Wrestle Kingdom 11 In-Person Fan Report: What Matches Worked With The Crowd, Attendance, More

Thanks to Wrestling Inc. reader Con Bouliopoulos for sending in this report for this morning’s NJPW Wrestle Kingdom 11 pay-per-view:

The Tokyo Dome was mostly full. I would say there was 30,000-35,000 people there. Some sections were curtained off and it was simply because the stage set up / television equipment / fixtures took up so much space. The fixtures also blocked the view of a significant amount of seats and they were curtained off. Other than those sections, most bays were full with a few single seats available here and there. The stage was better than I expected and I felt like it was a nod to Naito as the titantron was formed like an eye (and that’s Naito’s whole shtick).

I got there at 5pm and by that time the RAMBO was done. Tiger Mask W Vs. Tiger The Dark was okay. Crowd was flat, I wasn’t engaged and a lot of the ring work looked clunky too be honest. That’s from my seat. The match didn’t flow very well and the result had no suspense. Really it just felt like the match was there to promote the animated series? * 1/2.

The Young Bucks/RPG Vice match was excellent. They managed to engage the Japanese crowd with high suspense countouts, near falls and the surprise finish that worked. ***1/2.

I can’t comment on the Gaunlet match because I went to get food. Incredible lines. A note about the dome, there was a glass box along the corridor of the food stalls / merch stands that was for smokers. A really clever idea because in Australia, smokers actually need to go out the stadium and that’s tedious for them. There were plaques around the dome that documented musicians that have played there, Prince, Madonna, Sting, George Michael, Paul McCartney, Rolling Stones, Mariah Carey and the two to note, Bon Jovi, who’ve gone to Japan a bucketload of times and Michael Jackson, who on his three visits played 12 shows each time, which was unmatched by anyone else (I walked around and checked). Even Japanese acts didn’t achieve that. I noticed they played MJ at the TGIFs outside afterwards, and many other shops throughout Tokyo, also at Tower Records (yes it’s here in Japan) there was practically an aisle just for MJ music. Would explain the Nakamura influence a little?

Cody Vs. Juice was bad. I was very frustrated …

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