Casual Fan Reviews Wrestle Kingdom 14

This past weekend was all about NJPW and Wrestle Kingdom fourteen and a busy couple of days it was! Full of early candidates for match of the year, show-stopping performances, title changes and epic competition the bar was raised and set for the rest of the year as we closed our first week of 2020. In today’s blog post we are going to be taking a look back at the past weekend as I give you an NJPW Casual fan's opinions of one of the biggest and most talked about wrestling events of the year.

Night one

Before we get into the top matches of the evening we have to take a look at the night as a whole and the other encounters that took place. The IWGP Tag Team Championship match between The Guerrillas of Destiny and David Finlay and Juice Robinson was a personal favourite of mine. I really enjoyed this relatively short match. The champions really dominated a good chunk of this bout but there was so much determination in the challengers and it was great to see Finlay pick up the win here for himself and Juice. It was great to see a bunch of legends in action to at the top of the show.

Lance Archer vs Jon Moxley (Texas Deathmatch)

This was always sure to be a favourite of mine. With Lance Archer defending the IWGP United States Championship against Jon Moxley in a Deathmatch the action was sure to be intense and entertaining to say the least as two of the most unhinged and dangerous men in pro wrestling today collided on one of the biggest stages in the world. Only able to win by knockout, last man standing rules or Submission every went in this chaotic match up. The fight started straight away with both men filling their soundings with objects and making their to the ring ready for a war. Tables, chairs, kendo sticks and trash can lids were all used throughout this match and fans, of course, expected nothing less between these two rather similar talents. The EDB Claw with a plastic bag was a creative idea that really fitted the match and the two men in the ring to their styles. It didn’t come as a huge surprise to see Moxley win back the title and after a dangerous, intense, entertaining and wack encounter both men had a strong showing and this was a bout right up my street.

Will Ospreay vs Hiromu Takahashi

Will Ospreay vs Hiromu Takahashi was always sure to be a standout show-stealing match up and the two did no disappoint in the slightest. Ospreay walked into this match more confident and cock than ever before and added so much character to this encounter. While he didn’t manage to walk away with the win and the Jr. Heavyweight Championship he has been noted as one of the standout performers of the evening/weekend. Over the past year, we have seen Ospreay killing it within the division and working incredible matches against an array of talents while of course Takahashi is coming off a massively serious injury which really added so much story to this encounter. Throughout the match Ospreay wowed fans with his athleticism and impressive/unique sequences that really added to why this will be a standout of the year. The English star was pulling everything out of the bag and the wild spots throughout left everyone completely hooked but the fight in Hiromu was unstoppable. There was great character, strong storytelling and fantastic wrestling here.

Jay White vs Tetsuya Naito

I’ll be completely honest, I didn’t enjoy this next match up as much as I was hoping for. The action between Jay White and Tetsuya Naito was kept rather slow-paced and throughout I was left waiting for something more to happen, that wow moment that took this match to the next level. There were a couple of awesome moments that really grabbed my attention and gave this match a little something but overall this was a disappointing encounter that could have been much much better. I also felt that this went on for far too long at over thirty-three minuets (despite feeling longer). Both men are incredible wrestlers but this match for me personally just didn’t work.

Kazuchika Okada vs Kota Ibushi

As a fan of both these men I was excited for this match up and expected great things as did many others watching. This was another lengthy match nearly hitting the forty-minuet mark but there was a great deal keeping fans watching. There was plenty of athleticism and simply brilliant wrestling here between two amazing athletes. I’ll admit that there were times I grew bored and ten minuets or so could have been taken off this match to remove some of the unnecessary moments here. There wasn’t much originality but the popularity and skill amongst both men made this a suitable main event worth staying up for and closing night one well.

Jon Moxley vs Juice Robinson

While I really enjoyed Moxley’s performance on night one yesterdays showing against Juice Robinson just didn’t do it for me. It didn’t standout on the show and it felt as though they were trying to do as much as they could with Mox over the weekend, but this second bout didn’t quite live up to the standards of his Texas death match the previous night. I was however, interested in the match to say the least and they did fit in some great moments including seeing a side of Moxley’s move set we don’t see very often. The standout moment here, however, came after the match when Suzukie made an appearance and attacked Moxley out of nowhere! This was brilliant. These two men colliding makes for a dream match up and I cannot wait for this to take place in the near future!

Night Two

An early standout of the evening was the Undisputed British Heavyweight Championship encounter between Zack Sabre JR. and Sanada. Both rather different this was an interesting match up and with the two no stranger to each other this made for a simple, fun wrestling match that fitted into the show nicely. There was a great level of intensity to the action, Zack character work was on point throughout (something I don’t think people talk enough about) and Sanada felt like a huge star throughout despite the loss. Talking of great character work, KENTA was on point throughout his bout against Hirooki Goto. These are two talents who in terms of character most certainly different and that was on display. This was a fun action packed match up where you could feel the hate between the two men! We saw an end to Kenta’s title reign but it will be very interesting to see what comes up next for KENTA.

Jay White vs Kota Ibushi

On night one both Kota and Jay White took part in lengthy, gruelling matches and so I have all the respect in the word for both these men who went on to compete in another lengthy bout against one another this time on night two. Ibushi was a major standout of the weekend and I have to be honest and say that I preferred this match up to what we saw from both men on Saturday. Now, what was interesting this weekend was Ibushi was unable to pick up the win in both matches he took part in which could set Kota up for a big year ahead of him with the possibilities of a darker, intense and ruthless version of this huge fan favourite and its what we see from Ibushi which will keep me watching throughout the year.

Chris Jericho vs Hiroshi Tanahashi

There really is no denying how good this match was. We all expected this to be a standout contest. Both men are massively popular and skilled and share their similarities. This wasn’t the best match of the weekend or the evening and it was another bout that could benefited from being a tad bit shorter than it was but none the less this was a solid contest I would understand many would have loved. I liked seeing both men use each other’s finishing moves and watching it felt as though both were having a great time in this match. There weren’t any surprises here or much that made this very unique but none the less a good match up.

Tetsuya Naito vs Kazuchika Okada

We then had the main event and what a huge moment this was. There was so much passion, story and energy in this match leaving everyone watching so emotionally invested. There was a great deal of drama throughout the pace of the match worked perfectly and I as a casual fan at least had no idea what to expect from the end result. There was a classic story being told here that showed there is no need for anything over the top storyline-wise and the wrestling here kept us all hooked and entertained. This was a showing of fantastic wrestling and when we put everything into perspective there is no denying this is a huge match of the year candidate. The love for Naito was strong in the Tokyo Dome and his win was a huge moment in wrestling. There was meaning behind every single thing Naito done here while Okada showed the world yet again why he is one of the best in the world today and despite their differences, all-round its clear respect is there between both men.

As a casual fan, I did enjoy plenty of the matches over this past weekend. I felt as though some matches went on for far too long but overall there was a lot set up for the year ahead that is sure to genuinely have me coming back for more throughout twenty twenty. There were clear standout talents and matches during both shows and there is no denying there are some real match of the candidates that took place.