NJPW Wrestle Kingdom VII: Merry Christmas. Have Some Tanahashi vs. Okada

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Date: January 4, 2013
Location: Tokyo Dome, Tokyo, Japan
Attendance: 29,000

Captain New Japan/Tama Tonga/Wataru Inoue vs. Jado/Tomohiro Ishii/Yoshi-Hashi

We go to a wide shot of the arena to fill in some time.

Bushi/Kushida/Ryusuke Taguchi vs. Jushin Thunder Liger/Tiger Mask IV/Hiromu Takahashi

Everyone shakes hands post match.

We go right to the first match.

Akebono/Manabu Nakanishi/MVP/Strong Man vs. Bob Sapp/Takashi Iizuka/Toru Yano/Yujiro Takahashi

The second team is again part of Chaos. Sapp gets his own entrance and has a pretty swank white feather robe. Before the match, Takahashi cuts what sounds like a maniacal heel promo. Manabu makes an announcer do the entrance as the good guys come down the aisle but Chaos charges up the ramp for a brawl. The fight heads to the ring with Strong Man slamming two Chaos members down to set up Ballin from MVP.

Sapp comes in and runs both guys into the corner, only to bring in former Sumo wrestler Akebono (he was at Wrestlemania 21 against Big Show) for the showdown. They collide a few times until Sapp is knocked into the corner for splashes from all four of his opponents. The good guys all start stomping their feet to fire up Manabu who racks Sapp in a nice power display. Yano makes the save with a chair to the back and Iizuka gets in one of his own.

Never Openweight Title: Masato Tanaka vs. Shelton Benjamin

Shelton will have none of this standing around and hits a BIG flip dive over the top to take out Tanaka and some other guy who was standing next to him. Back in and Tanaka comes back with a forearm in the corner to drop Benjamin and we hit the chinlock. Shelton fights up and they fight over a suplex with Tanaka getting the better of it. They chop it out and whip each other across the ring until Tanaka hits a SCREAMING CLOTHESLINE to take over. Shelton avoids a diving clothesline and comes back with the Dragon Whip to drop the champion.

We recap the tag title match. The Killer Elite Squad (Davey Boy Smith Jr., aka David Hart Smith and Lance Archer) are the heel champions. Swords and Guns (Hirooki Goto and Karl Anderson) beat them in the World Tag League finals and now want a title shot. Simple yet effective.

Tag Titles: Killer Elite Squad vs. Swords and Guns

Lance hits Old School on Goto and knocks Anderson off the apron again, likely setting up a big hot tag later. A double shoulder puts Goto down and sets up a splash/legdrop combo (imagine Warrior and Hogan using that back in 1990. The world would have ended) for two. Goto finally gets in some offense with a suplex to Smith, allowing for the hot tag off to Anderson. Karl speeds things WAY up and avoids a kick in the corner before kicking Smith in the face twice in a row.

Smith avoids a running backsplash and hooks a tiger suplex for two. Back to Archer for a wicked chokeslam for two but Anderson breaks up a second Old School attempt. Lance blocks a superplex but Anderson busts out a SWEET middle rope TKO for two. The hot tag brings in Goto to clean house and a reverse 3D (belly to back into a neckbreaker) drops Smith. Goto gets two off a German suplex but Archer makes the save. The champions load up a double team move but Smith is kicked away.

Smith comes back in with a sitout powerbomb but Anderson sneaks up on him with a Diamond Cutter to put everyone down. Goto fights out of another sitout powerbomb attempt but gets caught in the attempted double team from earlier: a full nelson slam/sitout powerbomb combo but Anderson breaks up the pin again. The same move lays Karl out and a second one for Goto is enough for the pin to retain the belts.

Minoru Suzuki vs. Yuji Nagata

Nagata goes back to the arm by snapping it over his shoulder but has to break up an armbar by kicking the other Army guy from the apron. They slap it out again for a good thirty seconds until Yuji finally kicks him in the arm to take over again. More slapping, more arm kicking. Nagata cranks on the armbar again with his eyes rolling back into his head (apparently a trademark) and we cut to a crowd shot. The referee asks Minoru if he wants to tap out while looking at his face instead of his hand. Suzuki finally gets his feet in the ropes but walks into a Saito suplex for the pin.

Junior Heavyweight Title: Prince Devitt vs. Kota Ibushi vs. Low Ki

Kota drops to the mat as they run the ropes but Devitt hits a dropkick to his ribs, knocking Ibushi to the floor. Ki comes back in to jump the champion but Kota follows him in and sends Ki back outside, setting up a springboard moonsault to take him down. Back in and Kota fires off kicks to the chest for two on Devitt before hooking a chinlock. A back elbow gets two on Devitt but the Prince goes to the apron for an enziguri, only to be pulled to the floor by Ki.

Devitt hits a spinning enziguri on Low Ki but Ki jumps out of a reverse suplex attempt. Prince kicks Kota in the head but Ki hits a rolling Liger Kick to send Devitt to the floor. Kota and Low Ki trade what look to be suplex attempts until Kota dropkicks him out to the floor again. Ibushi hits a HUGE springboard corkscrew moonsault to take everyone down and pop the crowd something fierce.

Before Ki can stomp on his face, Kota springboards up to the top for a hurricanrana on Ki for a VERY close two. Ibushi misses a Phoenix Splash and rolls into a top rope double stomp to the back from Devitt, but Ki hits a hard running dropkick to send Prince into the corner for two. Ki loads up a top rope Ki Crusher on Devitt but gets kicked to the floor. Kota goes up for something as well but gets DDTed from the top by Devitt to retain the title in a sweet looking finish.

Ten-Koji vs. Keiji Mutoh/Shinjiro Otani

Tenzan comes back in with chops and clotheslines to Otani, followed up by going to the top and driving Otani down with a knee to the back. Kojima comes in for a sitout spinebuster to set up a Swan Dive from Tenzan for no cover. Otani comes back again with chops and everything breaks down one more time. Mutoh kicks Tenzan in the chest a few times with Otani adding a missile dropkick. The Shining Wizard from Mutoh sets up a helicopter bomb (love that move) from Otani but Kojima comes back in with a lariat to Mutoh. Ten-Koji hits a quick 3D to Otani, setting up a moonsault from Tenzan for the pin.

Hashimoto almost gets into it with Ten-Koji post match but the old guys hold him back.

Togi Makabe vs. Katsuyori Shibata

They head outside again with Katsuyori being sent into the post. Makabe steals a table and blasts Shibata in the head with it before setting it up at the end of the ramp. A powerbomb puts Shibata through the table in a huge crash, leaving him looking like a corpse. Back in and Makabe takes too long setting up a clothesline and gets caught in another sleeper. He easily slams Shibata down though and drops a top rope knee (Brody finisher) for the pin.

Intercontinental Title: Kazushi Sakuraba vs. Shinsuke Nakamura

A second attempt is countered and Nakamura gets caught in a cross armbreaker. That goes nowhere so Sakuraba just punches him in the face before going back to the arm. More face shots look to set up another armbare but Nakumara makes the rope. The champion comes back with a Death Valley Driver but gets caught in a kimura in the middle of the ring. For some reason he lets go though and Nakamura hits two straight knees to the face for the pin to retain.

They shake hands and hug post match. Nakamura says something which I believe is praising Sakuraba for the match.

IWGP World Title: Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. Kazuchika Okada

The commentators talk for about eight minutes to end the show.