NJPW DOMINION

from Osaka, Japan

DAVID FINLAY, SHOTA UMINO & TOMOYUKI OTA vs. HIRAI KAWATO, KATSYUA KITAMURA & TETSUHIRO YAGI (7:37): This was a pre-show match featuring the rookies, aka The Young Lions. Also David Finlay for some reason. Mildly entertaining but forgettable. **

TIGER MASK, TIGER MASK W, TOGI MAKABE & YUJI NAGATA vs. HIROYOSHI TENZAN, JUSHIN THUNDER LIGER, MANABU  NAKANISHI & SATOSHI KOJIMA (7:01): Tiger Mask W is really one of the best wrestlers on the planet (Kota Ibushi)...so why is he dressing up as an Anime character and only wrestling once in a blue moon? Who the fuck knows. Nagata is 49 years old. Liger is 52. Nakanishi is 50. Why are they still doing this? Alas, these questions are more interesting than this match was. **

LOS IGNOBERNABLES vs. BULLET CLUB vs. CHAOS vs. SUZUKI GUN vs. TAGUCHI JAPAN (18:39): Two teams started this match and the winner moved on and the losers went home until a final champion was crowned. Bushi, Evil, and Sanada retained their 3-man tag title belts. Ricochet was fun to watch. Taichi bored us with his mediocrity. And where was Ospreay? He wasn't even on this show. This was fast paced and fun, albeit for a stupid belt. **1/2

THE YOUNG BUCKS vs. RAPPONGI VICE (14:14): The Bucks won back their Jr. tag titles here in a good match that, sadly, wasn't as entertaining as their usual matches are. They're usually better doing fun, silly, crazy matches like the ROH Hardy Boyz matches from earlier this year or even their match on Friday with Omega vs. Rappongi Vice and Okada. The last couple of years they were constantly in these three or four tag team cluster fuck matches with reDragon and Sydal and Ricochet and everyone complained that they did them too much but, hell, these two team matches aren't as good. Oh, well. **1/2

GUERRILLAS OF DESTINY vs. WAR MACHINE (10:43): The Guerrillas won the tag titles here in an okay match. War Machine are two fat, bearded guys that for some reason the Japanese crowds love (it reminds them of Sumo wrestling? Or they rarely see fat people in Japan?). The Guerillas have gotten better but are still pretty bland. **

CODY vs. MICHAEL ELGIN (11:53): An average bore. Cody is facing Okada for the title in Long Beach next month so that's why he won. Cody is one of the most dull wrestlers on the planet. I think the WWE realized this years ago and that's why they stuck him with the ridiculous, out-there Stardust gimmick. Elgin is in good matches sometimes (at last year's Dominion he tore the house down with Omega in a ladder match) but this just was lifeless. 1/2*

KUSHIDA vs. HIROMU TAKAHASHI (19:12): Good match. It was better than their Wrestle Kingdom match. Takahashi has the coolest move in wrestling but it probably should be outlawed. He runs and jumps over the opponent on the ring apron and power bombs him onto the floor. Well he did this to Kushida and Kushida landed head first right on the back of his skull. If that padding wasn't there his skull probably would have cracked. The story here was that Kushida basically went heel to win. Or at least, to a new level of brutality to get the title. He kicked Takahashi multiple times in the head and the crowd booed. Then he put Takahashi's arm in the Hoverboard Lock and twisted his wrist back in a gruesome display and Takashi quit. This wasn't as good as the Ospreay vs. Kushida match from last week nor the Dragon Lee vs. Takashi match in February. But it was the best match on this show. ***

MINORU SUZUKI vs. HIROOKI GOTO "LUMBERJACK DEATH MATCH" (16:00): I miss Shibata. And I'm not sure why this was a "death" match. Suzuki was in the match of the year three year's ago against AJ Styles but so far this year he's been kind of bland. His Suzuki Gun group is like the NWO when the NWO was old and lame. Suzuki retained the NEVER title. This was nothing special. **

HIROSHI TANAHASHI vs. TETSUYA NAITO (25:56): The final ten minutes were awesome. Tanahashi and Naito had one of the year's best matches at Wrestle Kingdom but this was about half as good. Tanahashi hurt his bicep at the ECW Arena last month and just came back Friday. Usually that injury takes six months to heal. So, yes, he's an idiot for returning so soon. Most of the match had Naito working the injured arm. But the end was high drama and two-counts and it was mesmerizing stuff. **1/2

KENNY OMEGA vs. KAZUCHIKA OKADA (60:00): How would they top their first match, the 47 minute epic that Dave Meltzer gave 6 stars and some said was the greatest match of all time? Do a sixty minute draw! Huh? The problem with the first match was that it started slow. I thought they might try a shorter, faster paced match. No. The last ten minutes of this had both men basically laying on the ground or draped on the ropes dead tired for long stretches. The crowd was a silent tomb when the match ended in a draw (NJPW title matches have a 60 minute time limit for some reason). Both guys did all their spots that they did at Wrestle Kingdom with some tweaks. Omega did his top rope moonsault. Okada did a top rope elbow through Omega on a ringside table. Omega kicked out of the Rainmaker. Omega hit his finisher, the One-Winged Angel, but Okada put his foot on the ropes at the two and a half count. By the end they were delivering big moves but too tired to pin one another. Okada hit a Rainmaker and was crawling over for the pin when the bell rang. This was a good match, great in spots, but way too long. It was not as good as their first match in January. Last year, Okada and Tanahashi wrestled to a 30 minute draw in the G1 tournament. That ending was ecstatic; big moves and near-falls and both guys racing to win. This was the opposite. Both men were too tired to race for the pin. It didn't help that they didn't put a countdown clock on the screen. And the draw was a letdown here, even though last year the Okada/Tanahashi draw didn't feel like a letdown. So now, honestly, what the hell do they do next? An eighty minute match? ***