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NJPW Dominion in Osaka-Jo Hall, June 11th:
David Finlay, Tomoyuki Oka & Shota Umino vs Tetsuhiro Yagi, Hirai Kawato & Katsuya Kitamura. This was probably Kawato's best ever showing. He had incredible fire and intensity. He was worked over after Finlay turned the match around on him. Kitamura & Oka got tagged in and ran into each other until one eventually went down. Kitamura was dishing out the stiffest of stiff chops. Yagi got in a Boston Crab on Finlay before Finlay got the win with a Stunner.
Togi Makabe, Yuji Nagata, Tiger Mask W & Tiger Mask IV defeated Manabu Nakanishi, Jushin Thunder Liger, Hiroyoshi Tenzan & Satoshi Kojima. This was a fun match, but nothing memorable. Everyone got their stuff in. Tiger W looked great and the veterans had some really fun exchanges. The finish saw Makabe pin Nakanishi after the King Kong Kneedrop.
NEVER Openweight Six Man Tag Team Championship: Gauntlet Match - Toru Yano, Tomohiro Ishii & YOSHI-HASHI defeated Bad Luck Fale, Hangman Page & Yujiro Takahashi. Page stood out here and has the most incredible deadlift pumphandle suplex. Ishii was ploughing through people in the early going. YOSHI was worked over by Bullet Club and in particular, Page. Ishii managed to take Fale out of the match while Yano nailed low blows on Page & Yujiro to steal the win.
Zack Sabre Jr, Taichi & Yoshinobu Kanemaru defeated Yano, YOSHI & Ishii. This was quick. Some attempts at cheating from both teams ended when Sabre pinned Yano with a European Clutch.
Juice Robinson, Ricochet & Ryusuke Taguchi defeated Taichi, Kanemaru & ZSJ. Comedy from Taguchi here at the start. Robinson & Juice put together some good double team and Sabre laid in some stiff shots. The finish saw Kanemaru accidentally hit Taichi with a mouth full of whiskey. Juice then pinned him with Pulp Friction. After the bell ZSJ wore Juice out with an octopus stretch.
BUSHI, SANADA & EVIL defeated Taguchi, Juice & Ricochet. The defending champions were the final team in. Very good match here. Ricochet exploded with a hot tag when Juice fought back into the match. SANADA & Ricochet had a brief, but very athletic exchange. In the end Taguchi almost put BUSHI down with an ankle lock. EVIL hit Darkness Falls on Juice, while SANADA weakened Taguchi with Skull End before BUSHI hit MX to score the win as LIJ retain the six man gold. Good to see them retain here and maybe put together some sort of decent reign.
IWGP Jr Heavyweight Tag Team Championship: The Young Bucks defeated Roppongi Vice. This was an outstanding tag match with amazing psychology and a fantastic story. If you are someone that thinks The Bucks are nothing but spot monkeys, watch this match. Romero was taken out straight away with a powerbomb on the apron. This left Beretta in a two on one situation for several minutes and just when he had gotten to make the tag, Romero was powerbombed on the apron. Beretta fought and fought until he hit a Piledriver and got into position for Strong Zero. Romero popped up to finish the move, but Nick broke up the pin with a swnaton. Romero then battled into the match, but his back was his crutch. He sold and sold, and The Bucks put him in the Sharpshooter time and time again. Beretta was finished with a German on the apron, but after a few more attempts to fight, Romero was hit with the Indytaker and then put down with the Sharpshooter. Romero desperately hung in, but he had no choice but to tap. This saw the beginning of The Bucks sixth reign as Jr tag champions.
IWGP Tag Team Championship: The Guerrillas of Destiny defeated War Machine. Another really good tag title match here. Hanson targeted early until Rowe got the tag. He and Loa blasted each other with big moves with both guys popping back up time and time again. This was wrestled at a fast pace with lots of hard hitting. War Machine destroyed Tonga with Decapitation for a big near fall. Rowe countered Tonga into a powerbomb, followed by a Hanson splash for a near fall that made Liger, who was on commentary, jump out of his seat. War Machine tried a pop up move, but Tonga caught Rowe with a Gun Stun in an amazing counter. The finish saw the referee briefly knocked down. Loa blasted Rowe with a chair and GOD hit Guerrilla Warfare to regain the titles. War Machine were shown a lot of respect from the crowd after a great title reign. Hopefully they will continue to be regulars in NJPW, because they've earned it. GOD have improved a tremendous amount and are much better prepared for a title run than they were before.
Cody defeated Michael Elgin: Really good match here and a major win for Cody. Cody's taunting and playing around pissed Elgin off, which led to Big Mike unloading with major power moves. Cody would go after the leg of Elgin and lock on a trailer hitch. After a struggle, Elgin got to the rope. Elgin nailed a stiff as hell lariat. The finish saw Elgin attempt a Falcon Arrow from the top, but Cody kicked out Elgins leg, which played into the submission earlier. Cody then hit Cross Rhodes to pick up what was put over as an upset on commentary. After the match Cody got on commentary and said he wants Okada.
IWGP Jr Heavyweight Championship: KUSHIDA defeated Hiromu Takahashi. Incredible match. This was absolutely top notch. The match began with rapid fire forearm and chop exchanges and the tide turned when KUSHIDA was suplexes into the corner, with the neck becoming the target. KUSHIDA would go after the arm in a way like only he can. One of the spots of the match saw KUSHIDA suplex Hiromu off the top while he was in the Hoverboard Lock, which looked sickening. Hiromu powerbombed KUSHIDA onto the floor, and it couldn't possibly have been any stiffer. There was an amazing struggle out of the Hoverboard Lock and KUSHIDA hit Back to the Furure off the top rope, but he couldn't get the pin. The crowd began to turn when KUSHIDA doubled up on straight right hands, and when he began stomping at the head of Hiromu, a chorus of boos rang out, which goes to show how important the rules are in this promotion. KUSHIDA then locked in the Hoverboard Lock and twisted the arm violently to make Hiromu submit. This was one hell of a match and the ending we expected after KUSHIDA's BOSJ win. KUSHIDA has to dig deep and bring out a darker, edgier side of himself to finally put away the guy who he had been unable to beat up to this point. Fantastic storytelling culminating with this match.
After the match BUSHI hit the ring and attacked KUSHIDA to a pop from the crowd. We've been there and done this so many times, so this doesn't excite me at all as KUSHIDA's first challenger.
NEVER Openweight Championship: Lumberjack Match. Lots of brawling on the floor with CHAOS & Suzuki-Gun surrounding the ring. Plenty of good wrestling in the ring too in what was the perfect match after the wild match that preceded it. Suzuki used various holds to counter Goto's power moves. YOSHI-HASHI took out all the lumberjacks with a big dive that left Goto to hit two versions of the GTR. Taichi pulled the ref out of the ring and then blasted Goto with an exposed chair shot to the head that broke the chair. Something that should not be happening. Suzuki hit the Gotch Piledriver to retain. After the match YOSHI-HASHI went after Suzuki and brawled up the ramp with him, so he looks to be the next NEVER title challenger.
IWGP Intercontinental Championship: Hiroshi Tanahashi defeated Tetsuya Naito. If you were in any doubt that Tanahashi was one of the greatest of all time, watch this and you'll see him have a match of the year candidate with a torn bicep. This was outstanding and had more drama than you can imagine. Tanahashi attacked Naito during his entrance which got a mixed reaction. Naito obviously went after the arm, and savagely at times. Tanahashi targeted the knee with dragon screws and even hit a High Fly Flow to the floor, with a torn bicep. Naito hit a stiff DDT, a German suplex and a Destinto from the second rope in quick succession for a great near fall. This fired up Tanahashi into a flurry of moves which ended in a High Fly Flow, but it wasn't enough. We saw a struggle from Tanahashi to stay out of Destino and he managed to hit a perfect German suplex before locking on the Texas Cloverleaf. This was so perfectly done. Naito struggled and struggled and managed to get close to the rope before he was pulled back to the centre where Tanahashi applied the hold so deep to the point where Naito literally couldn't move. Naito knew he had no choice but to tap, and eventually gave in by barely tapping his hand on the mat. This was an incredible match as Tanahashi starts his second reign as IWGP Intercontinental champion.
IWGP Heavyweight Championship: Kazuchika Okada vs Kenny Omega. This was one of the best pro wrestling matches ever. There's no point in me trying to explain it or describe it, just get onto NJPWWorld.com right now and watch it, because it's something that every pro wrestling fan needs to see. This was one hour of athleticism, storytelling, drama, emotion and everything in between that kept every single person that watched it captivated from start to finish. You just had to see what was going to happen next and what twist they'd put on things. There were more Rainmakers than I can count and the call backs to the Wrestle Kingdom match were so perfectly done. Omega hit the One Winged Angel for one of the best rope break near falls I have ever seen. This got to the point where neither guy could stand up. It was a war of endurance and desperation in the closing minutes. Okada didn't want to settle or the draw. He could have survived, but he wanted the win as badly as Omega did. The final Rainmaker and Okada's crawl were as a dramatic a few seconds as you will ever see. If you haven't stopped reading already, stop now and go watch. Time Limit Draw.
Cody looks to be the next challenger for the IWGP Heavyweight Championship after spitting water at Okada in the post match press conference. Tensions are mounting in Bullet Club as Cody had to be held back from throwing the towel in for Omega half way through this.
This is one of the best top to bottom pro wrestling shows ever. NJPW are in a golden age right now, that will be looked back on in several years time as something truly special.
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