14 Things We Learned From NJPW Wrestle Kingdom 11

6. 2017 Is Going To Be A Great Year For Junior Heavyweight Wrestling

Wrestle Kingdom KUSHIDA Hiromu Takahashi
njpwworld.com

And this is where the show kicked into high gear. KUSHIDA defended his IWGP Junior Heavyweight Championship against the ticking time bomb, Hiromu Takahashi, and what a match it was. This went from a battle of skill to a battle of tenacity to a plain old battle, two men fighting toe-to-toe to prove who the better man was on this night.

Takahashi dominated the match until he took one risk too far, hitting a wild senton on the outside that did as much damage to himself as it did KUSHIDA. Moments later KUSHIDA locked Takahashi in a cross armbreaker on the outside, and the entire match went to a new level. Takahashi would eventually come out on top, but it took everything both men had in the process.

All of a sudden, the outlook looks extremely bright for New Japan's Junior Heavyweight division. KUSHIDA/Takahashi could be the major rivalry that takes it to the next level, and with men like Will Ospreay, Rocky Romero, BUSHI and Ricochet waiting in the wings, 2017 is going to be a very special year for the junior heavyweight division in New Japan Pro Wrestling.

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Born in the middle of Wales in the middle of the 1980's, John can't quite remember when he started watching wrestling but he has a terrible feeling that Dino Bravo was involved. Now living in Prague, John spends most of his time trying to work out how Tomohiro Ishii still stands upright. His favourite wrestler of all time is Dean Malenko, but really it is Repo Man. He is the author of 'An Illustrated History of Slavic Misery', the best book about the Slavic people that you haven't yet read. You can get that and others from www.poshlostbooks.com.