Kazuchika Okada looked to cap off an unbelievable 2012 with victory at Wrestle Kingdom 7
<– 2012: Rainmaker, Shock 2014: Democracy at Work–>
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After making his shock challenge to Hiroshi Tanahashi at the end of Wrestle Kingdom 6, Okada would defeat the Ace the next month in Osaka in the ‘Rainmaker Shock’. From there, he would defend against his former Dojo senpai Tetsuya Naito in Korakuen and go on to the most dominant first year back from excursion in history.
That included a win in the G1 Climax, and with manager Gedo at his side, making the declaration that from here on out, the G1 winner would cash in with an IWGP Heavyweight Championship main event in the main event at the Tokyo Dome. That, of course, meant that Okada’s year wasn’t a perfect one, and that the Rainmaker had dropped the title back to Tanahashi.
Okada’s win over Tanahashi was not disputed by the Ace, but the Rainmaker’s status as the leader of NJPW in the modern era was. To take that spot, Tanahashi would say, Okada would need not just to beat him anywhere, but at the show of shows. At the Tokyo Dome, Tanahashi believed, success took more than skill and money, but heart and love. It also took a hardened edge, and big match experience that Tanahashi attributed to his success, and a ruthless assault on Okada’s legs that ensured he was unable to kick out of a final, inevitable High Fly Flow.
Kazuchika Okada wasn’t the only sensation in 2012. A major theme through the year was the elevation of the IWGP Intercontinental Championship under the reign of Shinsuke Nakamura. The King of Strong Style sought to elevate the white and gold belt to a status beyond that of even the IWGP Heavyweight title, and took on all comers in the process. That included Kazushi Sakuraba, who made a controversial return to NJPW rings that summer. Appearing at the G1 Climax finals with Laughter 7 training partner Katsuyori Shibata, Sakuraba brought a style and a challenge the likes of which Nakamura hadn’t experienced for a long time.
In a moment crushingly reminiscent of his MMA clash with Alexey Ignashov ten years earlier, Nakamura shot in on the famed ‘Gracie Hunter’ and paid for the transgression with an almighty knee to the face that had the Tokyo Dome convinced a new champion would be crowned. As Nakamura battled back toward victory, eternal rival Tanahashi would reflect on preparing backstage for the main event match, cursing Nakamura for providing him with such a difficult act to follow.
Meanwhile, Katsuyori Shibata took on his one time Noge Dojo senior, Togi Makabe. Shibata’s position as a one time favoured son of New Japan that elected to leave in 2005 to pursue other interests made his reception on returning in 2012 particularly chilly. Togi Makabe represented the current guard that ad helped rebuild NJPW in a difficult period; deeply proud of his position, he didn’t look kindly to The Wrestler’s return, and showed as much in a violent fight marked out with a brutal powerbomb through a table, and crushing final King Kong Knee.
As Kazuchika Okada’s meteroric rise crowned a new Wrestle Kingdom main eventer if not IWGP Heavyweight Champion in the main event, a different era was entering a slow sunset. Keiji Muto would retire in the Tokyo Dome for Pro-Wrestling NOAH ten years after Wrestle Kingdom 7, but this point of time would see the Genius only fated for five more bouts in the cerulean blue. That included here at Wrestle Kingdom 7, where he would reform his tag team with Shinjiro Otani. The original plan was for a generational team uniting Muto with the lineage of the departed King of Destruction, Shinya Hashimoto’s son Daichi. Yet an injury would force Hashimoto out and Otani in to take his place.
Muto and Otani had teamed on January 4 back in 2001, and the intimidating pair of influential icons faced an iconic duo in their own right in Tencozy. Satoshi Kojima and Hiroyoshi Tenzan were still going strong in the tag division, having just come off their fourth of six IWGP reigns. This special tag team attraction would see war wounds dealt, Tenzan bleeding from the mouth before the night was done, but ultimately victorious with a Moonsault on Otani as Muto looked on. Hashimoto would exchange words and a headbutt with Tenzan post match, but the two woud never have their rematch from a 2011 encounter when the second generational wrestler was still in his teens.
