Jon Moxley vs. Shota Umino
This was a short and effective opening match, which got over Umino’s desperation to win but emphasised that Moxley is much higher than he is in New Japan right now. Umino attacked as Moxley made his entrance, but quickly got overwhelmed, and a double-arm DDT put him down for the three count. After the match Moxley took a microphone and stated that he wants to be in the G1 Climax this year, then helped Shota to the back. Winner: Jon Moxley
Shingo Takagi vs. Satoshi Kojima
Takagi got this match after his losing effort in the Best of the Super Juniors Final, when he requested a match against a heavyweight. Kojima was a good opponent for Shingo to show that he could keep up with the heavyweights, and they battered each other with lots of big lariats. Kojima kicked out of a Made in Japan, but Shingo finally hit a Last of the Dragon to put Kojima away for a win. Honestly they should just move Takagi up to heavyweight at this point, because he looked much more convincing going against a bigger guy in this match. After the match he also took a microphone and announced his desire to enter the G1. Winner: Shingo Takagi
YOSHI-HASHI & Jyushin Thunder Liger vs. Minoru Suzuki & Zack Sabre Jr.
This was mostly used to further the storylines between YOSH-HASHI and ZSJ, and Suzuki and Liger, but it was a fun ten minute match. YOSHI-HASHI seems to have pretty good chemistry with Sabre, and his upcoming Rev Pro British Heavyweight title shot might make me interested in him again. Nothing to write home about, but this was a solid undercard match. YOSHI-HASHI won with a quick roll-up on ZSJ. Winners: YOSHI-HASHI & Jyushin Thunder Liger
Hiroshi Tanahashi, Juice Robinson & Ryusuke Taguchi vs. Jay White, Chase Owens & Taiji Ishimori
This was another solid undercard tag match, which continued the feud between Jay White and Hiroshi Tanahashi, after White beat Tanahashi at the Final of BOSJ. This match was notable primarily for the fact that Tanahashi got his win back from Bullet Club after pinning Chase Owens with a weird move that looked like he just fell on Chase with his arm. The English NJPW website called a “modified Sling Blade”, but I’m not totally convinced. Winners: Hiroshi Tanahashi, Juice Robinson & Ryusuke Taguchi
NEVER Openweight Title Match: Tomohiro Ishii vs. Taichi (c)
The first of five title matches saw Taichi defend the NEVER Title for the first time since he won it from Jeff Cobb at Wrestling Dontaku. His opponent, Ishii, was a former four time NEVER Champion, who last held the belt in 2015. When the match started Taichi tried to paly mind games with Ishii, but it ended up being the Stone Pitbull who got the upper hand by luring Taichi to the point where he could floor him with a vicious forearm. This was a really good match between the two, and Taichi got in a lot of his own offence, but he just couldn’t put Ishii down. Ishii finally hit a powerbomb, sliding lariat, and then a brainbuster to win the NEVER Title for a fifth time. Good match, but I’m disappointed with the result, since this is the second time that Taichi has won the belt and then immediately lost it. I’m sure Ishii will have good matches, but it would be good if Taichi got some momentum at some point. Winner: Tomohiro Ishii
IWGP Tag Title Match: EVIL & SANADA vs. Guerrillas of Destiny (Tama Tonga & Tanga Loa) (c)
GOD won the tag belts at the G1 Super Card in Madison Square Garden, and were challenged by the former champions from Los Ingobernables de Japon in the leadup to Dominion. This was a decent title match – I prefer LIJ but GOD can go too – but it had a strange ending. Jado interfered to help GOD, BUSHI came to the ring to help out his teammates, and then Tama reversed a Magic Killer attempt into a roll-up for a sudden three count on EVIL. Apart from the abrupt ending it was a solid tag title match. Winners: Guerrillas of Destiny
Katsuyori Shibata came out after the match and introduced the biggest shock of the night – the former Pro Wrestling NOAH wrestler KENTA. I don’t think anyone was predicting that KENTA would end up coming to New Japan after he left the WWE, but he accompanied Shibata to the ring and said that he also wanted to enter the G1 Climax this year. Another headline grabbing addition to New Japan, and one that makes this year’s G1 very interesting.
IWGP Jr. Heavyweight Title Match: Will Ospreay vs. Dragon Lee (c)
Ospreay won this year’s Best of the Super Juniors earlier in the week, and followed that up by challenging Dragon Lee for his title. This is the anniversary of the match between Dragon Lee and Hiromu Takahashi, which ended up with Hiromu sustaining a serious neck injury, so this match felt even more poignant than usual. Ospreay and Lee approached this match at full throttle, including an insane tope suicida from Lee that wiped out former wrestler Milano AT Collection on commentary. Like most Ospreay matches this had a few eyerolling moments – such as when Lee hit a huricanrana off the apron and Ospreay landed on his feet, then they both turned and stared at each other in shock/horror – but it generally managed to keep them to a minimum. Ospreay hit his Hidden Blade, Os Cutter, and finally a Storm Breaker to win the Jr. Title again. Overall another strong outing by both men. Winner: Will Ospreay
IWGP Intercontinental Title Match: Tetsuya Naito vs. Kota Ibushi (c)
Ibushi won the IC Title from Natio at the G1 Super Card, and then they decided to have a rematch at Dominion, which I personally thought was pretty lazy booking, despite the fact that any match between these two is almost guaranteed to be great. Naito came into this match having lost three title matches in the last three years in Osaka, and he seemed desperate to make up for that in this match. As all Naito vs. Ibushi matches, this one was great, but it was almost overshadowed by the way the match finished. Both men are known for throwing caution to the wind when it comes to taking crazy neck bumps, and at one point Naito hit a big German suplex off the apron, which ended with Ibushi hitting his head on the side of the apron as he came down (it was somewhat similar to the Spanish Fly that caused Ospreay to hit his head on the ring apron at last year’s Sakura Genesis). How Ibushi escaped serious injury is a mystery, but the match didn’t stop there, as both men continued to take big neck bumps, and hit some shoot headbutts. It was a tough watch, even if the two were still in control, and hopefully it doesn’t lead to real injuries down the road. Naito finally got a measure of closure in Osaka by hitting a Destino for the win, and reclaimed the IC Title. Winner: Tetsuya Naito
IWGP Heavyweight Title: Chris Jericho vs. Kazuchika Okada (c)
Jericho challenged Okada following his defence against SANADA at Wrestling Dontaku, and styled himself the Painmaker in contrast to Okada’s Rainmaker. This was an interesting match, different from the usual epic Okada main events that have become the norm over the last few years. Jericho’s current brawling style works well to cover over the fact that he can’t go at the same level as the top guys in New Japan, but this match ended completely abruptly with a roll-up by Okada after 25 minutes, which even the crowd was shocked by. It wasn’t a bad match, but it wasn’t really a great match either. After the match Jericho beat Okada up to a chorus of boos from the crowd, until Tanahashi came from commentary to make the save. Winner: Kazuchika Okada
Final Thoughts
The ending to this show left a bit of weird taste in the mouth after what had started as a really strong show. The Osaka crowd really hated the post-match beatdown by Jericho, and it felt like the show just ended very abruptly. The crowd really didn’t like the fact that there was no post-match promo. Presumably we will be seeing another Jericho appearance to face Tanahashi in the future. Other than a relatively flat main event and ending, this was a good show, particularly the Naito/Ibushi match, the Ospreay/Lee match, and the Taichi/Ishii match. Unusually for a New Japan show there were a lot of title changes on this show – the tag titles and the IWGP title were the only ones that didn’t change hands – and some of the booking seems questionable to me. I don’t love flipping the IC title straight back to Naito, or Taichi losing his first defence again. Is the plan now to build up Naito as the Intercontinental champion ahead of the two Tokyo Dome shows at Wrestle Kingdom in 2020?
This was also the show where everyone basically declared their interest in entering the G1 this summer. Moxley, Takagi, and Ospreay all said that they wanted in, and obviously the big announcement of KENTA was all about the G1. New Japan are either going to have to expand the tournament this year, or more people are going to have to drop out. As an aside on KENTA, it’s exciting to see what he can do in NJPW, but the announcement came on the same day that NOAH were running the Mitsuharu Misawa Memorial Show, which felt like a bit of a classless move by New Japan. Still, it will be very exciting to watch the G1 this summer, assuming all four people get into the tournament, and anymore names that might be announced on the coming tour.
