NJPW Wrestle Kingdom 14 Night 2: Results, Grades, and Analysis

Zack Sabre Jr. (Suzuki-gun) (c) vs. SANADA (LIJ) – RevPro British Heavyweight Championship

As one would expect, both men started the match with highly technical grappling. For every move that ZSJ had, SANADA had a counter, and both men had a standoff early. There was a wild exchanged of pinfall attempts and submissions and neither man was able to get any significant advantage.

ZSJ pulled SANADA into an armlock, but both men kept reversing in very creative ways. For fans of technical wrestling, this was something to see. SANADA blocked a figure four attempt and sent ZSJ to the floor. SANADA hit the ropes and went for a dive, but ZSJ moved. SANADA simply floated over onto the apron and then flipped back into the ring.

Once back in the ring, ZSJ hit the ropes into an abdominal stretch, but SANADA reversed it into one of his own and did a rolling cradle for a 2 count. SANADA went for a moonsault, but Sabre countered into an armlock and worked towards getting what looked like a sugar hold, but SANADA made the ropes.

SANADA hit the ropes hard and dropkicked ZSJ in the knee in the first major impact move in the match. ZSJ got to his feet and went for a snapmare, but SANADA flipped out and missed a dropkick to the knee. ZSJ went for a kick, so SANADA countered with a dragon screw and then hit a plancha to the floor on ZSJ.

Both men exchanged a series of submission attempts in the ring, with SANADA going for Cold Skull multiple times, settling on swinging ZSJ by the neck and going for a moonsault. SANADA missed and ate a penalty kick from ZSJ and both men were down. Both men exchanged European uppercuts, which saw SANADA dropping ZSJ.

There was a series of pinfall attempts after this that kept poor Tiger Hittori, the 74-year-old ref, bouncing around the ring for the count. Of course, he not only stayed with the, but didn’t show his age at all. Further attempts were exchanged, ending with ZSJ going for Hurrah! Another Year, Surely This One Will Be Better Than the Last; The Inexorable March of Progress Will Lead Us All to Happiness, but SANADA countered out of it. ZSJ countered that into a pinfall attempt and got the 1-2-3!

Result: Zack Sabre Jr.

Rating: ****1/2 (4.5 stars)

This was a brilliant display of technical wrestling that told a great story and had call backs to all their previous matches in the last year. SANADA always seemed to be able to one up ZSJ, and this time, ZSJ had one too many counters, showing that he is the top technical wrestler in the world. NJPW has something very special with him and SANADA both, and you can tell they know it.

NJPW clearly delights in letting SANADA and ZSJ show their ridiculous technical ability on a grand stage, and having seen ZSJ live in New York last April, I can confirm that he is that good. Sadly, I only saw SANADA in the Honor Rumble, but it was a delight, nonetheless. I expect big things from both these men in 2020, and I’m very excited to see what further title chances they’ll get.