Wrestle Kingdom 12
Wrestle Kingdom 12 | |||
---|---|---|---|
Promotion New Japan Pro-Wrestling | | ||
Date | January 4, 2018 | ||
City | Tokyo, Japan | ||
Venue | Tokyo Dome | ||
Attendance | 43,000 (total)[1] 34,995 (paid)[2] | ||
Tagline(s) | Pro-Wrestling Together! 1.4!! (Japanese: みんなでプロレス! イッテンヨン!!, Hepburn: Minnade Puroresu! Ittenyon!!)[3] | ||
Event chronology | |||
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Wrestle Kingdom chronology | |||
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Wrestle Kingdom 12 in Tokyo Dome was a professional wrestling event promoted by New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW). The event took place on January 4, 2018, at the Tokyo Dome in Tokyo, Japan. It was the 27th January 4 Tokyo Dome Show, which is NJPW's biggest annual event and has been called "the largest wrestling show in the world outside of the United States" and the "Japanese equivalent to the Super Bowl".[4][5]
The show was headlined by
Six other title matches also took place on the show with
Production
Role: | Name: |
---|---|
Commentators | Don Callis (English-language announcer) |
Kevin Kelly (English-language announcer) | |
Ring announcers | Makoto Abe |
Referees | Kenta Sato |
Marty Asami | |
Red Shoes Unno
| |
Tiger Hattori |
Background
Wrestle Kingdom 12 was officially announced on August 13, 2017, during the final of the
Takaaki Kidani announced that NJPW looked to get 30,000 fans in attendance for the show.[8] Tickets for the event went on sale on October 25, 2017.[9] NJPW was said to have been shocked at the large number of tickets sold outside of Japan with the situation being described as "like nothing before for any Japanese pro wrestling show in history".[10] On November 27, NJPW announced that ticket sales were up 80% from the previous year with 20,000 tickets having already been sold.[11] On December 25, the promotion announced that 30,000 tickets had been sold.[12][13] Three days later, NJPW announced it would be making more seats available on the day on the show.[14]
The event would feature a special appearance by Chris Jericho, wrestling his first NJPW match in nearly two decades against Kenny Omega. Billed as "Alpha vs. Omega", the match marked Jericho's first match outside of WWE since 1999. Jericho previously worked for NJPW in 1997, originally as the masked Super Liger, before returning to the Chris Jericho name.[15] Jericho's last NJPW match before Wrestle Kingdom 12 took place on September 23, 1998, teaming with the late Black Tiger II in a loss to Shinjiro Otani and Tatsuhito Takaiwa for the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Championship.[16] He most recently worked for WWE in July 2017,[17] but was now a free agent.[18] NJPW color commentator Don Callis, a mutual friend of Jericho and Omega, came up with the idea for the match between his fellow Winnipeggers. He pitched the idea to Jericho, expecting him to laugh it off, but Jericho instead was interested in the match,[19] seeing parallels between it and the August 2017 fight between Conor McGregor and Floyd Mayweather Jr.[20] Jericho finally realized that NJPW was serious about putting the match together, when four of the promotion's officials, including booker Gedo, flew to New York City for the first meeting between the two parties. After several weeks of negotiating, a deal for the match was reached, at which point Jericho, despite not being under a WWE contract, talked to the company's chairman Vince McMahon, who was said to have been "fine" with the idea of Jericho working a NJPW event.[21] At that time, Jericho's appearance at Wrestle Kingdom 12 was scheduled to be a one-time deal.[20] Jericho called the match a throwback to the 1980s, where wrestlers would travel overseas for matches and stated that the match would push promotions to think more and be more creative.[22]
Behind the scenes, Jericho became part of a group of people that started pushing for the show to air on American
Storylines
Wrestle Kingdom 12 featured ten professional wrestling matches that involved different wrestlers from pre-existing scripted feuds and storylines. Wrestlers portrayed villains, heroes, or less distinguishable characters in the scripted events that built tension and culminated in a wrestling match or series of matches.[28]
Wrestle Kingdom 12 was main evented by
On August 13, 2017, Naito defeated Kenny Omega in the final to win the 2017 G1 Climax. With Naito now being fully embraced by NJPW fans, this was seen as the conclusion of a four-year arc that started at the 2013 G1 Climax, where he was rejected by the same fans.
On November 5, 2017, at Power Struggle, Chris Jericho made a surprise return to NJPW, appearing in a video, where he challenged Kenny Omega to a match at Wrestle Kingdom 12 in Tokyo Dome. The challenge was quickly accepted by Omega, who had been engaged in a "Twitter feud" with his fellow Winnipegger over the past weeks.[17][45] The match, contested for Omega's IWGP United States Heavyweight Championship, was officially announced the following day.[18] Due to the high-profile status of the match, Omega began petitioning for Wrestle Kingdom 12 to have a "double main event" much like the Wrestle Kingdom shows had had in 2013, 2014 and 2015. Omega stated that he agreed that Okada and Naito should have the final match of the show, but felt that he and Jericho should have the second to last match, claiming that just four months after the creation of the IWGP United States Heavyweight Championship, he had already made it the number two title in NJPW over the IWGP Intercontinental Championship.[46] Jericho made his in person return at the December 11 show, attacking and bloodying Omega following his match, while also laying out a referee, a young lion and Don Callis.[47][48] At a press conference the following day, Omega stated that with the attack Jericho had turned their upcoming "gentleman's contest" into a fight, before attacking his Wrestle Kingdom 12 opponent.[49] During the same conference, NJPW officially announced that Wrestle Kingdom 12 would feature a double main event with the IWGP Heavyweight and United States Heavyweight Championship matches.[50] Naito stated that he was disappointed with the decision, adding that NJPW would never become the number one promotion in the world as long as they were humoring WWE.[51] On December 18, NJPW announced that, as a result of both Omega and Jericho demanding it, the match had been turned into a no disqualification match.[52][53]
In the IWGP Intercontinental Championship match, Hiroshi Tanahashi defended the title against
Wrestle Kingdom 12 also featured the first-ever four-way match for the
On October 9 at King of Pro-Wrestling,
Also at Power Struggle, Cody confronted Kota Ibushi after he had been defeated by Tanahashi in the main event, offering to defend the ROH World Championship against him at Wrestle Kingdom 12. Initially announced the following day as a potential title match, the match instead became a non-title "special singles match", when Cody lost the ROH World Championship to Dalton Castle at ROH's Final Battle on December 15.[52][63] Prior to the Chris Jericho announcement, Ibushi had been seen as a possible opponent for Kenny Omega at Wrestle Kingdom 12,[56] with the two former tag team partners having teased a match against each other since Ibushi's June 2017 return to NJPW.[64][65][66] In the build-up to the match, Cody, Omega's Bullet Club stablemate, compared Ibushi to Brutus Beefcake and Omega to Hulk Hogan, claiming that Ibushi was nothing more than a sidekick in their team.[40]
On December 11, Los Ingobernables de Japón members Evil and
At Power Struggle, after Minoru Suzuki had defeated Toru Yano to retain the NEVER Openweight Championship, he was challenged by Hirooki Goto. Suzuki, however, turned down the challenge, stating that he was done with Goto, having first defeated him to win the title in April and again to retain the title in June.[73] On November 18, Goto pinned Suzuki in their opening match in the 2017 World Tag League and afterwards made another challenge for the NEVER Openweight Championship.[73] On December 11, when Suzuki again turned down Goto's challenge, stating he had nothing to offer in return for another title match, Goto offered to put his hair on the line in the match.[74] On December 17, Suzuki tried to cut Goto's hair with clippers, but was thwarted, which led to him shaving young lion Tetsuhiro Yagi instead.[75] After being pinned by Goto again the following day, Suzuki accepted his challenge for a title match, stating that the match would be one-on-one with no seconds at ringside and with the loser getting his head shaved.[76] The match was officially announced the following day.[77][78]
Results
No. | Results Four-way match for the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Championship 21:18 | | |||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
8 | Hiroshi Tanahashi (c) defeated Jay White | Singles match for the IWGP Intercontinental Championship | 19:43 | ||||
9 | Kenny Omega (c) defeated Chris Jericho | No Disqualification match for the IWGP United States Heavyweight Championship | 34:36 | ||||
10 | Kazuchika Okada (c) (with Gedo) defeated Tetsuya Naito | Singles match for the IWGP Heavyweight Championship | 34:26 | ||||
|
Gauntlet match
Elimination | Wrestler | Team | Eliminated by | Elimination move | Time | Ref. |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Raymond Rowe
|
War Machine
|
Zack Sabre Jr. | Referee stoppage | 06:05 | [2] |
2 | Taichi
|
Suzuki-gun | Toru Yano | Pinned with a Schoolboy | 06:46 | [2] |
3 | Ryusuke Taguchi | Taguchi Japan | Toru Yano | Pinned with a Schoolboy | 10:15 | [2] |
4 | Tama Tonga | Bullet Club | Beretta
|
Pinned after a Dudebuster | 17:03 | [2] |
Winners: | Beretta, Tomohiro Ishii and Toru Yano )
|
See also
References
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