Hooray, hooray ... it's Wrestle Kingdom day! Well, almost .... I'm posting this a day ahead as the event will take place live in Tokyo, but it'll be 3AM EST in the States when it airs.
Anyway, After watching "All In" back in September, I've been interested in keeping tabs on other non-WWE wrestling so I started watching Ring of Honor TV on and off. I've also been following the happenings in New Japan via the wrestling news sites. January 4th just happens to be New Japan's biggest show of the year, Wrestle Kingdom, which is their version of WrestleMania. So I thought it'd be fun to run through the show with cards I found on COMC ...
![2018 Leaf Originals Metal - [Base] - Blue Prismatic #32 - Kenny Omega /20 - Courtesy of COMC.com](https://img.comc.com/i/MultiSport/2018/Leaf-Originals-Metal---Base---Blue-Prismatic/32/Kenny-Omega.jpg?id=4ab194a6-a510-4e7b-bca1-95bd8928df96&size=original) |
| Kenny Omega Scan courtesy of COMC.com |
![2011 BBM Legend of the Champions - [Base] #28 - Hiroshi Tanahashi - Courtesy of COMC.com](https://img.comc.com/i/Wrestling/2011/BBM-Legend-of-the-Champions---Base/28/Hiroshi-Tanahashi.jpg?id=753e5933-0366-4c64-90f9-4fbdfb8f15bb&size=original) |
| Hiroshi Tanahashi Scan courtesy of COMC.com |
I'll start with the main event, which is Kenny Omega defending the IWGP Heavyweight Title against Hiroshi Tanahashi. Omega won the title back on June 9, ending the near two-year reign of Kazuchika Okada. Tanahashi won the right to challenge Omega for the title by winning the 2018 G1 Climax tournament and is looking to capture the title for an 8th time.
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| Chris Jericho Scan courtesy of COMC.com |
One of the other top matches on the card is Chris Jericho defending the IWGP Intercontinental Title against Tetsuya Naito. This feud has been going on for nearly a year since Jericho first attacked Naito at New Years Dash 2018 back on January 5, 2018. Jericho beat Naito for the title at the June 9 Dominion event. The match was made official following a challenge by Naito after saving his teammate EVIL from a Jericho assault after a match on November 3rd.
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| Taiji Ishimori Scan courtesy of COMC.com |
Taiji Ishimori will be challenging KUSHIDA for the IWGP Jr. Heavyweight Championship. Ishimori is in his second run with New Japan, having re-debuted for the promotion at the Wrestling Dontaku event on May 4. At the Power Struggle event on November 3, Ishimori cost KUSHIDA a tag team match by hitting him with a crutch, which set up this match. KUSHIDA is currently in the midst of this 6th reign as IWGP Jr. Heavyweight Champion after having won the vacant title by beating Marty Scrull on October 8.
![2014 Topps Chrome WWE - [Base] - Atomic Refractor #62 - Cody Rhodes - Courtesy of COMC.com](https://img.comc.com/i/Wrestling/2014/Topps-Chrome-WWE---Base---Atomic-Refractor/62/Cody-Rhodes.jpg?id=df557eca-4f7d-4906-9d02-befba7581a9d&size=original) |
| Cody Rhodes Scan courtesy of COMC.com |
Cody is currently the IWGP US Champion and is defending against Juice Robinson (the former C.J. Parker in NXT), who he beat for the title back on September 30 in Long Beach. If Cody retains, chances are he's sticking around or keeping a working relationship with New Japan as part of All Elite Wrestling.
![2010 TRISTAR TNA Xtreme - [Base] #44 - Generation Me - Courtesy of COMC.com](https://img.comc.com/i/Wrestling/2010/TRISTAR-TNA-Xtreme---Base/44/Generation-Me.jpg?id=8981822d-7c4a-4ada-b7bd-a2e86b0ce2df&size=original) |
| The Young Bucks (aka Generation Me) Scan courtesy of COMC.com |
The Young Bucks will be challenging for the IWGP Tag Team Titles in a three way match against the current champions The Guerrillas of Destiny (Tama Tonga & Tanga Loa) and the winners of the 2018 World Tag League, Los Ingobernables (EVIL & Sanada). Again, the result of this match will tell if the Bucks are going to be working with New Japan while part of All Elite Wrestling.
![2006-07 BBM Pro Wrestling - [Base] #124 - Tomohiro Ishii - Courtesy of COMC.com](https://img.comc.com/i/Wrestling/2006-07/BBM-Pro-Wrestling---Base/124/Tomohiro-Ishii.jpg?id=b9ae8dc0-665b-4eef-a86a-345aece76d6b&size=original) |
| Tomohiro Ishii Scan courtesy of COMC.com |
Tomohiro Ishii will be putting the RevPro British Heavyweight Title on the line against British star Zack Sabre Jr. The match was put in place after challenge by Sabre following a successful Ishii title defense on a RevPro show on November 9.
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| Yoshinobu Kanemaru Scan courtesy of COMC.com |
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| Shingo Takagi Scan courtesy of COMC.com |
There were also a couple other matches I didn't get to, those being the grudge match between Kazuchika Okada and "Switchblade" Jay White, which I'm guessing will be pretty wild considering the backstory between the two, and the NEVER Openweight Title Match between Kota Ibushi and Will Ospreay, which should be a pretty awesome match. On the pre-show, there is a five-team gauntlet match which will determine the #1 contenders for the NEVER Openweight Six-Man Tag Team titles.
This will be the first time for me watching a WrestleKingdom show so I'm looking forward to it. Since I don't have AXS TV, I'll be ordering the show via the FITE app so I can watch it on demand with a friend of mine on Saturday.
Didn't realize there were so many Americans wrestling in Japan. Very cool. Hope this ends up being an awesome event. One of these days I'll get back into wrestling. However... when I do... it'll probably be WWE... since that's what I grew up watching.
ReplyDeleteAwesome. I never did attend a pro wrestling event while I was living in Japan. I hear they are super cool. By coincidence, I was cleaning out some doubles binders and was posting some extra 1995 BBM cards on eBay when I came across this. Let us know how it WK goes!
ReplyDeleteI've never watched WK but try to keep up with it if I'm still awake when it starts. I watch some wrestling on my Roku thanks to Pluto TV which has 2-3 channels including Impact Wrestling. I also watch ROH since Sinclair owns one of my local stations. I also watch a local fed called WLW which is run by Harley Race.
ReplyDeleteHappy WK day! I was able to watch last year's event for the first time. I'm fortunate to have AXS and plan to watch the same day broadcast tonight at 8pm. Hope you enjoy the show!
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