NEW JAPAN KING OF PRO WRESTLING

October 8, 2012 was an historic day for New Japan Pro Wrestling. The King Of Pro Wrestling show that took place at Sumo Hall in Tokyo was the first from the promotion to air not only on traditional pay-per-view in Japan, but also on streaming iPPV worldwide. New Japan experimented with the format in August during the G1 Climax tournament, and even though that event was only available in Japan, it attracted more buys than even the most optimistic prognosticator could have estimated.

There was only four days' notice that the G1 Climax show would be on iPPV, while this one had been hyped for much longer. It was also moved to uStream, in order that it be available to fans outside of Japan. The results were again a major success; over 51,000 Japanese buys came in for the live event, with many more for the on-demand version. Over 600 buys came in internationally, which considering the timezone difficulties, was a good number. At $25 a pop, and with the only expense being to pay uStream, this was an extremely profitable venture that will surely continue.

The event itself was a major home-run. There were two Match Of The Year candidates in Hiroshi Tanahashi versus Minoru Suzuki (the IWGP title main event) and Kazuchika Okada versus Karl “Machine Gun” Anderson, as well as several contests that delivered above expectations. Every encounter offered something different, which is a big strength of New Japan. The performance from Suzuki in the main event may have been the best of his legendary career; a truly one of a kind wrestler, he showed every element of what makes him such a great overall performer, as his facial expressions, selling, and storytelling were on another level. Tanahashi was incredible, too, but that’s nothing new. The pair battled for a gripping 30 minutes, with Tanahashi retaining his title after the High Fly Flow (Frog Splash).

Okada versus Anderson looked to have stolen the show before the main event turned into a classic. Thy had an action-packed 16-minute match that featured one of the best finishing stretches of the year, with the counters and near-falls causing the 9,000 fans in Sumo Hall to go crazy. It was, of course, Okada who won with his devastating Rainmaker lariat, to continue his march to the Tokyo Dome on January 4, to face Tanahashi.

A TOUGH SPOT In the unenviable position of being sandwiched between these two bouts were Hirooki Goto and the ultra-charismatic Intercontinental champion Shinsuke Nakamura. However, the pair are so talented that they still managed to have an incredible contest that featured submission grappling and striking of the highest order. In the end, Nakamura won with the Boma Ye (knee strike).

The card also saw some big gaijin success, with Low Ki defeating Kota Ibushi for the IWGP junior-heavyweight title in a mindblowing match full of crazy spots. Also, Lance Archer and Davey Boy Smith Jr. (Harry Smith) downed Hiroyoshi Tenzan and Satoshi Kojima for the IWGP Tag Team titles in a surprisingly strong contest, while The Forever Hooligans (Rocky Romero and Alex Koslov) defeated KUSHIDA and Alex Shelley in an exciting and innovative junior Tag Team title match.

The wildest bout on the show was undoubtedly the brawl pitting MMA legend Kazushi Sakuraba and ex-NJPW bad boy Katsuyori Shibata against Togi Makabe and Wataru Inoue. This had all the elements of some of the great inter-promotional feuds that defined New Japan in the '80s and '90s, and ended when Shibata pinned Inoue.

From top to bottom, this was perhaps the most loaded New Japan show of all-time on paper, and in execution, it lived up to that hype. The crowd was electric from start to finish, the production values were top notch, and every wrestler brought his A-game to the proceedings. In short, New Japan is a company currently firing on all cylinders, producing the finest pro wrestling anywhere in the world.

Results Toru Yano, Takashi Iizuka & Tomhiro Ishii def. Manabu Nakanishi, Yuji Nagata & Strongman [Pinfall / 11:29] • The Forever Hooligans def. The Timesplitters [Pinfall / 14:55 / IWGP Jr. heavyweight Tag Team championship] • Low Ki def. Kota Ibushi [Pinfall / 17:05 / IWGP Jr. heavyweight championship] • Killer Elite Squad def. TenKoji [Pinfall / 12:47 / IWGP Tag Team championship] • Yujiro Takahashi def. Tetsuya Naito [Submission / 5:41] • Kazushi Sakuraba & Katsuyori Shibata def. Togi Makabe & Wataru Inoue [Pinfall / 7:10] • Kazuchika Okada def. Karl Anderson [Pinfall / 16:26] • Shinsuke Nakamura def. Hirooki Goto [Pinfall / 15:12 / IWGP Intercontinental championship] • Hiroshi Tanahashi def. Minoru Suzuki [Pinfall / 29:22 / IWGP heavyweight championship]