NJPW DOMINION

Osaka, Japan

TETSUYA NAITO vs. CALLUM NEWMAN (8:08): I haven't watched much of New Japan lately. No company in Japan is hot these days for whatever reason. It's funny, but today there was an article in The New York Times about how the Yen's worth in Japan is so low that the country is being inundated with foreign tourists and the locals everywhere are complaining. I guess none of those tourists are going to pro-wrestling shows? Maybe they are, who knows? But New Japan is in the doldrums this year, especially after Okada and Ospreay left. You can tell because they've been trying new things to shake things up. They had the finals of the Best of the Super Jr.'s tournament be the main event tonight, which would have been unfathomable at any other point in their history. They gave the IWGP title to Moxley, who isn't even in NJPW. And next week they're doing a cage match for the Jr.'s title with Desperado and SHO. That's the second cage match they've done this year...and before this year the last one was 20 years ago. Tanahashi is the new president, so maybe all of these new ideas are his. He also came out with a 10 point plan for turning NJPW around. #3 in that plan was "reducing/eliminating outside interference." I guess that means they're going to fire Evil. If you want to come up with a plan to turn around New Japan, the first step is not to have your IWGP title match on your 2nd biggest show of the year be Jon Moxley vs. Evil. Even an idiot could figure that one out. Remember how great the main events in Dominion history have been? AJ Styles vs. Okada? Those 2 Omega vs. Okada matches? This used to be a legendary show. Oh, well. At least this show was mostly entertaining. The only great match on the card was Ishii/Cobb. Everything else wasn't anything particularly special. The show opened, shockingly, with a Naito singles match. Wh-wh-what? Naito, if you remember, beat Sanada in the main event of Wrestle Kingdom in January to win the title. What the fuck is he doing in the opening match? Who knows? Naito is wrestling Moxley for the title at Forbidden Door at the end of this month. You would think he would've had a more prominent match on this show to set that match up. Nope! Before the match even started, Newman beat up Naito and did a moonsault off the top rope onto Naito. So the show at least started exciting. Newman kicked out of a Destino. Why is that Naito's finisher if people always kick out of it? Match was fine. **

TMDK (KOSEI FUJITA, ROBBIE EAGLES & ZACK SABRE, JR.) vs. BULLET CLUB WAR DOGS (CLARK CONNORS & DRILLA MALONEY) & LJ CLEARY (9:41): For some reason, earlier this year it seemed like New Japan was heading in the direction of giving Zack Sabre, Jr. the IWGP title. That idea seems out the window. What happened? Did he piss someone off? He's stuck in some stupid, early, multi-man match on the second biggest show of the year. He is wrestling Orange Cassidy at Forbidden Door, but that's not for a title or anything. This match was entertaining. I think the War Dogs are a lot of fun to watch. I don't know who LJ Cleary is, so it wasn't a surprise that Zack pinned him by just kneeling on him. **1/2

GREAT O'KHAN vs. YUA UEMURA (10:36): This was for the KOPW title, which is the stupidest title in all of wrestling. They had a fish eating contest earlier this year for the title. I guess I should, like, probably go watch that. It's probably hilarious. It wasn't shown live but they did tape it and put it on NJPW World later. The thing with this title is that every match has a different stipulation. The problem, as I always lament, is that every stipulation is a dumb one. Why not have a cage match? A ladder match? Nope. I don't even know what the hell this stipulation was, as I always watch the Japanese language version of these shows. There were no rope breaks. I figured that one out. It was called "Storm Break" rules. Eh. Whatever. Match was a bore. One of Tanahashi's points should be to fire Great O'Khan. It should be #1. 1/2*

LOS IGNOBERNABLES DE JAPON (BUSHI, HIROMU TAKAHASHI & YOTA TSUJI) vs. HIROSHI TANAHASHI, OLEG BOLTIN & TORU YANO (8:32): Los Ignobernables won the 6 man titles here. So...wait a minute. The random group of Tanahashi, Yano, and Boltin actually were champions? They're, like, an actual team? Odd. The fans at least enjoyed Yano's antics, though he didn't do much. If you remember, Tsuji was in the main event at last year's Dominion. He lost to Sanada, who wasn't even on this show. What happened to Tsuji? He seemed set to be a big star. He had a great match last Fall against Ospreay. He does look a little out of shape. Though, granted, I don't think that's the reason. Maybe he doesn't have the drive or determination or care. Who knows? Tanahashi seemed to do most of the wrestling in this match even though he's an old, hobbling man at this point. Though he does always still do all of his trademark moves. Did Hiromu even enter in the match? I don't recall him doing much. Match wasn't that good. *1/2

JEFF COBB vs. TOMOHIRO ISHII (11:47): This was by far the best match on the show. At one point, the crowd was in a frenzy and the announcers were going ape shit. I mean...this should have been the main event for the IWGP title. It was just all big, power moves and Ishii almost landing on his head multiple times. This was awesome. ***1/2

TMDK (MIKEY NICHOLLS & SHANE HASTE) vs. BULLET CLUB (KENTA & CHASE OWENS) vs. GUERILLAS OF DESTINY (EL PHANTASMO & HIKULEO) vs. BISHAMON (YOSHI-HASHI & HIROOKI GOTO) (16:26): This was an elimination match. Kenta & Chase Owens were the tag champs but got eliminated. TMDK finally beat Bishamon to win the titles. El Phantasmo did a cool rope-walk into a moonsault to the floor. That was probably the highlight. I thought that this match might be better. Chase Owens looks like he found the only Burger King in Japan. The new champs, Haste & Nicholls, are pretty forgettable, honestly. **

SHINGO TAKAGI vs. HENARE (14:35): This was a good match but it ended in a draw when both guys couldn't stand up for a 10 count. Lame. They're doing a re-match next week, so I guess that's the reason for the no decision. This was for the NEVER title, which Shingo has. I guess that's good that the best wrestler in the company at least has a title...but, c'mon, why isn't he the champ? And/or why isn't he in the main event? During the pandemic years they did give Shingo the title. So it's not like they're completely incompetent. And why is Aaron Henare only known as Henare now? Anyway...this was a typical, hard hitting Shingo affair. I kind of thought this would be a lot better actually, but it was still fairly entertaining. **1/2

JON MOXLEY vs. EVIL "LUMBERJACK MATCH" (25:01): I still can't figure out why they made a wrestler not even in their company their champion. I don't really think Moxley is, like, a huge star in Japan or anything. Moxley beat Naito in Chicago in April. Maybe even they realize giving Moxley the title was a bad decision, as this wasn't even the main event. Or maybe it was because he was wrestling Evil. The one thing about New Japan that everyone hates and has literally hated for years is The House of Torture and their constant, over-the-top interference during matches. So...why do they still do it? Before the match, Evil spray painted the one announcer he hates. I still have no idea what the point of that feud is. They've been doing that for years. Usually, Evil knocks over the announce table or rips the guy's shirt. This time he spray painted his face with black spray paint. I mean...it was funny. Is there an end game? It's not like the announcer is going to wrestle Evil. Or is he? In a cage? Where's Vince Russo? As for the match...it was a Lumberjack match. At one point, Moxley was tossed out of the ring and The House of Torture guys hit him with num-chuks. Evil put Moxley through a table. Moxley brought out a barbed wire bat and cleaned house with it, then gave Evil the Death Rider onto it. The match at least held my interest. I'd have rather seen a classic, 40 minute epic for the IWGP title with, say, Shingo vs. Tsuji or Ishii or Uemura or Shota Umino or something. Not this. **

EL DESPERADO vs. TAIJI ISHIMORI (23:36): I was bored watching this match. It's not like it was bad or anything, it just felt out of place and seemed too slow. Early on they were wrestling so slow I wondered if they were about to do a 60 minute draw. They did some cool dives to the floor but for whatever reason the drama and excitement seemed lacking. While the crowd wasn't quiet or anything, they certainly weren't as hot for this as they were during the Ishii match or even the Moxley match. I've seen some great Desperado matches and some great Ishimori matches in the past...and they were all against Hiromu. Maybe they should've put Hiromu in this match. Desperado won the BOSJ tournament with this win and is facing SHO in a cage match next week. I haven't watched much of NJPW lately, but I'm actually pretty excited for that. Maybe Tanahashi's 10 point plan is working! **