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NJPW DOMINION 2024 from Osaka-Jo Hall, Osaka, Japan:
1 - Tetsuya Naito vs. Callum Newman
Naito hit a running Destino. Newman kicks out. They exchange strikes. Newman misses a spin kick. Naito hits another Destino.
Naito pins Newman.
Callum Newman wrestled with fire. This was a match to set up that Newman is on Naito’s level, since he needed two finishers to win. Newman is set up well to compete in the G1 Climax.
2 - Zack Sabre Jr., Robbie Eagles and Kosei Fujita vs. Clark Conners, Drilla Moloney and LJ Cleary
LJ Cleary is from Pro Wrestling NOAH.
ZSJ hits a Zack Driver on Cleary and gets the pin.
War Dogs will defend the IWGP Jr. Heavyweight Tag Team Championship against TMDK on June 16.
3 - Provisional KOPW 2024 Championship: Yuya Uemura vs. Great O-Khan
This match has Catch Wrestling rules, with no strikes. Only to rope breaks allowed.
Chris Charlton referred to Great O-Khan as the greatest Khan in professional wrestling, then mocked Tony Khan. Interesting.
Uemura took down O-Khan and hit a suplex. He applied a cross arm breaker and O-Khan got a rope break. O-Khan bit Uemura’s arm and applied a head and arm choke. Uemura gets the ropes.
Uemura attacks the left arm. O-Khan bit Uemura in forehead. Uemura bites O-Khan back. O-Khan takes down Uemura. Uemura with a crucifix pin. Two count. They grappled against the ropes and Uemura tosses O-Khan over the ropes. This counts as a rope break against O-Khan.
The grapple again, O-Khan goes for an Eliminator but Uemura counters into a cross arm breaker. O-Khan reverses into a pin. Two count. Uemura hopes for a Deadbolt suplex, but O-Khan hits a belly to belly suplex. O-Khan hits a GFO and a Super Eliminator.
O-Khan pins Uemura.
Great O-Khan wins the KOPW Provisional Championship.
4 - NEVER Openweight 6-man Tag Team Championship: Hiroshi Tanahashi, Boltin Oleg and Toru Yano vs. BUSHI, Hiromu Takahashi and Yota Tsuji
This match was added after Tsuji
Tanahashi misses a High Fly Flow on Tsuji. Tsuji hits a Gene Blaster on Tanahashi.
Tsuji pins Tanahashi.
BUSHI, Hiromu Takahashi and Yota Tsuji win the NEVER Openweight 6-man Tag Team Championship.
Oleg has words with Tsuji after the match, looking like he wants a single match.
Wow, cool passing of the torch. Following his comments in his press conference, Tanahashi hands it off to Yota Tsuji and LIJ. Building new younger talent is important.
5 - NJPW World Television Championship: Tomohiro Ishii vs. Jeff Cobb
Stiff match as expected. Cobb hit a hard European uppercut in the turnbuckle. Ishii counters with strikes and a vertical suplex. Cobb with a German suplex. Cobb follows with a superplex. Ishii hits a German of his own and a Saito suplex. Cobb with a belly to belly suplex and a lariat. Two count. Cobb with a head butt and a standing moonsault. Two count. Ishii with a lariat. Cobb slams Ishii and hits a clubbing lariat. Ishii hits a stiff elbow and Cobb goes down. Both men are dazed.
Ishii with a Sliding Lariat. Two count. They exchange reversals. Cobb with dropkick. Cobb hits an F-5000. Cobb with a Spin Cycle. Ishii counters a pop up powerbomb into a hurricanrana. Ishii hits a lariat. Two count.
Cobb avoids a brainbuster. Cobb pops up Ishii into a Tour of the Islands.
Cobb pins Ishii.
Jeff Cobb retains the NJPW World Television Championship.
Good stiff match!
Big announcement for G1 Climax 34. There will be 20 wrestlers competing, with A Block and B Block. They will announce 18 wrestlers later this month. There will be a tournament to determine the last two competitors in the G1, starting June 22. The top three point scorers in each Block will enter a “playoffs” to determine the winner of each Block. On August 18, the winner of the G1.
They are changing up the G1 format slightly. They had four Blocks in 2023 with 32 wrestlers. This will be a more streamlined tournament with 20 men. I expect more Japanese wrestlers and less surprise entrants for a few reasons. One, it is a hard schedule with lots of traveling all over the country and it is a challenge to stay healthy and mentally strong. Two, Tanahashi wants to build younger guys for the future, like Umino, Narita, Tsuji, Kidd and others. This tournament is where to do it. Three, the risk of injury is always a problem. If a foreign wrestler gets injured in the G1, it hurts the tournament, he has to recover in a foreign country and his schedule in his home promotion can be affected. The format is similar to what the NBA is doing, which is cool.
6 - IWGP Tag Team Championship and Strong Openweight Tag Team Championship - Four Way Tornado Tag Elimination match: Chase Owens and KENTA vs. El Phantasmo and Hikuleo vs. Hirooki Goto and YOSHI-HASHI vs. Mikey Nichols and Shane Haste
TMDK hits a Tank Buster on Hikuleo.
Nichols pins Hikuleo. G.O.D. is eliminated.
G.O.D. has some words after the match as Hikuleo is pissed off.
Bishomon hits a Shoto on Owens.
Goto pins Owens. Bullet Club is eliminated.
TMDK hits a Super Tank Buster on YOSHI-HASHI.
Nichols pins YOSHI-HASHI.
Shane Haste and Mikey Nichols finally win the IWGP Heavyweight Tag Team Championship and the New Japan Strong Tag Team Championship.
Nice win for TMDK. We shall see what happens with the Strong titles, since Tanahashi wants the Strong Titles to be exclusive to United States. I completely agree with that idea.
7 - NEVER Openweight Championship: Shingo Takagi vs. HENARE
Great match! Stiff and hard hitting.
Until… HENARE hit a flying headbutt and both men are knocked down and dazed.
The referee counts both men down and the match is declared a draw.
HENARE got to his feet first and got pissed off because Takagi was still down.
What a let down! They hyped HENARE’s return from a life threatening injury. They spoke of HENARE never winning a title. To be fair, HENARE just returned from injury and got a title shot quickly. He drew with the champion and could get another shot. But with the G1 coming, anything could happen.
8 - IWGP World Heavyweight Championship: Jon Moxley vs. EVIL
House of Torture comes to the ring with EVIL. They assault Tadaaki Kidani, owner of New Japan, and spray paint him with black paint. Kidani said in the press conference that he wanted to get rid of House of Torture.
Top heels attacking the owner of the company. This looks familiar.
Moxley comes to the ring with Shota Umino, Tiger Mask and others. They are all wearing Moxley shirts.
The match begins on the floor as EVIL and Moxley brawl. Super Moxley beats up all of House of Torture and beats on EVIL. EVIL knocks Mox to the floor and SHO and Kanemaru attack him. All the lumberjack brawl on the floor. EVIL applies a modified figure four and taunts Yuji Nagata on the floor. Rope break. They fight to the top rope. Moxley elbows EVIL and they continue to throw stiff shots. They fight to the floor. Moxley pulls out a table.
The Japanese crowd began chanting “we want tables”! What? What is happening here? I never heard a Japan crowd doing this?
Togo blinds Moxley with powder in the face. EVIL hits Moxley with a chair. Then a superplex. Moxley kicks out at two and EVIL applies the Anaconda Vice, while mocking Hiroyoshi Tenzan. Moxley reverses into a Bulldog Choke and goes for a German. EVIL grabs the referee. The referee tries to free himself from EVIL and throws a slap which hits Moxley. Moxley goes after the referee but EVIL picks him up and hits Darkness Falls. Two count.
Moxley avoids EVIL’s finisher and absorbs two lariats. Moxley applies the Nagata Lock 2. The lumberjacks interfere. The referee takes a bump. Moxley’s crew applies submissions on House of Torture. Moxley hits a Death Rider on EVIL. Moxley goes for another, but Narita hits Moxley with the push up bar and hits everyone with the bar to clear the ring. Moxley goes after Narita, but EVIL hits a low blow. EVIL, Narita and Yujiro drag Moxley to the floor and hit a triple power bomb, just like The Shield.
EVIL hits a Death Rider on Moxley. Two count. Moxley hits Everything is Evil on EVIL.
Moxley looks for a weapon and tosses the wrench and push up bar. He grabs a barb wire baseball bat from under the ring. He hits all members of House of Torture with the bat. EVIL rakes his eyes with a pen. EVIL tries to hit Moxley with the bat but Moxley hits a cutter. Moxley hits EVIL with bat three times. Then a curb stomp. Moxley hits a Death Rider on the bat.
Moxley pins EVIL.
Jon Moxley retains the IWGP World Heavyweight Championship.
Chris Charlton and Walker Stewart are confusing. Earlier Charlton teased Tony Khan, now they say no matter how you feel about him Jon Moxley is still the world champion.
I hope Tanahashi knows what he is doing. If Moxley enters the G1 then my opinion will change. The IWGP Champion needs to be visible on tour IN JAPAN. The World belt should not be a prop for billionaires.
Also, lots of English speaking people in the crowd, shouting out comments. Very unusual to hear in a Japanese venue.
After the match, Naito comes out and challenges Moxley for the IWGP World Title at Forbidden Door and Moxley accepts.
9 - Finals of Best of the Super Junior 31: El Desperado vs. Taiji Ishimori
Ishimori gets the advantage early by attacking Desperado’s left arm. Ishimori goes for a handspring elbow but Desperado catches him and drops him in a back suplex. Desperado hits a tope suicida to the floor. Desperado with a lariat and a suplex. Two count. Ishimori hits a sliding German suplex. Ishimori hits Cipher Utaki. Two count. Ishimori throws him shoulder first into the ring post then hits a shoulder breaker. Ishimori hits a Poisonrana. Desperado hits a Spinebuster. Desperado hits a double knee breaker and goes for a stretch muffler. Ishimori reverses out and leg snaps the left arm. Ishimori then hyperextends Desperado’s right arm. Ishimori hits La Mistica and the Bone Lock.
Desperado counters into Numero Dos. Ishimori reverses out and hits a Destroyer. Desperado attempts El Es Culero. Two count. Ishimori hits a low blow and traps him in a Gedo Clutch. Two count. Desperado punches him in the jaw. Both men down.
They trade blows but Ishimori hits a high knee to the face. Desperado hits an Olympic Slam then Pinche Loco. Two count! Ishimori picks up Desperado in an airplane spin and drops him with a knee to the face. Ishimori follows with a reverse Bloody Sunday. Two count.
Desperado sends Ishimori into the turnbuckle . Desperado hits two Pinche Locos.
Desperado pins Ishimori.
El Desperado wins the Best of the Super Junior 31.
After the match, Ishimori and Desperado exchange words and give each other a fist bump.
They have a presentation ceremony giving El Desperado his trophy and pose for photos.
Desperado gives props to Ishimori. SHO comes out and they argue while the crowd laughs. SHO says he can beat Desperado by himself. Desperado challenges SHO to a cage match since he thinks he can beat him alone.
That should be a good match with shenanigans.
G1 Climax 34 is coming soon.
Thank you for reading.
Thank you to Dave Scherer and Mike Johnson for their support.
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