First week of 2020! Let’s see how much of the Top 5 is dominated by Wrestle Kingdom!

Now this first Top 5 of the year will not be something for fans who don’t watch puroresu. Also, taking some readers thoughts into consideration, I figured I would change the format of the article a little. At the top will be a quick Top 5, with the matches and ratings, below will contain the match picture, finish and analysis.

So if you didn’t see the match yet, the Quick Top 5 can be a reference tool for things to search out without knowing too much about the match. Honorable Mentions also won’t contain the finish.

Admittedly, Wrestle Kingdom’s format screwed that up a little since the Winner Take All match, spoils other matches purely by how the two cards were conceived. Moving forward though, the Quick Top 5 won’t contain any spoilers.

Quick Top 5:

1. NJPW Wrestle Kingdom 14 Day 2: Double Gold Dash Winner Takes All IWGP Heavyweight & Intercontinental Championship: Kazuchika Okada (c) vs Tetsuya Naito (c)
   Rating: *****
2. NJPW Wrestle Kingdom 14 Day 1: IWGP Intercontinental Championship: Tetsuya Naito vs Jay White (c)
   Rating: *****
3. NJPW Wrestle Kingdom 14 Day 1: IWGP Heavyweight Championship: Kazuchika Okada (c) vs Kota Ibushi
   Rating: **** 1/2
4. AJPW New Year Wars Day 2: Triple Crown Championship: Kento Miyahara (c) vs Jake Lee
   Rating: **** 1/2
5. NJPW Wrestle Kingdom 14 Day 1: IWGP Junior Heavyweight Championship: Hiromu Takahashi vs Will Ospreay (c)
   Rating: **** 1/2

Honorable Mentions:

• NJPW Wrestle Kingdom 14 Day 2: Chris Jericho vs Hiroshi Tanahashi
  Rating: ****
  NOAH Reboot: GHC Heavyweight Tag Team Championship: AXIZ (Go Shiozaki & Katsuhiko Nakajima) (c) vs Naomichi Marufuji & Masaaki Mochizuki
  Rating: ****
  NJPW Wrestle Kingdom 14 Day 2: NEVER Openweight Championship: Hirooki Goto vs KENTA (c)
  Rating: ****
  AJPW New Year Wars Day 2: Vacant Junior Heavyweight Championship: Susumu Yokosuka vs Hikaru Sato
  Rating: ****
  NJPW Wrestle Kingdom 14 Day 2: British Heavyweight Championship: SANADA vs Zack Sabre Jr (c)
  Rating: *** 3/4
  AJPW New Year Wars Day 1: World Tag Team Championship: Violence Giant (Suwama & Shuji Ishikawa) vs Zeus & Ryoji Sai (c)
  Rating: *** 3/4
  NJPW Wrestle Kingdom 14 Day 2: Jay White vs Kota Ibushi
  Rating: *** 3/4
  AEW Dynamite: Cody vs Darby Allin
  Rating: *** 3/4
  AJPW New Year Wars Day 2: Shigehiro Irie & Lucas Steel vs Shuji Ishikawa & Yusuke Oakda
  Rating: *** 1/2
  NJPW Wrestle Kingdom 14 Day 2: IWGP Junior Tag Titles: El Phantasmo & Taiji Ishimori (c) vs Roppongi 3k (SHO & YOH)
  Rating: *** 1/2
  AJPW New Year Wars Day 1: Susumu Yokosuka vs Koji Iwamoto
  Rating: *** 1/2
  WWE Raw: Buddy Murphy vs Aleister Black
  Rating: *** 1/2
  NJPW Wrestle Kingdom 14 Day 2: Liger the Final: Ryu Lee & Hiromu Takahashi vs Jyushin Thunder Liger & Naoki Sano w/Yoshiaki Fujiwara
  Rating: *** 1/2
  AJPW New Year Wars Day 2: Yuma Aoyagi, Ryoji Sai, Danny Jones & Ayato Yoshida vs Zeus, KAI, Naoya Nomura & Yoshi-Tatsu
  Rating: *** 1/4
  AEW Dynamite: Kenny Omega & The Young Bucks vs PAC & Lucha Bros
  Rating: *** 1/4
  AJPW New Year Wars Day 1: Omori Hokuto, Yuma Aoyagi, Kento Miyahara & Yoshi-Tatsu vs Izanagi, Shigehiro Irie, Utamaru & Lucas Steel
  Rating: *** 1/4
  NJPW Wrestle Kingdom 14 Day 2: IWGP US Championship: Juice Robinson vs Jon Moxley (c)
  Rating: *** 1/4
  AJPW New Year Wars Day 1: Kagetora vs Hikaru Sato
  Rating: *** 1/4
  AEW Dynamite: Fatal 4 Way AEW Women’s Championship: Riho vs Nyla Rose vs Hikaru Shida vs Britt Baker
  Rating: ***
  NOAH Reboot: Tadasuke, Daisuke Harada, YO-HEY, HAYATA & Keiji Mutoh vs Chris Ridgeway, Yoshinari Ogawa, Kotaro Suzuki, Atsushi Kotoge & Doug Williams
  Rating: ***
  WWE Raw: Andrade vs Ricochet
  Rating: ***
  AJPW New Year Wars Day 2: Kagetora, Black Menso-re & Nasahiro Takanashi vs Koji Iwamoto, Fumnori Abe & Francesco Akira
  Rating: ***
  NJPW Wrestle Kingdom 14 Day 1: Liger the Final: Ryusuke Taguchi, Tatsuhito Takaiwa, Shinjiro Otani & Naoki Sano w/Kuniaki Kobayashi vs Great Sasuke, Tatsumi Fujinami, Tiger Mask IV & Jyushin Thunder Liger w/El Samurai
  Rating: ***

5. NJPW Wrestle Kingdom 14 Day 1: IWGP Junior Heavyweight Championship: Hiromu Takahashi vs Will Ospreay (c)

Snippet from Mitchell’s Coverage:
Hiromu has a wild look in his eyes again as he brings Ospreay up into a fireman’s carry. Corner Death Valley! Hiromu drags Ospreay up, fireman’s carry and a spin, but Ospreay kicks free! Hiromu SUPERKICKS, and SUPERKICKS! Ospreay is on his knees but Hiromu fireman’s carries. Ospreay slips out, HOOK KICK! Underhoooks, Canadian rack but Hiromu slips out, only to run into a SPANISH FLY! Cover, TWO!! Hiromu survives but Ospreay wants the kill shot! Hiromu rises, Ospreay aims, HIDDEN BLADE!! But Ospreay doesn’t cover, he underhooks and drags Hiromu up! Canadian rack, but Hiromu pops through to hit ANOTHER DESTROYER! Cover, TWO?!?! Ospreay survives again and Tokyo is electric!

Hiromu drags himself up with the ropes and shouts at Ospreay! Hiromu runs to LARIAT!! But he’s not done, fireman’s carry to TIME BOMB!! Cover, TWO!?!? This cannot be! Hiroum is beside himself, but he drags Ospreay up again. Hiromu runs, runs and LARIATS! Then a scoop, tucking Ospreay in, INVERTED AIR RAID!! Cover, Hiromu wins!!

Winner: Hiromu via Time Bomb 2

4. AJPW New Year Wars Day 2: Triple Crown Championship: Kento Miyahara (c) vs Jake Lee

From my Analysis:
This is Jake’s second attempt at the Triple Crown championship in less than 9 months and his 4th singles match against Kento in the same span of time (finals of Champion Carnival and Royal Road tournaments). Jake managed to win the Royal Road Tournament, but he’s come up short when it really counts. Can he over come the Triple Crown demon that is Kento Miyahara?

Both men start off quickly aiming for the head. Moments where they’d usually give respite for a little gloating or mocking are quickly met with a kick in the face. There isn’t quite the level of disdain that Jake had in his last match, but both men are trying to create openings by striking early and often in the earlier portions of the match.

After a Big Boot from Jake knocks Kento to the floor from the turnbuckle, his countenance changes a bit. Apron PK, and the sarcastic side comes out a little as he mimics the count on the outside with a big grin on his face. He breaks the count to put Kento on the apron, pick his face up to the crowd and then raise a knee into his chin. Kento does manage to turn the tide with an Apron Piledriver, which sets up for a Blackout, and when he goes for a second Blackout, Jake catches it and kicks him in the face for his troubles.

Both men are exhausted and mostly throwing haymakers at this point. Kento with the German Suplex and Blackout, Jake hit his Giant Killing Backdrop, but only for two. It was just last ditch efforts from both, but Jake got caught with a Blackout after Kento countered the Backdrop, and that was the opening Kento needed to slap on the Shutdown Suplex, and make his 9th successful defense.

Winner: Kento via Shutdown Suplex Hold

3. NJPW Wrestle Kingdom 14 Day 1: IWGP Heavyweight Championship: Kazuchika Okada (c) vs Kota Ibushi

From My Analysis:
As with many Okada matches it’s hard to really put to words how the match plays out. This one was a slow build and honestly, following the other two matches, it was a little bland early on. They both traded strikes, but it wasn’t until Okada unlocked Ibushi’s second health bar, that we saw the dark side of Ibushi show up and turn up everything.

Ibushi with the closed fists, stiff kicks, generally head hunting and looking like he was trying to actually injure Okada. Ibushi also tapped into a few friends/idols moves with a Bom-Ba-Ye, V-Trigger, and an attempted Avalanche Tiger Driver. Okada pulled out some old tricks, Red Ink, Heavy Rain, Rolling Rainmaker and the Fire/Thunder Driver, before winning with the Rainmaker. The second half of this match made it one worth watching.

Winner: Okada via Rainmaker

2. NJPW Wrestle Kingdom 14 Day 1: IWGP Intercontinental Championship: Tetsuya Naito vs Jay White (c)

From My Analysis:
We watch a great story play out in this match. Naito’s usual Traquilo countenance has changed over the last few months with all of the loses and short comings. Jay has managed to take advantage of short cuts, blindside attacks and general great heel tactics. Naito’s evolution and Jay embracing his character fully has been wonderful during this feud. So we finally get to see which one has come further when there’s double gold on the line.

Naito brought a meticulous and methodical approach early on, but Gedo’s interference proved to be exactly what White needed to regain advantages. White worked over the knees, which Naito sold well, had a huge Chairshot while Red Shoes was recovering from a bump, and just a lot of great near falls and moments to keep you on the edge of your seat. The story played out perfectly with Naito being able to Jay behind him, but not without tons of struggles and nearly failing again. Now, one more step for Naito.

Winner: Naito wins via Destino

1. NJPW Wrestle Kingdom 14 Day 2: Double Gold Dash Winner Takes All IWGP Heavyweight & Intercontinental Championship: Kazuchika Okada (c) vs Tetsuya Naito (c)

From My Analysis:
As we’ve grown to expect, this wasn’t going to be a short match. The progression in the story was fantastic. Naito showed his undying resolve and Okada went from just wanting to prove he’s the best, to things turning a little to him wanting to send a message while taking out Naito.

Okada pulled out most of his tricks against Ibushi, so we didn’t really see any special moves, more just his attitude slowly changed as the match went on. Naito though, he pulled off the Stardust Press which he doesn’t try often and was his old finisher before his Los Ingobernables persona. This was a classic back and forth, but you knew it was going to be great when Naito kicked out of the Rainmaker. It happens so infrequently anymore, and the match hit one final gear before Naito figured out a way to hit a second Gloria and then the official Destino, to become the first ever dual singles champion!

Winner: Naito via Destino

Thoughts:

It’s an impressive week when nothing in the Top 5 is less than a 4.5 – that’s just insane quality. Like I said, if you don’t watch puroresu or haven’t gotten through everything, this isn’t going to be a week for you. But aside from that, we’ve got a vote that happens weekly!

My vote will go to, Double Gold Dash: Tetsuya Naito vs Kazuchika Okada. It’s very close between the two Naito matches for me, since they both told great parts of the story. But the final chapter of this story paid off wonderfully, had great work and was just what most people wanted. So here’s to hoping Naito gets a decent reign out of this.

Let your opinion be known about the new format and of course, your choice for Match of the Week!