Oct 18 King of Pro Wrestling
Recommended:
– IWGP Jr. Heavyweight: Low Ki vs Kota Ibushi (c), WON: ****¼
– IWGP Tag: Davey Boy Smith Jr. & Lance Archer vs. Hiroyoshi Tenzan & Satoshi Kojima, WON: ***½
– Yujiro Takahashi vs. Tetsuya Naito, WON: **¼
– Kazushi Sakuraba & Katsuyori Shibata vs. Togi Makabe & Wataru Inoue, WON: ***½
– Kazuchika Okada vs. Karl Anderson, WON: ****
– IWGP IC: Shinsuke Nakamura (c) vs. Hirooki Goto, WON: ***¾
– IWGP Heavyweight: Hiroshi Tanahashi (c) v. Minoru Suzuki, WON: ***** #1 MOTY
The September Destruction PPV contained two title defenses, with Kota Ibushi retaining the IWGP Jr. title over Ryusuke Taguchi and Tanahashi retaining the IWGP Heavyweight title over Noah’s Naomichi Marufuji. But we’ll skip the September show in order to jump to King of Pro Wrestling, voted Wrestling Observer’s #1 Best Show for 2012.
The show’s first blow-away match was Low Ki winning the IWGP Jr belt back from Kota Ibushi. The first few minutes were worked in an MMA style, with lots of strikes, kicks, and some grappling. After that, they started hitting more pro wrestling spots and bouncing off the ropes. Ibushi went to take a dive off the top rope to Low Ki outside the ring, but Low Ki shoved him off and Ibushi took a big bump to the outside. Then they went back to the ring for lots of submissions, taking breaks to beat the crap out of each other. Ibushi hit that moonsault to the outside. Low Ki finally won at 17:05 with a scary-looking Ki Krusher from the top rope. Prince Devitt came out after the match to announce that he’s back home in New Japan, and he wants the next shot at the belt.
This is a super athletic and physical match, where so much of the drama is driven by the convincing offense. I loved it.
Hiroyoshi Tenzan ＆ Satoshi Kojima
Tenzan and Kojima were two of New Japan’s biggest stars in the 2000s. By 2012, the charismatic wrestlers were on the downside of their careers (both 41 years of age), but still very popular with the fans.
The two wrestlers broke into New Japan together in the early 90s. Tenzan’s earliest fame came as Masahiro’s Chono’s tag team partner, and the two won the IWGP tag belts multiple times in the 1990s. After Chono was injured, Tenzan and Kojima started to team together for Keiji Mutoh’s nWo stable. The team, dubbed Tencozy, had great success including a 460-day tag title run.
In 2002, Kojima jumped to All Japan with Mutoh, breaking up the team. Both had strong success as singles in the 2000s. In 2005, Tenzan (IWGP Heavyweight champ) and Kojima (All Japan’s Triple Crown champion) competed against each other in a rare cross-promotional battle for both championships.
Kojima returned to New Japan full time in 2010, and the pair reunited their tag team in late 2011. Ten-Koji started 2012 by winning the tag belts from Karl Anderson and Giant Bernard, and won the titles for a second time in July.
Kojima comes across as affable and fun to watch in the ring. He was a very athletic wrestler earlier in his career. Tenzan is the gruff one, delivering punishing Mongolian chops and headbutts.
Lance Archer & Davey Boy Smith Jr
In 2012, Lance Archer was already a veteran of nearly a decade with TNA and WWE. Archer joined New Japan in the middle of 2011, and he won the 2011 G1 Tag League with Minoru Suzuki as Suzuki-gun representatives. In New Japan, Archer is the American Psycho, and his gear leans toward a biker look with a white American flag painted on his black leather jacket.
Davey Boy Smith Jr. is the son of the British Bulldog Davey Boy Smith and Diana Hart (Stu Hart’s daughter). Smith came to New Japan to join Suzuki-gun in September 2012 and got a very warm reception, partly due to his father’s own success in Japan. Smith and Archer immediately formed the team K.E.S. (Killer Elite Squad) and got a quick shot at the tag titles.
Lance Archer and Davey Boy Smith, Jr challenged Satoshi Kojima and Hiroyoshi Tenzan for the IWGP Tag Team titles. Archer demonstrated a lot of power early on, with a huge delayed vertical suplex on Kojima. A double team lariat from Archer while Smith held Tenzen up in the air puts Tenzen down for a long time. Smith stepped on Tenzan’s hand and gave the crown an FU. Tenzan landed a kick and tried to tag but Archer pulled Kojima off the apron. Archer did the Undertaker ropewalk and nailed Tenzan’s arm. Tenzan recovered to deliver a few of his trademark Mongolian chops, but Archer took him back down with a spinebuster. Kojima came in with the hot tag and hit Smith with literally 51 rapid-fire chops in his trademark spot. Tenzan and Kojima delivered 3Ds to Smith and then Archer. Taka Michinoku ran into the ring to interfere, but Kojima immediately cleared him out with a lariat. Archer and Smith hit a mess of powerbombs, and K.E.S. won the titles at 12:47. The new champs celebrated with Taka and the Suzuki-gun flag in the ring.
Kazushi Sakuraba
Kazukshi Sakuraba is one of most famous Japanese MMA fighters of all time. Sakuraba was a successful amateur wrestler through high school and university. He started pro wrestling in 1993 and joined the UWFi shoot-style pro wrestling promotion alongside legend Nobuhiko Takada.
Sakuraba was a key figure in the late 90s MMA boom in Japan. He began competing in legitimate MMA matches in 1996 and won the UFC Ultimate Japan tournament in 1997. Sakuraba’s star-making run came when he joined Takada in the new Pride Fighting Championships and went 6-1 in Pride 2 through Pride 8. Japanese fighters of the era were trying to prove that they were competitive with the Brazilian Jiu Jitsu grapplers who were dominating the nascent sport. Sakuraba captured the nation’s attention by defeating BJJ royalty Royler, Royce, and Renzo, and Ryan Gracie in a series of Pride matches from 1999-2000. Sakuraba’s 90 minute win over Royce Gracie in the Pride 2000 Grand Prix is one of the most well-known fights in MMA history. (This being 2000, Sakuraba had to come out later that night to continue the tournament. He lost the finals to Igor Vovchanchyn, who outweighed him by 60 lbs.)
Sakuraba brought pro wrestling flair to his MMA fights, winning him many fans. He would mug for the cameras and attempt exciting pro wrestling moves during legit fights. While he fell out of top-tier competition soon after 2000, he continued to headline major MMA events into the late 2000s.
In 2012, Sakuraba was 43 and a year removed from his most recent MMA fight.
Katsuyori Shibata
Katsuyori Shibata started his pro wrestling career in 1999, joining New Japan alongside contemporaries Hiroshi Tanahashi and Shinsuke Nakamura. Shibata left wrestling in 2007 to focus on MMA full-time. From 2007 to 2011, Shibata fought 15 times in Heros, Dream, Deep, and K-1.
While Shibata was never a top MMA fighter, his extended MMA career gave him an aura of legitimacy when he returned to pro wrestling. Shibata always looks neat and trim in his simple plain back trunks. In the ring, his offense is focused on convincing strikes and kicks.
Togi Makabe
Togi Makabe is one of New Japan’s toughest and most popular brawlers. Makabe joined New Japan in 1997 and wrestled as a Jr. heavyweight for his first years. By 2004, he had moved up to the heavyweight division and participated in his first G1 Climax tournament. Makabe kept moving up the card, and won his first IWGP Heavyweight Championship in 2010.
Makabe enters the ring to Immigrant Song (Bruiser Brody’s theme song) and walks to the ring with a chain. His finishing move is the King Kong knee drop from the top rope. Makabe brings a lot of fire and emotion to his matches and is fun to watch.
In August, Kazushi Sakuraba and Katsuyori Shibata returned to New Japan for the promotion’s latest cycle of infatuation with booking MMA fighters.
In the early 2000s, New Japan founder Antonio Inoki was determined to mix MMA and pro wrestling to capitalize on the MMA boom in Japan. Inoki was convinced that pro wrestling must prove itself to be more real in order to be respected by the fans of the time. Inoki sent pro wrestling stars to fight legit MMA matches (often with embarrassing results), and brought big MMA stars in to do pro wrestling matches (often with embarrassing results).
By 2012, Inoki was gone but the current NJPW owners were lured in by the same idea: Bring the shooters in to invade New Japan, and demonstrate the credibility of pro wrestling. Chairman Takaaki Kidani reportedly signed Sakuraba and Shibata for his invasion angle without even discussing the idea with New Japan’s bookers. Luckily, Sakuraba and Shibata were both also experienced pro wrestlers who knew how to build great matches.
Sakuraba and Shibata destroyed Wataru Inoue and Hiromu Takahashi in their first match in August. For the October show, Inoue teamed with Togi Makabe in a massive upgrade. Makabe and Sakura had an intense faceoff, but Shibata was cool as a cucumber and started the match against Inoue. Shibata took Inoue to the outside, and Makabe double-teamed Shibata. Sakuraba calmly walked over and started pelting Makabe with punches to the back of the head, kicking off a brawl. Shibata and Inoue returned to the ring, and Sakuraba tagged in to tattoo Inoue with a flurry of open hand strikes. Sakaruba dominated Inoue on the mat for a while, but Inoue kept getting to the ropes. Inoue stood up to strikes from Shibata and tagged Makabe in after delivering a stiff forearm. Makabe ate a ton of kicks, but caught the leg and floored Shibata with a lariat. Makabe headed up to the top rope, but Sakaurba shook the ropes and then kicked him off. Sakuraba started to choke out Inoue, then let him fall so Shibata could hit him with a penalty kick. Shibata got the pin at 7:10, and it does not look like this pair can be stopped!
Yujiro Takahashi
Yujiro Takahashi broke into New Japan in 2004. By 2012, he was best known for the success of No Limit, his tag team with Tesuya Naito. Naito and Takahashi teamed up in 2008 and wrestled together in New Japan, TNA, and the Mexican promotion CMLL. No Limit won the IWGP Tag Team Championship when they returned to New Japan in 2010. The team broke up in 2011 when Takahashi turned on Naito after a disappointing loss.
In 2012, Takahashi was part of the Chaos stable and frequently paired with Gedo, Jado, and Masato Tanaka.
When Yujiro Takahashi met Tetsuya Naito, Naito had a legit knee injury and had been working injured since the G1 Climax. To get storyline mileage out of the injury, ex-partner Takahashi was booked to destroy Naito’s knee in the match. Naito was helpless, and Takahashi even pulled him off the mat at a one-count to deliver more punishment. The ref stopped the match when Naito could not escape Tanahashi’s reverse figure four. Takahashi put a folding chair around the knee and pummeled it with three chair shots after the match to drive the point home. Naito had knee surgery the next week, and was out for 8 months. Takahashi rode the heat from the beatdown into an IWGP title match in November.
After losing the G1 Climax finals, Karl Anderson got a rematch against Okada right away. The Tokyo Dome #1 contender briefcase that Okada earned by winning the G1 was on the line. Anderson went to work on Okada’s arm early, trying to disable the rainmaker. Anderson mocked Okada with the rainmaker pose before he delivered a senton. Anderson gave Okada a gun stun while Okada was draped over the fence outside of the ring. Anderson hit Okada with a ton of athletic dropkicks throughout the match. The crowd was very into the near falls near the end. The two tried (and failed) to deliver each other’s finishers before Okada hit the tombstone piledriver and the rainmaker at 16:26 to retain the #1 contender’s case.
Since Goto got a win over Nakamura in the G1 Climax, Goto earned a rematch for the IWGP Intercontinental championship. Nakamura entered with a redesigned white leather title belt, and it looks sharp. Nakamura showed off a few times early on, and Goto punished him for it. Goto lariated Nakamura over the railing and into some nice young women in the crowd. They went to the mat for a while and Goto cranked Nakamura’s neck. Nakamura delivered a jumping knee down onto Goto’s head while Goto laid on the edge of the apron. After 12 minutes, the crowd was getting into the near-falls. Goto headbutted Nakamura’s arm to counter a punch, but Nakamura countered a headbutt with a punch and delivered a jumping knee to the standing Goto. Nakaurma finished Goto with the Bomaye at 15:12.
The main event pitted Minoru Suziki against Hiroshi Tanahashi, as Suzuki challenged for the IWGP Heavyweight Championship. Tanahashi got some boos for playing air guitar on Suzuki while he applied an abdominal stretch. The disrespect lit a fire in Suzuki and he started laying on the punishment. Tanahashi’s left arm was taped up, and Suzuki attacked it over and over and over again. Tanahashi managed to catch a kick and delivered a dragon screw leg whip that sent Suzuki rolling in pain. Suzuki got Tanahashi’s arm back in a submission and started tearing the tape off his elbow with his teeth. Tanahashi got destroyed for long periods of time, then fought back each time with attacks to the knee. There was a great extended figure four spot with Suzuki yelling on the mat. After this, Suzuki couldn’t even run the ropes. Suzuki hauled off on Tanahashi with a very long series of strikes. Tanahashi dragged his carcass to the top rope, but his high fly flow landed on Suzuki’s knees. Suzuki delivered another big series of strikes, and both men could barely stand. Tanahashi hit a desperation dragon screw on the ropes, and hit two high fly flows to get the pin at 29:22. This incredible match was voted Wrestling Observer match of the year!
Takahashi came out in sunglasses and his “We Run Shit” t-shirt and taunted Tanahashi to set up the next title match.
