The biggest annual event in Japanese pro wrestling and one of the biggest in the world, New Japan’s WRESTLE KINGDOM 17 in TOKYO DOME, is in the books.
For those who have not watched yet and who want to avoid SPOILERS, do not click below until after watching even though spoilers are now all over the place. If you want to know what happened, click below.
Today’s event was held at the Tokyo Dome in Tokyo and can be watched on demand on New Japan World in Japanese and English.
The announced paid attendance was 26,085. That is much better than the last few years of pandemic-reduced crowds although still reduced capacity.
Match 1: Oleg Boltin Debut Match: In an Exhibition Match, Oleg Boltin vs. Ryohei Oiwa went to a 3 minute time limit draw.
Match 2: In the New Japan Ranbo Battle Royal, where the last 4 left advance to a determination match for the KOPW 2023 Title, the 4 “winners” were Sho, Toru Yano (of course), Great-O-Khan & Shingo Takagi. That match likely will be tomorrow.
Match 3: Antonio Inoki Memorial Match: Yuji Magata, Satoshi Kojima & Togi Makabe beat Tiger Mask, Minoru Suzuki & Tatsumi Fujinami. Makabe pinned TM 4.
Match 4: IWGP Jr. Heavyweight Tag Team Champions Francesco Akira & TJP beat Lio Rush & Yoh to retain the titles. TJP pinned Yoh. V3 for the champs.
Match 5: IWGP Women’s Champion KAIRI beat Tam Nakano to retain the title. V1 for KAIRI. Then the worst-kept secret going into the event happened-Mercedes Mone, the former Sasha Banks in WWE, appeared and challenged KAIRI for the title. If Mone gets her way, it could happen on 2/18 in San Jose, CA.
Match 6: YOSHI-HASHI & Hirooki Goto beat IWGP Heavyweight Tag Team Champions FTR to win the titles. Goto & YOSHI-HASHI become the 97th IWGP Heavyweight Tag Team Champions. YOSHI-HASHI pinned Dax Harwood after Shoto.
Match 7: NJPW WORLD TV Championship Tournament Finals: Zack Sabre Jr. beat Ren Narita to win the tournament and the title and become the inaugural champion. After the match, Sabre joined TMDK.
Match 8: Tama Tonga beat NEVER Openweight Champion Karl Anderson to win the title. Tonga becomes the 38th NEVER Openweight Champion.
Match 9: Keiji Muto Final New Japan Match: Keiji Muto, Shota Umino & Hiroshi Tanahashi beat BUSHI, SANADA & Tetsuya Naito. Umino pinned BUSHI after Death Slider.
Match 10: Hiromu Takahashi beat IWGP Jr. Heavyweight Champion Taiji Ishimori, Master Wato & El Desperado in a 4-way by pinning Wato to win the title. Takahashi becomes the 93rd IWGP Jr. Heavyweight Champion.
Match 11: Kenny Omega beat IWGP US Heavyweight Champion Will Ospreay to win the title. Omega becomes the 17th IWGP US Heavyweight Champion. This one reportedly was, as expected, way off the charts in terms of quality in a good way.
Main Event: Kazuchika Okada beat IWGP World Heavyweight Champion Jay White to win the title. Okada becomes the 6th IWGP World Heavyweight Champion. Anyone who knows the slightest thing about New Japan’s history saw this coming after Antonio Inoki died in October as the winner would lead his signature about to close the show. There was less than zero chance they would let the dastardly heel White lead it over Okada, the undisputed top star in the promotion and heir apparent to the throne of Inoki (and Tanahashi when he decides to retire). Before that the first likely challenger emerged…Takagi, who Okada beat to win the title previously. That could potentially legitimize the KOPW if Takagi claims it tomorrow-IWGP World Heavyweight Champion AND KOPW 2023 Champion? Backing it up!
And with Tokyo Dome now in the books the 50th Anniversary celebration of New Japan Pro Wrestling officially comes to a close, and so begins an admittedly uncertain new era for the promotion without Inoki’s physical presence, although they have vowed to honor their founder and former top star and keep his fighting spirit an integral part pf the promotion going forward.
The new year officially begins with “New Year’s Dash!” and fallout from today, which takes place tomorrow at Ota City General Gym in Tokyo. Live streaming on New Japan World and ABEMA will begin at 1:30 AM PT/4:30 AM ET, and best of all you can watch the event live and on demand FOR FREE! Tomorrow’s card will not be announced in advance and will be a surprise outside of probably the KOPW 2023 match. And there is more WRESTLE KINGDOM to come, as a second event will be held on 1/21 at Yokohama Arena in Yokohama.
UPDATE: It’s now official-KAIRI vs. Mercedes Mone for the IWGP Women’s Championship on 2/18 at Battle Of The Valley in San Jose, CA. Pre-order the PPV NOW on FITE! ($19.99)
