NJPW King of Pro Wrestling: Okada retains, Ospreay and Phantasmo steal show

The recap and results for NJPW’s King of Pro Wrestling, where some plans had to change thanks to weather, leading to a new champion.

Preceding NJPW‘s King of Pro Wrestling 2019, there was an announcement stating that due to weather conditions, Zack Sabre Jr. and Jon Moxley’s matches were cancelled and Moxley’s IWGP United States title would be vacated. Desperado and Lance Archer received loud reactions from the crowd when the announcer ran down the updated card for the evening.

Suzuki-gun (El Desperado and Yoshinobu Kanemaru) defeated Roppongi 3K (Sho and Yoh)

Desperado came out in the shirt he was injured in against Jun Kasai. He hasn’t competed since May because of his of broken jaw. Suzuki-gun jumped RPG3K who looked more confident than ever. Despy faked a jaw injury and sucker punched YOH on apron. Suzuki-gun took the lead and Kanemura hit draping leg drop on outside to YOH.

RPG made a comeback towards the end, but Desperado shoved SHO into the ref, then shoved SHO into Kanemura for the whisky mist. Desperado hit a hard, closed-fist punch and the Pinche Loco to pin SHO. I wouldn’t be surprised to see these two teams in the finals of the Junior Tag League in a few weeks, and considering how good RPG looks these days, I could see them winning the entire tournament.

Hiroshi Tanahashi (w/ Wataru Inoue) and Tomoaki Honma defeated Togi Makabe and Toru Yano

Wataru Inoue accompanied Tanahashi to ringside in honor of Tanahashi’s 20th anniversary in the industry. Both he and Inoue debuted on the same show, on October 10, 1999 (Inoue defeated the debuting Katsuyori Shibata on the show). Inoue now works behind the scenes in NJPW after retiring because of nagging injuries in 2014.

For the match itself, it was mostly fan service wrestling, all the hits from each guy. Tana threw his air guitar into the crowd. Makabe swore in English a lot along with a few “come ons!” Honma missed the Kokeshi. Yano did Yano things. Honma took the brunt of the offense from the Chaos team until he could tag out to Tanahashi, who in all honesty gave this match some much needed intrigue or freshness, especially on a bigger show like this.

He and Honma eventually landed a double Kokeshi headbutt on Makabe. Tana and Honma move at about the same speed these days, and I think Makabe might’ve been the fastest one in the ring in this bout. Tana landed the High Fly Flow on Yano for the win in the end.

Suzuki-gun (Taichi and Douki) defeated Los Ingernobles de Japon (Tetsuya Naito and Shingo Takagi)

Taichi was quite probably with this crowd. He taunted Naito for not having his Intercontinental title before the match. Suzuki-gun worked both LIJ guys over for a long while in their corner. Douki used Abdullah-esque thrust chops to the throat on Takagi, but the Dragon returned with a few chops of his own and a loud standing lariat.

He tagged out to Naito who ran wild during a sequence with Taichi that wrapped with Naito hacking a loogie onto Taichi. When the match spilled to the floor at its peak, Taichi brought the mic stand in and drilled Takagi in the stomach with it, resulting in an automatic disqualification. He took out referee Kenta Sato with the stand after the bell, then both Naito and Takagi.

Naito went for Destino but Taichi blocked it and landed a dangerous backdrop then a Last Ride to “win,” when Douki counted to three. Naito limped his way to the back. It looks like we’ll see another Taichi and Naito bout soon, possibly at the finals show for Super Junior Tag League.

Minoru Suzuki defeated Jyushin “Thunder” Liger

Liger came out in his Battle Liger mask, meaning no hair, no mouth coverage, no top, all a subtle nod to Liger’s gear when he first faced off with Suzuki in a legitimate MMA match back in 2002 for PANCRASE. As for Suzuki, he scowled through his entire entrance, not cracking a real smile until he saw Liger across from him in the ring. So much of Suzuki’s storytelling is in his facial expressions, and this match tonight was a prime example of that.

Liger spit at Suzuki only seconds into the match. He then sat in open guard and offered Suzuki to come and grapple him down on the mat, a nod to the infamous Inoki vs. Ali match, or a role-inversion version of Sakuraba vs. Royce Gracie. Suzuki then pulled Liger into his own guard and locked in a Kimura with Liger’s left ankle grapevined. He used that grapevine to roll Liger to his back, then sank the Kimura in deeper from a kneeling position with great leverage. Liger put his ankle on the bottom rope for a break.

Suzuki challenged Liger to jump into his open guard next, and the two then went at it, essentially a light scramble until Liger locked in a triangle choke that Suzuki broke by grabbing the ropes. The two fell to the floor and the match then transitioned from a grappling match to a bar fight in seconds.

Suzuki busted a chair apart over Liger’s back on the floor after pushing ref Marty Asami aside. Suzuki walked back over to Liger and screamed at him and tore at his mask. Liger dared him to take it. Back in the ring, it slowly began to resemble a wrestling match. Liger came back with a deliberate set of attacks focused on Suzuki’s right arm and shoulder, though when going for a standing arm breaker, Suzuki had the presence of mind to snatch Liger into a choke sleeper, and eventually Suzuki transitioned from the hold to an attempt at the Gotch-style piledriver.

Liger reversed that, then landed a Thesz Press for two. He followed it up with a vertical drop brainbuster, perfectly executed, for a close two count. Liger set up for the shotei palm strike next, but Suzuki countered with a beautiful dropkick. The next few minutes were slaps, chops and hard palm strikes. Suzuki screamed at Liger, ordering him to stand up, to slap him in the face. Liger performed like he was collapsing by the end of this, not able to make a serious counterattack, gripping at Suzuki’s tights in an effort to force himself back up, all for naught. “The King” finally put Liger out of his misery with a sickening elbow to the face and a fully-gripped Gotch-style piledriver to end the match.

Afterwards, Suzuki walked to the corner prostrated himself into a dogeza pose, head-to-head with Liger. Suzuki’s face tensed and a few real, hard tears were shed before he stormed out of the ring. The cameras cut to a few more glassy eyes in the audience. Liger grabbed the mic and said “Suzuki, thanks.” He then walked to the back, refusing any assistance from ringside staff.

Will Ospreay defeated El Phantasmo to retain the NJPW Junior Heavyweight Championship

This was tremendous. Since El Phantasmo won the Super J-Cup a last month, this was his official chance at winning the IWGP Junior title. El P wore his shiny gold Super J-Cup victory jacket; Ospreay carried a katana to the ring.

El Phantasmo made a statement on social media recently saying he wanted to be a good boy now because he’d learned a lesson this week during the typhoon while he stayed at the NJPW Dojo. He wore white tights tonight and maybe that was a part of the aesthetic, too. He ordered Taiji Ishimori away beforehand. Ospreay sent Eagles away.

This was the underlying story of the whole match, El P, feigning nice guy, then going for a sucker attack with Ospreay shutting Phantasmo down every few moves. There were choreographed spots and sequences here that the guys ran through so quickly you only process half-bits, and everything looked awesome, like straight out of an action movie, that’s how impressive it looked.

Ospreay landed a space flying Tiger Drop to the floor midway through, then paid Gino Gambino on commentary a receipt from a recent MCW attack on Ospreay that Gambino had been part of, throwing El P over the guardrail onto Gambino and into the crowd. Chaos ensued from here; El P threw a chair at Ospreay, then took him deep into the crowd. Phantasmo brought Will to the second level of Ryoguku Sumo Hall and to the quasi-overpass above the exit doors.

Ospreay broke El P’s hold and beat him to the top of the balcony edge. With the venue spotlight on both, Ospreay went to power bomb El P, who shook Ospreay off, then knocked him to the floor. It looked to be at least a 20-foot drop. Phantasmo landed a big plancha with full body extension and crash-landed onto Ospreay onto the bare floor. El P then shoved a female fan from her seat and posed on her chair for the crowd. El Phantasmo: A good boy no more.

Back in the ring, Phantasmo hung Ospreay in a Tree of Woe position, upside down on top of the corner turnbuckle, and blasted Ospreay once with a basement dropkick, then teased another but stomped on Ospreay’s groin instead. When Phantasmo was taunting atop the ropes, Ospreay launched him from the top with a Spider German suplex from the top.

From here was where the crowd began peaking in volume, and inside the ring both wrestlers traded huge high spots with CG-esque perfection in form. Ospreay used a flying cutting from the guardrail to the floor when they were on the outside of the ring again. Ospreay took the fight back into the ring from here, and he ran through a series of signature spots until Taiji Ishimori reappeared, pulling referee Marty Asami to the floor and tried to hit Ospreay with the IWGP Junior title until Robbie Eagles also reappeared and took Ishimori out with a somersault senton suicida. He then grabbed a headlock on the Bone Soldier and returned him to the back, to the delight of the crowd.

With the referee still out, El Phantasmo saw an opportunity to use the belt, but ate a hook kick to the head instead. Ospreay whiffed on the Hidden Blade elbow strike when El P moved; when Ospreay turned around, Phantasmo tossed the belt to Ospreay, then punched him in the crotch. Not a low-blow, but a straight right to Ospreay’s Crown Jewels, and then decked Ospreay with the belt, “Whatever it takes, Kevin!” exclaimed fellow Bullet Club member Gino Gambino on commentary.

After a big splash from the top, Kevin Kelly made a call saying that the match was over— until Ospreay kicked out. Kelly exploded. El P later hit a rope-walk torture rack slam, something I don’t think I’ve seen before, but again, only for a two-count. Phantasmo used a Styles Clash for two. He then channeled another ex-Bullet Club member by using a V-Trigger, then attempted a One-Winged Angel, but Opsreay rolled him up for a surprise two. Ospreay landed a Spanish Fly next — the second callback to Amazing Red during this match, a reference to Red and Ospreay’s critically-acclaimed Super J-Cup bout in Tacoma, WA.

One of the final high spots came when Ospreay landed a Super Awesome Bomb from the top after reversing El Phantasmo’s super Frankensteiner attempt. Marty Asami even took a bump for that. After connecting with a brutal Hidden Blade and a Stormbreaker, Ospreay had Phantasmo beat, retaining his IWGP Junior Heavyweight title in an outstanding match. This will make many MOTY lists.

Hirooki Goto, Tomohiro Ishii & YOSHI-HASHI defeated Bullet Club (Jay White, KENTA & Yujiro Takahashi) w/ Gedo & Pieter

The crowd hated KENTA. This got out of control quickly and within minutes this was a six-man brawl on the floor around the ring. White teased Goto while KENTA egged Ishii on. This was fine, but it was a typical NJPW tag team affair, a few key guys pushing their programs on the coming shows.

While Goto picked up the win for his team after an ushi-goroshi on Takahashi, KENTA and Ishii continued their brawl into the back. KENTA was a terrific heel here, as was White. He and Goto jaw-jacked after that match as well. White to Goto on if he’ll get a shot at White’s IWGP Intercontinental title: “You’re not even in the f—–g picture!”

Lance Archer defeated Juice Robinson to win the vacant IWGP US title in a No Disqualification match

This was a good brawl. Robinson came out in a Commissar hat and furry white tiger-print robe bound together with studs and leather, or “a style all his own” as Kevin Kelly aptly put it. Archer grabbed the mic and demanded that the match stay a No Disqualification match, just as it was originally booked when Jon Moxley was scheduled to compete. Robinson obliged, and within moments he dove through the ropes onto Archer on the floor, then started laying into him with a steel chair around the ring.

Archer made his comeback after landing a giant boot to Robinson’s face, then chokeslammed Juice clean through a table over the guardrail. He went after Young Lion Yuya Uemura next with a chair and made a mess near the timekeeper’s table, then stomped around ringside and ripped all of the ring post pads off the turnbuckles and threw each of them into the crowd. He replaced the padding with chairs and tables and began whipping him into a few of the corners and looked like an absolute monster.

It looked like Robinson jammed or dislocated his finger on one of those spots and held onto his hand for pretty much the rest of the match after that. He was also bleeding from the bridge of his nose. Robinson wrestled through any pain and landed a big superplex on Archer, nailed him with the Left Hand of God haymaker despite the injury, then whipped Archer through a table in the corner, one that Archer himself had set up just moments earlier. Archer responded with a pounce through the table adjacent to where the last spot was.

The pace began to slow after this with Archer mostly on offense. Robinson came back late with a Juice Box to the 6-foot-8 Archer, but the last half of this felt like all Archer. After he landed the Black Out onto a pile of chairs in the ring, Archer rammed Robinson’s head into the pile a few times, then locked on the EBD Claw with a knee in Robinson’s throat and pinned him like this. Archer is the new IWGP US champion. This dragged in the middle a bit but it was a good brawl, and it’s a good choice to have Archer hold the title with Moxley not as available right now.

After the match, David Finlay returned. While Archer continued beating on Robinson and the Young Lions, Finlay dashed out and gave Archer a Stunner. He looked to be in better shape than he was last year before his shoulder surgery, which had Finlay out for about nine months.

Kota Ibushi defeated EVIL

Compared to the past few matches, this one was slower and less high-impact until later on in the bout. EVIL worked deliberately, posing hold maneuvers for the crowd and building slowly to bigger spots. On the floor midway through the match, he took a baseball swing at Ibushi with a chair, and knocked another chair that hung around Ibushi’s neck.

In the ring, EVIL continued to dominate. At around the 15-minute mark, he went for a running lariat that Ibushi countered with a standing Frankensteiner. From here, Ibushi landed a super Frankensteiner off the top rope but only scored two. EVIL later responded with the big lariat he intended to use earlier. The crowd was into it here, but it was already more than three hours into the card and you could sense the fan fatigue. You’d think for these two the crowd would be hotter.

Ibushi went for Nakamura’s Boma-Ye but ate two more lariats from EVIL, both lifting Ibushi off his feet and onto his face. The finish saw EVIL throw two half-Nelson suplexes and go for one final running lariat; Ibushi countered it with one of his own. After a V-Trigger and two Kamagoes, Ibushi won and gets to keep his Wrestle Kingdom contract. He will face the IWGP World Heavyweight champion in the main event at Tokyo Dome on January 4.

Kazuchika Okada defeated SANADA to retain the IWGP World Heavyweight championship

Okada launched himself at SANADA with a shotgun dropkick from the bell but missed. He missed a few more dropkicks, SANADA light on his feet avoiding them all for now. SANADA missed the moonsault, then missed locking in the Skull End dragon sleeper. The sequence ended with a standoff and the fans perked up, and mostly in favor of Okada tonight.

This followed a similar pace to Ibushi and EVIL’s match, slower and less of a spectacle than a few of the preliminary matches. Most of the big spots packed in extra value, as you could hear from some of the crowd reactions, and when the two would run the ropes, they’d sprint. Okada later did the Jericho double-jump dropkick and knocked SANADA off the apron to the floor. He followed up with a running splash over the guardrail onto SANADA into the front row. Referee Red Shoes Umino began counting SANADA out until Okada stopped the count and insisted SANADA get himself back in the ring. A bit of deja vu here, with Okada acting like Suzuki towards Liger earlier on in the show, forcing SANADA to show him guts.

SANADA mounted a comeback, dropkicking Okada back to the floor and diving onto him with a pescado. Despite said comeback, the crowd still sounded mostly to be behind Okada. The Rainmaker readjusted and finally landed a shotgun dropkick that blasted SANADA to the mat, then did the same from the top rope, a beautiful, Owen Hart-esque missile dropkick, and next a diving elbow drop into SANADA’s chest.

We were 20 minutes into the match; here was when Okada did the Rainmaker pose, but the celebration was short because SANADA had Okada in the Skull End for the next few minutes, until Okada used a desperation Rainmaker, knocking both to the mat for another few moments. The Ryogoku crowd had a pulse but this didn’t have the frenzied feeling like their G1 bout had, nor any of their matches in Niigata from this past spring’s New Japan Cup weekend.

SANADA swung Okada around in the Skull End again, then pulled him to the mat. It was a fine moment but it lacked Heavyweight Championship urgency. SANADA hit one moonsault and missed the second; Okada got his knees up. They were both out on the mat again and the match had by this point already passed the 30-minute mark. They sold for a few minutes, and at the 35-minute mark they exchanged more counters, reversals, and they teased using each other’s signature maneuvers until Okada finally landed his dropkick. Okada debuted a new Michinoku Driver-type move and followed it up with one last Rainmaker to put SANADA away at just over 36 minutes. SANADA bawled in a prostrated position before standing and shaking the champion’s hand before he exited the ring.

After the match, Ibushi came to the ring with his 1.4.2020 IWGP Championship briefcase, the physical representation of his guaranteed match against whomever the IWGP World Heavyweight champion is after King of Pro Wrestling, and after tonight’s main event, it is Okada. He took the microphone back and confirmed that he and Ibushi would fight for the title on January 4 at the Tokyo Dome, and said he’d be doing this for everyone struggling and in times of difficulty after the typhoon. He stood stoic in the Rainmaker pose to end the show.

Final thoughts

This was an excellent show that went just a bit too long. The last five matches are very good, but Will Ospreay and El Phantasmo stole the show with their spectacle, with 50-plus-year olds Jushin Liger and Minoru Suzuki not too far behind in their brutal, emotional bout.