Since it's founding in 1972, New Japan Pro Wrestling, or Shin Nihon Puroresu in Japanese, quickly became the standard bearer for wrestling in the country. Antonio Inoki, founder and top star, played a massive role in legitimizing the new company, thrilling audiences with his brand of "strong style", putting on wars with the likes of Bill Robinson, Karl Gotch, Seiji Sakaguchi and Andre the Giant. In the eighties, junior heavyweight wrestling began to rise in popularity thanks to the battles between the Dynamite Kid and the first Tiger Mask, and in the nineties, the company produced new stars for a new generation, as the "Three Musketeers" of Keiji Mutoh, Masahiro Chono and Shinya Hashimoto were set to lead New Japan forward towards the new millennium. It's during this era that they formed a partnership with World Championship Wrestling in the States, with a supershow between the two in 1993 being New Japan's first foray into hosting an annual event in the mammoth Tokyo Dome. By 2007, though, it was all starting to fall apart. You see, Antonio Inoki's brand of wrestling had always focused on semi-realistic violence, hard-hitting strikes blended with traditional pro wrestling showmanship in the form of "fighting spirit". But with the rise in popularity of mixed martial arts, Inoki saw a way to turn New Japan into a legitimate sporting promotion, bringing in actual fighters to be booked as top stars while forcing his unprepared wrestlers to fight in MMA. The result was a sizeable decline in the popularity, as the legit fighters lacked charisma and audience investment, while the wrestlers, most notably Yuji Nagata, were absolutely destroyed in MMA bouts, showing fans why they shouldn't be taken seriously as athletes. Attendances continued to drop as the mid-2000s wore on, and New Japan's annual Tokyo Dome event was in trouble.
Which is what brings us to the first Wrestle Kingdom, taking place during a period of significant change for New Japan. Antonio Inoki was soon to be out the door and the company was now owned by video game developer Yuke's, who were looking to take it back to it's roots. Yuke's had worked together with fellow Japanese promotions All Japan Pro Wrestling and Pro Wrestling Noah, using the impressive array of talent in the game Wrestle Kingdom, released exclusively in Japan. With much of New Japan's roster lacking true draws, they formed a partnership with All Japan to co-promote Wrestle Kingdom in Tokyo Dome, the first building block for New Japan's return to prominence. The card was stacked, featuring some of the biggest names of both companies facing off, including a star-studded main event tag match. I'll have more opportunity to delve into the history of many of the names as we go through each match, but I think I've done enough talking for now. Let's take a look at what New Japan was able to put together in an attempt to save their biggest show of the year.
- NJPW Wrestle Kingdom 1 comes to you from the Tokyo Dome, in front of a disappointing announced attendance of just 28,000, well short of the capacity of the Dome, which is about 40-50k. Apparently, even that is a massive exaggeration, as Dave Meltzer reported the attendance was just 18 thousand, with just over half of that actual paying customers. This demonstrates just how far New Japan had fallen by this point, that even including the starpower of another company was only enough for about half the attendance they had managed in recent years.
- Our opening contest, and the first of five straight tag matches to open the show, sees the future leader of Taguchi Japan, Ryusuke Taguchi, the masked El Samurai and longtime All Japan vet Masanobu Fuchi teaming up to take on Nobutaka Araya, Akira Raijin and Kikutaro. There's a decent chance you've heard of or seen a picture of Kikutaro, a reasonably well known comedy wrestler in Japan who has made some appearances here in the US. His gimmick is that of a literal clown, and in this match, no one is safe from his nonsense. He feuds with the ref, cheats at every possible opportunity and even attacks his own partner when double attacks fail. The act is honestly pretty funny, but it completely overshadows everyone else in the match, who are all just reacting to him rather than trying to wrestle each other. In the end, Kikutaro's antics bring his team crashing down, as he gets pinned by Taguchi following a chicken wing slam.
- Though I am familiar with his name thanks to plenty of bitching surrounding his booking, I have never seen Gedo wrestle, and get the chance to here, as he teams with Jado to face All Japan's Nosawa Rongai and MAZADA. The All Japan boys are members of the stable Tokyo Gurentai, which translates to Tokyo hooligans, and dominate this match, taking the advantage early by brawling on the outside before wearing down Gedo in a long heat stretch. Jado does eventually get to make the hot tag, and he and Gedo make the comeback, finishing off MAZADA with a top rope powerbomb and a big splash.
- I kind of struggled to keep up with who was who during the first two matches, basically seeing all of them work for the first time, but that won't be an issue in our next match, as former WWE midcarders D'Lo Brown, Bull Buchanan and Travis Tomko team up to face three members of the G.B.H (Great Bash Heel) faction in Togi Makabe, Toru Yano and Tomohiro Ishii. It's definitely a trip to see everyone here, especially Ishii, who looks so dang young. This match is probably the best of the night to this point, with D'Lo in particular fitting into the puroresu style well, with a big powerbomb and middle rope moonsault earning some appreciation from the crowd. Toru Yano gets the last word in, though, going full Toru Yano by smacking Tomko in the back with a chair, which allows Makabe to finish him off.
- Time for eight man tag team action, as representatives of the stable Voodoo Murders, Giant Bernard (Albert/A-Train in WWE), Ro'Z (just a different spelling of Rosey, also from WWE), Suwama and Taru team up to defeat Manabu Nakanishi, Takashi Iizuka, Naomfumi Yamamoto (soon to sign with WWE as Yoshi Tatsu) and New Japan legend, Riki Choshu. The crowd loves Choshu, and also are really into Nakanishi's power offense. Bernard, jumping ship from All Japan to New Japan, is booked to look like a potential star in waiting, getting a big pop for a Last Ride sit-out powerbomb, before turning on the rest of his group despite the victory.
- We're almost through the multi-man tag match portion of proceedings, but before we do, it's time to escalate all the way to a ten man tag, as Jushin Thunder Liger, Milano Collection A.T. and Minoru Tanaka team up with Voodoo Murders representatives "brother" Yasshi and Shuji Kondo to face Kaz Hayashi, Koji Kanemoto, Taka Michinoku, Wataru Inoue and the fourth Tiger Mask. This match is probably the best of the first five of the night, lots of high octane action that really never slows down. I really liked what I saw from Tanaka, who is just so smooth in the ring, and Taka is as entertaining as always, getting in a big dive before the finish that got a big reaction. For the finish, Tiger Mask, who did nothing but stand on the apron for most of the match, gets the win with a bridging tiger suplex.
- Now we get into the good sh**, as Shinsuke Nakamura takes on "Dangerous K" Toshiaki Kawada. These are two of the hardest hitters in the business, and the appeal here is obvious, just watch two men beat each other senseless for 20 minutes. I liked a lot of their mat work, with Nakamura routinely going after the arm of Kawada, taking some of the big chops and slaps away. There's also a really great sequence down the stretch, as both men just start suplexing each other, but for the most part, I thought this was a little underwhelming. I feel bad saying that, Nakamura's great and Kawada was a legend in All Japan, but the latter is definitely past his peak by this point, now over 40 and beginning to wind down. He just wasn't able to match Nakamura's intensity, but the young gun still gives it all he's got, running full speed into one of Kawada's devastating kicks to give the vet one more big win.
- The first of back to back championship matches is for All Japan's Triple Crown title, as champion Minoru Suzuki defends against Yuji Nagata. Everything the last match lacked in intensity, this one more than makes up for, as Suzuki's psychopathic tendencies turn this into a bloody war. Early on, the champion busts the challenger open with a chair shot, and Nagata returns the favor with a crunching brainbuster on the floor. I really like Nagata's signature hold, as he applies a seated armbar and rolls his eyes back into his head. The crowd is just so into Nagata, popping big for a Saito suplex, though the challenger strangely decides to lift Suzuki up before three. The two men wail away on each other, Suzuki connecting on a series of palm slaps, then being dropped with another brainbuster and coming up swinging at air. It seems like Nagata is closing in on victory, but Suzuki manages to get a sleeper hold applied, taking Yuji down to the canvas, wrenching away until his challenger finally passes out and the ref calls it. I thought this was a brilliant match in front of a crowd that was fully invested, and it made both men look like megastars. Suzuki is such a great heel, he could get just about anyone over, but Nagata more than held his own, his two brainbusters and Saito suplex looked great. So much intensity, so much drama, just an absolute war that wouldn't have looked out of place closing this prestigious show.
- I don't know much about Taiyo Kea, although his accomplishments in All Japan were numerous and his match with reigning champion Hiroshi Tanahashi for the IWGP title was highly entertaining. Both men tell the story of Tanahashi as the out-matched champion, with Kea just bludgeoning Tana with big power moves, including a Samoan driver on the floor and a teeth-rattling lariat. Tanahashi has to dig deep and come up with some big kickouts late, just about surviving after a couple more slams by Kea. Finally, the champ manages to hit his straight-jacket German suplex, and finishes the powerful challenger off with a High Fly Flow. This was a step below the previous match, though it was still very good, and the finishing stretch included some dramatic near falls.
- Main event time, as Satoshi Kojima makes a one-night return to New Japan to team with former partner Hiroyoshi Tenzan, as the pair will face off with two of the "Three Musketeers", Keiji Mutoh and Masahiro Chono. This match is a tribute to the recently passed third member of the vaunted trio, Shinya Hashimoto, who tragically died of a brain aneurysm about a year and a half prior. That kind of makes the result of this match obvious, as well as the fact that Kojima and Tenzan just can't compete with the kind of starpower Mutoh and Chono bring to the table. The crowd is firmly in the corner of the two legends, and they managed to overcome their younger counterparts, ending with Mutoh locking Kojima in a figure four while Chono forces Tenzan to tap to the STF. The match was nothing special, though Mutoh still had some of his lightning-quick strikes, and Tencozy did the most they could. After the pinfall, Mutoh and Chono celebrate by wearing white headbands, a signature of Hashimoto look, and Hashimoto's theme music plays in victory. This was an underwhelming main event, especially in comparison to the two matches that came before it, but it was a touching tribute to a beloved puroresu legend.
7/10
This wasn't a bad debut for New Japan's first Tokyo Dome show to bear the Wrestle Kingdom branding, but it failed to live up to the shows that would bear that name in the future. The two highlights were the two title matches, especially Suzuki/Nagata, and Nakamura's clash with Kawada and the main event at least provided plenty of nostalgia for fans of 90's puroresu. This did little to help elevate the future of the company, though, which is a definite negative. Overall, I thought this served as an enjoyable introduction to New Japan, but not a show that really needs to be watched in full.
Next time on Henry's Pay-Per-View Reviews: With no full shows on New Japan World for the remainder of 2007 and all of 2008, I jump forward two years in the timeline, to Wrestle Kingdom 3. See you soon.
- Henry
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