AEW/NJPW/CMLL/Stardom Forbidden Door 2026 Review: Five Hours of Awesome

Hey remember how I said it might be time for AEW to put a moratorium on the Forbidden Door concept?  They must've read that (I'm sure they did not) and said "Oh yeah?  Challenge accepted, motherfucker."  Goddamn was this show incredible.  I wasn't sure they could top the 2024 edition, which stood for me as the best one to date, but they did in fact top that one.  The 2026 Forbidden Door is not only the new Forbidden Door yardstick, but for me it's the new 2026 PPV yardstick as well.  

This show ran very long, to be sure - five hours for the main card, god help us - but it felt like one of those epic three-hour films that you don't really want to end despite the length.  Even at five hours this show flew by for me.  While a few of the matches went 4-5 minutes longer than they should have, Forbidden Door was bookended by two trios of amazing bouts, with three very good matches in the middle.  I'd have perhaps made a couple of different booking decisions than they did, but that's all nitpicking.  Any PPV in 2026 that bests this one, I gotta see.

After a solid pre-show that included a good Daniel Garcia-Drilla Moloney match, a fun Maika win over Skye Blue to advance to the Survival of the Fittest TBS Title match, and probably the best Divine Dominion tag title defense against Thunder Rosa and Olympia, the main show kicked off with exactly the match I predicted, The Young Bucks vs. El Sky Team vs. Unbound Company three-way.  The crowd went absolutely apeshit for this match as expected, and the six men put together a thrilling 18-minute spectacle of creative offense and crowd-pleasing moves.  There was one botch when Mistico attempted to hurricanrana his own partner Mascara Dorada onto a pile of guys on the outside, but aside from that everything looked great.  The Bucks finished Titan with the Meltzer Driver (which currently doesn't have a name for some reason).  I will say this match seemed to miss its peak in terms of crowd heat, so the finish didn't feel as big as it could have.  But otherwise a fantastic opener.  ****1/2

AEW x NJPW Forbidden Door 2026 Preview & Predictions

We're just a few days away from the fifth(!) annual AEW x NJPW (x CMLL x Stardom) Forbidden Door!  And while I've become lukewarm to the idea of this yearly crossover event, mostly due to NJPW not feeling like it's at all on the same level as AEW these days, also due to the partial storyline interruption it necessarily involves, this card looks pretty great as usual.

They've brought back the multi-man Steel Cage match as the main event, but we also have the two Owen Cup Finals, one of which is itself a Forbidden Door rematch, plus a few first- or second-time dream matchups, and a couple of fun tag bouts.  This should be a quite enjoyable show, in front of an oddly small crowd for an AEW PPV.  As of press time they'd just crossed the 7,000 mark, so I'm hoping by Sunday they can get to 8k or 8500 anyway.  Come on, San Jose, get your shit together!

But let's get to it....

Zero Hour AEW Women's Tag Team Championship: Divine Dominion vs. Thunder Rosa & Olympia

AEW really needs to get Megan and Lena into a proper feud, as they're only ever featured on pre-show bouts these days.  Pretty sure the plan is for the Brawling Birds to dethrone them at Wembley, but in order for that to feel like a big deal they need to run through more teams that actually matter, not just squash makeshift tandems on the free shows.

Pick: DD retains

NJPW Dominion 2026 Preview & Predictions

It's June and that means it's time for NJPW's second-biggest show of the year, Dominion!

As with all things NJPW in 2026, the "instant classic" vibe wore off a while ago when it comes to the Dominion card, but it does include some promising bouts.  The company followed up its biggest Tokyo Dome show in three decades with some questionable booking moves and haven't really been able to hook new viewers on their latest crop of top stars, partly due to the inconsistent booking of said stars.  Taking both titles off Yota Tsuji within a few months of his coronation as the new Ace was....certainly a choice.  Fans don't want to see this much parity when you're trying to establish a new top tier.  If no one is presented as special what's the point?  But maybe they'll get back on track with Tsuji here.  

Anyway let's look at the lineup.....

NJPW TV Championship: Konosuke Takeshita vs. Sanada

After seemingly departing the company a few months ago, Sanada is back.  And now he's in the House of fuckin' Torture.  So his matches will go from "kinda boring" to "fast-forwarding this shit."  I still don't understand why the company keeps this goddamn stable around.  Yes they sell some merch, but they aren't significant ticket movers and they keep turning off fans who just want to see good wrestling.  Ya know, New Japan's core audience?  This could honestly go either way and if Takeshita lost here he'd likely be protected by HoT bullshit anyway.

Pick: I guess Sanada?

NJPW The New Beginning in Osaka 2026 Preview & Predictions

It's a new year and a new era, and that means it's time for a New Beginning in Osaka, courtesy of New Japan Pro Wrestling!

The first PPV of the Yota Tsuji era is just a couple days away, and there are some fresh matchups on tap, plus a sendoff for one of the company's biggest-ever Jr. Heavyweight stars.  There's also a really odd choice of main event that seems to be a real sink-or-swim test for the company's new Ace.  Undercard-wise this show looks much stronger than WrestleKingdom.  Main event-wise not so much.

Hiromu Takahashi & Taiji Ishimori vs. United Empire

We're starting things off with Hiromu's final match as a member of the NJPW roster.  Where he's headed we don't know yet, but like his former LIJ stablemates Naito, Sanada, Evil and Bushi, the Time Bomb is moving on.  Wild times.  Anyway I imagine Takahashi will be doing the honors on his way out.  Makes the most sense to me.  Give Francesco Akira and Jakob Austin Young the win.

Pick: United Empire

Shingo Takagi & Drilla Moloney vs. Great-O-Khan & Henare

This is a match of meat warfare.  Shingo works great with both UE guys, Drilla is becoming one of the better slugfest wrestlers on the roster.  Should be a lot of fun if it gets adequate time.  I'll go with Shingo and Drilla.

Pick: War Dragons

The 2025 Enuffa.com Year-End Pro Wrestling Awards

Welcome to the 12th Annual Pro Wrestling Year-End Awards, here at Enuffa.com!  It is insane to me that I've been doin' this thing for TWELVE YEARS now.

2025 was a pretty crazy, tumultuous year for the wrestling biz.  WWE RAW found a new home on Netflix, Smackdown is back on USA, WWE PPVs are now on ESPN's streaming service which costs $30 a month instead of Peacock's $5, WWE began a parasitic symbiotic relationship with TNA and annexed purchased AAA, and AEW started their new TV deal worth $185 million a year ($100 more than their old deal), making them the second-most profitable wrestling company of all time and ensuring their solvency until at least the end of 2027 (Though grifters and fraudcasters are still pretending otherwise).  Their programming was also added to a whole new platform, HBO Max, vastly increasing their availability in the US and globally.

Both WWE and NJPW propped up ticket sales on the backs of retiring legends.  The latter treated their Ace with reverence and appreciation, while the former tried to shake things up with an ill-conceived heel turn no one really wanted, the catalyst for said heel turn disappeared from TV immediately afterward, and the whole storyline was so poorly received they reversed course less than six months later.

WWE attempted to cockblock multiple AEW PPVs, first by counterprogramming them with NXT specials that died a death in the ratings, and then with actual main roster shows like Saturday Night's Main Event which also did the worst number since the show's revival, and their ESPN Unlimited debut Wrestlepalooza, which garnered mixed reviews at best.  WWE dropped this strategy after that.

WWE also continued to jack up ticket prices to make up for the fact that overall sales have begun to slump, claiming record profits despite numerous sharp attendance drops in various markets.  AEW continued to struggle with weekly ticket sales, making slight improvements over 2024 but booking mostly smaller venues for Dynamite and Collision.  However their PPV attendance and buyrates remained strong, mostly up from last year.  TNA saw some of their best-ever attendance figures, mostly due to the PPV appearances of WWE and ex-WWE legends, and signed a new TV deal with AMC for 2026.  CMLL had a great year in terms of business, racking up numerous sellouts with Mistico continuing to prove himself the company MVP.  NJPW drew some of the weakest crowds in decades as they struggled to connect their audience to the latest crop of stars, but there is still hope after a sold-out WrestleKingdom 20 attendance.

WWE began openly aligning itself with the MAGA administration (inviting racist "comedian" Tony Hinchcliffe to a WrestleMania weekend event that went so poorly all recordings of it were pulled down) and brought accused sex trafficking accessory Brock Lesnar back into the company, alienating much of its fanbase and pissing away a lot of the goodwill they'd built up after Triple H took over Creative.  Even WWE Legend Mick Foley cut ties with the company.  AEW restored much of the goodwill they'd lost in the aftermath of the CM Punk fiasco by focusing on stars like Hangman Adam Page and Will Ospreay, and not trying to sign every free agent WWE let go.  Instead AEW additions included former independent talents like Megan Bayne, Kevin Knight, Thekla, and former TNA talents Speedball Mike Bailey and Josh Alexander.  WWE on the other hand snapped up every ex-AEW talent they could, signing Penta, Rey Fenix, Ricky Starks, Mariah May, Rusev and Aleister Black, none of which have been pushed very hard (Starks and May are still in NXT under new names). 

In-ring quality was night and day between the Big Two.  WWE personalities and podcasters now openly poo-poo the idea of good wrestling being important (though they still complain about the existence of star ratings when someone else gets high marks), while AEW delivered some of the best matches and PPV events in company history.

I'll get into more detail as we go through the awards, so let's get to it....

 

NJPW WrestleKingdom 20 Review: Hiroshi Tanahashi's Final Match

The 20th annual NJPW WrestleKingdom show is in the books, and it ran the gamut, going from dismal to fantastic over the course of four hours.  It will be most remembered for the retirement of Hiroshi Tanahashi, but also for the long-awaited crowning of Yota Tsuji as the company's new face.  It was your textbook two-match show, like so many old WWE PPVs where the undercard was mostly skippable but the big matches delivered.  Let's examine the Tokyo Dome show that was....

So yeah, thinking about this show frustrates me in a way because if Gedo had just booked a few noteworthy undercard bouts we'd be talking about WK20 as a slam dunk.  As I said in my preview, if any card should've been assembled to hook new and lapsed fans alike who tuned in for Tanahashi's final match, this was the card.  But instead Gedo shoved everyone outside the top three matches into clusterfuck bouts and as a result no one really got time to shine.  If I'm a former NJPW viewer who bought a ticket to see Tanahashi retire, no one on this undercard is catching my attention other than Tsuji and Takeshita.  I will go to my grave not understanding the thought process behind this lineup.

NJPW WrestleKingdom 20 Preview & Predictions

This Sunday is the 20th annual NJPW WrestleKingdom show, and this year it's built around the retirement of one of the all-time greats, the man who almost singlehandedly saved New Japan Pro Wrestling, Hiroshi Tanahashi.

Yes, the company's greatest Ace is hanging up his boots and focusing solely on being NJPW President.  To mark the occasion he'll be wrestling his greatest rival, Kazuchika Okada, and the Tokyo Dome will be completely sold out at nearly 50,000 fans.  Seems like a great opportunity to hook a lot of new viewers by showcasing the full-time roster in a slew of killer matches.  Which begs the question: Why in the hell didn't they do that??

Aside from the legendary main event, there will be an IWGP World/Global Title match pitting Konosuke Takeshita against the company's presumed new Ace, Yota Tsuji.  But aside from that there's nary a big match on this show, and I'm beyond baffled by it.  No Jr. Title match, no Tag Team Title match, no big singles bouts for Finlay, Umino, Uemura, Shingo, Hiromu, Kidd, ZSJ, Newman, Oleg or numerous other young stars who could really use the opportunity in front of the largest audience NJPW's had in years.  Instead everyone is crammed into multi-man bouts with the exception of newcomer Aaron Wolf, an Olympic judoka who's become a mainstream star in Japan.  Unfortunately from the sounds of it he's a charisma vacuum thus far.  Maybe he'll step up in the NEVER Openweight Title match against his mentor Evil, but as of now it sounds like another Gable Steveson scenario.  Why this guy gets a big singles match but the other names I mentioned do not, I'm sure as fuck I dunno.  You have the chance to deliver one of the great Tokyo Dome shows and instead it's mostly a WrestleMania 27-type clusterfuck.

Anyway let's look at this card....

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 History of NJPW WrestleKingdom (WK18)

WrestleKingdom 18  was a very good show but I have to consider it a mild disappointment overall.  Too many matches didn't get as much time as they should, even one of the main events, and it was missing that top Match of the Year candidate almost every Tokyo Dome show has had since 2013. That's not to say there wasn't a lot to enjoy here though.

The main card kicked off with the Jr. Tag championship, as Clark Connors and Drilla Moloney faced Catch 2/2 in another rematch from last summer.  TJP, who had been stuffed into a casket in the last bout between these teams, came out dressed as a mythical Filipino creature called Aswang, or a cannabalistic shapeshifter, which was a little hokey but looked kinda cool.  These teams had a crisp back-and-forth bout lasting close to ten minutes before TJP sprayed Moloney with red mist and Catch 2/2 hit double knees to regain the titles.  Solid match to start things off.  

Next was the first of multiple bouts that got shortchanged, Zack Sabre Jr. vs. Hiroshi Tanahashi.  The technician and the new NJPW President exchanged a ton of grappling, reversals, submissions, etc. and packed a lot into their nine minutes, but five more would've taken this match to the next level.  The two men went back and forth with rollups until Tana finally held Zack down for the three.  Very good but could've been so much more.  

The History of NJPW WrestleKingdom (WK17)

Kenny Omega made his long-awaited, triumphant return to the Dome and helped make a masterpiece...

Not unlike what we saw exactly six years ago when Kenny Omega and Kazuchika Okada blew the roof off the Tokyo Dome and broke the star ratings system forever, Omega and Will Ospreay lived up to everyone's unreasonably high expectations and more, with a violent, story-driven epic that proved to be only the beginning of their feud.  They'd equal it six months later in an AEW ring.

Omega-Ospreay served as the centerpiece for a very good WrestleKingdom show, one that didn't reach the heights of WK9, 10 or 11, but somewhat recaptured the magic of the glory years.  For the first time since pre-pandemic times, WrestleKingdom felt like a huge flagship show with a star-studded lineup, in front of an engaged audience of 26,000.  The six undercard matches were all kept short and fast-paced, while the final three bouts were given room to breathe and delivered big.  I'd have liked to see a few of the smaller matches get more time, but aside from one glaring example nothing felt terribly shortchanged.  

The main PPV kicked off in classic fashion with an energetic Jr. Tag Title match, as TJP and Francesco Akira defended against Yoh and a match-stealing Lio Rush, who took a nasty bump on the ramp that busted his eyebrow open.  It wouldn't be the first instance of blood on this show.  Rush came off like a big deal in the match but his team came up short when TJP countered Yoh's finisher into a cradle to retain.  Really fun opener that felt like a throwback to the 2015-2017 Jr. Tag openers. 

The History of NJPW WrestleKingdom (WK16)

2022 saw the once surefire PPV of the Year contender falter for the first time in a decade, as WrestleKingdom 16's two nights featured a pair of excellent main events but not many memorable moments beyond that....

WrestleKingdom 16 Night 1 overall was I daresay the weakest edition since 2012, with a pretty fantastic main event, a very good semi-main, a couple good matches, and some pretty not-good stuff.  Most of this show did not feel like a Tokyo Dome show to me, and while the reduced, silent crowd didn't help things, that didn't hurt 2021's edition much at all.  This show was missing the magic for most of its running time, partly due to booking, partly due to the lack of Kota Ibushi or Jay White, partly due to the product just not being very hot.   

Things started off with a rare opening singles match, as former partners Sho and Yoh squared off.  This was one of three bouts hurt by lame WWE-style shenanigans.  Yoh went right after Sho to start things off, and the action spilled to the outside right away, but Sho took advantage after using a ring crew member as interference.  Sho dominated much of the action but Yoh went after a leg, locking in a calf crusher variation and getting a visible tapout while the referee was distracted by Dick Togo.  Sho locked in his own Snakebite submission and almost got the win but Yoh just barely made the ropes.  Sho tried to use a wrench but Yoh sent him crashing into Togo and rolled him up for the win.  This match was good, and a solid opener, but far below my expectations. 

The History of NJPW WrestleKingdom (WK15)

The second two-part WrestleKingdom show was all about the ascension of Kota Ibushi, in front of a COVID-reduced Dome crowd....

Despite a reduced crowd and shortened lineup, the 2021 edition of WrestleKingdom was, like 2020's, a pretty excellent double album.  In a COVID world, sadly the crowd and time limitations kept WrestleKingdom 15 from fully giving you that epic PPV of the Year-type feeling, but I'll be damned if NJPW didn't work really hard to live up to previous editions.  What we got were two three-hour shows with very little fat on the bone and multiple ****+ matches on each night.  Hard to complain much about that, even if I do miss WrestleKingdom being the single-night blowout of years past.  But let's get to the Night 1 matches.

After the usual forgettable pre-show Rumble to decide the KOPW 4-way on Night 2 (they missed opportunities here to elevate one or two youngins), the PPV got down to business in earnest with Hiromu Takahashi vs. El Phantasmo to determine the number-one contender for Taiji Ishimori's Jr. Heavyweight Title.  Takahashi won the 2020 Best of the Super Juniors tourney, while ELP won the Super-J Cup.  These two had an excellent high-energy opener that saw ELP go all out to show off his prodigious athleticism, while Takahashi seemed to be conserving a little something for Night 2.  ELP paid homage to Bullet Club leaders of old, hitting a Styles Clash and nearly getting off a One-Winged Angel.  Ultimately though, Takahashi stole this match by countering ELP's finish with a Rey Mysterio hurricanrana trap.  A damn fine opener. 

The History of NJPW WrestleKingdom (WK14)

The first-ever two-part WrestleKingdom took place in 2020, and it was overall a helluva weekend of pro wrestling.  The two shows played like a double album of sorts, with the first disc containing by far the two best tracks, and the second disc being a more solid overall album. 

Night One took a while to really get going, thanks to three consecutive 8-man tags.  I would've liked another singles match in one of these slots rather than just trying to get everyone on the main card.  But the three openers were inoffensive at worst and were kept short.  The first of these was the best, thanks to Jushin Liger and his old-school pals (plus Taguchi) having one last romp to show off their stuff.  Everyone in the match looked great for their age.  After nine minutes Taguchi hit Liger with a Buma ye (that's Nakamura's finisher except with a hip attack instead of a knee), followed by a Dodon for the three-count.  I'd have had Liger win the Night One match, because why not?  He's in there with mostly other old-timers anyway, there's no torch to pass in this match.  But this was a fun opener. 

Next was Suzuki-Gun (led this time by Zack Sabre Jr. to hype his Night Two singles match) vs. LIJ (minus Naito of course).  This was technically the best of the 8-man tags but still too short to amount to much.  The story was Zack vs. Sanada, and Zack won the match by tying Bushi up in knots while smiling sadistically at his Night Two challenger.  This was fine.  

The final 8-man pitted Goto, Ishii, Yano and Yoshi-Hashi vs. Bad Luck Fale, Chase Owens, Yujiro Takahashi and NEVER Champ Kenta, in another match to hype a Night Two singles bout.  This was pretty basic, with the biggest spot being Ishii hitting a hard-fought brainbuster on Fale.  After all eight men started brawling in and around the ring, Goto hit the ushigoroshi followed by the GTR on Takahashi for the win.  Another serviceable but forgettable undercard match.  

The History of NJPW WrestleKingdom (WK13)

I'm not sure there's ever been such a great PPV that left me with such mixed feelings as WrestleKingdom 13.  From a booking standpoint everything was done really well.  From a match quality standpoint there wasn't a bad bout in sight, and a few were flat-out excellent.  But the decision to limit the show to four hours when thirty extra minutes would've elevated it to the Best PPV Ever conversation, coupled with numerous impending departures, made this a bittersweet show.  AEW was about to launch, and the wrestling landscape would undergo some radical changes.  WK13 was the end of an era for NJPW.....

In the opening match, which has to be on the short list for best openers ever, Will Ospreay defeated Kota Ibushi for the NEVER Openweight Title.  This match was fast paced and dazzling as expected, with loads of back and forth offense, some intense striking battles, and tons of athleticism as only these two can deliver.  My favorite spot involved the two of them trading strikes while Ibushi was hanging upside down from the turnbuckles (which is where a legit Ibushi concussion occurred).  Late in the match Ospreay kicked out of a Last Ride and avoided the Kamigoye knee (though Ibushi at one point hit him with the Boma Ye, a move he'd adopt in tribute to Nakamura), knocked Ibushi loopy with a driving elbow to the head, and landed the Stormbreaker to win the title.  Ibushi was stretchered out with a kayfabe concussion that in fact turned out to be a legit minor one.  These guys left enough on the table for a rematch, which occurred during the G1 Climax and actually topped this one.  Regardless, this was an incredible opener that set a high bar for the night.

Next up was the Jr. Tag triple threat, with El Desperado & Kanemaru defending against RPG3K and Shingo & Bushi.  This match was fine and all action, but was too short to amount to that much.  It was far better than a WWE throwaway but still felt like a throwaway.  This was one of four or five matches that could've used five more minutes, hence my earlier comment about the show needing an extra half hour.  Shingo was the star of this match, dominating the later minutes and finishing off Sho with Last of the Dragon to win the belts.  He'd break out of the Junior division later in the year, in favor of becoming a NEVER-style bruiser.

Another match that could've used more time was Tomohiro Ishii vs. Zack Sabre Jr. for the RPW Heavyweight Title.  As expected this was a stiff, gritty fight pitting Ishii's strikes against Sabre's grappling.  Sabre dominated a lot of this match, which made for a pretty shocking ending when Ishii submitted to Sabre's new double-arm octopus hold.  This match was very good but about five minutes short of greatness.

The heavyweight tag match was definitely superior to its Jr. counterpart, as Guerillas of Destiny, The Young Bucks and Evil & Sanada had a wild, energetic match.  The big story element here was Tama Tonga's apparent change of heart at wanting to be a "good guy."  So GoD refrained from their usual illegal shenanigans and it ended up costing them.  The last few minutes of this were insane, with big move after big move.  With GoD knocked out of commission, Evil and Sanada hit Matt Jackson with a Magic Killer, followed by a Sanada moonsault to win the belts and officially move into a tag team centerpiece spot, replacing the departing Young Bucks.

The History of NJPW WrestleKingdom (WK12)

New Japan draws its biggest Dome crowd in twenty years, thanks partly to a huge dream match...

WrestleKingdom 12 - 1.4.18

The 2018 edition of NJPW's flagship show took some very unexpected turns (most of which made total sense in hindsight) and left more than a few people scratching their heads by the end.  But regardless of flauting anyone's expectations, the 12th WrestleKingdom was still a helluva show.  The nine matches on the main card ranged from inoffensive to pretty awesome.  While WK12 lacked for me that one blowaway match, it was a newsworthy PPV with a ton of variety, and while a bit of an endurance test (The shortest bout was over 14 minutes), never got boring.  There was no intermission and the matches were presented one after the other without a lot of wasted time in between.

The show kicked off with the Jr. Tag Team Titles, as RPG3K defended against The Young Bucks.  The match, like its WK11 counterpart, was much more psychology-based than your average Jr. Tag match, as the Bucks and Sho/Yoh waged a war of attrition, one man from each team selling a back injury.  I especially liked the exchanges where Nick and Sho took turns kicking the injured backs of their respective opponents.  This match got a robust 18 minutes before the Bucks hit Yoh with the Meltzer Driver and finally tapped him with a Sharpshooter.  The ending felt a little flat to me but otherwise this was a fine opening match.  RPG3K would regain the titles shortly after this and the Bucks moved up to heavyweight over the summer.

Next up was the one skippable match, the 6-man gauntlet.  This was mostly pretty nondescript but also inoffensive.  The first segment involved Suzuki-Gun against War Machine and Michael Elgin, which had some fun exchanges and ended in roughly six minutes with Zack Sabre causing Rowe to pass out with a leg scissor.  Ishii/Yano/Beretta then made quick work of SG when Yano rolled up Taichi for the pin forty seconds later.  A few minutes after that Yano pinned Taguchi with another rollup.  Finally the champs, Fale and Guerrillas of Destiny arrived and had the longest segment of the match, looking pretty dominant for a while but ultimately losing the straps as Beretta polished off Tama Tonga with a Dudebuster.  So new six-man champs as per usual.  Again, this match was skippable but fine for what it was.  If this is the worst thing on your PPV, you've put together a pretty damn good PPV.

The History of NJPW WrestleKingdom (WK11)

The greatest in-ring feud of all time began here....

WrestleKingdom 11 - 1.4.17

Well this was a big deal, folks.  WrestleKingdom 11 was, as expected, a major hit for New Japan, proving unequivocally that they'd recovered from the significant talent losses of 2016.  But more importantly it was headlined by one of the most buzz-worthy main events of the last twenty years.

The big news coming out of WrestleKingdom 11 was that the 2017 Match of the Year had already been decided.  Hell, this may have been the match of the decade.  I almost don't know how to describe it.  I can't remember being this blown away by a wrestling match since the Triple H-Shawn Michaels-Chris Benoit main event at WrestleMania XX.  If anything tops Okada vs. Omega in 2017 (or anytime soon) I can't wait to see it.  This was nearly 47 minutes of just about everything you could ever want out of a main event.  The match started methodically with both men showcasing their grappling skills.  Act 1 lasted roughly 15 minutes and then the match surged to another level, with Act 2 consisting of some of the most insane high spots I've seen since the Attitude Era.  Omega landed a moonsault from the top rope, over the railing to the floor, he took a back body drop over the top rope through a table on the floor, Okada took a Dragon Superplex that looked like it killed him, and so on.  And this was only the second act of the match!  After this the drama actually escalated as both guys tried to put each other away, Omega kicked out of the Rainmaker (joining a very exclusive club) and tried in vain several times to hit the One-Winged Angel before finally falling to the fourth Rainmaker of the match.  Again, this went 47 minutes and didn't feel a moment too long for me.  I've never seen anything like this.  Dave Meltzer awarded this match an unprecedented six stars, and in no way do I consider that hyperbole.  Okada vs. Omega was one of the most incredible wrestling matches I've ever seen in my thirty-plus years as a fan.  They'd wrestle twice more in 2017, creating the greatest trilogy of matches since Flair-Steamboat (or maybe ever), followed by a match in 2018 that astoundingly was even better.

Jeezus Christ this match was incredible.

The main event was so good in fact that I feel like the rest of the card got unfairly overshadowed.

The show opened with Tiger Mask W (aka Kota Ibushi) vs. Tiger the Dark (aka ACH) in a quick, lighthearted six-minute match.  Nowhere near what these two are capable of, but it wasn't supposed to be.  Ibushi would fortunately drop the mask just in time for 2017's G1 tournament and resume being the all-encompassingly awesome Golden Star.

The first standout was the Jr. Heavyweight Tag match, a vastly more memorable bout than the previous three WrestleKingdom 4-ways.  Don't get me wrong, those are always fun, but it was great to see the Junior Tags get a simple two-on-two match that told a story.  But this still had the crazy high spots, like Trent Barreta doing a swan dive out of the ring and hitting nothing but floor.  Jeezus, how did he not die?  Rocky Romero then got double-teamed to death before making a surprise comeback and winning the belts.  This was great.

Next was the Gauntlet Match for the six-man belts, a three-segment melee that was fine, but kinda peaked early.  The Bullet Club trio faced the Chaos trio in a fun 7-minute match before moving on to the LIJ trio.  LIJ made short work of the BC and then faced the Champions, Kojima, David Finlay and Ricochet.  LIJ's cheating tactics won the day and the straps (only to lose them one night later to Tanahashi, Manabu Nakanishi and Ryusuke Taguchi).  This was fine, but forgettable.

Cody (Rhodes) made his big New Japan debut against Juice Robinson, in what was a fine showcase and more than I was expecting.  Juice got in a lot of offense (the reason became apparent at New Year's Dash when Juice pinned Goto to earn a NEVER Openweight Title shot), but Cody predictably won with the CrossRhodes.  Solid debut for Cody wherein he began to demonstrate his worth as a New Japan star.  This was also unexpectedly Juice Robinson's coming out party, as he quickly became a very viable rising star in New Japan.

The History of NJPW WrestleKingdom (WK9)

My proper introduction to NJPW, and one of the greatest PPVs I've ever witnessed....

WrestleKingdom 9 - 1/4/15

Every so often a wrestling PPV comes along that seems to render obsolete everything that came before.  There aren't enough superlatives to describe how fucking good the ninth edition of WrestleKingdom was; from top to bottom this show was entertaining at worst, and more often than not was transcendent.  At the time WrestleManias 17 and 19 were the two PPVs I considered the cream of the crop, but WK9 left them in the dust and heralded a string of absolutely stunning shows from NJPW.  As of 2015 this was the best wrestling show I'd ever seen, and it still ranks very high on my all-time list. 

The show opened with an amazing display of Jr. Heavyweight tag team wrestling, with reDRagon defending their straps against the Young Bucks, Forever Hooligans and The Time Splitters.  There was no big story being told in this match, it was simply a game of aerial oneupmanship.  All four teams worked at a blistering pace to rev up the 36,000 in attendance, and this match accomplished exactly what it needed to.

Next up were the only two low points of the show, a six-man tag and an 8-man.  Each match only went five minutes and both were inoffensive but forgettable.  The first pitted Hiroyoshi Tenzan, Satoshi Kojima and Tomoaki Honma against Bullet Club members Bad Luck Fale, Jeff Jarrett and Yujiro Takahashi in a sports-entertainment kinda match.  Nothing much memorable here other than Honma getting a rare PPV win.  The other multi-man was a little more fun, as Naomichi Marufuji, TMDK (Mikey Nicholls and Shane Haste), and Toru Yano faced the Suzuki-gun stable of Davey Boy Smith Jr., Lance Archer, Shelton X Benjamin and Takashi Iizuka.  This one had better action than the six-man but was just as brief.  Don't worry though, from here on out this show had nary a lull.

The fourth match was an MMA-hybrid between Minoru Suzuki and Kazushi Sakuraba, to be won only by submission or knockout.  Both guys worked a gritty, realistic fight in which Sakuraba beat the hell out of Suzuki's arm, only for Suzuki to come back with an airtight choke for the win.  Not quite at the level of WK7's Nakamura-Sakuraba, but still captivating.

The fifth bout took this show to the next level, as Tomohiro Ishii defended the NEVER Openweight Title against Togi Makabe, in one of the most ferocious knock-down matches I've ever seen.  At several points this match devolved into each man taking turns smashing the other with forearms and palm strikes.  Makabe would take this match with the King Kong Knee Drop.  This is probably the greatest NEVER rivalry since that Title's inception.

Nothin' like a knee drop to the head.

The History of NJPW WrestleKingdom (WK8)

Probably the weakest of the great WrestleKingdoms, but still a helluva show....

WrestleKingdom 8 - 1/4/14

We're officially in the middle of a streak, as NJPW followed up the excellent WK7 with an almost-as-great WK8.  This show was a bit of a donut, with a good beginning and a great end but not much of a middle.  But that's okay, the good stuff far outweighed the bad.

Kicking things off was a 4-way for the Jr. Heavyweight Tag belts: The Young Bucks vs. Forever Hooligans vs. Suzuki-gun vs. Time Splitters.  This was a crazy spotfest with a lot of comedy mixed in, such as Taka and Taichi spending the first three minutes at the commentators' table.  The action was pretty much non-stop and a lot of fun.  Young Bucks won with the amazing More Bang for Your Buck (I won't attempt to describe this move as it's too complex - just Youtube it).  Even more amazing was the announcer calling the move: "MORE BANG-UH FOR YOUR BUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUCK-UH!"

The World Tag belts were up next, as Killer Elite Squad defended against Bullet Club members Karl Anderson & Doc Gallows.  This was an energetic Tag Title match where the Bullet Club guys outheeled Smith and Archer and therefore took the belts.  Interesting to see KES become the de facto babyfaces.

In the third slot was the NWA Championship: Rob Conway vs. Satoshi Kojima was surprisingly good, with Kojima carrying most of the workload and the crowd responding well to everything he did.  Nothing mindblowing but a good little match.

The first low point was fourth, as Kazushi Sakuraba & Yuji Nagata faced MMA fighters Daniel & Rollie Gracie.  New Japan has done some excellent faux-MMA matches, but this wasn't one of them.  The Gracies, talented fighters though they may be, don't work well in a pro wrestling format, partly due to their basically being devoid of charisma.  Not terrible, but not good either.

The obligatory Great Muta match was next as he teamed with Toru Yano against Minoru Suzuki & Shelton Benjamin.  A pretty good tag match, largely because of Suzuki and Benjamin's heel shenanigans keeping things fun.  Yano, ever the cheater, managed to play a sympathetic character while still using underhanded tactics.  Muta once again used way too many Shining Wizards.

The History of NJPW WrestleKingdom (WK7)

Alright folks, this is where it really gets good.  The next eight or nine installments of WrestleKingdom are about as good as any consecutive editions of any annual wrestling show I can recall.  

WrestleKingdom 7 - 1/4/13

What a splendid show this was.  From start to finish, WrestleKingdom 7 delivered at about the highest possible level, including an instant classic main event, an unexpectedly great IC match, and one of the best Triple Threats I've ever seen.  New Japan was in the midst of a wrestling renaissance, my friends.

The show started with an amusing opening match designed to ease the crowd into it: Akebono, Manabu Nakanishi, MVP and Strong Man vs. Chaos (Bob Sapp, Takashi Iizuka, Toru Yano and Yujiro Takahashi).  This had a lot of kinda goofy spots, like the babyfaces all hitting corner avalanches on all four heels.  I think they did that spot two or three times actually.  Anyway the match was inoffensive but felt like a throwaway.

The proper start to WK7 was Masato Tanaka vs. Shelton Benjamin for the NEVER Openweight Title, in what was pretty damn good for a six-minute match.  Four more minutes and this would've approached three-star territory.  Side note: Shelton should go back to being a babyface, as his style was much more exciting that way. 

Next up was KES (Davey Boy Smith jr & Lance Archer) vs. Sword & Guns (Hirooki Goto & Karl Anderson) in a surprisingly good Tag Title match.  I didn't think I'd be all that impressed with KES, but they've made a solid top team.  Seeing Karl Anderson as a babyface was pretty weird - he even wore light-colored gear.  This was full of action and fun tandem offense.

The first classic of the night was next, between Yuji Nagata and Minoru Suzuki.  This was their third WK match together, and this blew the other two out of the water.  Really hard-hitting action as usual but this match felt much bigger and got the time it needed.  Nagata finally got the win with the Backdrop Hold after some amazingly stiff wrestling.

Whammo!

The show stealer of WK7 was in the center of the card: Prince Devitt vs. Kota Ibushi vs. Low-Ki for the Jr. Heavyweight Title.  Just an amazing, amazing match, and seriously one of the best of its kind that I've ever seen.  These three managed to make a 3-way match flow totally smoothly, where it wasn't just two guys fighting while the other sold on the outside.  And when that did happen, the third guy would show up out of nowhere with an insane spot.  At multiple points, Wrestler A would hit a big move on Wrestler B, only for Wrestler C to immediately follow it up with some huge move on Wrestler A.  Just a breathtaking match you should go out of your way to see.  Low-Ki by the way was able to wrestle at this level while wearing a full suit (in tribute to the videogame Hitman), which is insane to me.

The History of NJPW WrestleKingdom (WK6)

The last WrestleKingdom show for a long time to not be a classic....

WrestleKingdom VI - 1/4/12

WK6 was a bit of a step back.  It was by no means a bad show; in fact every match was at the very least watchable.  But in the vein of a SummerSlam '93 there were neither highs nor lows.  It was one of those PPVs where it's hard to pick the best match because nothing really stood out from the pack.

The show started out quite promising, with Apollo 55 vs. No Remorse Corps.  This was a great opener with fast-paced, continuous action with crazy tandem offense.  All four worked well but once again Devitt was the standout - watching NJPW has given me a real appreciation for Devitt/Finn Balor that I wouldn't be able to fully process based only on his NXT run.

The blazing speed continued with Jushin Thunder Liger, Kushida, Máscara Dorada and Tiger Mask vs. Atlantis, Taichi, Taka Michinoku and Valiente.  This was a spectacular Lucha showcase with all kinds of wild aerial moves.  A lot of fun througout, but the ending was abrupt and anticlimactic, kinda coming out of nowhere.

The five-minute Kazuchika Okada vs. Yoshi-Hashi was next; little more than a showcase for Okada's new Rainmaker character (his third gimmick in as many WK PPVs).  The crowd wasn't reacting to his stuff yet, and his Rainmaker clothesline was much less brutal.

The fourth match was a slugfest, as Stack of Arms (Masakatsu Funaki and Masayuki Kono) faced  Seigigun (Yuji Nagata and Wataru Inoue).  This was really good while it lasted and featured stiff MMA-infused offense.  Sadly it was too short to amount to that much and felt like they were rushing to fit everything in.  Five more minutes would've elevated this one.

Next up was MVP and Shelton Benjamin vs. Masato Tanaka and Yujiro Takahashi, in a so-so tag match.  Shelton still looked like his WWE self in 2012; lately he's looked sluggish and unmotivated, but maybe it's his current heelish character.  His offense here was was quite lively.  Tanaka brought out the obligatory table and kendo stick spots.  Not bad but not very memorable either.

The IWGP Tag Championship was next: Bad Intention vs. Tencozy.  This was a pretty good Tag Title match with lots of double teaming and relaxed tag rules.  Almost a tornado tag.  I'm still not convinced Albert was any better in Japan than in the US, and he returned to WWE only a couple months later.

Business picked up a bit with the final five matches, the first of which was Hirooki Goto vs. Takashi Suguira.  This wasn't quite at the level of their WK4 match, which felt like a main event.  This was shorter and felt more like a midcard match.  Still good and stiff, but lacked the drama and suspense of their previous match.

Kaboom!

Next was Togi Makabe vs. Yoshihiro Takayama, which was a little plodding but had some good spots, such as Makabe spider-suplexing Takayama off the top rope.  Takayama is just very sluggish and his style is a little tough to get into.  Against an opponent like Nakamura who can sell like crazy for him, he seems more impressive, but against a brute like Makabe he just seems like a bit of a clod.  Not a bad match but not super exciting either.