NJPW Wrestle Kingdom 12: Every Match Ranked From Worst To Best

By Jack Pooley / January 4, 2018

7. NEVER Openweight Championship - Hair Vs. Hair: Minoru Suzuki (c) Vs. Hirooki Goto

Result: Goto nails Suzuki with the GTR to win the title (18:05).

Rating: Suzuki was put over fantastically throughout as a sadistic, unforgiving heel, putting Goto to sleep but flatly refusing to end things early.

Pacing-wise things moved pretty slowly and unremarkably for much of the first half, but once it picked up, the back-and-forth was a lot of fun, especially the slap-fest.

There was some great tension later as Suzuki once again pulled out the sleeper, though of course his efforts weren't as successful this time. The strong psychology and storytelling ultimately elevated the solid wrestling here. 7/10