May 3 Wrestling Dontaku
Recommended Matches:
– IWGP Jr. Heavyweight: Low Ki vs. Prince Devitt (c)
April 2012 featured the New Japan Cup, an annual single-elimination tournament to choose the next title contender. Hirooki Goto won the 2012 Cup, and lost to Okada in May in Okada’s second title defense. We’ll come back to Goto later in the year, but for now we’ll take a turn into New Japan’s Junior Heavyweight division.
New Japan has featured Jr. Heavyweight wrestlers throughout its history, making an explicit distinction between the fast-paced, high-flying style of the smaller wrestlers, and the full-blown slugfests of the heavyweight division. New Japan’s history is full of spectacular Jrs., including Jushin Liger (still a mainstay in 2012), the original Tiger Mask, Dynamite Kid, Wild Pegasus Chris Benoit, and Shinjio Otani. The mix of styles between junior matches and heavyweight matches has been key to some of the most successful New Japan runs.
Prince Devitt (aka Finn Bálor)
Irish wrestler Prince Devitt got his major league start in Japan long before joining NXT/WWE. Devitt joined New Japan in 2006 as a 25 year-old. By 2012, Devitt was a featured star in the Jr. division and held the IWGP Jr Heavyweight for the second time.
Devitt began teaming with Ryusuke Taguchi as Apollo 55 (pronounced “Apollo Go Go” in Japan) in 2009. As of 2012, the pair had four runs as IWGP Jr Tag champs under their belts.
Devitt’s style is quick and hard-hitting. His signature moves include a double-foot stomp from the top ropes.
Low Ki
Brooklyn native Low Ki made a national name for himself alongside American Dragon Bryan Danielson by headlining the first Ring of Honor shows in 2002. By 2012, Low Ki had jumped back and forth between Japan, TNA, WWE, and the indies.
Low Ki had some success in New Japan in previous tours, and was the IWGP Jr champion in 2009. Ki returned to New Japan in 2012, and got his first shot at the title in May.
Low Ki’s style is focused on believable offense influenced by martial arts. Unlike most American wrestlers, Low Ki has learned enough Japanese to cut promos.
Prince Devitt had held the IWGP Jr championship for the past 8 months, and Low Ki got his first shot at the belt since returning for the 2012 tour. The two built a deliberate and punishing match worthy of a championship bout. Ki worked heel, scraping Devitt’s ear during an abdominal stretch and refusing to break his holds at the ropes. The crowd was fully behind Devitt, but Low Ki won the belt by delivering a double foot stomp to the face with Devitt hung up in the ropes followed by a Ki Krusher for the pin at 21:01.
Low Ki isn’t central to the story of New Japan, but I love watching his matches, and this is a good introduction to Devitt circa 2012. I think a lot of current fans will enjoy this one.
Best of the Super Juniors
Recommended Matches:
– May 27: Pac vs. Jushin Liger
New Japan holds a Best of Super Juniors tournament each year, bringing in wrestlers from all over the world to compete with the New Japan stable. Matches are held over multiple shows, and wrestlers are separated into two blocks for round-robin matches. The top two winners in each block advance to the semifinals, and the winners of those matches determine the final match.
Jushin Thunder Liger
Jushin Liger (real name Keiichi Yamada) is the most famous Japanese Junior Heavyweight of all time thanks to his excellent wrestling skills, his longevity, and his striking masked costume. Liger debuted in the costume in New Japan in 1989, and his gimmick was based on a cross-promotion with a Japanese anime series.
Liger spent his career with New Japan, but he gained international notice with tours in WWF and WCW, including a feud with Brian Pillman. He was a large presence in the early Super J Cups (some of the most heavily traded video tapes of all time), and he won the 1995 and 2000 tournaments.
By 2012, Liger was 48 years old but still working a steady schedule with New Japan. The high flying style of his earlier years was obviously gone, but he could still spark a crowd. Liger frequently teamed with this era’s incarnation of Tiger Mask, another classic New Japan masked character.
Pac
In 2012, 26 year-old Pac had not yet been to NXT/WWE, but he already had extensive experience in Europe, the US, and Japan. Pac toured extensively in Japan from 2009-2012 with Dragon Gate, Ultimo Dragon’s promotion.
The 2012 Best of the Super Juniors is Pac’s only appearance in New Japan.
Unfortunately, most of the 2012 tournament is not available on NJPW World. But the May 27 show that’s available has a fun match between Pac and Jushin Liger from the round robin part of the tourney. Pac got a win over the legend at 10:20 with a Black Arrow. Pac, Devitt, Low Ki, and Devitt’s Apollo 55 teammate Ryusuke Taguchi all advanced to the semifinals this year. Taguchi won the tournament final over Low Ki on June 10th.
It’s funny to see how fresh-faced and young Pac looks in 2012. It’s quite different from the evil violence troll persona he takes on in AEW.
June 16 Dominion
WON #4 Show of the Year
Recommended Matches:
– Daisuke Sasaki and Golden Lovers (Kenny Omega and Kota Ibushi) vs. Bushi, Kushida and Prince Devitt, WON: ***½
– IWGP Jr. Tag: Jushin Thunder Liger and Tiger Mask vs. Taichi and Taka Michinoku, WON: ***
– IWGP Heavyweight: Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. Kazuchika Okada (c), WON: ****¾, #4 MOTY
Extra credit:
– IWGP Jr. Heavyweight: Low Ki (c) vs. Ryusuke Taguchi, WON: ***¼
– Shinsuke Nakamura and Masato Tanaka vs. Tetsuya Naito and Hirooki Goto, WON: ****
Golden Lovers – Kota Ibushi & Kenny Omega
By 2012, Kota Ibushi and Kenny Omega were already a hot tag team in Japan. The two had been teaming in Japan’s DDT promotion since 2009. They also feuded with Apollo 55 (Prince Devitt & Ryusuke Taguchi) over the IWGP Jr Tag Team belts in 2010 and 2011, including a short championship run.
Ibushi started in DDT in 2004, and worked many different Japanese promotions. From 2009 to 2013, he was a frequent winner of Wrestling Observer’s “Best Flying Wrestler” award. Ibushi is a good-looking, charismatic wrestler and is a fan-favorite in New Japan.
Kenny Omega joined DDT in 2008 after becoming a big fan of Ibushi’s work from afar. By 2012, Omega had been competing full time in Japan for 2 over years, primarily for DDT. Aside from his work with Ibushi, Omega was in New Japan’s 2010 and 2011 Best of the Super Jrs tournament. Kenny’s gimmick in this era was based on his love of video games.
The June show started with a cross-promotion match between the DDT team of Daisuke Sasaki, Kenny Omega and Kota Ibushi against the New Japan team of Bushi, Kushida and Prince Devitt. Midway through the match, Team DDT floored everyone with a three-way dive to the floor. Kushida and Devitt later countered with a double dive of their own. After a lot of fun spots and a few near falls, Ibushi got the pin at 10:48 to help build him up for an IWGP Jr title challenge in the near future.
That was a lot of talent loaded into an opening match! I get a kick out of seeing skinny, blond Kenny Omega flipping around the ring in his tiny green trunks.
Taka Michinoku and Taichi
Taka Michinoku is a veteran wrestler who is best known in the U.S. for his time in WWF from 1997-2001. Taka’s ring name is an homage to his mentor Great Sasuke’s Michinoku Pro wrestling company. Taka was a frequent light heavyweight contender in the WWF, and was half of the Kaientai tag team with Sho Funaki. Taka often had comedic roles in WWF, but he was always impressive in the ring. After Taka returned to Japan, he started the Kaientai Dojo wrestling school and promotion. Taka joined New Japan full time in 2010.
Taichi debuted for All Japan in 2002 and wrestled for various promotions before joining New Japan full time in 2009. New Japan sent him to Mexican promotion CMLL for a half-year of additional experience.
In late 2010, Taichi and Michinoku were founding members of the Kojima-gun stable supporting then-champion Satoshi Kojima. In 2011, Taichi and Taka turned on Kojima and allied themselves as heels with Minoru Suzuki. Their stable was renamed Suzuki-gun, and Taka and Taichi would often represent Suzuki-gun as a tag team.
Suzuki-gun are notorious cheaters, and they constantly interfere in matches to help Minoru Suzuki and his allies.
Tiger Mask
The Tiger Mask character, based on a 1970s pro wrestling manga and anime, has been a fixture of Japanese wrestling for 40 years. The first Tiger Mask, Satoru Sayama, was introduced in New Japan in 1981. Tiger Mask and Dynamite kid had a legendary feud in the U.S. and Japan, setting a new standard for junior heavyweight wrestling.
Legend Mitsuharu Misawa was the next Tiger Mask in 1984. He wrestled his early years as Tiger Mask in All Japan until unmasking in 1990. Misawa went on to become one of the most successful heavyweights of all time.
Koji Kanemoto got the call as the third Tiger Mask when the character returned to New Japan in 1992. He lost his mask to Jushin Liger in a mask-vs-mask match in 1994.
In 2012, Yoshihiro Yamazaki was wrestling in New Japan as the fourth Tiger Mask. Yamazaki was trained by Satoru Sayama and used the mask with his blessing. Yamazaki debuted as Tiger Mask in Michinoku Pro in 1995, and he moved to New Japan in 2002. By 2012, Yamazaki was 41 years old and frequently teamed with fellow veteran Liger.
Jushin Liger and Tiger Mask wrestled Taka Michinoku and Taichi from the heel stable Suzuki-gun in a wild brawl for the vacant IWGP tag titles. Liger showed up in his all-white costume and was fired up from the start, delivering a shotei palm strike to Taka. The heels performed all kinds of antics, including counting their own pins, performing lewd acts with pieces of Liger’s mask, and unmasking Liger. The unmasking revealed that Liger’s face was painted white, signaling a rare appearance of the fierce and bloody Kishin Liger. Liger went nuts and blinded the heels with red mist before he tried to murder Taichi with a spike. A Liger power bomb through a table took out Taichi, and Tiger Mask pinned Taka at 9:20 for the belts.
The main event saw Okada defending the IWGP belt against Tanahashi. How much things had changed in just six months! In their first match, Okada entered as an entirely unproven wrestler. For the rematch, Okada had two excellent headlining matches under his belt and had proven that he belonged in the top tier of New Japan. The two had an even bout, and at 25 minutes in, the crowd was going nuclear for near falls and teased finishing moves. It looked like Okada took Tanahashi’s head off with uppercuts at the end, but Tanahashi reversed the tombstone piledriver, evaded the Rainmaker, and hit the slingblade and High Fly Flow for the pin at 28:06. Surprisingly, the belt was already back on Tanahashi!
After title challenges from Togi Makabe and Masato Tanaka, Tanahashi celebrated in the ring by playing his invisible guitar for 20 minutes and the fans loved it.
