow. This of all things seems like a changing of the guard match. Kneeling figure four is on with him landing forearms. Tana gets a rope and his knee gives out on him avoiding a slam. TANA GETS A DRAGON SCREW. Tana slams him and gets 2 off a second rope somersault senton. Tana goes for a slingblade, but Switchblade stomps the back of the knee. White's knee is trapped in the rope and Tana dragon screws the other one! STANDING HIGH FLY FLOW HITS TO THE FLOOR!

Chop leads to a deadlift German by White! Brainbuster on the apron. Mother of fuck! Jay goes up top, so Tana just sidles away. Corner face wash! Big knees to the jaw in the corner. He wants to see the Ace, so Tana slaps the shit out of him. Snap suplex into the buckle by White! Running DVD hits for 2.5. White goes for a missile dropkick, but Tana avoids it and dragon screws him! Tana goes up and eats a chop but gets a twist and shout neckbreaker off the top! TANA SLUGS HIM TWICE! SNAPDRAGON HITS TANA, BUT HE HITS A SLINGBLADE! TWO OF THEM GET 2. Standing high fly flow hits! HIGH FLY FLOW MISSES! La majistral into a crucifix elbow barrage! Kiwi crusher hits for 2. BLADE RUNNER HITS, BUT TANA GETS A BRIDGING DRAGON SUPLEX FOR 2. TANA SLAPS HIM! High fly flow to the back! ANOTHER TO THE STOMACH ENDS IT! WOW! TANA WINS!

We get a Jericho history video showing him in New Japan and then one for Omega. I like that the pre-match video is hyping this up as basically the same thing that Jericho vs. HBK was. It's two men in similar roles in a company of different generations coming together. Jericho's promo is intense and great, while Kenny is actually serious for a change. Jericho comes out to Judas and has the light up jacket.  Kenny's out in a wacky getup too. Not exactly what you should use for a blood feud.

Jericho jumps Omega, who has the Bucks with him. Frye-Takayama to start and Omega boots him and pounds away. Jericho pulls Red Shoes in and pokes the eye. Walls are on and Omega is in the ropes - but it's no DQ. Omega goes for a baseball slide, but Jericho attacks the knee. SPRINGBOARD DIVE TO THE FLOOR, BUT JERICHO EVADES AND OMEGA GOES THROUGH THE TABLE! Jericho slaps Red Shoes and locks tHe Walls on his son! I love Jericho having ALPHA on his gear. Omega tosses a chair and monitor on him. Jericho tosses a table at Kenny and sits down. Table to the gut of Jericho and he eats a slam. Omega double foot stomps him off a lighting rig through a table! Double stomp off a lighting rig onto a table seems like a great way to break an ankle. Jericho suplexes him on the floor and we get a 20 count tease. Well, I guess it's no DQ and not no DQ and no countout.

Triangle dropkick hits the knee of Omega! Jericho talks shit to Chono before setting up a table and Jericho powerbombs him on the floor! Jericho grabs a camera and takes shots of Omega and them himself flipping the bird. How dare Jericho toss that camera around - if that was a full-frame, it was a good $3,000! Jericho hits a second rope dropkick for 2. Omega lands some big sweeping chops and hooks. Jericho hits an elbow and lands a lionsault! HE DOES THE COCKY PIN! Snap rana to Jericho leads to a lariat outside. TERMINATOR CLAPS! FLIP DIVE TO THE RAMP!

Flying bulldog gets 2. Fisherman's neckbreaker hits! V Trigger countered into  the walls into a cradle for 2. V TRIGGER! Snapdragon countered into the Walls! He goes to the ropes and GETS THE COLD SPRAY. SPRAY TO THE EYES OF JERICHO and of course, to the jock area. Jericho tosses Omega into a corner chair. Jericho demands a towel from the young boys he's been abusing and gets one. Crowd is going crazy for Jericho here - he's getting tons of boos. He slams his head into the chair once again. Omega's sliced up. SNAPDRAGON HITS! A SECOND ONE HITS! Jericho avoids the Angel and EATS A THIRD SNAPDRAGON. He smacks him with a chair!

Jericho lands a ton of shots to the back. Jericho goes up and eats a chair and a V Trigger sends him through a table! V TRIGGER HITS and Omega hits the butterfly driver for 2. JERICHO COUNTERS THE ANGEL INTO THE WALLS! WALLS INTO THE LIONTAMER! Jericho's mouth is split open too. Kenny dives into the rope and that momentum breaks the hold. Codekbreaker is countered into 2 V TRIGGERS. ONE WINGED ANGEL HITS BUT JERICHO GRABS THE ROPE!

Kenny goes up top, but Jericho stops him! Chops and forearms. Jericho goes for a rana, but Omega ducks and tosses him into the buckle connector. FINLAY ROLL INTO THE MOONSAULT, BUT IT'S MET WITH A CODEBREAKER! LIONSAULT IS MET WITH A CHAIR TO THE BACK AND OMEGA LIFTS HIM FROM A LIONSAULT POSITION INTO THE ONE WINGED ANGEL TO WIN IT. This was great overall - not perfect or really a blood match in every way, but it was still great.

Naito's theme is so awesome for Dome shows. A gaint Naito chant breaks out and some American fans go crazy for him. This is just an ungodly reaction for him - amazing.

Okada has new long tights. Naito stalls for a while. Hiptoss and a sliding dropkick give Naito an edge. GODDAMN DROPKICK sends Naito to the floor! Naito hits a sleeper slam on the apron and missile dropkicks him down for 2. Corner dropkick and the sitout dropkick hit flush. This is the fastest pace to a slow build I've ever seen. Okada spikes him for a DDT.  Big running forearm into an HBK-esque flying forearm. SIDE TO SIDE RUNNING YAKUZA KICK ON THE FLOOR. DRAPING DDT OFF THE BARRICADE! Cobra hold is on, but Naito gets the ropes!

European uppercuts land for Okada in the corner. Inverted super rana hits for Naito. STARDUST PRESS MISSES! Back and forth forearms! Koppo kick hits for Naito and a shotgun dropkick lands for Okada! Flying forearm hits for Naito. ROPE-ASSISTED GERMAN FOR OKADA! RAINMAKER HITS and gets 2.5! Naito is just out. Step-up enzuiguri gets nothing and he can't follow up with anything either. Okada gets the cobra hold, BUT DESTINO HITS OUT OF NOWHERE. They go back and forth off of kneeling forearms. They are just standing around after forearms. Jesus. This is the loudest crowd reaction I've heard on a show since Hogan-Rock at Mania. Naito spits in his face and slaps him! Alabama slam is turned into a Canadian destroyer by Naito for 2.! DESTINO INTO A RAINMAKER! WRIST CONTROL. RAINMAKER IS TURNED INTO A DESTINO FOR 2.9!

Destino meets an elbow, but an enzuiguri gives Naito some breathing room. GODDAMN DROPKICK mid-ring. TOMBSTONE TO NAITO!  DESTINO HITS AND HE GETS WRIST CONTROL BUT OKADA TURNS IT INTO A TOMBSTONE. RAINMAKER ENDS IT! HOLY SHIT. Goddamn this was great, but how do you not put Naito over here!? They're seemingly setting up the end of the reign at the second anniversary - so it should mean more then but damn did tonight just feel like the night.