[2018-01-04-NJPW-Wrestle Kingdom XII] Kenny Omega vs Chris Jericho

[ShittyLittleBoots]

This blew me away. This was perfectly laid out for the excellent build they had - very intense, heated & unique. I was thinking this could be really bad, mostly because of Chris Jericho, but goddamn his performance was terrific. His best performance ever as far as I am concerned, actually. When the build for this match began & I was discussing it somewhere, I said that there has never been a Chris Jericho performance that has blew me away, but here he did exactly that. He was just ON POINT w/ everything he did. His greatest match & performance without a doubt in my eyes. Kenny was awesome selling his ass off & of course being terrific as usual w/ his offense. Total fireworks from start to finish, an absolute spectacle. A Tokyo Dome Classic. ****3/4

[gordi]

Definitely the best Jericho match in years and easily among his best performances ever. Hatred, violence, blood... and effective selling!!

[RingoPlaysDrums]

I absolutely loved this. What a war. How a 47 year old Chris Jericho put on by far his best performance in years and one of his best ever I don't know. He pulled out all the stops and you could tell he was treating this like a huge deal. So much stuff in this match and while it did probably go on a bit too long, I was kind of in awe of watching old man Jericho keep up with Omega. Couldn't help but see the look on Jericho's face as he was lying there at the end after that last brutal one winged angel and wondering if he was thinking "man, I'm going to regret this in the morning". Show stealer.

[G. Badger]

This was a pretty good match but, I felt it took way too long to get where they were going.

 

There's no way this had to be around 40 minutes. I think 30 would have better and 25 would have been best. There was too much down time IMO. Technically it was very good- selling was there, the spots were inventive and played to the stipulation, both guys are clearly charismatic. I loved Jericho messing with Red Shoes and his son on the outside. I was thinking at that point "this is classic stuff."

 

They kinda lost me after that though. Sometimes there were rope breaks, sometimes there weren't, there was a count out despite it being no DQ. I felt these were screw ups that could have perhaps been opportunities for Jericho to "correct" the ref with a yell or another shove or slap saying "No DQ!" That way we at home and especially those in attendance got "it" as well as make Chris look more vicious. Ah well just a creative nitpick there...

 

And really, I didn't feel like there was a lot of hate there. Maybe for a current NJ Dome show there was but, past the early parts, they just went into predictable territory. Successful Riki Choshu Dome slugfests are a known quantity but, I guess expectations have shifted past that. If they brought that kinda intensity along with their spots and a shorter match time this would have been great or perhaps classic stuff. Instead, we got a very good match. Still worth watching and I'm glad I did.

[Cap]

This stood out in the context of NJPW (esp. wk) and i thought that would be its strength. I liked it a lot. The structure was smart and the narrative that drove the match was excellent. Jericho's work on top was excellent. Omega brought the athleticism. They both brought their strengths to the match in a way that complimented one another. Sure there was some excess that people on the twitter machine have been talking up, but again... what did you expect. The only thing that really bothered me was the inconsistency with the rope break stuff. Generally I try not to get too bogged down in those kinds of things, but it bugged me here. They could have used it to the strength of the match. Either way, good stuff here. ****1/4

[bradhindsight]

Yeah the enforcement of the stip was a little wonky and there were other smaller nitpicks for me, BUT, this is as perfect a Jericho performance as you could envision and this far exceeded what I thought coming in. I liked that they went with the lower body injury vs. the knee, as Omega used this to really keep his pace down, which fit the the flow. The brawling was the perfect length with innovative spots. The chair stuff was great - Omega taking them full flush in the corner is ridiculous, but that was his choice ya know? Great layout, and i'd imagine very re-watchable. ****1/4

[soup23]

Agree with the nitpicks and really didn't like the rope break off of the One Winged Angel on a NO DQ match but otherwise this WAY exceeded my expectations as I figured Omega would be in overdrive full on thigh slapping and V-Triggering to make this match a classic and Jericho wouldn't be able to keep up athletically. Omega did give a big performance for sure but felt somewhat restrained in certain areas compared to other matches from 2017 where you would see a multitude of V Triggers. Jericho turned in a fantastic performance that was smart and captivating for the Japanese crowd as well as Western viewers that were catching the show for the first time. I think this should remain a one off and it took a nearly perfect mix of athleticism, character work and attitude era gimmicks to match the match work but they really did it. ****1/4

[GOTNW]

I had a good time and was pleasantly surprised by this match. It could have been much better if Omega actually knew how to throw anything resembling a good strike and they worked it more like a brawl with even more blood and less workrate nonsense (seriously, they go from trying to nearly kill each other on the outside to, uh, let's do an ahm, cross legged fisherman driver on the knee) but nonetheless it turned out a much better WWE style garbage match than anything actual WWE has put out in forever. 7/10.

[GOTNW]

 

Agree with the nitpicks and really didn't like the rope break off of the One Winged Angel on a NO DQ match

That's now how the rules of pro wrestling work. The point of breaking pins and submissions on rope breaks is that once you're in the ropes (or just touch them as in modern wres) it's considered as if you're outside the ring and this was not a falls count anywhere match.

[G. Badger]

 

 

Agree with the nitpicks and really didn't like the rope break off of the One Winged Angel on a NO DQ match

 

That's now how the rules of pro wrestling work. The point of breaking pins and submissions on rope breaks is that once you're in the ropes (or just touch them as in modern wres) it's considered as if you're outside the ring and this was not a falls count anywhere match.

Since I mentioned the rope break stuff, I think the issue was inconsistencies with the rope breaks. Call them all or don't call any. I would have been happy with either but, not both. I felt this match shouldn't have been the time for technicalities.

 

I'm with you on your view of the match. 7 out of 10 seems about right to me too.

[Maciej]

I don't care at all about the rope break stuff, but I did like this less than most people, I think. First, while I bought Jericho's hatred toward Omega in the build up, I don't know what he was doing as some kind of crazy Bruiser Brody/Stan Hansen foreign invader here. And then, yeah, it was like five hours long and not actually that different from an Epic New Japan Main Event, just with (even) more tables and even slower. I'm not saying there's not stuff to like here, and many of y'all have already given great examples but I think I might love it at literally the half the length. ***1/4

 

(I like both of Jericho's big matches with KO from last year better)

[SmartMark15]

Absolutely loved this. Chris Jericho put in a level of performance I've never seen from him before. He really brought the hatred and brutality and I really enjoyed all his little heel mannerisms. It was fun to just see some old school heal heat on a guy trying to get some old school heel heat. The brawling to the outside felt fantastic with Omega pulling off an organic and unexpected table bump. From there, Jericho and Omega pretty much literally tore the house down as their brawl ripped through the announce area. Man, Jericho seriously shocked me here. Doing the stuff he did at the pace he did while still throwing in a lot of heel characteristics was the real highlight of this match. Not at any time during the build did I believe the wrestler of the night on WK12 would be Chris freaking Jericho.

 

****3/4

[G. Badger]

I think Jericho was masterful in pulling all kinds of historical taunts/mannerisms out of the bag to pop the Dome crowd. This happened way too much for a one off hate-kill-destroy match though. Especially in Japan...his 95 J Cup w/ Benoit match was more hate filled than this. Near knockout slap anyone?

 

This shouldn't have been 2nd from the top (perhaps 3rd) but Jericho can still go, Omega is hot, this was a money match (better than Super Liger, right!?) good shit nonetheless.

[Kadaveri]

Fantastic match. Even if it doesn't feel the most hate-filled in the wider context of pro-wrestling I think it worked here because New Japan rarely has these kinds of matches, so they didn't need to up the ante too much to still get that vicious brawl feel in the context of this show. Like when's the last time we had blood in a big New Japan match? I've been critical of Omega's selling a lot sometimes he gets way too goofy but he was great here, one slight nitpick is when Jericho Irish Whipped him into the ropes after getting busted open he runs way too fast for someone selling getting brutalised but other than that he was pretty much perfect. The table spots were both unexpected and enhanced the match, the first one especially made everything feel so chaotic out there and Jericho was very entertaining with his outrageous asshole antics attacking the ringside staff.

 

I don't think there was any inconsistency with the rope breaks at all. It's a no DQ match so you can't get disqualified for keeping someone in a submission when they're in the ropes. But it's not a Falls Count Anywhere match so you can't win when someone's in the ropes as that's out of bounds, so getting a hand to the ropes breaks a pinfall as normal.

 

The match did go on a bit too long though. The first half is awesome throughout but the second half is where a bit of trimming would have helped and it did drift back into the formulaic New Japan style towards the end.

 

****1/2

[JKWebb]

I'm mostly just an echo here, but I loved everything about this match. I loved the build, the promos, the moments, and most importantly the match. I had a blast watching this yesterday morning. I think they totally delivered. I would agree with those saying it's Jericho's best match in a long while. I dug the HBK and Punk feuds, and this is definitely around that level. GREAT match. The rope breaks didn't really seem much like rope breaks to me... I thought Kenny was trying to get to the ropes to use them as leverage to help him get out of the submission. In the first one, I liked how Jericho used it as an opportunity to yell at the ref "it's no DQ" etc... so it didn't bother me at all.

[superkix]

Jericho really elevated this match and it's easily his best singles performance in who knows how long. I mean, this went way too long and there was obvious confusion around the No DQ stip, some blatant verbal cues and shitty set-ups, but Jericho yelling "shut your mouth, fuckface" and calling out "KENNY!" to the fans was perfect. Oh, and putting the young lion in the LIONTAMER...something he didn't even use on Kenny until the end when Kenny grabbed the rope and he let go...in a NO DQ match. Still a fun match though and I feel like Kenny excels in these No DQ batshit crazy spectacles rather than trying to wrestle a straight match.

[Tetsujin]

Even if the first half suffers a bit from lack of hate and violence, that changes when the blood appears and it became a great match. I agree with Y2J being the best man there, but I have to give Omega some credits too. He had to guide 2018 Chris Jericho through a NJPW big Dome match, and he had to get out of his confort zone to do it. He still needs to learn how to sell exhaustion and accumulated pain throughout a whole match, though. ****1/4.

[G. Badger]

I certainly get the rules but, why in the hell do they choose to incorporate any aspect of that in a no DQ match? A Dome match, of all places, is not the venue to test viewers/spectators' understanding of the rules of wrestling...not that they wanted to.

 

I thought the 19 count was a flub and no fault of the wrestlers. Still, that detracts from the match. Then, we pile on the one or two rope spots that are key to the "possible" finish. Its more of a missed opportunity OR unnecessary aspect to the match IMO but adds minor confusion. Then Jericho stalls to pose a little more than is needed throughout. All the while the clock is ticking.

 

I just watched Rocky vs Chris from R.Rumble 2002, and I felt that better captured what Omega/Chris could have done here. I'm sure the later matches like HBK & Punk stuff that JKWebb mentions are even better. I haven't seen those.

 

Its like they had a list of stuff that they wanted to do but, didn't connect them together with any sort of sense of urgency. I don't mean to go on about this because I didn't like the match because I did. I liked it in total better than the aforementioned Rumble match. I just guess I'm disappointed because I like both guys and thought they could do better than this.

[BigVanCrush]

The first half of the match was good, even really good at points...and then Omega did the stupid spot with the cold spray and flubbed the blade job and I just didn't get back into this one. The fact it went 35:00 really didn't help, there was no real reason for it to go that long other than they're just running through the imaginary check list of how to get a good rating from Meltzer. Jericho made this match, it was his best performance in a long time but this wasn't a MOTYC or even MOTN. **1/2

[Tawren]

I was into the build and excited for the match, but wary of Jericho's ability. 1) he's 47, 2) he's never really been that good anyway, 3) Omega is either great or terrible, 4) how would the Dome crowd react?

 

This blew away my expectations. Jericho brought the heel act fully and was a great jerk, and Omega played into the brawl style well. Lots of crazy moves and big spots, and the crowd got really into the match. Best spots were the early Lionsault, Jericho giving the Walls to the refs son, Jericho throwing Omega into the chair, and the finish.

 

Felt a bit too long, but it was a spectacle, so I really didn't care. This was something special - Omega isn't my favourite, but he has incredible matches for his style, and Jericho had his best performance of all time.

 

I wouldn't go 5 stars. But it's a really interesting match that everyone should see I think.

[ShittyLittleBoots]

Doing a mid-year MOTYC ****1/2+ re-watch, and this one didn't hold up very well.

This did not hold up too well on a re-watch. Back in January I thought it was a bonafide classic & had a legendary performance by Chris Jericho, but that's all changed now. I think Kenny absolutely SMOKED him performance wise; his selling, bumping & overall superb babyface performance is what makes the match as enjoyable as it is. I still very much like the sense of chaos in the first third of the match, with them going at it right away & the outside madness that went on. Once they return to the ring, the action still remains very enjoyable, but it's at least 95% because of Kenny. Jericho didn't really do it for me when he was in control. Right around the One Winged Angel nearfall, the match starts to drag pretty damn badly, too. It's definitely a really good match, but certainly not the MOTYC I saw it as when it happened. ***3/4