NJPW Top 10 Ranking – Dec/Jan 2019

This review period runs from the end of NEW YEAR’S DASH.

10. TAIJI ISHIMORI (NR)

Ishimori has won the IWGP Jr. Heavyweight Championship after being on the roster for only eight months. He defeated Kushida at Wrestle Kingdom and then retained the NEVER Openweight 6-Man Tag Team Championship during New Year Dash. He is now the only member of Bullet Club that is a duel champion in New Japan.

9. KUSHIDA (-1)

After going down in defeat to Ishimori, Kushida announced his retirement from New Japan, effective end of January. His last match will be the dream match he has always wanted against Hiroshi Tanahashi. While rumors strengthen about Kushida heading to WWE, mainly the NXT brand, his career in NJPW is to be celebrated like it richly deserves.

8. YUJIRO TAKAHASHI & CHASE OWENS (NR)

After a heated exchange during the Gauntlet match at Wrestle Kingdom with Hangman Page and Marty Scurll, Takahashi and Owens made their intentions known the next night at New Year Dash that they were no longer part of “The Elite,” reuniting with Guerillas of Destiny and Bullet Club. “The Crown Jewel” and “The Tokyo Pimp” could very well be poised for a push in the tag team division over the course of 2019.

7. G.O.D (-1)

While they lost the IWGP Heavyweight Tag Team Championships at Wrestle Kingdom, they did retain the Openweight 6-Man Tag Team Titles during New Year Dash. They have made their alliance stronger by adding two new members in Yujiro and Owens. Tama Tonga also delivered easily the best promo of the year during the Wrestle Kingdom press conference by showing his true colors as “The Good Guy.” “I apologize” has become one of my favorite promos of all time.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IpmX34g7ssg

6. JUICE ROBINSON (NR)

The new United States Champion is looking to make 2019 the biggest year of his career. He defeated Cody on January 4 and made his Ring of Honor debut during tapings in Philadelphia. Juice is set to be pushed within both companies this year and I wouldn’t be surprised to see him in a major role, perhaps defending the title, at the G1 SuperCard at Madison Square Garden.

5. WILL OSPREAY (+5)

Another individual destined for a main event push this year is the new NEVER Openweight Champion, The Aerial Assassin. It was interesting to me about how much was discussed during the two days of events about Ospreay making the jump to heavyweight. The NEVER Openweight Championship could be that step forward for him and hopefully push him into the main event picture and a strong G1 Tournament run later this month.

4. LOS INGERBONABLES DE JAPON (-)

All members of L.I.J. won championships during Wrestle Kingdom. Shingo and Bushi captured the Jr. Tag Team Championships, Evil and Sanada reclaimed the Heavyweight Tag Team Championships and Naito defeated Chris Jericho to win back the Intercontinental Title. One would easily expect that upon return, Hiromu Takahashi would be immediately in line for a Jr. Heavyweight Title shot. How long L.I.J. keeps all the gold is still to be determined, but matches have already begun to line up for the New Beginnings Tour against members of Suzuki-Gun.

3. TETSUYA NAITO (NR)

The leader of L.I.J. finally exercised the demon that is Chris Jericho and won the Intercontinental Championship back. However, he did suffer a shocking defeat to Taichi at New Year Dash and is now set to defend the title at the end of the month during the New Beginning Tour. Will Naito be looking to have a more respectful reign as champion this time or will he destroy the title once again?

2. SWITCHBLADE JAY WHITE (-)

White defeated Okada on the big stage of Wrestle Kingdom and later that night, post-show, made his intentions known for the IWGP Heavyweight Championship. Switchblade would stand tall at the end of New Year Dash over Tanahashi and is now set to square off with the “Ace of New Japan” on Monday February 11 at A New Beginning in Osaka.

1. HIROSHI TANAHASHI (+2)

The new and now 8-time IWGP Heavyweight Champion defeated Kenny Omega at Wrestle Kingdom. Tanahashi will look to have the best reign of his career, but has to run through a “Switchblade” to do it. There is a good possibility that he could have his shortest reign of his career as White presents the biggest threat to his newly won championship.

Thank you for checking out this month’s Top 10. Please share any and all comments below and follow me @Nwagner2sweet on Twitter.