Tomorrow the first of three nights of Wrestle Kingdom will take place. Wrestle Kingdom somewhat mirrors the current state of NJPW with it’s card.
The last two years, have been tough for the promotion because of COVID-19 and other unfortunate reasons, with one being the booking.
The booking of NJPW leaves a lot to be desired. Especially regarding the booking of EVIL and his new subfaction in Bullet Club called The House of Torture. A very fitting name for such a cursed idea.
But going back to Wrestle Kingdom, the card for all three nights feels uninspired and not worth staying up so late. One of the main problems is the lack of fresh match-ups, with most of the matches on card already taken place in the last six months. The only things that really feels special about WK is Shibata’s return and the participation of STARDOM with their tag team match on night two.
Nights one and two will deliver on the main events, that for sure. But if we looks at the undercards, the show is not that special and it doesn’t have that Wrestle Kingdom feel to it. What makes WK’s card so odd is how main eventers like Jay White and Tetsuya Naito have been relegated to a secondary role for this year’s event.
Night three in particular was a massive disappointment, but with a very predictable card. Night 3 is just a bunch of tags between NJPW and NOAH, with no dream matches booked for such special event.
So back to the title of this editorial, is WK 16 worth watching? It really depends of your enjoyment of the current NJPW product. If you’re a massive NJPW fan, this is the show for you and you’ll have a fun time with all three nights of wrestling. For the other types of fans of NJPW’s product, this show may not be for you, but it is still worth watching just by the fact NJPW still has some of the best in-ring work in the business.
