14 Things We Learned From NJPW Wrestle Kingdom 11
The major talking points from another incredible January 4 Tokyo Dome show.
How do you meet expectations that are through the roof to begin with? The answer is simple; you make sure you are New Japan Pro Wrestling and you put on a show like Wrestle Kingdom 11. The dust is yet to clear on the show, but it may well end up topping the output of the previous two years.
The card promised much. The IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Championship was finally going to be defended in a two-on-two environment, after years of multi-team spotfests. Cody Rhodes was due to make his NJPW debut, against a man who has improved tenfold in the last 12 months, Juice Robinson.
Sure, Tomohiro Ishii was somewhat wasted in a multi-team tag match, but his alliance with Toru Yano had oddball-duo potential. Kamaitachi returned to New Japan under his real name, Hiromu Takahashi, to challenge KUSHIDA for the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Championship. Old foes/friends (delete as applicable) Katsuyori Shibata and Hirooki Goto would battle it out over the NEVER Openweight Championship.
But it was the main events that promised the most. Tetsuya Naito would look to put his Tokyo Dome hoodoo behind him against the former Ace, Hiroshi Tanahashi, with Naito's IWGP Intercontinental Championship on the line. The new Ace would face a new foe, as Kazuchika Okada defended the IWGP Heavyweight Championship against G1 Climax winner, Kenny Omega.
What did we learn from this incredible show? Quite a lot, actually...