[2019-01-04-NJPW-Wrestle Kingdom 13] Kenny Omega vs Hiroshi Tanahashi

[paul sosnowski]

Kenny Omega defends the IWGP Heavyweight Title at the Tokyo Dome.   Talk about it here

[kas]

An absolute epic. I respect Tanahashi a lot for his willingness to work match styles that he dislikes, so I love the fact that Omega worked a Tanahashi match this time around. I've seen a lot of criticisms about the opening 20 minutes, or Omega's leg selling but I think they were both done perfectly. The whole story of the first half of last year for Tanahashi was that he was old and past it, and that he was struggling to keep up, so having Omega absolutely dominate the opening with really vicious offense really reinforced this. Tanahashi's legwork felt less like he was trying to pull a submission out, and more like he was targeting that leg to weaken Omega's offense and swing the advantage his way. Whether you like Omega's leg selling really comes down to what people feel about the selling style in general of New Japan, which I love. He never slowed the match pace down to the point of tedium, and it would often cause him problems in trying to make a pin after a move. There was also more than one occasion where his leg slowed him down enough for Tanahashi to take advantage and counter a move. I also loved the story about the clash of styles. Tanahashi was willing to deviate from his usual offense and use a table, to his own detriment, and Omega never settled for a count-out and wanted to win decisively. Better than last year's main event, not quite as good as WK10's or WK11's, but not far off either.

[ShittyLittleBoots]

This was pretty damn great apart from one thing - the selling. Kenny did the typical NJPW main event selling where he holds his leg a bit & then he can run full speed to deliver his knees and everything. Tana also didn't sell the back too much, but I'd say overall the positives overwhelm the negatives; the drama was great, I totally got sucked into the battle of ideologies story they told, and I loved Kenny's heel work throughout. His over the top facial expressions, and cockiness has annoyed me in his big matches as a babyface, but it works SO well when he's a heel. Such a flamboyant prick. His striking also looked some of the best it ever has - loved those slap combos he delivered. On par w/ the last two Dome main events (Naito/Okada, Omega/Okada) & the best match of the night. The selling is what prevents it from being a 4*+ one. ***3/4

[SmartMark15]

Thought this was the best Dome main event since WK 10. I will agree that I thought Omega was very consistent with his leg selling. He goes back to it a lot while you're watching and there's a reason Tanahashi returns to it so often in the match. 

After that, there's the meta story of neither guy being able to match the other's style. Tana can't be an indy wrestler so he crashes through the table, Omega doesn't have the old school training so can't keep Tana down for the High Fly Flow.

This plays into little things in the open too such as Tana going for roll ups and countering the OWA into a simple Abdominal Stretch.

Thought Omega put in one of his best performances with an increased intensity and the best his offense has ever looked. He laid in with those chops and there was an extra aggression to him through the night too. Those 3 powerbombs in a row? Brutal.

Loved this match. I was shocked they announced it was the longest Dome main event because it sure didn't feel that way. The last two or three all felt much longer. This felt packed and maximized the time given. Awesome stuff.

****3/4

[Boss Rock]

Match of the night and an early match of the year contender. At thirty-nine minutes I was impressed with how quickly they got going. There was a sense of urgency and disdain as both guys just laid into each other with strikes and slaps. Kenny isn't a great babyface so it was great to see him be a bitter and cocky heel while Tanahashi had plenty of fire in his comebacks. The leg selling didn't bother me too much as it wasn't like the Okada-Suzuki match where Kenny was in submission holds for 70 percent of the match. Him being able to fight off the pain but grab the leg after a big move seemed believable. I thought the ending was a little lackluster with Tanahashi simply turning the OWA into a leg drop and hitting a High Fly Flow for the win. But overall, this was a great main event match that had anger, intensity, and big bombs.

****3/4.

[nivvad]

It's a Dome main event between two of the greatest wrestlers of all time; there was zero chance this wouldn't be a classic. Of course, there will always be those that are blinded by their hatred of Omega to see how incredible of a performer he is, but you can't please everyone I suppose. Going back to the match though, both guys told incredible stories simultaneously which is expert level shit. I really want to say it was a Tanahashi match through and through, but Omega still managed to shine through and through with his own performance. I have bittersweet feelings about the finish and winner, but even in the confusing pain, life sometimes leaves beautiful masterpieces like this match in it's wake, *****.

[Microstatistics]

Oh man this started off so promisingly. The animosity, intensity and struggle and Omega's attacks on the back and heel antics were really good. The table stuff was good storytelling. But then it degraded into generic main event back and forth with poor transitions and selling. Bad Tanahashi performance. Just by the numbers stuff with minimal selling. Completely no sold all the initial backwork too so one of the better segments of the match ended up being filler. Kenny was alright but his knee selling was wildly inconsistent and uncompelling by the end. Poor crowd too. **1/4

[ShittyLittleBoots]

Been wanting to re-watch this for a good while, and finally decided to do so. I've always been fascinated by the whole story of this match. The battle of two vastly different pro-wrestling ideologies-- it's a classic tale, and here Tanahashi & Omega did a hell of a job with it. You can feel the dislike & pettiness through their work right from the get go, in particular with Kenny who was just a total dickhead to Tana throughout. It really sold the storyline, and the nastily brutal output by both guys certainly helped as well; I love Kenny going after Tana's back, and while Tanahashi's selling certainly could've been better, I do think he does a pretty great job being the face-in-peril overall. Omega is a monster on the offense delivering the vicious punishment. The big moments where they go for each others signature-things with Tanahashi trying to splash Omega through a table, but instead crashing & burning for it, and then later on Tana kicking out at one after Omega went for a big "fuck you" by using the slingblade & the HFF-- I thought those 2 great, great moments really encapsulated the whole story they were out there telling very beautifully & effectively, as well as the differences between the Hiroshi Tanahashi & Kenny Omega characters. It's some mighty great stuff. And it's a mighty great match too, the almost-40 minutes it goes just flies by. Sure there's some periods where it isn't as compelling as it is for the majority of it, and as already mentioned I thought Tanahashi could've sold his back better, but it's still one helluva match to say the least. ****