#njstrong

Last night, the lineups for the Dominion cycle of shows was released. 

First off, the event is called Dominion 6.6 In Osaka-jo Hall, however the running date for this is now Monday 6/7/2021, per NJPW’s statement that 

As a result of the extension to the state of emergency in place in Osaka, and in compliance with restrictions on weekend events in the city, New Japan Pro-Wrestling has arrived at the decision to postpone Dominion in Osaka Jo Hall, which was originally scheduled for Sunday June 6.

Which may be all well and good, however, Abema/CyberFight, the owners of both DDT and Pro Wrestling NOAH, are holding their CyberFight Festival on 6/6/2021 at Saitama Super Arena, headlined by Keiji Muto v. Naomichi Marufuji for the GHC Heavyweight title. Funny enough, NJPW is debuting via AbemaTV this Tuesday, as it will be streaming the Korakuen Hall show. Makes me wonder if there was some sort of agreement in place here to not step on the others’ toes.

Whatever the case and whenever it’s happening, the main event will be the crowning of a new IWGP World Heavyweight Champion, following Will Ospreay’s injury, return to the UK and vacating of the title*. As predicted, the match will be Kazuchika Okada v. Shingo Takagi, which will be a very good match indeed most likely. Another title match on the card, will be one that was initially delayed due to COVID-19, as El Desperado finally makes his first defense of the IWGP Juniorheavyweight belt v. YOH, that was supposed to happen at Night 2 of Wrestling Dontaku 2021 on 5/4/2021 but got pulled due to at least one of the wrestlers being positive. Also on the show is Kota Ibushi v. Jeff Cobb, a feud that has been building since Wrestling Dontaku. Those are it for the announced matches on 6/7/2021 so far.

There are two cards for Road to Wrestling Dontaku released as well, with title matches headlining both. On Tuesday 6/1, Dangerous Tekkers will get their awaited rematch against Guerrillas of Destiny as they try to regain the IWGP Heavyweight Tag Team belts once more, one of the most involved, and unexpectedly interesting, feuds in recent times. The next night, Hirooki Goto, Tomohiro Ishii and YOSHI-HASHI defend the NEVER Openweight Comedy 6-Man Tag Team straps against an LIJ tandem of Tetsuya Naito, SANADA & BUSHI. 

NJPW had scheduled a date on 6/4/2021 at Tokyo Ota Ward Gymnasium, however no card is listed for that. Personally I am doubting this show happens; Ota Ward has already seen two other, bigger shows be postponed or moved during the state of emergency from AJPW and NOAH. My pet theory is still Ota Ward Gymnasium is not allowing these shows to happen whilst under the emergency order.

Lineups:

Road to Dominion - 6/1/2021, Tokyo Korakuen Hall (NJPWWorld)

YOH [CHAOS], SHO [CHAOS] & Yuya Uemura v. El Desperado, Yoshinobu Kanemaru & Minoru Suzuki [SZKG]

Hiroshi Tanahashi, Tomoaki Honma, Tiger Mask IV & Ryusuke Taguchi v. EVIL, Chase Owens, Taiji Ishimori & El Phantasmo [Bullet Club]

Kota Ibushi & Yota Tsuji v. Jeff Cobb & Great O-Khan [United Empire]

Kazuchika Okada, Hirooki Goto, Tomohiro Ishii & YOSHI-HASHI [CHAOS] v. Shingo Takagi, Tetsuya Naito, SANADA & BUSHI [Los Ingobernables]

IWGP Heavyweight Tag Team Championship: Tama Tonga & Tanga Loa [Bullet Club] (c) v. Taichi & Zack Sabre Jr. [SZKG]

- 6/2/2021, Tokyo Korakuen Hall (NJPWWorld)

Hiroshi Tanahashi, Tomoaki Honma, Yota Tsuji & Yuya Uemura v. EVIL, Chase Owens, Taiji Ishimori & El Phantasmo [Bullet Club]

YOH [CHAOS], SHO [CHAOS] & Ryusuke Taguchi v. El Desperado, Yoshinobu Kanemaru & DOUKI [SZKG]

Taichi, Zack Sabre Jr. & Minoru Suzuki [SZKG] v. Tama Tonga, Tanga Loa & Jado [Bullet Club]

Kota Ibushi & Master Wato v. Jeff Cobb & Great O-Khan [United Empire]

NEVER Openweight 6-Man Tag Team Championship: Hirooki Goto, Tomohiro Ishii & YOSHI-HASHI [CHAOS] (c) v. Tetsuya Naito, SANADA & BUSHI [Los Ingobernables]

- 6/4/2021, Tokyo Ota Ward Gymnasium

TBA

Dominion 6.6 in Osaka-jo Hall - 6/7/2021, Osaka Osaka-jo Hall (NJPWWorld)

IWGP Juniorheavyweight Championship: El Desperado [SZKG] (c) v. YOH [CHAOS]

Kota Ibushi v. Jeff Cobb [United Empire]

IWGP World Heavyweight Championship Decision Match: Kazuchika Okada [CHAOS] v. Shingo Takagi [Los Ingobernables]

More TBA

*- I had planned to show a statement with Ospreay dismissing the rumors about why he left to go back to the UK, but the source I had initially changed the post I was going to cite. You can still read it if you want, but it doesn’t have what I was going to report on anymore. Oh well.

Last night’s episode of NJPW Strong was the final part of the show’s Collision series of episodes, featuring the first-ever defense of the NJPW Strong Openweight Championship.

Clark Connors v. AJZ (Trophy Kill, 9:38)

El Phantasmo [Bullet Club] d. Wheeler Yuta (Sudden Death, 14:06)

NJPW Strong Openweight Championship: “Filthy” Tom Lawlor [Team Filthy] (c) d. Chris Dickinson (Sleeper Suplex, 21:16) - Lawlor succeeds his 1st defense

Backstage post-match, Karl Fredericks wiped down Lawlor’s belt with Gekicohi-kun, the LEC sponges that sponsor NJPW Strong. Fredericks has a pin over Lawlor, and will probably be the next challenger for the title. Lawlor also referred to Dickinson as “Blue Wolf,” which was not a compliment, as it references former Inokiism-era NJPW wrestler and PRIDE fighter Dogolsuren Serjbudee, who was, erm, Not Good! If you want to see more Lawlor v. Dickinson, Beyond Wrestling’s YouTube channel has made their match from Uncharted Territory S1E09 on 5/29/2019 available to watch for free, two years to the day! Lawlor really has cemented himself as the top heel on NJPW Strong, even without a Bullet Club affiliation!

Meanwhile, ELP continues the loaded boot superkick gimmick, really hamming it up too. I’m not sure what it is with LA Dojo graduates having very problematic finisher names; first it was Manifest Destiny from Karl Fredericks, now shortened to MD, but now we get Trophy Kill from Clark Connors. I really wonder sometimes.

Next week begins the Ignition series of episodes for NJPW Strong.