Wrestle Kingdom 13 • Page 3

it was a good show but, for an event that always leaves me thinking that i've the best wrestling show of the year four days in, it was a little disappointing. it had a good amount of matches i loved (ospreay/ibushi, ishii/zsj, co-mains) but the middle of the show felt kind of rushed with nearly all those matches running ~10 minutes long, i would have liked to have some of those get more time to breathe. every title changing hands was crazy but so many of the endings felt predictable because of the need to write off the AEW crew (plus the i guess wwe bound kushida?) before any collaboration deal is in place. i also really did not like cody/juice. still a very good show, with a lot of really memorable moments (the reveal of the return of okada's trunks legitimately got me so hyped), omega/tana is an early MOTY candidate, and i don't regret running on two hours of sleep for this today, but i wasn't entirely blown away like i almost always am.

can't wait to see how new year's dash shakes things up, it's going to be fascinating.

 

oh yeah i forgot my other point, cody sucks. i cant remember the last time i enjoyed a match of his that wasnt in wwe

 

Yeah it's taking me too long to think of a memorable one he's had.

 

Its time we have a serious conversation about Chris Jericho's look

 

leave goth dad jericho alone

 

He's going through the "Its not a phase" phase

 

Juice deserves better

 

Jesus, that spike DDT on the table was sold like death. A Neville-level sell. Crowd also popped hard for Naito trying to beat him with the Codebreaker.

Another solid finish

 

The counter sequences in the middle of Ibushi/Ospreay, and the counters to end White/Okada are some of the best I've ever seen.

I also cant imagine a similar circumstance WWE could pull off in building Okada as huge as they have, and then having White beat him clean like that.

 

Ibushi/Osprey was something straight out of a martial arts movie

 

Im 35mins in and this main event is damn near perfect...Im rooting for it to go 60 minutes and Omega ask for it to go longer for a true winner

Welp, didnt last much longer, but what a match. Omega can work magic every time he goes. Booking him to not accept the count out was a nice touch, as was his style causing his downfall.

 

Not sure if anyone watched or heard, but during the press conference after the show, Tana across a match request from Jay White, so that is the next program.

 

No Kenny or Jericho on NYD. They gone gone

 

Ishii and Nagata is a match I never knew I needed

 

Taichi and Naito is the match I've never wanted

 

Kenny not being on the show makes a lot of sense. He is now a man without a faction. There isn't really a fit for him on a show that is heavy on factions. It makes a lot more sense to show up for NJ Cup and just run through it, since allegiances don't matter. Where they position him after that will be intriguing.

 

felt kind of low key for a NYD without any real big surprises but it did its thing. actually kind of exited for the continued ascent of switchblade which is a crazy turn from a year ago. gonna be a real interesting year depending on how the AEW situation shakes out.

 

I wasn't expecting too much, especially we got future title match ups for a couple of belts all in the same match, the only thing I was really hoping for was the Chaos mole to be revealed

 

Was looking up the Chaos mole theories, and this Jay White quote from a year ago is great. WWE would have put together a video with this as material leading into that Okada/White match

Let me make this very clear ... I'm doing this whole arrangement because it benefits me, and it's gonna help get me to where I want to be ... but the day is going to come where me and you, our paths are going to cross. Whether it's for this belt [IWGP Heavyweight Championship] or not but one day I might come and TAKE IT from you. I'm not going to fall into the background and become another of your CHAOS guys! ... But for now, if it works, just remember what I say, watch your back and don't get too comfortable!

 

There was a part of me that thought Okada was gonna turn on Tana. I could see it happening down the line.

 

If it ends up being Trent?, I'm going to be upset

 

Just finished NYD. Enjoyed both WK and NYD but both felt just slightly underwhelming for what they usually bring to the table. Every match on WK felt solid to really good (aside from Cody/Juice maybe) but there weren’t as many matches on this years card where you feel they could be serious contenders for MOTY at the end of the year. Also enjoyed all of the matches on NYD and actually enjoy most of the new feuds they’re setting up but didn’t feel like we got that big reveal/moment like we did in recent years (Kenny kicking out AJ, Suzuki-gun return, Jericho attacking Naito and Jay White turning down Bullet Club for CHAOS). I mean Yoshi-Hashi returning and Chase/Yujiro reuniting with the rest of the Bullet Club isn’t going to light up the headlines.

 

Really felt like Ospreay was working heel in his Ibushi match...but if Kenny is going, they'll need him as a face replacement for things like G1, etc.

 

guess it's hard to get a good surprise for NYD when they blew their huge return the night before with okada's trunks