Time Limit 2023 Year In Review: The Moments That Defined This Year Pt. 1
The moments from January to May that defined 2023 in NJPW
Editor’s Note: The Moments That Defined This Year was expected to be just one article. However, after typing up a large portion of it, I realized that it would be too much to send all at once. The second half of this piece, discussing June to December, will be released tomorrow.
Yesterday, we attempted to boil down New Japan Pro Wrestling’s (NJPW) year down by describing their top champion: SANADA. It’s true that SANADA’s story is the defining one of NJPW this year, but it’s also worth remembering that NJPW is a big world with so much going on.
I think since NJPW is now arguably the number-three wrestling promotion, below WWE and AEW, many forget how much NJPW does. People don’t realize that they have held more than 150 events this year, six tournaments, and have storylines that transcend their events or roster. 2023 for NJPW is hard to distill due to so much happening. But, as we are just weeks from the beginning of 2024, we have rounded up the top news stories from NJPW over the past 12 months. Let’s begin:
January
Four days into the year, Kenny Omega & Will Ospreay start the Match of the Year discussion
It’s often the case that some of the most year-defining moments for NJPW come during the first few days of January. Wrestle Kingdom 17 this year provided many memorable moments, including a bout that many would still describe as the best of 2023.
In a grueling 34-minute battle, Kenny Omega prevailed over Will Ospreay in the co-main event of Wrestle Kingdom 17 from the Tokyo Dome. The lengthy performance saw both wrestlers get pushed to their limit, yet they maintained impressively accurate and intricate sequences. The match, an incredible showcase of physicality and chemistry between two of the highest-regarded active in-ring talents in wrestling, received massive praise. Journalist Dave Meltzer broke his rating scale for the match, giving it six-and-one-quarter stars out of five. On Cagematch.net – a wrestling database where users can vote on match quality – more than 1,000 ratings brought it to a near-perfect average of 9.76 out of 10.
Omega and especially Ospreay were applauded for their quality of performances this year. However, few of their appearances throughout 2023 came close to being better than what was seen at the Tokyo Dome in January. There’s no bigger stage in NJPW than Wrestle Kingdom, and the duo of Ospreay and Omega put together a match that felt like it could hardly get any better than it already was.
Wrestle Kingdom 17 was closed out by a victory by Kazuchika Okada, who kicked off his second IWGP World Heavyweight Championship reign (and seventh major singles title run) with a win over Jay White in 33 minutes. While the victory for Okada was arguably overshadowed by Omega and Ospreay’s performance, it still maintained a large importance to it.
Closing out a night that was dedicated to Antonio Inoki, the wrestling legend who founded NJPW and had passed just months prior, the face of NJPW’s current generation came out on top. While numerous names have been on top over the past decade in NJPW, Okada is arguably the one that has defined that time. And because of this, it only made sense that he would be the one to lead the Wrestle Kingdom 17 crowd in an “Inoki Bom-Ba-Ye” chant to close out the night.
February
Mercedes Mone makes long-awaited in-ring debut
Just over a month after her surprise appearance at Wrestle Kingdom 17, former WWE talent Mercedes Mone (previously known as Sasha Banks) made her in-ring debut for the promotion. There were lots of questions about Mone’s time in the promotion before it started. How would she fare after nearly a year outside of the ring? How would her in-ring style, which was suited to WWE’s product for a decade, match up against that of high-level Japanese talent? And is she simply coming in to win and bury everybody else, or will she be able to elevate other names while she is in NJPW?
There were many hypothetical situations where Mone’s time in NJPW would not work out as well. And while her stint with the promotion wasn’t perfect (mainly the fact that it was cut short by an injury in May), it ended up going quite well. Its best point was arguably at the very start when she defeated KAIRI (now back in WWE under the alias Kairi Sane) in a 26-minute victory in San Jose, California.
Brawling in and around the San Jose Civic, Mone proved that she was willing to put on long, physical matches. Mone in NJPW didn’t make complete sense on paper. It’s incredibly rare for NJPW to have a women’s match on their card, and basically unthinkable to have one of those matches involving a talent who is appearing for the first time after a lengthy tenure in WWE. However, Mone’s time will be looked back upon as a hit that worked perfectly with NJPW programming.
Jay White goes all in, loses
It’s not always easy to write off characters in wrestling. Someone’s departure from a promotion is sometimes sudden or unexpected or happens in another way which stops them from having a graceful final act. That was not the case with Jay White.
White’s character was given a compelling fall-from-grace story. In months, he went from being the top champion in NJPW to no longer even having a spot in the company. After losing to Okada at Wrestle Kingdom, White kept digging himself deeper into a hole. Almost like a gambling addict who was spending more money in an attempt to make up for losses, he kept upping the stakes against wrestlers to try to get his momentum back.
First, he challenged Hikuleo to a “Loser Leaves Japan” match, which he lost. Shortly thereafter, he met Eddie Kingston in San Jose for a “Loser Leaves Japan” match. After losing yet again, the once-champ had hit rock bottom. White was kicked to the curb.
The tragic decline of White was a strong way for him to depart NJPW amid rumors of him either joining WWE or AEW. In the end, he eventually moved over to AEW, where he currently leads the “Bullet Club Gold” faction. While White’s exit from NJPW was well orchestrated, it was the first of many chapters in a notable storyline for the promotion this year, that being the talent bleed which has made them lose many key names.
Keiji Muto bids farewell
The legendary career of Keiji Muto, which spanned five different decades and saw him write his last chapter at the age of 60, came to a close with a massive night in February. In front of a large Tokyo Dome crowd, Muto lost to NJPW’s Tetsuya Naito in a 28-minute result.
The stellar send-off for Muto was half an example of how he still had talent, and half an example of how it was time for him to leave. One moment from the match felt especially gripping, and despite it being a footnote in the minds of many, continues to stick out for me: at one point, Muto went to the corner to attempt his famous moonsault against a grounded Naito. In previous matches from his lengthy retirement tour, this move was teased but not hit, almost as if the implication was that you would eventually see it.
As Muto attempted to climb the corner, his legs gave out on him. He tripped, stumbled, and struggled in the corner. Defeated, he gave up on attempting to climb the corner and never hit the moonsault. Intentional or not, the moment was a strong portrayal of how sometimes the ending of a story is not how we always want it. Sometimes you have to let go of something earlier than you want to.
Muto’s retirement event provided a strong mix of both nostalgia and a presentation of the current age in professional wrestling.
Early in the evening, TJPW’s roster had a stellar showcase in an eight-woman tag match. In a champion versus champion match, Kazuchika Okada tore apart Pro Wrestling NOAH’s Kaito Kiyomiya in 16 minutes as part of the undercard. Despite the performance looking like brutal bullying at times, it was a high point in the heated, potentially still ongoing rivalry between the two.
March
David Finlay joins Bullet Club
After Jay White’s departure from NJPW, an empty void in Bullet Club was left. For the first time in years, they officially had no leader. Things needed to change, and they did quite soon enough. The New Japan Cup single-elimination tournament kicked off with a big reveal: David Finlay unveiled that he was a new member of Bullet Club.
NJPW was intentionally ambiguous at the start about whether Finlay was the new leader of the faction. However, the signs were there: he was bossing around other members, had manager Gedo in his corner, and eventually ordered the ouster of El Phantasmo in April.
The decision to add Finlay to Bullet Club along with a push to make him the NEVER Openweight Champion was an interesting one from NJPW. While Finlay has been on the roster for years, he has never been a hugely popular name. Months after this move, Bullet Club Finlay continues to be a polarizing decision.
SANADA becomes fifth ‘Guy’
The storyline of 2023 was easily the rise of SANADA. In fact, all of yesterday’s post was covering this. It all started in the New Japan Cup when he up and left Los Ingobernables de Japon, the faction he spent seven years in.
After defeating Tetsuya Naito, his own boss, SANADA joined Taichi, Yoshinobu Kanemaru, TAKA Michinoku & DOUKI to form Just 5 Guys. It was a massive shift in NJPW storyline and sparked what would be the biggest plot development in the promotion throughout the entire year.
With the momentum of a leadership position in a new group, SANADA defeated Mark Davis and David Finlay to win the New Japan Cup and guarantee himself a title shot against Kazuchika Okada in April. At this point, it seemed like a given that the promotion would give him a major title run soon.
April
If you missed it, you weren’t alone…
In early April, Wrestlemania was the main topic of discussion. And if it’s not Wrestlemania, it’s one of the countless events that happen the same week as WWE’s top event. Most weren’t discussing small-stakes NJPW events happening over at Korakuen Hall in Tokyo, Japan. But believe it or not, they were missing out.
Because amid the incredibly busy Wrestlemania weekend, Shingo Takagi and Aaron Henare (now known as HENARE), put together what you might describe as the most underrated NJPW match of the year.
Under the “Ultimate Triad Match” rules, which meant a wrestler can only win after attaining a pinfall, submission and knockout, Takagi worked an impressive 38 minutes to defeat Henare. The fight was close and down to the wire, and ended with a dramatic collapse. Henare went down after taking a lariat from Takagi. The ref’s 10-count got closer to its end, but Henare didn’t look finished. Just as he nearly got to his feet, he went down once again. Thus ended a match that flew under the radar of most.
SANADA reaches the top
It became clear during the New Japan Cup that SANADA was getting a push straight to the top of NJPW. The promotion decided to crown a first-ever champion (when counting the past of the IWGP Heavyweight Championship) for the first time since mid-2021, when Shingo Takagi started his reign. They decided that SANADA had what it takes not just to lead a faction, but to lead a company. This move was made official when he pinned Kazuchika Okada in 26 minutes to become the IWGP World Heavyweight Champion.
The big story coming out of Sakura Genesis was obviously SANADA’s main title win. However, the top match of the evening was arguably Aussie Open’s victory against Bishamon to earn the IWGP Tag Team Championships.
After singles appearances during the New Japan Cup gave Aussie Open some unexpected success, they were thrust into a title opportunity in April. In a match that only went 15 minutes, Aussie Open presented a dramatic underdog story, giving them their sole championship reign in NJPW.
May
SANADA beats a familiar face
SANADA’s first major title defense came against Hiromu Takahashi, who held the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Championship for the entire year. Just one month removed from SANADA’s departure from Los Ingobernables de Japon, he overcame his former factionmate with a victory at Wrestling Dontaku.
The move to make SANADA’s first title defense against someone like Takahashi was smart. SANADA needed another big match to his name, and Takahashi is someone who could have a big match with a broomstick. The 27-minute victory for SANADA was part of a strong first half of his year.
Not the expectation, but I won’t complain
The plan likely wasn’t for Willow Nightingale to have a massive night in Long Beach, California that saw her dethrone one of the biggest names that NJPW had signed. Along with Momo Kohgo and Stephanie Vaquer, she was brought in for a one-night tournament that professional wrestling star Mercedes Mone would prevail in. But after Mone suffered a sudden injury in her main event against Nightingale, the plan had to change. Nightingale became the first person to defeat Mone since the end of her WWE run, and she captured the NJPW STRONG Women’s Championship.
Nightingale provided a pair of impressive performances on the same night, overcoming both Kohgo and Mone. Nightingale was likely supposed to lose to Mone, continuing the former WWE star’s title reign. But the impromptu change was one that many would argue didn’t come off as a misstep, but instead a welcome change.
Aussie Open joins list of NJPW to AEW talent
In a shocking move, Aussie Open departed NJPW just after the biggest moment in their run with the promotion. The team’s sudden shift away from NJPW came shortly after Mark Davis suffered an injury, causing the team to give their IWGP Tag Team Championship campaign an unceremonious end.
Initially, the exit of Aussie Open was frustrating. When Davis was injured, there was at least the hope that they could come back and reclaim their belts later in the year. But once they left, it felt like all of the success they had earlier in the year suddenly vanished.
However, months later, after hearing allegations from Fletcher and Davis about how NJPW’s medical team mismanaged them and how AEW’s Tony Khan lured the duo by covering a surgery for Davis, the move from Aussie Open made complete sense. Aussie Open’s NJPW run might go down as a “What Could Have Been,” although you can’t blame the duo for making a decision that was simply looking out for themselves. No matter where they are we still get to see Aussie Open, which is all that matters.
Master Wato earns first major NJPW accomplishment
NJPW spends most of its year building up long-term storylines. Many of the big payoffs at Wrestle Kingdom next month have the build-up of months, sometimes with the context of years of lore. But, there’s something to appreciate about the short-lived moments as well. It’s fun when a talent has a breakout tournament which can lead them to a title shot, even if they lose that momentum shortly thereafter. Almost like Jeremy Lin’s “Linsanity” NBA run, it’s enjoyable to see that quick spark in someone.
Master Wato has been a regular on the NJPW roster since 2020, yet he has never scored a major title. And up until May of this year, he hadn’t ever won any tournament in the promotion either. Despite a short list of accomplishments, Wato seems to have a decent following in NJPW. So, it made sense to give him a fun, brief upswing for this year’s Best of the Super Junior tournament.
After picking up 14 points (equal to seven wins) in the group stage and beating Mike Bailey in the bracket semi-finals, Wato was in an underdog versus underdog final. He went up against CMLL’s Titan, who has never won a BOSJ but was appearing in one for the fifth time. No matter who won, Hiromu Takahashi’s three-year streak of winning the tournament would be broken.
Wato pulled off a solid 24-minute victory over Titan in the main event, earning him a title shot against Takahashi at Dominion 6.4. The match, much like the entire BOSJ tournament, wasn’t life changing. However, it was fun and provided for a neat underdog story with Wato.
Note: Part two of the Moments That Defined This Year will come out soon!