NJPW Wrestle Kingdom 13: Results, Grades, and Analysis

Zack Sabre Jr. (Suzuki-gun) vs. Tomohiro Ishii (CHAOS) (c) – RPW British Heavyweight Championship

Sabre promised to tap out Ishii right away in the promos before this show (along with refusing knighthood and fixing Brexit, which was hilarious), but Ishii survived the first minute, though it wasn’t without Sabre trying to submit him with an armbar. Sabre worked over Ishii’s arm in the early portion of the match with various submissions, and he hit a big kick to Ishii’s back. Ishii was angry and just got up and hit ZSJ hard.

Ishii continued the assault for the next few minutes, even blocking a guillotine attempt with an overhead belly to belly suplex on ZSJ. Ishii hit a huge superplex off the top, but ZSJ hung on to Ishii’s arm, and twisted Ishii’s arm after eating the suplex! That was awesome. After a series of fast counters, Sabre was able to lock on his Octopus Stretch (AKA, “Hurrah! Another Year, Surely This One Will Be Better Than the Last; The Inexorable March of Progress Will Lead Us All to Happiness”) but Ishii fought out, though it wasn’t fully locked in to begin with.

Ishii was able to destroy Sabre with a long series of strikes every single time Sabre tried to get some offence. However, no matter what Ishii did, Sabre wouldn’t give up and he kept fighting for various submissions. Sabre locked on Hurrah! Another Year, Surely This One Will Be Better Than the Last; The Inexorable March of Progress Will Lead Us All to Happiness fully on his second attempt, and was able to get Ishii to tap out! We have a new champion!

Result: Zack Sabre Jr. (4/4 in my predictions)

Rating: ****1/2 (4.5 stars out of 5)

This was a technical masterpiece. Awesome match. ZSJ is one of the best in the world at the mat based wrestling style, and Ishii is Ishii, and will always be one of the best. I could watch these two wrestle all day, with how great their matches are.