Zack Sabre, Jr. vs Shota Umino: Aces (Wrestle Kingdom 19, 1.4.25)

It's no secret that the overarching narrative surrounding New Japan Pro Wrestling for the past year has been one of building for the future. A combination of factors (not the least of which were creative stagnation and more practically, the Yen's performance against the dollar) have caused an exodus of New Japan's top names over the last two years, notably Jay White, Kazuchika Okada, and Will Ospreay all migrating to AEW, while the remaining Top Guys of New Japan are showing their age, with President Tanahashi going so far as to announce that this coming year is his retirement tour. New Japan has to build its top stars of the future, and the future is NOW. That mission has coalesced around a new "Three Musketeers" of Yota Tsuji, Ren Narita, and Shota Umino, along with a second tier of promising young guys like Yuya Uemura, Ryohei Oiwa, and even TMDK's "Ichiban Sweet Boy," Kosei Fujita (whom I am including in this list primarily as an excuse to type the words "Ichiban Sweet Boy"). New Japan, however, isn't really a place that just straps a rocket to their future top stars and throws all the titles on them right away (the occasional Okada-style exception to prove the rule notwithstanding). So here's New Japan's current dilemma: they know who they're going to build the company around, but they first need to build those stars. And building stars into main-eventers takes time.

This transitional phase is probably as good a reason as any to sit Zack Sabre, Jr. atop the NJPW mountain as IWGP World Heavyweight Champion. Don't take that as an insult – ZSJ is currently my favorite active singles wrestler. As a lifelong Bret Hart guy, seeing a modern wrestler work a mat-based style that would make that crazy old wizard Stu Hart rub his hands together and lick his lips brings me no small joy. Watching a Zack Sabre submission win where he's using every available limb to draw & quarter his opponent usually brings a sadistic smile to my face. Has he earned his spot atop New Japan? Absolutely! The man has put in years of quality work and service, winning two New Japan Cups and anchoring shows with tremendous in-ring performances since his company debut in 2017. With the departures of Ospreay and White, ZSJ is arguably the top gaijin in the company, and inarguably one of its biggest stars. But considering the recent mass exodus, it's hard to deny that his title reign has a slight AWA Champ Larry Zbyszko "crown the guy that's not leaving" odor to it. (Zbyszko also happened to be married to Verne Gagne's daughter, but never mind that now.) But hey, it seemed like keeping the title on Tetsuya Naito wasn't really an option, since the storyline of his most recent title run was basically "holy shit, how long is Naito's body going to hold together before his knees shatter and his eye falls out of his head?" So now it has fallen to ZSJ to be a bridge between today and tomorrow, and his first task – make Shota Umino into a main eventer – was the basis for this year's Wrestle Kingdom main event. No pressure.

I don't know if there was anyone who seriously thought that Zack Sabre, Jr. vs. Shota Umino as the Wrestle Kingdom 19 main event had the juice. It's been years since the main event featured two wrestlers simultaneously headlining their first WK. Even as a fan of both guys, I was dubious. And yes, I'm a fan of Shota Umino, dating back to his hilarious turn as a young lion under the tutelage of Jon Moxley back in 2019. I mean, look at this post-match promo. This is after Mox beat Shota's ass at Dominion in 2019. Gold.

I was in the audience in Chicago at Windy City Riot '22 when Shota made his surprise return from excursion to take on Jay White. When Mox showed up on the video screen and said, "go get 'em, Shooter!" I stood up and screamed "FUCK YEAH!" so much that even my wife thought I was getting a little out of hand. But over the last year, it's been up for debate whether or not Shota is ready to be a Top Guy. While fellow "Musketeers" Tsuji (New Japan Cup, NEVER Openweight Six-Man Tag Titles) and Narita (NEVER Six-Man titles, NJPW World TV Title) have achieved some in-ring success, Umino has yet to win a championship or major tournament in New Japan. And yet, he's been calling himself the next "Ace" of the company, claiming that he's ready to follow in the footsteps of one of his trainers, New Japan's Ace of the last decade-plus, Hiroshi Tanahashi. The boos that claim has generated are reminiscent of the reaction the pre-LIJ Naito garnered when he earned a Wrestle Kingdom main event before the New Japan fans thought he was ready. Hell, did Shota even really earn this WK title shot? Ehhhhh...

Normally, the main event spot goes to the winner of the previous summer's G1 Climax Tournament; this year's winner was Zack, who bucked convention by challenging for (and winning) the World Title at October's King of Pro-Wrestling show. Shota was selected as Zack's WK challenger on the basis of having defeated him during G1 tournament play. So the story of the Wrestle Kingdom 19 main event quickly became the debate over whether Shota Umino is ready to be a headliner. Sure, he was trained by Tanahashi and mentored by Moxley. He's a bit of a New Japan nepo baby (his father is New Japan head referee Red Shoes Unno – who just so happens to work every Wrestle Kingdom main event), which has invited more harsh critique than audience acceptance (it's interesting – multi-generational stars get more of a nostalgia bump in America because fans fondly remember the fathers of, say, a Cody Rhodes or a Randy Orton. Shota's status as Red Shoes' kid seems to have earned him more of a side-eye than a pass). So was this match going to live up to past WK main events like Okada/Tanahashi or Naito/Ibushi? Amazingly enough, it did. Sabre/Umino was classic New Japan drama and set Shota up for a future (absolutely believable) run as IWGP World Champion down the road. In a stroke of classic pro wrestling booking, the challenger took his lumps and ate a loss, while planting the seeds for a redemption arc down the road. WWE fans saw it recently with Cody Rhodes; New Japan is running it now with Umino.

As the match begins, it's important to note that while Shota's spot on the card is up for debate, it's not like the result isn't in doubt. Sabre enters the main event in a historically precarious position, as tradition never favors an international star winning a Tokyo Dome main event. Going into Wrestle Kingdom 19, the last non-Japanese wrestler to win a Tokyo Dome main event was Brock Lesnar over Shinsuke Nakamua in 2006; the January 4 Tokyo Dome show was rebranded Wrestle Kingdom the following year, in 2007. Kenny Omega and Jay White were both 0-2 in Tokyo Dome main events. New Japan was founded in 1972 around a booking philosophy of building national pride while Japan was still trying to rebuild its image after World War II. A gaijin winning the main event of the company's biggest show of the year remains a rarity hewing to this tradition. So when the early chain-wrestling that kicks off the match ends with Shota gaining an early advantage after a forceful dropkick, it could be easy to see that as foreshadowing the result. Zack quickly wins back the advantage though by attacking Shota's wrists and finger joints, perhaps to hamper Umino's ability to lift Zack into the Death Rider butterfly DDT that Shota learned from his mentor, Jon Moxley.

Herein is the big issue with Shota Umino, and has been since his return from excursion: much of his offense isn't his own. Most wrestlers in New Japan incorporate moves from their trainers or mentors as an act of tribute: SANADA utilizes Keiji Muto's moonsault, for example, and Zack uses the Gotch-style piledriver bequeathed to him by his former Suzuki-Gun leader, Minoru Suzuki (who learned it from its inventor and his trainer, Karl Gotch). Shota Umino has a moveset largely borrowed from the men who have trained him, but instead of incorporating a move here and there, Shota's moveset feels like a carbon copy of those trainers. It's more cover band than punk band, and Zack Sabre Jr. is the front man of New Japan's Young Punks, TMDK. Zack is the original artist who plays a cover here and there; Shota Umino is a wedding band. It's been his downfall in every big match he's worked, and while he earned his spot in the Wrestle Kingdom main event with New Japan Cup and G1 victories over Zack, winning the World Title requires finding yourself as your own unique character. Tetsuya Naito learned this 10 years ago, and Shota Umino is learning it now.

Still, that Death Rider DDT opens the door for Shota to attack Zack's neck in the first third of the match, using variations when he spikes Sabre's head on the ring apron, spilling the action outside. Shota whips Zack into the ring barricades and delivers a DDT on the floor, inviting the boos that have been haunting Umino since proclaiming himself New Japan's next Ace. Perhaps the Tokyo Dome crowd doesn't think an Ace should have to rely on the floor and the steel barriers; New Japan fans historically value fair play over all. Either way, the boos are definitely getting through to Umino, as his frustration with them is apparent. "Nice guys finish last," says Chris Charlton on commentary. "Even Tanahashi knows that."

The frustration turns into defiance when the action moves back into the ring, Zack kicking out of a near fall and twisting Shota's neck with his feet. After a sharp penalty kick between the shoulder blades, Shota sits up and motions to Zack to do it again. He's going to prove to this crowd that he's tough enough to be in the main event, by God. Zack smacks him twice more before scoring a two-count and taunting Shota verbally. "Wakey-wakey, darling. You wanted to main event the Tokyo Dome," shoving his foot into Shota's head like he's humbling a rowdy pet. And it's here where Shota's frustration starts to boil over, hammering Zack with forearm strikes as Sabre returns in kind, and twice as hard. It's like ZSJ knows that his job is to keep the title warm for the next generation, and he's using his strikes to tell Shota to step up or get stepped on. Shota finally manages to fight back and get the upper hand after an excruciating sequence of arm submissions, during which Chris Charlton calls ZSJ "the Cronenberg of professional wrestling," committing body horror upon Shota while his referee father struggles with making the call to end things. He gives the men space, though, and Shota eventually powers out, standing up and slamming Zack back to the mat. A brief Zack comeback is then cut off by an Umino "Twist and Shout" neckbreaker, one of Tanahashi's signature setup moves. The action goes back and forth for a while and finally hits the next gear when Umino hits a stiff tornado DDT for a two-count, which Zack then responds to with a Zack Driver (his version of the Michinoku Driver, which he picked up from another Suzuki-Gun running buddy, TAKA Michinoku) for a two-count of his own.

Again, like Shota, Zack definitely has signature moves and holds with which he pays tribute to his mentors, but with Zack, it still feels like he's made them his own on a level that Umino hasn't yet. It's subtle, and I don't know if others read into their offense the way I do. But regardless, that feeling is still there when I see these two clash.

The final 20 minutes of the match are ferocious, as Zack desperately begins attacking Shota's ankle, which was injured in the World Tag League tournament some weeks before, while Shota responds to Zack's failed Gotch piledriver attempt by pulling out as many variations of the Death Rider that he can dream up on the fly. As Zack traps Shota's ankle on the mat, Shota desperately clutches his father's shirt to avoid tapping out, drawing sympathy from the crowd as they, now behind him, are willing him to fight back. They know the ankle was a weakness, and now with Zack attacking it, the audience finally rallies behind the challenger. It's fighting spirit the crowd respects, and when Umino finally reaches the ropes to force a break just after the 30-minute mark, the crowd "oooohs" and applauds in kind.

Umino's selling of his ankle from here on out serves to milk that sympathy farther, from laying comedically weak forearm blows without a secure footing, to actually slipping on the corner ropes when trying to mount Zack in the corner for an attack that is countered by Sabre literally hanging Shota off the ground with a guillotine headlock. So it's especially heartbreaking when, after fighting back with a top rope butterfly superplex Death Rider variation, Shota, dead-eyed and out of fucks to give, takes his hard-fought advantage and begins to dismissively kick Zack through the ropes in the back of his head, once again drawing boos that turn into gasps when, as Red Shoes tries to pull Shota away, Umino responds by shoving his father down to the ground. It's a shocking moment that catches just about everyone off guard (although Charlton responds with near glee – "this is the bastard he needs to be right now") and speaks to the desperation, and perhaps the final dismissiveness of the crowd, Shota is now feeling.

It's this new darkness that Shota embraces that leads to his final, most costly mistake: grabbing Zack's arms and stomping ZSJ repeatedly in the head – "I'm going to kick your fucking head in" as employed by Bryan Danielson, Moxley's former teammate in the Blackpool Combat Club. Now this is an attack that stings, and an attack that fires up Zack for the home stretch. In the last year and half, Zack finally achieved a goal he had been lobbying for ever since Danielson signed with AEW in 2021: a two-match series with the American Dragon that resulted in the two of them splitting a thrilling series. Danielson won their first encounter at AEW's WrestleDream in October 2023; Zack took the rematch in Osaka in February 2024 at The New Beginning. Zack's deep respect for Danielson is well-known; Shota using Danielson's attack against him wasn't going to go unpunished. Zack gets back up and slaps Shota across the face with enough force to dislodge teeth. How dare you.

It's academic from here. Shota still fights back in the final three minutes, but his ankle gives out, allowing Zack to hit a Zack Driver for two. And then, he shows the Roughneck how it's done, how you truly pay tribute to your mentors while defining yourself as an original: Zack connects with the Gotch piledriver he missed earlier and triumphantly pumps his arms in the air. One more Zack Driver, and it's over. One, two, three. Zack Sabre, Jr. carves his own path by becoming the first international wrestler to win a Wrestle Kingdom main event. History made in the Tokyo Dome.

Zack is gracious in victory, telling Shota during his post-match comments, "you're not the Ace yet, but after seeing what you brought tonight, I know I'll see you again." Time of the match: 43 minutes, 44 seconds. It's the second-longest WK main event in history. And it's easily worthy of the lineage. Is Shota Umino ready to be IWGP World Champion? Not yet. Will he be someday? It seems certain. Perhaps he needs a heel turn to develop the edge that will cement his character long-term, the way Tetsuya Naito needed to go to Mexico and turn rudo to finally come into his own. However it happens, it now seems inevitable. Almost all the greats of New Japan lore had to lose in the Dome before winning there. Even Tanahashi lost to Shinsuke Nakamura before defeating Keiji Muto the following year. At an event where his fellow Musketeer Yota Tsuji found victory by winning the Global Championship from David Finlay, Shota won by losing. He's now on an age-old path to redemption that many have walked before, from Tanahashi to Okada to Kota Ibushi to Cody Rhodes. He's lost at the Dome, which means a win is almost certainly in his future. It's a path tread by many before him – now it's up to him to plot his own route.