NJPW DOMINION

Osaka
attendance: 11,832 (sold out)

EL DESPERADO & YOSHINOBU KANEMARU vs. ROPPONGI 3K (9:29): The Suzuki Gun team retained the Jr. tag titles in this short opening bout. Because the main event went a little over an hour, most of the undercard was kept short. This meant that this wasn't any good. Roppongi did a double over-the-top-rope running flip dive to the floor which was cool. And while I think Desperado sucks, I am looking forward to his mask vs. mask match against Dragon Lee. The problem is that it's pointless, as his mask was pulled and ripped and eventually fell off when he wrestled Lee in the Super Jr.'s tournament last week. His hair was in his face so the view of his ugly mug was somewhat obstructed. **

JUICE ROBINSON & DAVID FINLAY vs. JAY WHITE & YOSHI-HASHI (7:26): Man, has Jay White disappointed since he returned as "Switchblade," the character one reviewer noted looked unfortunately like a school shooter. This was fine. **

MINORU SUZUKI & ZACK SABRE, JR. vs. TOMOHIRO ISHII & TORU YANO (8:42): When Ishii and Suzuki faced off it was solid gold. The rest was not so much. **1/2

MICHAEL ELGIN vs. TAICHI vs. HIROOKI GOTO (13:46): Taichi looks like an actor playing The Phantom of the Opera on Broadway. I guess he's supposed to, as he comes out with a mask and lip singing into an unplugged microphone. At least he didn't win. Elgin won Goto's NEVER title. A title that literally means we hope we NEVER see it again. But this was good, as most triple threat matches are. **1/2

THE YOUNG BUCKS vs. EVIL & SANADA (15:03): The Bucks moved up to win the heavyweight tag titles here in their first time trying. The usual ROH fun/silly Bucks were held in check...which meant this was less entertaining than usual. **1/2

CODY, MARTY SCURLL & HANGMAN PAGE vs. HIROSHI TANAHASHI, JUSHIN THUNDER LIGER & REY MYSTERIO, JR. (11:35): Mysterio looked good even though I don't know why he was here. He's one of the last dudes still wrestling that was around during the Monday Night Wars. Which means he's, like, what, a hundred years old? This was fun. **1/2

HIROMU TAKAHASHI vs. WILL OSPREAY (20:20): Good, alas, not great. The problem is probably that these two had better matches during the Super Jr.'s tournament which just ended on Monday (this show was on Saturday). Takahashi had to wrestle Kushida on Sunday and then won the tournament on Monday by beating Ishimori. And Ospreay had a hell of match against Flip Gordon on Sunday. So they were probably spent. There match in February was better. This was still good, though. Ospreay did a wild running dive off the stage. And the usual slamming each other sickeningly on their heads occurred. Takahashi won the Jr. title. ***

CHRIS JERICHO vs. TETSUYA NAITO (17:16): This was a wild brawl. They both delivered piledrivers on a ringside announce table that didn't break. Jericho slammed Naito through a table that did break. Jericho was a bit fat and got tired early but he still won the Intercontinental title after he kicked Naito in the balls. I enjoyed this more than Omega/Jericho for some reason. **1/2

KENNY OMEGA vs. KAZUCHIKA OKADA "2 OUT OF 3 FALLS" (1:04:50): After each fall there was a two minute time out. So that means that the match went around an hour and nine minutes total with the time outs. Which they had to do, as last year at Dominion they went an hour. As for pure wrestling and spots and everything, it was about as good as their last three. But for drama and payoff, this was certainly their masterpiece. When Omega pinned Okada to win the title finally after an hour after delivering the One Winged Angel, it culminated a two year story line. Okada beat Naito at Dominion two years ago to win the title. That's an 870 day reign, folks. Omega won the G1 two years ago to set up his first title match with Okada at Wrestle Kingdom. He lost, then they had the 60 minute draw. Then Omega beat Okada in the G1. And now this. They were 1-1-1 and now Omega finally wins the title, is up 2-1-1, and Okada's legendary reign is over. Fucking dramatic, right? And to finally win the title for the first time after an hour+ long match. It seemed like he'd never win. After losing a 47 minute match, going to a 60 minute draw, winning a title-less G1 match, then losing the first fall here and then finally, after both men were so spent that a Rainmaker did nothing and Omega still stood, he won, he fucking won. Wow. This was something, so much so that most fans raved that it was the best match they'd ever seen (they seem to do this after every Okada/Omega match). Epic and awesome. Now bring on the Naito/Omega WK main event, please. ****