Wrestling Dontaku is the most tenured event on the New Japan calendar, having begun life as an annual spectacle back in 1993. It occurs on Constitution Memorial Day in Japan, a holiday celebrating the signing of the new Constitution of the country in the aftermath of US bombings in Hiroshima and Nagasaki in World War II, with the word "Dontaku" derived from the Dutch term for Sunday, "Zondag". Wrestling Dontaku went on an eight year hiatus from 2001 to 2009, and when it made it's return, Hirooki Goto, the New Japan Cup winner, was there to greet it in style, challenging Hiroshi Tanahashi for the IWGP Heavyweight Championship. Goto came up short on that night, and his 2010 New Japan Cup win also didn't result in claiming gold, as this time, Goto was defeated by Shinsuke Nakamura at New Dimension. It's been three years since the return of Wrestling Dontaku, and Goto is once again picking up steam, capturing the Intercontinental Championship and a third New Japan Cup in a matter of months, closing in on what might finally be his crowning moment.
- Wrestling Dontaku 2012 comes to you from the Fukuoka Kokusai Center in Fukuoka, Japan, a frequently used venue for sumo tournaments. I love the stage set-up for this show, with a removable curtain that allows for wrestlers to pose in silhouette, sending an intimidating visual before they make their entrance. It's a neat little theatrical trick, and yet another example of how excellent New Japan's visual presentation can be.
- Our opening contest is the fourth match on the card, as Low Ki challenges Prince Devitt for the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Championship. These two don't bother with flips or elaborate spots, instead punishing each other with stiff strikes and painful holds. Devitt's selling always shines in these more deliberate matches, as he's able to garner sympathy from the audience with his facial expressions and incredibly realistic grunts of agony. Low Ki is brutal in the opening stages, taking the champion apart with chops and an Octopus Stretch, with an added ear pull because he's a bastard. Devitt wins through the air, connecting flush with a Tope con Hilo and avoiding Low Ki's diving foot stomp through a table, and that allows the champion to move closer to a title retention, almost scoring the win with a lifting reverse DDT. Low Ki re-takes control with a rolling Pele kick, and after delivering several nasty palm slaps, he crumples Devitt with a Shotgun dropkick into the corner. Again, though, Low Ki can't nail the high spot, as Devitt avoids a Phoenix Splash, and comes a whisker away from the win with his double foot stomp. Low Ki does finally connect with a big aerial move, turning Devitt inside out with a Tree of Woe double stomp, and the second Ki Krusher of the match puts Devitt down for three. These two men have been fighting each other across title matches and multi-man tags for much of the past year, and they moved effortlessly through an exciting and dramatic match, with Low Ki finally getting the better of Devitt right before the start of the annual Best of the Super Juniors tournament, setting himself up as the man to beat.
- The team of the madman Takashi Iizuka and the scummy Toru Yano certainly embody the mindset of Chaos, as they represent the faction to challenge TenKoji for the IWGP Heavyweight tag titles. Iizuka and Yano quickly turn this match into a wild brawl, with Iizuka attacking the announce team and Yano brandishing a chair. TenKoji take control during the actual wrestling, and have Yano beat after a TenKoji cutter and several lariats by Kojima. But Iizuka turns the tides by laying out the ref, handcuffing Tenzan to the barricade and delivering a big throat jab to Kojima while wearing his trusty metal glove. Yano shatters a chair on Kojima's skull, finishing the future bread connoisseur off with a big sit-out powerbomb. This was entertaining enough, although not much of a wrestling match.
- Karl Anderson's upset win over Shinsuke Nakamura in the New Japan Cup cemented the "Machine Gun" as a threat to take seriously in NJPW, and now he has a chance to do it again, on an even grander scale, as he takes on Nakamura in a singles match here on pay-per-view. Anderson used his athleticism well in this one, fighting through the stinging kicks of Nakamura to connect with several dropkicks and neckbreakers. After a whiffed Boma Ye, Anderson showcases his power with a running Liger Bomb, and Nakamura is forced to resort to playing Anderson's game. Shinsuke goes to new territory, leaping off the top rope, straight into a calf kick by Anderson, and Karl shows Shinsuke how it's done with a big diving neckbreaker. A fireman's carry into a spinning Gun Stun can't do it, as both men now the end is approaching. Nakamura blocks a second Gun Stun, and manages to connect flush with the Boma Ye to get his win back. This was a big improvement for Nakamura over his last major singles match with Tetsuya Naito, although his deliberate style and Anderson's old school Southern brawling didn't combine for the most exciting singles showdown.
- Hiroshi Tanahashi and Tetsuya Naito don't have a ton to do right now, so they get thrown into a random tag match against Masato Tanaka and Yujiro Takahashi, two midcard stalwarts that can take a decisive loss to heat up the two main event babyfaces. Though the outcome of this match was never in doubt, the journey to get there was surprisingly fun, with a lot of high octane sequences and great chemistry between Tanaka and Tanahashi. Tanahashi is put into serious jeopardy by the awesome offense of Tanaka, who nails his superplex/Brainbuster combo, and drills the Sliding D after an Olympic Slam by Takahashi for a near fall. Naito takes care of Takahashi with a sick diving dropkick, flying in from just out of frame, and Tanahashi nails a Michinoku Driver on Tanaka, before putting him away with the High Fly Flow. I've always thought Masato Tanaka was super underrated, and seeing him work against Tanahashi definitely solidified my perception of him as a believable main eventer. It's a shame New Japan never gave him that shot.
- Main event time, as Kazuchika Okada defends his gold against Hirooki Goto, who looks to knock the arrogant young champion down a peg, and finally claim the IWGP Heavyweight Championship. Goto gets off to a hot start, driving Okada to the floor with a lariat, but Okada is able to slow down the pace by focusing on the challenger's neck. Okada lets his confidence shine, making a one foot cover and casually slapping Goto after controlling his challenger on the mat, and that fires Goto back up to bring us into the second stage of the match, where both men effortlessly flow between moves. Okada gets tremendous air on a dropkick, Goto trades back with his rolling wheel kick and Saito suplex combo, before running through a Rainmaker attempt to be planted with a flapjack by Okada. Okada cycles through the offensive repertoire that he's built up over his title reign, nailing the Tombstone Piledriver, Air Raid Crash neckbreaker, and spiking Goto with a Death Valley Driver, which he's named the Heavy Rain. But Goto shakes it all off, intent on finally making his dream a reality. Goto lets the champion feel his wrath with a brutal discus lariat, and the gold is so close to his grasp on several dramatic near falls, with Okada just surviving the Ura Shouten and an avalanche Ushigoroshi. The crowd in Fukuoka truly believe that Goto's triumph is about to happen, especially after he counters the Rainmaker with a headbutt, which surely must be a prelude to the end. But instead, Okada once again breaks hearts, ducking the fatal lariat to connect with the Rainmaker, retaining in spectacular fashion. This was a truly excellent main event, the best Okada has looked as champion thus far, as Goto proved to be just the right opponent to allow Okada to flourish. Some of the appeal of watching this match is diminished knowing that Goto would come up short yet again, as this really feels like it should've been his moment, and pivoting towards yet another Okada/Tanahashi match isn't the most interesting outcome, although I've heard their match at Dominion was a classic.
8/10
There's a lot to like about Wrestling Dontaku 2012, even if the ending was a disappointment. All of the matches I watched had some entertainment value, and even Naito and Tanahashi's tag match succeeded despite being obvious filler. I highly recommend checking out the main event, especially as a retrospective look into the growth of Kazuchika Okada, as he took a massive leap forward in that one.
- Henry
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