New Japan's Wrestle Kingdom 10 (1/2/16)

Wrestle Kingdom 9 was the best pro-wrestling event of 2015. Hands down. The K. Ibushi/S. Nakamura match topped many a folk's end-of-the-year lists, with Tanahashi/Okada easily in the top 5 and a pretty awesome Suzuki/Sakuraba squabble. Enter 2016. Wrestle Kingdom 10. Is this already show of the year? Probably.

NEVER Openweight Title: Tomohiro Ishii (c) vs. Katsuyori Shibata

We knew this was going to be awesome. We knew that when these two went at it, it would be sometimes hard to watch. The sound effects would make you cringe. The emotion would be high, the fighting spirit undying. The tag match from 12/19's Road to Tokyo Dome show gave us an awesome preview of what would come in one of the best tag team matches from last year. Did it deliver? Hell yeah. This was a contest of pure endurance and pain tolerance. Early on,  these two were begging for pain, trading shots until Shibata went Happy Gilmore on Ishii's back with a kick. But Ishii's a Stone Pitbull. He's like New Japan's version of the Absorbing Man. He chops Shibata like firewood and Shibata's forearms are nutzo. After kicking the shit out of Ishii, he gladly cleans it off his face with the side of his boot in the corner. He's polite about his violence, and god, does it look painful. Lariats, kicks, suplexes, and we all fall down. Ishii wants to keep his NEVER title and folds Shibata up with a powerbomb for two -- the first pin attempt of the match. Lariat? Count one. Sliding lariat? Count two. And those thunking headbutts are the stuff of nightmares. More lariats from Ishii, more kicks from Shibata...and a nasty flying knee kick, a front kick, and the PK for the Shibata victory! A surprising finish to a non-stop match in which the competitors didn't have time to think about the consequences of their actions, or the degradation of the human biomass. Life is short. Let's fuck each other up and call it art. A+

IWGP Intercontinental Title: Shinsuke Nakamura (c) vs. AJ Styles

So these two are leaving New Japan, heading to WWE in a quasi-surprising move, and instead of going the Goldberg/Lesnar route and not giving two shits, they gave like 4 and a half shits. This was easily my favorite AJ Styles New Japan match, and when Shinsuke wants to be solid, he's above and beyond. A slower build, which suits the 18-year veteran Styles well. The high flying shenangians are in still in his repertoire but he's picked up a few new tricks along the way that don't jeopardize his chances as much. There's also a franticness to this match. You can see it in their movements and counters. AJ's a former IWGP Heavyweight Champion so in his mind, this is beneath him. But Nakamura's swallows his final piece of Bullet Club lead and Styles quickly needs to coat check the ego. He does beautifully with a Styles dropkick (one of the best still) but when he plays opossum in the corner, he pays for it with a backbreaker and a sick high knee strike in the corner. Shinsuke looks like a lunatic and I'd be happy to see a Shinsuke Nakamura/Dean Ambrose match in his WWE future. Styles sells the back with the suplex lift attempt and goes low with the snap suplex in the corner. He works over Nakamura's leg, trying to weaken the Boma Ye, but it doesn't seem to be working. Once Shinsuke connects with that murdering second-rope Boma Ye, the momentum shifts. AJ lands his own Boma Ye and goes old-school with the Firebird Splash and Nakamura goes old-school with the cross armbreaker counter. A one-armed Styles Clash from AJ isn't enough to dethrone the foppish king. He hits the Bloody Sunday set-up to another Styles Clash...wait, fuck that, Super Styles Clash is the better decision. But his ego comes back to haunt him and after Nakamura counters off the top with the Landslide, he nails AJ with one of the most brutal Boma Ye knees to the back of the head, followed by a second Boma Ye to retain. Awesome stuff. A+

IWGP Heavyweight Title: Kazuchika Okada (c) vs. Hiroshi Tanahashi

Rewind to Wrestle Kingdom 9, Tanahashi was still ace. He defeated Okada to keep his belt and his pride intact -- well, relatively intact and then lost it to Styles. Okada had to wade through the Bullet Club bullshit to finally reclaim what was taken from him at Wrestling Dontaku 2014, and now, the stage is set for the final battle to decide Japan's top pro wrestler. Tanahashi goes for the leg early on because, let's face it, he likes the Texas Cloverleaf. Unfortunately, Okada's selling of the limb work left something to be desired in this match, and while it didn't necessarily detract from the match as a whole, the inconsistency made you realize that Kazuchika Okada is human and not a wrestling god. It was what you would expect from these two, with a little more salt and pepper here and there, some big nearfalls, the 'Hey, I respect you but I'm going to try and beat you with your own finisher' game, and one of the best finishes I've seen in awhile. Tanahashi, the consummate samurai, strikes out with a final flash of steel: a Sling Blade, a dragon suplex hold, and back-to-back High Fly Flows. But Okada won't go down. He can't go down. The passion for this rivalry is deafening within the Tokyo Dome, and maybe Tanahashi lets that get to him because in his heart-of-hearts, he knows that Okada is now the master. He tries for the third HFF but Okada shows him the best dropkick in the world! After Okada's German suplex, Tanahashi slaps Okada! He's got nothing left at this point and Okada won't let go -- literally. Three Rainmakers and it's goodnight, sweet prince Tanahashi. A+ And with this win, Okada fulfills his destiny. He becomes the embodiment of New Japan; the modern evolution of pro wrestling art. Here's to 2016!