The History of NJPW WrestleKingdom (WK19)

January 4th weekend 2025 gave us a pair of Tokyo Dome shows, one traditional WrestleKingdom PPV, the other a special cross-promotional show featuring not only NJPW stars but guests from AEW, CMLL, ROH and Stardom.  The former drew a robust 24,000 fans and felt a bit more like the WK shows of a decade ago....

While not quite recapturing the magic of NJPW's recent golden age, WK19 did feel like a step in the right direction, with a big focus on the younger generation of stars and a feeling of commitment to the future.  There wasn't a bona fide Match of the Year on this show but there were a few matches just below that level and plenty of drama in the main event.

The show kicked off with a 4-way tag team ladder match for the Jr. Tag belts, with Intergalactic Jet Setters defending against Catch 2/2, Bullet Club War Dogs and Ichiban Street Boys.  This was a pretty standard ladder match with lots of action and big spots, some of which didn't land.  I think I'd have preferred a straight 4-way like the openers of WrestleKingdoms past.  As I expected, the one team who hadn't held these titles came out on top, with Kosei Fujita grabbing the belts for his team.  Solid opener.  

The lone women's match was next and unfortunately didn't get as much time as it deserved.  That said, Mayu Iwatani and AZM made the most of their eight-plus minutes, packing a ton of action into their slot.  Everything here looked crisp and brutal, with Mayu withstanding a couple Destroyers and coming back to win with a dragon suplex.  Very good match but could've been great with five more minutes.  

Third was the 4-way for the TV Title, with Ren Narita defending against Jeff Cobb, Ryohei Oiwa and the returning El Phantasmo (back from battling cancer).  This was another fast-paced party match and everyone worked hard.  Narita once again made use of his push-up board but Cobb took it away and broke it into pieces.  Cobb hit Narita with Tour of the Islands but ELP broke it up and hit his Thunderkiss '65 to win the belt.  

The pleasant surprise of the night was next, in that Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. Evil was a decent clusterfuck.  I was expecting this to stink but it wasn't bad at all.  This was a Lumberjack match and all the lumberjacks got heavily involved.  Tanahashi seemed to have the match won after a Slingblade and standing Hi-Fly Flow but his second HFF attempt was broken up by Dick Togo.  Evil went for his STO finish but on landing Tanahashi rolled him up for a flash pin.  Dumb match but it was fun.  

Things picked up with the NEVER Openweight/International Championship between Shingo Takagi and Konosuke Takeshita.  As expected this was a fantastic "meat" match with tons of stiff offense and fighting spirit spots.    Takeshita withstood the Last of the Dragon and hit a couple of Blue Thunderbombs to double up his belt collection.  Damn good stuff.  Takeshita would become a semi-fixture in NJPW over the course of the year, ultimately winning the 2025 G1 Climax on his way to capturing the IWGP World Title.

The most disappointing thing on this show was the Jr. Heavyweight Title match between Douki and El Desperado.  This was shaping up to be a really good bout until Douki came off the top to the outside with a senton and seemingly dislocated his elbow on the floor.  The match was stopped at the five-minute mark and never fully got going.  Damn shame.  Despy won but was none too happy with how he got there. 

For my money the Match of the Night honors went to David Finlay vs. Yota Tsuji, a dramatic 20-minute main event-caliber bout for the IWGP Global Title.  Finlay looked the best he ever has here, and for Tsuji this felt like a long-overdue coming out.  They cut a fast pace from the opening bell, and Finlay took it to the outside, putting Tsuji through a table.  Finlay hit big move after big move but Tsuji kept kicking out and mounting comebacks.  Tsuji hit a Gene Blaster but Finlay made the ropes.  Tsuji kicked out of more pin attempts and hit another GB to finally win his first IWGP gold.  Excellent match that really should've gone on second-to-last.  

Oddly the Tetsuya Naito vs. Hiromu Takahashi match got the semi-main slot and it didn't deliver to that level.  Naito's wear-and-tear is all too apparent these days and while this was an ok match, it just didn't belong this high on the card.  Also the result was the wrong one in my opinion.  Naito passing the torch to his protege would've been a powerful gesture, but instead he withstood a Time Bomb and hit multiple Destinos to win.  The best part of the match was the aftermath though.  Prior to the match Takahashi refused a Naito fist bump, but afterwards Naito held up his fist, teary-eyed, and Takahashi acknowledged his mentor.  Pretty mid-level stuff, and considering Naito let his contract expire later in the year, kind of a baffling result.

The Zack Sabre Jr. vs. Shota Umino main event, which for some reason garnered very middling reviews, worked pretty completely for me.  It went an epic 43 minutes and could certainly have been 5-10 minutes shorter, but I was never bored watching this and the storytelling was pretty great.  Nice guy Umino was trying throughout the match to tap into a killer instinct, but could never quite commit to the part, and in the end it cost him.  The early parts of the match were all mat grappling, for which I am a sucker, until tempers flared and Umino started taking shortcuts, eventually even tossing his own father (referee Red Shoes) to the mat and drawing a chorus of boos.  Sabre took advantage of Umino's recently injured ankle, breaking his own rule about never holding a submission more than six seconds.  Umino made the ropes and did some vicious stomps but Sabre came back with a Sabre driver, a Gotch-style piledriver (a nod to Minoru Suzuki), and another Sabre driver to retain.  I thought this was a great main event overall, and ZSJ became the first gaijin in nearly two decades to successfully defend the IWGP Title at the Tokyo Dome.

So WK19 was no WK9 by any means but it felt like the beginning of a return to form.  We had an epic main event, a great secondary title match, and a great tertiary title match.  The new guys were finally beginning to connect with the audience and NJPW's creative future looked brighter than it had in some time.

Best Match: David Finlay vs. Yota Tsuji

Worst Match: Jr. Title match

What I'd Change: Cut ten minutes from the main event and give five to the Takeshita match and five to the women's match

Most Disappointing Match: Douki vs. Despy

Most Pleasant Surprise: Tanahashi vs. Evil

Overall Rating: 8.5/10

 

WK18

Before I go, here are my Best of lists for the WK series.

WrestleKingdom Top 10

10. WK17
9. WK15b
8. WK12
7. WK14a
6. WK7
5. WK14b

4. WK13
3. WK11
1A. WK10
1. WK9


Top 20 WrestleKingdom Matches

20. Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. Tetsuya Naito - WK11

19. David Finlay vs. Yota Tsuji - WK19

18. Tetsuya Naito vs. Kota Ibushi - WK15a

17. Kazuchika Okada vs. Tetsuya Naito - WK14b

16. Kenny Omega vs. Chris Jericho - WK12
15. Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. Kazuchika Okada - WK7

14. Price Devitt vs. Kota Ibushi vs. Low-Ki - WK7

13. Shingo Takagi vs. Kazuchika Okada - WK16a
12. Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. Kazuchika Okada - WK10

11. Kazuchika Okada vs. Will Ospreay - WK15a

10. Kazuchika Okada vs. Will Ospreay - WK16b

9. Kota Ibushi vs. Jay White - WK15b
8. Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. Kazuchika Okada - WK9

7. Will Ospreay vs. Hiromu Takahashi - WK14a
6. Shinsuke Nakamura vs. AJ Styles - WK10

5. Kazuchika Okada vs. Kota Ibushi - WK14a
4. Kenny Omega vs. Hiroshi Tanahashi - WK13

3. Will Ospreay vs. Kenny Omega - WK17
2. Shinsuke Nakamura vs. Kota Ibushi - WK9
1. Kazuchika Okada vs. Kenny Omega - WK11

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