Wrestle Kingdom 12 Attendance – Despite announcing it as the largest show in 15 years, Wrestle Kingdom 12 didn’t surpass a show from a few years ago. Last night’s event was listed at 34,995 officially by the NJPW officials but Wrestle Kingdom 8 did 35,000 and Wrestle Kingdom 9 did 36,000 according to the same officials. NJPW has had a history of goosing their numbers, and papering the arena with free tickets. It’s very likely that the attendance broke the suspected 40k mark, but that would be with about 6-7 thousand tickets being given away for free. Something not unheard of, as the WWE does the same thing with WrestleMania, though not to that degree. Despite splitting hairs, last night’s show is being looked at as a huge success story, as their digital streaming numbers and their social media presence was at a suspected all time high. So still, congrats go out to the company.
Dome Show Rating – For those wondering, the show was mostly brilliant. Here’ show I rated it from first match to last;
Young Bucks defeated Roppongi 3K(c) by submission to win the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Championship.
Grade: 3.75
Team Chaos (Beretta, Ishii, Yano) last eliminated the Bullet Club(c) to win the the NEVER Openweight 6-Man Tag Team Championship.
Grade: 2.75
Kota Ibushi defeated Cody Rhodes in a brilliant match.
Grade: 4.5
Evil and Sanada of Los Ingobernables de Japon defeated the Killer Elite Squad(c) to win the IWGP Tag Team Championships.
Grade: 2.75
Hirooki Goto defeated Minoru Suzki(c) to win the NEVER Openweight Championship
Grade: 3
Will Ospreay defeated Marty Scurll(c), Hiromu Takahashi and Kushida to win the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Championship.
Grade: 3.75
Hiroshi Tanahashi(c) defeated Jay White to retain the IWGP Intercontinental Championship
Grade: 2.5
Kenny Omega (c) defeated Chris Jericho to retain the IWGP United States Championship
Grade: 4.75
Kazuchika Okda (c) defeated Tetsuya Naito to retain the IWGP Heavyweight Championship
Grade: 4.75
For an overall grade of 3.6, which is good enough for a B.
Some of you may think that’s low but go ahead and see how I rated the best WrestleMania of all time, and then bitch to me about it not being an ‘A’. Blame them for telling the same story every time on the undercard. And that six man gauntlet. yeeesh.
Top Female Wrestler About to be Signed? – Candice LaRae has a public persona that fans gravitate to. Her pairing with Joey Ryan helped get her over, and even if those in some parts of the industry don’t think of her to be a woman of value and morals, well that hasn’t stopped the WWE in the past. LaRae is currently married to NXT star Johnny Gargano and apparently the WWE is about to sign LaRae to their NXT developmental territory according to The Observer.
Opinion: I know a lot about her as a person, thanks to stories from trusted sources. I’ll never be a fan of hers personally, so this signing does nothing for me. Also, fuck Joey Ryan. That dude bugs me.
Daniel Bryan On Knowing When He’s Done in the WWE – Daniel Bryan is going to be a hot topic until his contract expires in the summer. He spoke with Sports Illustrated recently and commented about WrestleMania 34 and said the following;
I assume that if I don’t wrestle by WrestleMania, I probably won’t be wrestling with WWE at all. That’s my assumption.
With Bryan having been cleared by every doctor he’s ever seen, the only reason the WWE hasn’t cleared him yet is their liability. They’re right now in the midst of several lawsuits over the health of their former performers, which does in fact impact this decision making. There’s also Bryan’s side, as he hid having seizures from the WWE and now there’s less trust on the WWE’s side in regards to Bryan. Right now I’d put this as a 70/30 Bryan leaves situation but who knows. This is pro wrestling and nothing ever makes sense.
Quick Hits – Lars Sullivan is always in heel mode, announcing he wants to be Stephanie McMahon’s favorite wrestler and calling her a visionary. That dude knows how to joke. DDP is appearing on SyFy’s “Superstition” tonight.