Just got finished watching the event, and it was fantastic, as expected. I'm not going to say outright who won, but my takeaways from the event will probably give more than enough hints.
- Not much to see with the pre-show gauntlet match except for Suzuki making Don Callis run for his life when he threatened to hurt Kevin Kelly.
- Kota Ibushi getting stretchered off was eerie. NJPW came out and said he suffered a concussion that wasn't serious, but that elbow to the back of the head caught him flush. Hopefully he's OK because he will be a main event player going forward.
- The junior tag match didn't have a lot of time, which stinks. Same for a lot of the undercard too.
- RevPro unveiled their new heavyweight title belt, which is a nicer version of the NEVER belt.
- A lot of wrestlers busted out new gear, but no one was as drastic with changes to their appearance compared to GOD. Had new gear and entrance music while Tama Tonga has changed his gimmick from being the bad boy to the good guy. We'll see how long this lasts but my guess is not much longer.
- The US title match was underwhelming, but both competitors were put in a tough spot since the outcome wasn't in doubt.
- Kushida's entrance was very odd, but funny to say the least. I'll be very interested to see what he does at New Year's Dash, which happens within the next 12 hours. This show is always a good indicator of what will happen in regards to wrestlers leaving or becoming major factors.
- They pulled the trigger on White, which was surprising to me at least, but the decision I wanted to see. With Omega seemingly on the way out, a new star has to be pushed, and White is the more than capable answer. The best part is White beat the real Rainmaker version of Okada, not the goofy, care-free version of Okada that had been present for the past six months. Okada brought back the trunks that had been his trademark look until the last year, and White won clean. I would not be surprised to see White be the next challenger for the IWGP Heavyweight Championship.
- Jericho vs. Naito was as physical as I imagined it would be. I'm amazed that Jericho can still go for as long as this match was. Jericho's future with NJPW should be answered within the next 12 hours as well.
- The main event was the unquestioned match of the night and will get at least 5 stars from Meltzer. I know Kenny leaving would be sad, but let's give it up to Tanahashi. He is unquestionably one of the top three to five wrestlers of the past decade regardless of promotion. I have no doubt that he would've been a huge star for WWE if he ever had the itch to go like Nakamura did. Even with being in his lower 40's, having the injury issues he's had, and not moving as well as in the past, Tanahashi can still go with the best of them. His importance to NJPW is similar to what Hogan was for the WWF in the 80's. His character is similar to John Cena, and his in-ring work is similar to Seth Rollins. I know I'm a huge mark of the Ace and the Once In A Century Talent, but I hope he has a long and successful reign and puts a guy like White over so he can elevate his profile even higher.
- All eight title matches had the title change hands, every active LIJ member has a title, and Tanahashi increased his own record of number of IWGP Heavyweight title reigns to eight.
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NJPW is in an exciting new direction, and I can't wait to see what they do at MSG in early April and in Dallas to start the G1 Climax Tournament in July. I believe this is the start of something special and that the focus is on the right place now for expansion, which is the style of wrestling the promotion offers compared to whether a wrestler is from a Western nation or not.
