{"id":9381,"date":"2018-06-12T18:00:25","date_gmt":"2018-06-12T18:00:25","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/prowrestlingjournal.com\/?p=9381"},"modified":"2018-06-13T04:34:54","modified_gmt":"2018-06-13T04:34:54","slug":"njpw-dominion-review-9-6-18","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/prowrestlingjournal.com\/index.php\/2018\/06\/12\/njpw-dominion-review-9-6-18\/","title":{"rendered":"NJPW Dominion Review 09\/06\/18"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Tokyo Wrestling Fan @twf87<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

Dominion opened with an address from the new New Japan President Harold Meij, who delivered it in both fluent Japanese and English.\u00a0 From his address to the Dominion crowd, and the interviews he\u2019s given recently, Meiji seems like a good addition to NJPW \u2013 someone who is committed to the product but also has a good understanding of international business practices.<\/p>\n

IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Championship<\/strong>\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

Roppongi 3K (SHO and YOH) w\/ Rocky Romero <\/strong>vs. Yoshinobu Kanemaru and El Desperado (c) <\/strong>\u2013 SHO and YOH came into this match on the back of an excellent Best of the Super Juniors tournament, which raised their profile as singles competitors.\u00a0 When the time comes I\u2019m sure that they will both have strong singles runs, but they still have time to flourish as a tag team right now.\u00a0 Thankfully YOH had changed back from his terrible tasselled-shorts to the tights that he wore before BOSJ. \u00a0This match featured plenty of Suzuki-gun shenanigans outside the ring, including a very close teased count out.\u00a0 YOH primarily played the face in peril, which was a role that he excelled at during the BOSJ tournament.\u00a0 SHO got a hot tag and showed off his power moves, but Desperado cut him off with a great spinebuster.\u00a0 Roppongi 3K came back and hit some double team moves, until Kanemaru took out YOH and left SHO and Desperado in the ring.\u00a0 SHO got a near fall with a Lungblower and then tried to get Desperado up for a Shock Arrow, which Desperado escaped from and shoved SHO into the referee.\u00a0 While the referee was distracted Kanemaru hit SHO in the face with his whiskey bottle and Desperado rolled him up for the three count.\u00a0 This was a decent opening match, but the ending was an anti-climax, and yet again Suzuki-gun can\u2019t win clean.\u00a0 I\u2019m not sure who the next team to challenge Kanemaru and Desperado will be since the junior tag division is quite thin, but apparently Roppongi 3K are moving on to something else.<\/p>\n

Winners: Yoshinobu Kanemaru and El Desperado, 9:29<\/strong><\/p>\n

Juice Robinson and David Finlay <\/strong>vs. Jay White and YOSHI-HASHI<\/strong> \u2013 After Jay White successfully defended his US title against David Finlay on the Road to Wrestling Dontaku, it seemed like Juice Robinson would be the next challenger to step up to take on The Switchblade.\u00a0 YOSHI-HASHI presumably was just included to make up the numbers, although he had picked up quite a few wins in tag matches prior to Dominion.\u00a0 Juice and White had some great interactions in this match, and they both have some of the best character work in the ring in New Japan.\u00a0 Juice and Finlay showed off some tag team moves in this match, and generally had the better of it until the closing stretch, when Finlay hit the Prima Nocta on YOSHI-HASHI but then turned around straight into a Blade Runner.\u00a0 Juice then caught White with a punch to the jaw and picked up the win with Pulp Friction.\u00a0 After the match Juice posed with the US title, before laying it across White\u2019s prone body as he left the ring.<\/p>\n

Winners: Juice Robinson and David Finlay, 7:26<\/strong><\/p>\n

Tomohiro Ishii and Yano Toru <\/strong>vs. Zack Sabre Junior and Minoru Suzuki w\/ TAKA Michinoku \u2013 <\/strong>Suzuki and Zack entered to Kaze ni nare<\/em> and a mashup entrance video featuring both of them, rather than the new Suzuki-gun theme song.\u00a0 TAKA Michinoku came out with Suzuki and ZSJ and did his hype-man routine, which is still as good as ever (although a bit strange that he only mentions ZSJ, even when he\u2019s tagging with Suzuki.)\u00a0 Before the match started Suzuki and Ishii had words, and as soon as the bell rang they started exchanging vicious forearms to the face.\u00a0 Ishii and Suzuki are two competitors I would love to see have a one-on-one match at some point, and they just beat the crap out of each other in this match.\u00a0 Yano and Zack also worked well together, and I never realised I wanted to see them face off in a battle of submission reversals and roll up pins until this match.\u00a0 Hopefully they face each other in this year\u2019s G1.\u00a0 Finally Zack forced Yano to tap out, as both Yano and Ishii were caught in elaborate submissions.\u00a0 After the match Ishii ran after Suzuki and they brawled with chairs until the Young Lions pulled them apart.\u00a0 After Ishii had been taken to the back by Yano, Suzuki beat down the Young Lions holding him back and ran after him, disappearing into the back to presumably continue their brawl.<\/p>\n

Winners: Zack Sabre Junior and Minoru Suzuki, 8:42<\/strong><\/p>\n

NEVER Openweight Championship<\/strong><\/p>\n

Taichi w\/ Miho Abe <\/strong>vs. Michael Elgin<\/strong> vs. Hirooki Goto (c) \u2013 <\/strong>Triple threat matches are a rarity in New Japan, especially on a major card like Dominion.\u00a0 After Goto defended his title against Juice Robinson on the Road to Wrestling Dontaku Michael Elgin made a challenge, but he was interrupted by the newly heavyweight Taichi who also wanted a shot at the title.\u00a0 Taichi spent the last few weeks attacking both Elgin and Goto, and when the match started they both turned their attention on him, so he ran out of the ring to leave them to fight.\u00a0 As soon as Elgin and Goto locked up he ran into the ring, tried to roll up Goto, and then left as soon as Elgin attacked him.\u00a0 This match fell into the tendency of a lot of triple threat matches, in which one wrestler is thrown outside and then two fight in the ring, but they did try to keep it interesting, including at one point Elgin hitting a top\u00e9 con giro <\/em>onto Goto and Taichi on the outside.\u00a0 Taichi used Miho Abe to distract the referee and hit Goto and Elgin with his microphone stand, before getting a very close two count after kicking Goto in the face.\u00a0 Elgin then broke up a Taichi-style Gedo clutch by picking Taichi up and buckle bombing him, then buckle bombing him again onto Goto.\u00a0 Finally an Elgin Bomb on Taichi was enough for a three count and a new champion.\u00a0 Obviously the issues that Elgin has in the US hasn\u2019t stopped New Japan pushing him, at least to the NEVER title level.<\/p>\n

Winner: Michael Elgin, 13:46<\/strong><\/p>\n

IWGP Heavyweight Tag Team Championship<\/strong><\/p>\n

The Young Bucks (Nick and Matt Jackson) <\/strong>vs. EVIL and SANADA (c) \u2013 <\/strong>The Young Bucks were already NEVER Six Man Tag Team Champions going into this match, where they were hoping to add the Heavyweight Tag Team titles to their extensive collection of championships.\u00a0 EVIL and SANADA have held the titles since Wrestle Kingdom 12, although EVIL was injured for quite a while this year so they haven\u2019t had many defences in the past five months.\u00a0 The Young Bucks moved up to heavyweight earlier this year, and this match proved that they can keep pace with the heavyweight tag teams.\u00a0 It might even be a good advertisement for getting rid of the separate tag divisions altogether, since New Japan\u2019s tag teams have never been that deep.\u00a0 The Young Bucks controlled the early portion of the match until Nick missed a kick aimed at EVIL on the apron and hit his leg on the ring post.\u00a0 This led to the LIJ team focusing their attack on Nick\u2019s leg, and some great selling of his injury for the rest of the match.\u00a0 Nick and Matt\u2019s selling this year has been top quality, and at one point Nick attempted a Meltzer Driver, but couldn\u2019t springboard off the ropes because of his injured leg.\u00a0 There were some great near falls towards the end of the match from both teams, but The Young Bucks finally came out winners after they hit More Bang For Your Buck on SANADA.\u00a0 This was definitely the best match of the card so far \u2013 The Young Bucks are such a good tag team, and SANADA and EVIL put in a really good performance despite losing.<\/p>\n

Winners: The Young Bucks<\/strong>, 15:03<\/strong><\/p>\n

Rey Mysterio Jr., Jyushin Thunder Liger, and Hiroshi Tanahashi <\/strong>vs. Marty Scurll, Hangman Page, and Cody \u2013 <\/strong>Three legends of wrestling took on three of Ring of Honor\u2019s Bullet Club stars in this match.\u00a0 Rey Mysterio was originally slated to face Liger at the Long Beach show in March, until an injury ruled him out of that match, but Marty Scurll laid the seeds for this match by ripping Mysterio\u2019s mask off in the aftermath of the Will Ospreay vs. Liger match at Long Beach.\u00a0 Scurll taunted Liger throughout the BOSJ tournament by performing his Romero Special submission move, until Scurll\u2019s post-match attack on Tanahashi at the finals caused Liger to intervene and then challenge Bullet Club to this match at Dominion.\u00a0 Masahiro Chono came out as a special guest on commentary for this match.\u00a0 Mysterio had a really impressive New Japan lion-style mask, and red and yellow face paint that looked slightly terrifying.\u00a0 This was a fun match, which included Tanahashi performing press-ups to mock Cody\u2019s flexing, and a good break before the three title matches.\u00a0 Mysterio seemed to revel in his role in this match, and the crowd had a massive pop when he hit a 619 on Page and Scurll.\u00a0 Finally, Cody picked up the win for Bullet Club with a Cross Rhodes on Liger.\u00a0 I was surprised that the legends did the job in this match, but surely Mysterio will be back for another match with New Japan?<\/p>\n

Winners: Marty Scurll, Hangman Page, and Cody, 11:35<\/strong><\/p>\n

IWGP Junior Heavyweight Championship<\/strong><\/p>\n

Hiromu Takahashi <\/strong>vs. Will Ospreay (c) \u2013 <\/strong>Hiromu was the winner, and standout competitor in my mind, of this year\u2019s Best of the Super Juniors tournament.\u00a0 Ospreay for his part had an amazing year up to this point, putting his body on the line to churn out some amazing matches.\u00a0 He beat Hiromu, Marty Scurll, and KUSHIDA in singles matches already this year, and has been firmly established as the new junior ace.\u00a0 Now the question was, could he keep that momentum going against a newly reinvigorated Hiromu?\u00a0 This match started fast, and both competitors came flying out of the blocks throwing strikes and kicks.\u00a0 Hiromu went for his sunset flip powerbomb very early on, but it was countered by Will, who hit his own dive on the entrance ramp.\u00a0 These two competitors know each other so well at this point that this match was full of amazing combinations and counters, my favourite of which may have been the Storm Breaker attempt countered into a Canadian Destroyer by Hiromu.\u00a0 Ospreay seemed to be in control after hitting a superplex and a corkscrew shooting star press on Hiromu, but then he fell prey to Hiromu\u2019s triangle choke.\u00a0 Ospreay tried to power out, but Hiromu refused to let go, and just as it looked like Ospreay would be forced to tap out, he managed to power out into a spinning powerbomb.\u00a0 Ospreay nearly fell prey to the D later in the match, but again managed to power out, only this time Hiromu reversed that into the D Driver, then followed up with a Death Valley Driver into the turnbuckle.\u00a0 Finally he hit a Time Bomb for the three count as the crowd went absolutely wild.\u00a0 This was another excellent match between these two, and they both put everything on the line for the sake of the title.\u00a0 Hiromu was a deserved winner, especially after his showing in BOSJ this year, but Ospreay will undoubtedly be back in the title picture before too long.\u00a0 Hopefully he now gets a well-deserved break to heal some of his aches and pains before he\u2019s needed back in a New Japan ring.<\/p>\n

Winner: Hiromu Takahashi, 20:20 <\/strong><\/p>\n

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#NJPW<\/a> #njdominion<\/a> https:\/\/t.co\/4ULitIni5Z<\/a> pic.twitter.com\/pRa79ZaVNh<\/a><\/p>\n

— LARIATOOOO!! (@MrLARIATO) June 9, 2018<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n