[7.0] "Wasn't a bad show overall. Bad part was DOUKI injury. Match of the night is Tsuji Vs Finlay. My best wishes and a speedy recovery to DOUKI!"

[5.0] "This show deserves a 6 or a 7, but since it's a WrestleKingdom and it should be much higher level, I'll give it a 5, because damn it... I'm not going to comment on the pre-show because it was a Battle Royale like any other where Goto wins, something that surprised me when I saw it. {5.0} We started this WrestleKingdom in the best way with the best Fight of the night, and in a short time AZM and the GOAT Mayu Iwatani gave a great fight where These two would not waste any time and would make the most of those 8 minutes, stealing the show, so long live STARDOM! {8.0} The fight for the television championship beyond the result that excited me a little to see Orange Cassidy dr NJPW rise with the victory, It's a normal fight {6.0} The match between Hiroshi Tanahashi and EVIL to start off this retirement tour of Tanahashi was a fucking shit, slow and boring, I feel sorry for Hiroshi but this guy really can't take it anymore. {3.0} Konosuke Takeshita and Shingo Takagi gave us a decent match, but one that didn't really make much sense, basically the main event of the night but shorter, as the main event should have been! So just for that {7.0} I'm not going to rate the fight between El Desperado and DOUKI because I think that respect must be shown when a participant is injured, in this case DOUKI, and they certainly had a tremendous fight if It wasn't for the circumstances. Yota Tsuji and David Finlay gave us another decent fight that didn't stand out much either, although it was entertaining {7.0} The most disappointing fight came with Tetsuya against Takahashi, another guy who can't give more and should retire is Tetsuya, and he didn't give anything, I noticed he was slow and bored, maybe it was because he was injured Or I don't know, but I didn't remember Tetsuya like that, I guess it's because of my age, but it was a horrible fight {4.0} And the main event is undoubtedly one of the worst WrestleKingdom main events in a long time, and the problem was not The combat if not the duration of it, 43 MINUTES OF ONLY SURRENDER KEYS? REALLY? Unwatchable, and I don't like spending 40 minutes of my life watching absolutely nothing so for that and because It's a fucking WrestleKingdom main event, I give it {3.0}"

[6.0] "So sada bout DOUKI. Hoping for a safe and quick return. Wrestle Kingdom has taken a step back with all the "exits" but man I think they still have kick. Would love to see them become the must watch for wrestling fans again."

[6.0] "Solid PPV, but disappointing for a Wrestle Kingdom. I enjoyed the undercard, especially the women's title and Shingo vs Takeshita more than the final two matches. Definitely wish they had more time, but understand why the focus was for the later matches. Finlay vs Tsuji was my match of the show, but still well below the usual standards of quality for an event like this. Main event was too long, and Umino is just not ready for this spot. ZSJ deserved a better opponent as he basically carried this match by himself"

[7.0] "I'd grade it a B+, it didnt meet the usual expectations from a Wrestle Kingdom however that has pretty much been the norm post-COVID. My top three were Tsuji/Finlay , Takeshita/Shingo and a very wildly unpopular Shota/ZSJ. The opening three were amazing too but nothing was off the charts, wrestle kingdom quality which is pretty much the expectation from a Wrestle Kingdom event. The worst of the night were Evil/Tana and Hiromu/Naito and was highly disappointed with the latter as the injuries have caught up to both the wrestlers thus inhibiting their ability to move as crisply and pristinely as they used to a couple of years ago."

[6.0] "This was an okay Wrestle Kingdom, it's a shame so many of the top stars has left and NJPW has in my view failed to make new stars in time. Still an enjoyable show but not anywhere near the previous year's quality. Favorite matches of the night for me was: Takeshita vs. Takagi and Tsuji vs. Finlay. Worst match was sadly Naito vs. Takahashi unless you count the junior heavyweight match. I give it 6.0, but that's only by Wrestle Kingdoms usually very high standard."

[6.0] "3 great to exceptional matches with a whole slew of sluggish, uninspired matches. Takeshita/Takagi, AZM/Iwatani and Finlay/Tsuji are the only things worth checking out on this card. A less than exceptional viewing experience at nearly 5 hours long when over half the card is forgettable."

[3.0] "This is easily the worst Wrestle Kingdom in more than a decade. So what do we got here ? Main card starts with a weird ladder match that is just a waste of time. Then the women do pretty well and even get the crowd going. Uninspired 4 way. Tanahashiwinslol while not selling EVIL's finisher, great burial. A Shingo Match we've seen time and time again but people will pretend like it's the hottest thing in wrestling and then will forget about it by the next week. DOUKI got hurt, too bad, not his fault, well maybe a little for doing such a dangerous and stupid jump but anyway... David fucking Finlay out of all people has the best match on the card, to be fair he works well with Tsuji but still. Naito and Hiromu had absolutely no idea what to do with their "dream match", very bland. And then a very, very, VERY long uninspired main event with an undeserving challenger to close the show. Great call. Incredible ! This is not the biggest show of the year, this is a normal wrestling show with "holy hecking bangerinos" on it. Soulless crap without any sense of direction in terms of storytelling. If that's what New Japan wants to do from now on then good luck, you'll keep making the fans go away !"

[6.0] "So, who had David Finlay in the best match of Wrestle Kingdom on his bingo card to start the year? I certainly didn't, that's for sure. Tsuji is great and has the New Japan house style down to a science. Sure, this was no classic that I will remember for the rest of my life, but I was very entertained by what they had to offer. Shota did alright as well, but isn't where Gedo wants him to be yet and sadly, we didn't need to find out in a Tokyo Dome main event. The match had no reason to go be as long as it did. Fifteen minutes less and I would have liked it so much more. I usually try not to dwell too much on the negative aspects of a show, but with the overlong main event, the abysmal Naito-Hiromu match and DOUKI's unfortunate injury, Wrestle Kingdom ended up leaving a rather bitter taste in my mouth. And that's a shame as the first half of the show absolutely overdelivered for me."

[7.0] "I've been watching Wrestle Kingdoms and New Japan for almost a decade now, and Wrestle Kingdom is always my favorite event of the year and I look forward to it the most, more than any other event in wrestling. This was the most disappointing Wrestle Kingdom in a long long time, mostly because of the bar they set in the past and they are currently in a rebuilding phase and trying to make new stars. It wasn't a bad show as the wrestling was good, minus that Naito match, but the crowd was difficult all night and it was hard for most of the matches get real good heat, and that main event had no business being that long and just wasn't a tokyo dome caliber main event. It's unfortunate to see them in this position because of how good the product can be, but they are in the rebuilding phase so we'll see what they can do from now until Dominion/G1 season."

[5.0] "This show was unfortunately a miss for me. An average show for NJPW's biggest event of the year is not what you wanna see. The main event and the co-main event were all around just not great. There was a lot of mediocre on this show actually and the highs weren't all that high for me. The STARDOM match and the Jr. Heavyweight title match also felt like they could have been much more, but got their legs cut out from under them thanks to bad time allegation and injury respectively. Overall, a very disappointing show given the grandiose of the setting. [MOTN: David Finlay vs. Yota Tsuji]"

[5.0] "Altogether a mess of a show with some very low lows and highs that implied a complete misunderstanding of what great wrestling is all about. Mayu Iwatani and AZM are two of the best wrestlers in the world and they were given nine fucking minutes and a low spot on the card. I don't care that this is an NJPW show, if you're going to invite those women to the show you give them the time to put on a MOTY or you're wasting the opportunity and disappointing everyone involved. I'm tired of women being invited to give a sample of Stardom when they could be fighting for match of the show but are hamstringed instead. But the booking is the true villain of Wrestle Kingdom this year, as it has been for the past several years. Shota in the main event, Naito in the semi (even with the emotional investment of the fans, it's difficult-to-watch wrestling higher on the card than more deserving content), Finlay and Tsuji with poor chemistry, and Takeshita and Shingo only getting 13 minutes. Whoever is running NJPW priorities continue to be bafflingly disconnected from the quality of the product."

[5.0] "A moderate show with goods and bads contradicting each other. Yes GOTO winning the ranbo is a welcoming suprise even if the match was a lackluster battle royale and I am hoped for the match sabre and goto will have in Osaka. - The opening ladder match felt weak, like an average junior tag match with strict rules has more high flying action then this one with supports high flying spots. - new japan continues to neglect the IWGP women's title in the dome shows. This has the potential to go berserk with the crowds but all we got is roll up, and roll up and roll up and it ended less then 10 minutes. - I had no interest in the world tv title match but seeing ELP winning is something I didn't expect it was great. - Hiroshi couldn't carry EVIL and the stipulation felt it is pandering to the limitation of EVIL, like he can't fight well, so he really needs support to perform a bit better. Shibata should have been given an entrance for his return the crowd would have loved it. - obviously this match shouldn't have existed and ishi vs takagi would have been a better match for this night. But it's still great. - douki's accident was an unfortunate event that halted the progression of the show entirely and created a dark cloud surrounding it. Hope he gets better - Now that's how you put over young talent. Yota is red hot right now and have him fight ever-growing finlay is a genius move. - naito vs hiromu is simply the match too late to happen, with naito succuming to the injuries, is limiting his skills which is sad considering fans wanted to see this match in 2020 and many people wanted this match to main event this show. Simply tragic - now shota wasn't the right guy to challenge Zack in the main event, the crowd literally booing him shows their displeasure and when Japanese boos on someone it considered fatal. And the match would have been fine if it was 15-25 minutes, but 43! Hell no. Zack really deserve guys like okada or someone experience to challenge Overal this is much worse then the covid wreslte Kingdom shows that had the restriction and it's sad that new japan knowing this can't do anything better then this.."

[6.0] "Just an extremely disappointing Wrestle Kingdom show, and this kind of perfectly encapsulates where NJPW's product is currently at. Only two matches that are truly worth going out of your way to see, and the top two matches were utter disappointments. Tetsuya Naito is completely shot physically and there was absolutely no reason for that main event to go 43+ minutes, not to mention that Shota Umino just is not the guy. Maybe he'll get there eventually, but he is such a turn-off to watch for me. Maybe the El Desperado/Douki match would have made it into that upper tier of match quality, but we'll never know. A complete disappointment overall."

"Decent show, saved by konosuke/shingo and yota/david. Still huge disappointment for the main event which I think would have been good with 10 minutes less."

[7.0] "This Wrestle Kingdom in my opinion was very good that was just short on a few of their big matches, The in-ring for everything was good and that main event was absolutely amazing in my opinion. Finlay and Tsuji was the best match of the night and overall every match was good or at least good for what it was. Pretty good show in my opinion."

[7.0] "Wrestle Kingdom 19 ended up being a very good show that just fell short of being great. A fantastic undercard but ultimately both the semi and main event underdelivered. The show opens with a really fun, all action opener in the Jr Tag ladder match. Followed by the fantastic sprint of a match between Mayu & AZM - this probably should have been given more time, every time the Stardom girls get an opportunity they deliver. The TV championship was another all action 10-minute match which had a great finish - really happy that El Phantasmo got the win here. Tana Vs Evil did its job perfectly, gives Tanahashi, maybe, his last WK victory, while not exposing him to too much wrestling. Shibata returning was also a brilliant moment. MOTN next with Takagi Vs Takeshita, exactly as expected this was an excellent hard-hitting match (again could have done with some more time). New Japan really are showcasing Takeshita brilliantly. It's so unfortunate that Douki got seriously injured, in the 5 minutes before it was stopped it was shaping up to be another excellent match - Douki has had a great year and deserved having a spotlight on the biggest show. Finlay Vs Tsuji was another strong match, Finlay has improved massively and Tsuji needed the big win after falling short so many times this year. The biggest disappointment was the semi-main - Naito Vs Hiromu is a dream match but this was just slow are rather uninspiring. Naito usually can produce in the biggest matches but this wasn't it. The main event is really hard to rate. This match was very good, maybe even verging on great, but it did not need to be anywhere close to 45 minutes. It just ended up feeling slow and dragged out for the sake of getting to 45 minutes. A 25-minute match would have suited both so much better with the extra time being spread around some of the earlier matches. WK19 ends up being a 7.5/10 but due to the final 2 matches underdelivering this gets rounded down. (7/10)"

[7.0] "This was a hard one to rate, if DOUKI hadn't been injured and the main had gone a wee bit better, this could be an all timer in my eyes, but as it is it will probably fall into one of the lesser loved Wrestle Kingdoms in recent history. There were some great moments including the Finlay/Tsuji match which stole the show in my eyes, Ichiban Sweet Boys being belted up and some honestly very sound booking, but overall this was just a strong but not incredible show."

[9.0] "The Rambo match, Desperado Vs DOUKI and Naito Vs Takahashi were all bad, but the IWGP Junior Heavyweight tag title four way ladder, Tanahasi Vs EVIL lumberjack and Umino Vs ZSJ were all really solid, the NJPW World TV title four way was good, Iwatani Vs AZM and Takeshita Vs Takagi were both really fantastic and Finlay Vs Tsuji was real incredible. Overall NJPW Wrestle Kingdom 19 (2025) is a great show."

"Good show on paper, but maybe wasn't the all out banger it could have been. Fun show all around, though. I don't think the main event was as bad as some others but it definitely could have had 10 minutes shaved off it."

[7.0] "I was one of the skeptics of this card, which admittedly wasn't the most attractive. But like the excellent main event, this show turned out to be a pleasant surprise, especially in the ring. There were no false notes in this WK, as the Rambo had a certain usefulness, and Douki's injury was not disqualifying from my point of view. The match between Naito and Takahashi may have been a little disappointing, but the content was just right. Overall, this show confirms the quality of the wrestling offered by NJPW, although we can regret the lack of care for what happens outside the ring. Of course, one could argue that NJPW shouldn't be asked to make a standard American TV product, but at times, adding a little context and surprises outside the ring could be beneficial. I'm thinking in particular of matches that would have been better brought to life with recap clips or, for example, Shibata's arrival, which would have had a different impact with entrance music. But once again, this opens up a delicate debate on the expectations we can have for different promotions. Quality of in-ring wrestling: 4/5. Angles and segments: 0.5/3. Bonus/Malus: good atmosphere and great entries +0.25. Total: 6.75/10. Show seen on NJPW World."

[7.0] "It's the first WK I watch in almost its entirety in years so I feel it's acceptable to rate it. Show was pretty good, and the problems it had I would put on questionable booking/psychology and not the talent itself (except maybe Shooter which I'll get to). Show opens with the battle royal, it was acceptable. It's there to get the old guys and everybody else who has nothing in particular going a pay check, it's whatever. It did strike me how thin Tenzan is though. Skipped the ladder match. The girls did pretty well, a highlight for sure, AZM can do some stuff and Mayu is still top tier. Skipped TV title. Tanahashi-EVIL, if you take it for what it was supposed to be in a vacuum, probably wasn't that well done. Rushed, a little too clusterfucky, bad finish, but with what was set up afterwards I accept it more. Takeshita-Takagi is MOTN, only thing I can possibly say about it is that it should've gone longer. Go out of your way to see this one. I feel very sorry for Despy and DOUKI, I haven't watched Despy in years and I have no solid memory of DOUKI, so I wanted to see what they could do. Despy was probably going to win it still, but he was visibly pissed at how it went down. Tsuji-Finlay was okay, I didn't particularly care for it. Naito-Takahashi was a bad move. You can't book these two in the semi main without building a lot of anticipation about how it's going to go down. Hiromu blows off Naito in the beginning, and by the time the match ends they're on the same page again, though this likely won't be the last we see of the wedge driven between them. The problem with this match - the story is that Hiromu is not on Naito's level. Problem being, the audience does accept Hiromu as being on his level and so the match feels short and nothingburger. Sabre-Shota was good. Good aggression, but some confused psychology in some moments. There were many, long moments where Shooter, as the underdog, rightfully, is getting the tar beaten out of him to the point where it might build sympathy, even though he's mostly the heel. Match didn't need to go as long as it did. I feel another problem with Shooter here is he's in the same spot Jay White was when he came back with the Switchblade character. You can tell he's going to be great, but he's not quite at that point yet, there's still some young boy "stench" when you put him in this spot. He'll get there. I think New Japan's future is in good hands, just the booking wasn't all there."

[6.0] "This event was really fun before the last two matches, I thought it was going extremely well, but unfortunately the main events didn't delivered, the Naito/Hiromu and ZSJ/Umino matches were a huge disappointment, and we also had the unfortunate injury of Douki, against El Desperado, that ended the match with only 5-minutes, and the match was going really well, the crowd was on fire, I was really enjoying that one and it's a shame that it ended that way, hopefully Douki comes back stronger. That was probably the weakest Wrestle Kingdom that I've ever watched, fell super short from the magical events that we used to have, with at least one MOTYC in every single of them, this didn't had THAT insane match, and the main event, a match that I was expecting something very good, was terrible. New Japan has to figure some things out, not even the Tokyo Dome event is delivering anymore, red alert, but the future looks good, let's hope for the best."

[7.0] "Best match surprisingly was Tsuji vs Finlay. Second best Takeshita againts Takagi, match could have been longer. Tanahashi match was ok. The ladder match did not live up to my expectations. Akira looked like a fool on the ladder. Who comes up with such nonsense? Main event too long. Unfortunately, Shota Umino doesn't have it yet. Naito's match was bad."

[7.0] "There were highs and a couple of lows on this year's Wrestle Kingdom PPV, a couple of good matches, some okay matches and a couple of matches that should have been booked differently or not on the PPV altogether. IWGP World Heavyweight Title #1 Contendership New Japan Rambo: Josh Barnett being an entrant was a surprise, apart from that it was an okay Rambo match, not as many surprise entrants like previous years, Hirooki Goto winning was nice to see and definitely needed [**1/2]. Kosei Fujita & Robbie Eagles vs Kevin Knight & KUSHIDA vs Clark Connors & Drilla Moloney vs Francesco Akira & TJP: A main show opening that did not burn out the crowd, did what it needed to which was to get the crowd fired up for the rest of the PPV, some cool moments and all involved did what they needed to, TMDK winning the titles was good to see [***]. Mayu Iwatani vs AZM: Started off with high speed style action, followed by some hard strikes and hits that made this match a good one, just wish that they had more time which would have made it better [***1/2]. El Phantasmo vs Ren Narita vs Jeff Cobb vs Ryohei Oiwa: A somewhat decent four way match with Narita using tactics that are starting to get boring, Cobb breaking the push bar of Narita was cool to watch and ELP winning the title was somewhat a bittersweet moment [***1/4]. Hiroshi Tanahashi vs EVIL: A match that actually worked well with the lumberjack stipulation, EVIL had a decent showing and Tanahashi did really well in this one to my surprise, Tanahashi rolling up EVIL after Tanahashi was hit with Everything Is EVIL was surprising [***1/4]. Konosuke Takeshita vs Shingo Takagi: A hard hitting encounter as expected, they did what they could do within the near 13 minutes they were given for this one, Shingo should have won but it was okay all the same, if it had more time it could have elevated even further [***1/4]. El Desperado vs DOUKI: Not a good match unfortunately mainly due to the injury sustained to DOUKI following the dive to the outside of the ring, Despy winning by ref stoppage was not the way he wanted to win the title [*1/4]. Yota Tsuji vs David Finlay: A quite well worked match between these two, they had a match just like their G1 block match in 2024, Tsuji overcame everything Finlay had threw at him, Finlay sold the offense of Tsuji really well, Tsuji winning the title was the right call [****]. Tetsuya Naito vs Hiromu Takahashi: This match was not bad but in 2025 that is to be expected as Naito is slowing down compared to when they should have competed in a singles match back in 2020, the match was fine but not what I was expecting, Hiromu hitting a Destino on Naito was surprising, should have gave the win to Hiromu [**3/4]. Zack Sabre Jr vs Shota Umino: Did not need to go nearly 44 minutes, the match was fine but as much as I think Umino is a good wrestler, he just simply is not ready for the main event spot at Wrestle Kingdom, the match did get boring and slow at times due to the long time they were given, no doubt ZSJ was gonna win the match [**1/2]"

[8.0] "This was the first full NJPW show I've watched since last year's WK, and it blew me away. The last three matches were the highlights of the night for me. - Yota Tsuji is so much better than everyone in his graduating class. That kid will be the next Tetsuya Naito; remember this post. - It has finally clicked for David Finlay, and I'm happy he's getting this spotlight. Unlike past Bullet Club leaders, Finlay had to grow into a pair of shoes that we all thought were too big for him- he proved us wrong. - What can I say about Tetsuya Naito and Hiromu Takahashi that hasn't already been said? There's a reason LIJ is my favorite faction of all time. If this is the only time they'll fight, I am grateful I got to see it. ZSJ vs Shota is going to go down as one of the more controversial main events in WK history. If you enjoy ZSJ's match style then this is for you. If you don't you won't like it."

[8.0] "An awesome WRESTLE KINGDOM. Detailled matchratings in the guides. Rumble: *** Ladder Match: **** Iwatani(C) vs. AZM: ***1/2 NJPW WORLD title match: ***3/4 Tanahashi vs. EVIL: ***3/4 Takagi(C) vs. TAKESHITA(C): ****1/2 DOUKI(C) vs. Despy: ***1/4 Finlay(C) vs. Tsuji: ***1/2 Naito vs. Hiromu: ***1/4 ZSJ(C) vs. Umino: ****3/4"

[8.0] "Going in I thought the show looked low key great. Just finished it now and thought it really delivered. Outside of Naito/Hiromu match this was a very good show. Not as hyped up as previous years, won't get the same amount of stars from the observer as previous shows, but it was still a very good show."

[8.0] "A solid show overall, albeit not as good as other WrestleKingdoms. Ranbo (6): A fun rumble to get the crowd going. Nothing to really talk about asides from a victory from Goto (IT'S NOT GOTOVER YET! ). Jr tag title ladder match (8): A great opening match that was very chaotic and fun to watch. Glad TMDK won. AZM vs Iwatani (8): Great to see the Joshis back at the dome and boy did they not disappoint. TV title 4-way (8): This was much better than I thought it would be. All four guys got their shine and ELP got his well deserved win. Tana vs EVIL (8): An emotional roller coaster of a match and it was much better than the anticipated piss break status I thought it would be. The psychology was top notch here and I was also genuinely shocked to see Shibata back in New Japan. Takeshita vs Shingo (9): Absolutely incredible strong style match up. Takeshita was a boss here, forcing Shingo to dig down deep and fight. Takeshita vs Ishii is going to be an absolute slugfest of a fight and I'm all for it. Despe vs Douki (5): This was sad. I was looking forward to this match a ton but an injury to Douki shelfed it. Big praise for Despe trying to light a fire under the crowd again albeit being torn about it himself. Tsuji vs Finlay (9): Absolutely great storytelling and the match was thrilling, even when the pace slowed. Stellar performance by both men. Naito vs Hiromu (5): This was disappointing. The story and psychology was there, but the action was not. It was a lariat/dropkick/finished spam fest pretty much. As a diehard LIJ fan, I've been waiting impatiently for this matchup and now I wouldn't care if I see it again. Zack vs Umino (7): The match went wayyyyy to long with too much no selling from Umino which made no sense. Most of the match was good and story of Uminos descent into madness and a potential heel turn. Things are gonna be interesting going into 2025."

[5.0] "Mayu Iwatani and AZM saved this show from being a marathon of inactivity. This is probably the worst Tokyo Dome show I've seen in my ten years of watching NJPW, and it's emblematic of why I don't give a rats ass about this company. Everyone is either too old or too slow or too inexperienced. I was happy that Goto finally won the Rambo, and I am hopeful for his match against whoever's the world champion and actually wins it. The Ladder match had some good ideas but was executed poorly and was overall messy, also Francesco Akira looked stupid just letting Kosei get the belt. Mayu vs. AZM was the match of the night hands down, they shoulda squeezed out twenty minutes of that main event and given it to these gals, but I digress. The Four Way was good, I'm sad at what Ren Narita has become. Tanahashi vs. EVIL was what I expected except for when they straight up stole the ending to that Pentagon Jr./Cody match from 2021 AEW. Shingo vs. Soup was fine but also really slow, like they were sprinting in molasses. Unfortunate situation regarding Douki vs. Despe, that was shaping up to be MOTN. Tsuji vs. Finlay was better than I thought it was gonna be but I wasn't a fan of their pacing. Naito vs. Hiromu was sad cause they're both completely washed and Naito didn't need that win. ZSJ vs. Shooter was awful and you pin that all on Shota Umino. Overall a mediocre show with a great Joshi match."

[7.0] "A decent Wrestle Kingdom, although a bit of a mixed card. Best matches were the Womens IWGP with Mayu and AZM working hard for the entire 10 minutes they got. You could tell it meant a lot to them too. Jr Tag ladder match was fun, the Global Championship and the Shingo/Takeshita title fight. Special mention to Finlay, man is the mvp right now and doing a great job as top heel. Horrible accident to Douki, which was unfortunate. I hope he's back soon and Despe was probably winning anyway. So he can keep things moving. EVIL had an amazing entrance and honestly a fun match against Tanahashi. ELP winning the TV title was wonderful and so deserved. Just a shame the last 2 matches didn't meet expectations and were disappointing. On an otherwise good show. If the main event is lacklustre it can really damage the perception people have of the whole show. ZSJ did well, but it was dull and Shota needs work. On both his character and how to build a match."

"[7.0] Started off promising, but petered out with the last two matches . Desperado vs Douki had potential until the unfortunate injury to Douki."

[7.0] "My first entire watch through of Wrestle Kingdom & First Wrestling PPV of the new year and it was overall good despite some flaws. The first half of the PPV was incredible; the opening tag team ladder match was a good way to start it off showcasing the junior tag division at its finest despite minor spots. The Women's Title match was MOTN for sure such incredible action that the Joshi-Wrestlers are easily capable of! The TV-Title 4-way was surprising entertaining. Evil Vs. Tanahashi had its standard HOT interference but the action aside from that was fine. Shingo Vs. Konosuke was another MOTN just two of the best doing what they do! Then comes the second half of the PPV were its start crumbling for me, Douki Vs. Desperado was cut short due to unexpected injury that occurred which sucked to see as it could've had the potentially of being another MOTN in my books. The Global Title match was another good match. Naito Vs. Takahashi just didn't live up to what I had envisioned so can't really be bad for that. Finally, the Main Event which is becoming so divisive that honestly its a solid Main Event that biggest flaw comes from it unnecessary time length. Overall, it was an enjoyable watch through where hopefully they can recognize some errors and further improve on themselves in this year to come."

[4.0] "While the early stuff that had the potential to be great wasn't given enough time, this definitely felt more positive than negative leading into the last two matches. As it was we got a really bad semi main event, with a completely perplexing finish, followed by in many ways an even worse main event. An ill conceived snooze fest, with about 6 minutes of worthwhile stuff in nearly 3/4's of an hour of excruciation"

[6.0] "Opening rumble stunk. The gimmick junior title match was an ok opener but nothing to write home about. Just spots. The women's title match was really good. I was surprised Mayu retained. The television title match was ok. Just feel like Jeff Cobb had the best showing and ELP was handed it because he came back from fighting cancer. The lumberjack match was usual House of Torture boring. Takagi vs Takeshita was amazing. Definitely watch that one. The junior title was cut short by injury. I remember a time when Ospreay, Hiromu and Dragon Lee all seemed to be dancing with death and it was not fun. The move where Douki got injured was unnecessary. Global title match was good. Hopefully Finlay goes away. Naito vs Hiromu was surprisingly mediocre. Naito really needs to retire. The main event was somewhat of a letdown too. ZSJ had to talk Shota through a lot of it. Over 40 minutes is just ridiculous as well. Stop letting Shota's dad ref his matches as well unless you pull some shenanigans."

[6.0] "This Wrestle Kingdom featured two great matches in Shingo/Takeshita and Tsuji/Finlay, but the rest of the undercard was merely okay, the junior title match ended abruptly due to an unfortunate injury, and the top two matches were dull. Naito vs. Hiromu is a match that should have happened 5 years ago but was a slow affair and the main event felt long for the sake of it, with a lack of fire and while it had its moments, it was a plodding match and Umino is not ready for the main event of a Tokyo Dome show. By the standards New Japan has set for themselves, this is a very dissapointing Wrestle Kingdom, but we're far removed from the glory days of the 2010's."

[8.0] "A great WK overall with some flaws there and there, the biggest drawback of course here was the horrible way in which ended the Jr. belt match but the main-event and Takagi/Takeshita was MOTYC stuff. Finlay vs Tsuji and somehow Naito vs Takahashi were good too. ****1/4"

[9.0] "Maybe it was because this was the first Wrestle Kingdom i was in attendance for, but i really really enjoyed this show. Apart from Douki's unfortunate injury and that 40 minute main event, this show was really good. Being in the crowd with that atmosphere of the dome even made tana v evil kinda enjoyable."

[7.0] "The card was very inconsistent in quality. The best performances overall from Mayu/AZM, Takeshita/Shingo, and Tsuji/Finlay. Although I thought Finlay was overrated. He has come along very well. Much better promos and much better wrestling.  The other performances were very lackluster. Felt bad about Douki, as that match with Desperado had the potential to be a classic. Happy for ELP as he came back to win his first singles title for New Japan. He is one of my favorites, but understandably he has lost a step because he was ill. Hoping he gets it back soon as he is one of the best when healthy. Naito vs Takahashi was probably the worst match of the card. I dont see Takahashi as a heavyweight and Naito needs to go part-time. He is WAY over his prime. His best years as a professional wrestler have gone. Tanahashi vs Evil. Tanahashi needs to get over himself in booking himself for these victories. Yes I hate House of Torture but Tanahashi's victories are getting very unrealistic at this point. Just like Naito he is WAY over his prime. Now Tanahashi will face Shibata.....please Tana don't book yourself for another unrealistic victory.... Yes I know my comments are probably unpopular but I am right. Tanahashi is a legend and one of the best ever in Japan but he is nowhere near who he was which makes sense with injuries and age. He should start pushing the younger talent.. As for the main event between Zack and Shota, it was absolutely boring. There were gaps where there was complete silence it was awkward. How does Shota's dad get to officiate in his son's matches? Absolutely no conflict-of-interest whatsoever? Unless they do an angle where he helps his son cheat, makes no sense. Unless this is another angle?"

[9.0] "Really revelling in the fact that I genuinely loved this event. Often when there are issues I'm the first to have it detract from my experience, but somehow the issues of this event really passed me by. DOUKI's injury was horrific but at least they called it quickly. I found myself caring more and more about the winners as the event went on. The starting four matches vastly exceeded expectations, and then the main event did everything I wanted and more. It never dragged for me for a second. Only downside was somehow Takeshita and Shingo slightly underwhelming. Performance bonuses to Jeff Cobb, AZM, Tanahashi and Zack, but performer of the night was Shota. He looked like a complicated, layered, contradictory, but totally worthy main-eventer."

[9.0] "You are taking it too hard. The quality of the matches is really good. They tried their best. There was no bad individual performance on behalf of any of the wrestlers."

[9.0] "From start to finish I thoroughly enjoyed WK19. I love a wrestling show with a good amount of action in it and the show delivered. I am happy that they were creative in using members of the New Japan Roster that did not have matches on the main card. In addition, bringing in AEW talent and various performers aided in the show's presentation. Here's hoping Dynasty and Dash also deliver this year."

[8.0] "Enjoying the main event I think gave this a bit of a bump for me. Nothing MOTY level but a bunch of good-very good matches that made the show overall feel pretty great, though not the heights you'd maybe hope for from a WK. 8/10"

[8.0] "Even though the main event is certainly polarizing, I genuinely enjoyed it, and think they did a great job leading into WD. Particular standouts were the ladder match, AZM/Mayu, Finlay/Tsuji and Shingo/Takeshita. Overall a fun watch, and a good lead into tomorrow night!"

[7.0] "High ups, deep lows. The first half of the show was pretty good and I enjoyed every match that happened. Shingo/Takeshita and Finlay/Tsuji were the best for me. The Jr. Title match would've be there too I think, but sadly Douki got a nasty injury. I really hope he'll be OK. The last two matches really hurt the show. My main problem with the main-event was only with the reasoning behind the match, as It really didn't feel like it fits their biggest show of the year. The co-main event was meh, mostly because it had to be worked at Naito's pace. I feared the show would hurt because of the "rebuilding phase" NJPW has going on right now and it did happen, as the main-event scene is lacking after the leave of big stars and the new generation is yet to replace them. They are going to, but this WK is just set at the time when most of them are not yet ready, main event is kind of an example."

[9.0] "Been watching Wrestlekingdom every year since WK10 and this one really blew me away. Best Tokyo Dome show in a very long time."

[8.0] "This was my first time watching Wrestle Kingdom and it did not disappoint. The matches were really good and really fun to watch. The only downsides were DOUKI's injury, the match before the main event, and the main event being a bit disappointing."

[9.0] "A great show that went by fast. DOUKI's put a damper on things and I hope he has a speedy recovery. Surprised that match is getting a low rating considering it was an accident and a spot DOUKI has done before. Both him and Despy looked beyond disappointed and I'm looking forward to them getting another chance at it. The ladder match was fun and the TV title has the nice moment of ELP wining his first singles title. The IWGP Women's title match was great and those two did everything possible in 8 minutes. TAKESHITA vs Shingo was as good as expected and MOTN goes to Finlay vs Tsuji who blasted his genes all over the Tokyo Dome. They've got great chemistry and the crowd is ready for Yota to step up. This show has a bit of everything with even EVIL vs Tanahashi being fun and having the surprise return of Katsuyori Shibata which had me screaming in living room with excitement. Naito vs Hiromu was slow and picked up well toward the end. Naito needs to adapt his style since he can't work like he used to. It wasn't bad by any means but 4 years ago these two would've done something truly special. The moment was cool though either way. I personally enjoyed the main event more than most it seems and it was a big test for Shota who worked best in the match when he played the heel (pushing his dad and taking cheap shots at ZSJ). It definitely seemed like they wanted to see if he could handle the 35+ min main event style and he definitely beats Tsuji in that regard but there were times you could see they had to slow the match down a bit for the guy to rest up. I think with a funner stretch at the end, this would've really been better. This will be a great character building moment for Shota in the future and ZSJ deserved this main event win (being the first gaijin in WK history to win and I believe the second to do it in January 4 Dome Show history). A great Wrestle Kingdom that as me looking forward to the year ahead."

[8.0] "Pretty great show, the opening match was fine as usual. Great womens title match, shingo vs takeshita is my moty so far, finlay vs tsuji delivered, the five way match and the main event were also pretty great. Such a long fucking show though, being on eastern time this went from 2-7 am so it was pretty exhausting, worth it though, ive never caught a wrestle kingdom for this reason so glad i could catch this years one. The biggest downside is the junior heavyweight title match and the ladder match but other than that i really had a lot of fun with this show"

[8.0] "I think I came into this show with relatively low expectations and I was mostly pleasantly surprised by how strong a show this ended up being."