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Richard Trionfo reporting:
Welcome to the coverage of Wrestle Kingdom 9 from the Tokyo Dome in Tokyo, Japan. I am watching the New Japan World feed of the show.
The pay per view starts off with a run down of the matches on the show.
Match Number One: IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Championship: Bobby Fish & Kyle O’Reilly (ReDRagon) vs. Alex Shelley & KUSHIDA (Time Splitters) vs. Rocky Romero & Alex Koslov (Forever Hooligans) vs. Nick & Matt Jackson (The Young Bucks)
KUSHIDA and Fish start things off and Fish with a wrist lock. KUSHIDA with a reversal and drop toe hold into a front face lock. Fish tries to escape but KUSHIDA holds on and he takes Fish down with a side head lock. Fish with a head scissors and KUSHIDA escapes. They both go for drop kicks and then KUSHIDA connects. Shelley tags in and he punches Fish in the midsection and KUSHIDA with a kick. The Young Bucks with eye rakes but KUSHIDA and Shelley with back drops. Shelley with a wrist lock and KUSHIDA tags in. They continue the pattern until Fish pushes KUSHIDA into Shelley to knock him off the apron.
Koslov tags in and he takes Fish down with a head scissors. Koslov puts on the hat and it is time for some traditional Russian kicks to the head followed by a double stomp for a near fall. Koslov throws his hat at Fish and Fish runs Koslov into the corner and O’Reilly makes the tag. O’Reilly with a chin lock and then he hits a running knee after Fish connects with a leg sweep.
O’Reilly with a snap mare and he mocks Koslov before kicking him in the back. Fish tags in and he hits a flying forearm and he gets a near fall. Koslov wit a forearm and Matt tags in and him and Nick go after everyone on the apron. Nick with a drop kick to knock Shelley off the apron. Koslove sends Matt to the floor but he trips Koslov. Nick tries to kick Koslov from the apron but he ducks and Nick kicks his brother.
Nick misses a kick but he connects with an elbow. Nick blocks a kick but Koslov with an enzuigiri and both men are down. Romero with a kick that is blocked by Matt but he connects with a mule kick. Romero with clotheslines into the corner and then to Fish and O’Reilly and the Jacksons. He hits a double clothesline on the Young Bucks. Koslov and Romero with elbows to Matt but Matt with knees to avoid a double suplex. KUSHIDA tags in and eh connects with elbows and then he hits a tornado DDT on Nick. KUSHIDA knocks Fish and O’Reilly off the apron.
KUSHIDA goes to the apron and then Romero goes over the top to the floor. Shelley with a flying knee. KUSHIDA with a drop kick to Matt’s knees. Nick comes off the ropes but he is met with a double super kick and then Kyle stops KUSHIDA. Kyle comes off the apron into a super kick from Shelley.
KUSHIDA is tripped by Romero and he hits a suicide dive onto Shelley. Koslov hits a plancha onto Fish and O’Reilly. Matt with a drop kick through the ropes and Nick with a corkscrew plancha. KUSHIDA with a dive off the turnbuckles onto everyone on the floor. Shelley with a clothesline to Nick followed by a neckbreaker while KUSHIDA hits a moonsault for a near fall. Shelley and KUSHIDA with a dream sequence to Nick. Matt gets Irish whipped and then hit with a double knee and enzuigiri. Koslov makes the blind tag and he misses a lariat. Matt with a super kick and then Kyle with a series of knees.
Nick with a super kick and then he hits a running knee to Koslov. Matt stops Koslov on the turnbuckles and Shelley with an enzuigiri. The Jacksons land on their feet on a Doomsday Device attempt by Koslov, Romero, and Shelley. They hit super kicks and then they hit the Meltzer Driver but everyone is pushed into Matt to break up the cover.
Kyle and Bobby work over KUSHIDA but he hits a springboard back elbow. The Young Bucks with super kicks and then they go for the buckle bomb and enzuigiri to Romero. Nick is crotches and then Fish and O’Reilly work over Shelley in the corner and then Kyle with a knee off the turnbuckles to Shelley. They hit a wheelbarrow codebreaker into a wheelbarrow suplex.
Fish with a Super Falcon Arrow on one of the Jacksons. Koslov counters the brainbuster into an inside cradle. Fish and O’Reilly with Chasing the Dragon on Koslov for the three count.
Winners: Bobby Fish and Kyle O’Reilly
Match Number Two: Tomoaki Honma, Hiroyoshi Tenzan & Satoshi Kojima vs. Jeff Jarrett, Bad Luck Fale & Yujiro Takahashi (Bullet Club)
The Bullet Club attack before the bell rings and Jarrett works over Honma while Fale works over Kojima. Fale is hit with a double suplex by Tenzan and Kojima. They hit a slingshot elbow and diving head butt on Takahashi. Kojima with a series of chops followed by an Irish whip and running forearm into the corner. Fale with a splash into the corner on Tenzan. Jarrett tags in and he kicks Kojima. Jarrett with a short arm clothesline and a clothesline for a near fall. Fale tags back in and he punches Tenzan.
Fale knocks Tenzan off the apron. Takahashi tags in and he kicks Tenzan. Takahashi shows Tenzan no respect with kicks to the head followed by an elbow. Tenzan with forearms but Takahashi rakes the eyes. Tenzan with a kick and Cutter and both men are down. Honma tags in and he connects with back elbows to Takahashi and Jarrett. Honma slams Takahashi and chops him.
Honma with an Irish whip and forearm into the corner followed by a bulldog but he misses a diving head butt when Takahashi moves. Takahashi with a fisherman’s suplex for a near fall. Takahashi gets Honma on his shoulders but Honma gets to his feet and he hits a flying head butt. Jarrett gets the guitar and he tries to hit Honma with it but Honma with a kick. Takahashi hits Honma from behind and Jarrett tries to hit Honma but he moves and Jarrett hits Takahashi instead.
Tenzan and Kojima with a double belly-to0back suplex on Jarrett followed by a double back drop to Takahashi. Honma goes up top for a diving head butt and the three count.
Winners: Tomoaki Honma, Hiroyoshi Tenzan & Satoshi Kojima
Mike Johnson tagging in...FINALLY!
I want to thank Richard for covering the first few matches for me. For the second month in a row, Time-Warner Cable in NYC was unable to process PPV orders, even though I placed an order for this show five days ago. I’m still waiting for someone to call me back and explain what the issue is, since last month they claimed it was my box and I’ve since upgraded my box and modem to a newer model. As you can imagine, my conversation with them was the opposite of pleasant.
I want to thank my boy John Carey for hooking me up with his Slingbox.
Toru Yano, Naomichi Marufuji & TMDK (Shane Haste and Mikey Nicholls vs. Takashi Iizuka, Shelton Benjamin & KES (Lance Archer & Davey Boy Smith, Jr) (Suzuki-Gun)
Team Iizuka attacked Team Yano at the bell and everyone brawled all over the ring and on the outside. It settled down to Benjamin working over Yano. The Killer Elite Squad began double teaming Yano. Archer whipped him into the ropes but Yano stopped him by grabbing Archer by the hair and snapping him down to the mat. Haste and Nichols tagged in and worked over Archer including a nice cannonball in the corner.
Smith tagged in and cleaned house with kicks and a powerbomb but was nailed with a leg lariat by Nicholls. Archer caught Nicholls with a beautiful chokeslam. Marufuji and Iizuka tagged in, Marufuji cleaned house with several kicks and fought off Iizuka on the ropes but was caught with a Benjamin leap into a superplex. Majufuji came back with a series of kicks but was choked by Iizuka. Haste and Nicholls double teamed Iizuka and scored the pin.
Short but solid eight man tag.
Your winners, Team Toru Yano!
Jim Ross and Matt Striker did a good job of getting over the idea that the NOAH team had captured a win over New Japan on their own show.
Minoru Suzuki vs. Kazushi Sakuraba (Match ends by submission, KO or referee stoppage)
The announcers did a good job of building this as the battle of the proteges of Karl Gotch and Billy Robinson. Striker painted the picture of Suzuki as one of the creators of MMA and talked about the UWFi rules (listed above) which is how this bout will be contested.
By the way, the production on this show looks so great, I expect WWE will be taking notes for Wrestlemania.
A lot of mat wrestling and submission wrestling. Sakuraba went for the Texas Cloverleaf but Suzuki rolled through and went for a heel hook, even though they were trapped in the ropes. They began exchanging slaps and strikes as Suzuki was on the apron and Sakuraba was in the ring. Suzuki grabbed an armbar while hanging off the ropes, which the referee broke up.
They battled to the floor and up the entrance ramp. Suzuki nailed a snap mare and went up the ramp but Suzuki stopped him with several kicks. Sakuraba began nailing some stiff kicks. He locked a Kimura on the ramp, which is probably the first time that has ever happened. The referee finally convinced him to release the hold, since there’s no way for him to win that way. The story was that Suzuki’s arm was probably injured. They teased the idea of the referee stopping it but Suzuki refused to get over the story that he had his fighting spirit.
Back in the ring, Suzuki continued to take hard kicks. Suzuki went down to one knee, pretty much a sitting duck. He went down and the referee began counting him down. He returned to his feet at eight but continued getting kicked down. Sukuki fired back with several strikes, taking him down. The referee began counting down Sakuraba but he returned to his feet.
The two fired back and forth. Suzuki went for Key Lock in a cross armbreaker but Suzuki rolled through. Suzuki tried to break it but was trapped in an armbar. Suzuki was able to get to the ropes to break the hold. Sakuraba kept kicking him while he was down on the mat, focusing on the arm.
Suzuki made a comeback after daring Sakuraba to keep going as be absorbed the kicks. Suzuki grabbed a rear naked choke and Sakuraba was choked out.
Your winner, Minoru Suzuki!
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