NJPW On AXS Recap (10/30): Wrestle Kingdom 9, Shinsuke Nakamura, Shelton Benjamin, DB Smith Jr, More

Welcome to Wrestling Inc's coverage of NJPW on AXS. This week we have continued coverage of Wrestle Kingdom 9. Wrestling Inc will have full, live coverage of Wrestle Kingdom 10 in January as well.

Suzukigun (Shelton X Benjamin, Lance Archer, Davey Boy Smith Jr, & Takashi Iizuka) vs. Mikey Nicholls, Naomichi Marufuji, Shane Haste & Toru Yano)

Suzukigun jumps the faces from the start. Yano and Iizuka go at it, and Iizuka hits Yano with the turnbuckle pad. Benjamin is tagged in and hits the dragon whip kick, then tags in Archer.

Archer kicks Yano but runs in to the exposed turnbuckle, which allows Yano to tag out. Nicholls and Haste go right after Archer and Smith, but Smith breaks up a double press slam with a big kick, and Archer follows with a giant chokeslam.

Marufuji and Iiuzka tag in and Marufuji lights him up with huge kicks. Benjamin runs in and hits a huge belly to belly superplex. Marufuji still manages to superkick Iizuka, who is using every dirty trick in the book.

TMDK hit a big double team slam, and Marufuji hits his tiger knee lift for the win.

Winners: Mikey Nicholls, Naomichi Marufuji, Shane Haste & Toru Yano via pinfall (running tiger knee lift)

We see highlights of the teams talking after the match.

IWGP Intercontinental Championship
Shinsuke Nakamura (c) vs. Kota Ibushi

Nakamura checks a leg kick and slips a palm strike and two jabs two to start. Nakamura closes the distance, but Ibushi smacks him. Nakamura doesn't like that and proceeds to knee Ibushi repeatedly. Ibushi is frustrated and gets suckered into a handshake that gets him kneed.

Ibushi answers with a dropkick and a facewash in the corner, mocking Nakamura. This serves to piss off Nakamura, who takes Ibushi to the corner and returns the favor. He sets Ibushi up across the ropes and delivers a sick knee, then follows up with more on the apron.

Ibushi makes it back in at the 8 count, and Nakamura applies a cravate into a snapmare, followed by a knee drop for two. A rear chinlock applied by Nakamura as he rolls Ibushi over into a pin multiple times for a one count.

The two slap each other until Nakamura hits a lungblower and Ibushi scores with a huracanrana and dropkicks the champion to the outside of the ring. Ibushi hits a breathtaking triangle moonsault to the outside. Back inside, Ibushi hits a springboard dropkick, several kicks and a standing star press for a two count.

Nakamura counters Ibushi with a single leg dropkick, a spin kick and a front suplex. He then delivers several PRIDE-style knees to Ibushi's head, but misses a running knee in the corner. A springboard huracanrana from Ibushi gets two, as does a sunset flip. As soon as they stand up, the champion gets knocked silly by a roundhouse kick. Ibushi only gets two on a beautiful sitout Last Ride.

Ibushi misses a Phoenix splash and gets clubbed with Boma Ye as a result. Ibushi goes crazy and hits Nakamura with closed fist strikes that cause him to get admonished by the ref. The ref is knocked down and Nakamura hits one of his own and applies an armbar but Ibushi stomps his way out. Really, really stiff stomps.

Ibushi hits Nakamura's Boma Ye, but only gets two. Nakamura fights back with open hand strikes, but they're both drilling each other. Ibushi counters with a standing double foot stomp.

Ibushi hits an absolutely insane avalanche springboard german suplex from to Nakamura who was on the apron, but only gets two. Nakamura headbutts Ibushi and destroys him with elbows to the back of the head.

Nakamura with Boma Ye again but Ibushi no sells, and he gets another Boma Ye following a Landslide! Nakamura wins!

Winner: Shinsuke Nakamura via pinfall (Boma Ye) to retain the IWGP Intercontinental Championship