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NJPW DOMINION 6.11 in Osaka-Jo Hall Review

David Finlay, Tomoyuki Oka & Shota Umino vs. Tetsuhiro Yagi, Katsuya Kitamura & Hirai Kawato **½ 

Jushin Thunder Liger, TenKoji & Manabu Nakanishi vs. Togi Makabe, Yuji Nagata, Tiger Mask & Tiger Mask W **3/4

NEVER Six Man Title Gauntlet Match: SANADA, EVIL & BUSHI (c) vs. Ricochet, Juice & Taguchi vs. Ishii, Yano & YOSHI-HASHI vs. Fale, Yujiro & Page vs. ZSJ, Kanemaru & Taichi ***1/4

IWGP Jr. Tag Title Match: Roppongi Vice (c) vs. The Young Bucks ****

IWGP Tag Team Title Match: War Machine (c) vs. Guerrillas Of Destiny ***1/2

Michael Elgin vs. Cody ***

IWGP Jr. Heavyweight Title Match: Hiromu Takahashi (c) vs. KUSHIDA ****3/4

NEVER Openweight Title Lumberjack Death Match: Minoru Suzuki (c) vs. Hirooki Goto ****

IWGP Intercontinental Title Match: Tetsuya Naito (c) vs. Hiroshi Tanahashi ****3/4

IWGP Heavyweight Title Match: Kazuchika Okada (c) vs. Kenny Omega *****

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New Japan did it again and hit it out of the park with another superb super show. This featured hugely entertaining undercard and three astounding matches. Things started fun but unspectacular with the pre-show six man and the opening eight man. Both of which were decent little outings where everyone got their spots in. The NEVER Six Man Gauntlet was vey rushed but really picked up with the final two teams. The CHAOS trio firstly eliminated the Bullet Clubbers when Yano school boy’d Yujiro, then almost immediately the Suzuki-gun gang took out the CHAOS guys when Sabre Jr. got a bridging cradle on Yano. Taguchi Japan was next and eliminated the Suzuki Army when Juice hit Pulp Friction on Taichi (how I cheered), though the gun put a beating on all three of them whilst LIJ made their entrance. That lead to the best part of the match and ended up saving what was up to then, a blur of spots and movement. Ricochet looked like he was nearly killed when he tried to catch a power bomb on SANADA during a tower superplex spot, but thankfully he seemed OK. There was a dramatic finish as Taguchi had the ankle lock sunk in on BUSHI, but SANADA locked on the Skull End, whilst the masked man hit the MX for the win to retain the belts.

The Young Bucks regained the Jr. tag straps for a sixth time in a great little match with RPG Vice. This told a similar story to their bout at WK11, in which the Jacksons isolated one member of the team (in this case Baretta) and got the heat forever. The finishing sequence was really good as the Vice hit Strong Zero on Matt, but Nick broke it up with a Swanton Bomb, leading to the Bucks each locking on Sharpshooters to Romero, after working his back the whole match, before hitting the Indytaker and getting the submission win with another Sharpshooter (and setting the tone for what was to come). The G.O.D. won the IWGP Heavy Tag belts from War Machine in a very good match. This started off great, but got a little shaky near the end. There were lots of good near falls and sequences, including Tonga hitting a Gun Stun out of Fall Out, before Roa nailed Rowe with a chair, leading to the Guerrilla Warfare finish. Cody beat Michael Elgin in a good encounter, which was Cody’s best NJPW outing yet. This featured the usual impressive power spots from Big Mike, but he was pinned after Cody escaped a second floor deadlift Falcon Arrow, and hit Cross Rhodes for the win. Whilst this was good, it by no means made Cody look like a worthy title contender. 

BOSJ winner KUSHIDA looked for revenge against Takahashi in a superb Junior Title contest, which told a great story and featured loads of really meaningful spots and sequences. This was just a war as KUSHIDA heeled it up here (and was audibly boo’d in the process) by trying to play the LIJ at their own game, coming out super aggressive from the off. The Challenger nearly killed the Champion when he sat Hiromu down on a chair over the barricade, then hit an incredible springboard dropkick off another chair. They laid into each other with forearms in intense sequences, KUSHIDA hit a great, Spanish Fly version of the Hoverboard Lock off the top, Takahashi did that horrible sunset flip out of the ring, and KUSHIDA hit Back To The Future off the middle rope again which saw both guys down. KUSHIDA then channeled his winning ways in the BOSJ, stomped Hiromu’s face in, and lock in a Hoverboard Lock to get the submission win. This was fantastic stuff and the best match of Hiromu’s reign in my opinion, which is saying something. KUSHIDA celebrated by starting another Mexican wave, but BUSHI ran in and gave him the dokukiri to set himself up as the next challenger, probably in Long Beach. Minoru Suzuki kept hold of the NEVER title in a wild Lumberjack Death Match. This featured some great brawling and submission work, and was never anything approaching boring. One of the highlights saw Suzuki slap Jushin Liger, who was on commentary, and Liger flipped out, throwing chairs and going crazy, all of which helped the wild, heated feel of the match. All of the Lumberjacks ended up in the ring and brawling around ringside, before YOSHI-HASHI wiped everyone out with a Tope Con Hilo. Goto hit the GTR for a sure win, but Taichi pulled the ref out and nailed a hard chair shot to Goto, allowing the “Ill-Natured Man” to lock in a choke and retain the belt with a Gotch Piledriver. YOSHI-HASHI attacked Suzuki and the rest of Suzuki-gun in the post match, setting him up as Suzuki’s next title challenger.

The Intercontinental Title Match was tremendous, and another MOTYC in a year in which there are already seemingly hundreds. The heat for this was incredible as Naito is very much despised by the Osaka faithful, and everyone loves themselves a High Fly Star. Tanahashi deserves special praise here as he pulled out all the stops, having a classic Tana Big Match, but with a torn biceps, which is remarkable really. The story telling here was wonderful, with the main story being; if Naito is going to target Tana’s injured arm, Tana is going to target Naito’s surgically repaired knee. Tanahashi attacked while Naito was making his entrance, furious at the way the champion has disgraced the belt. This was just an out and out fight that saw Naito bleeding from the right ear after Tanahashi started punching the hell out of him on the mat. Naito worked over Tana’s arm, which had an added intensity and believability because, you know, he really does have a torn biceps, and the stoppage teases were great. Despite the injury, Tanahashi hit all his trademark moves, including the HFF to the floor, and destroyed Naito’s knee with dragon screws. Naito dropped Tana on his head with a swinging DDT, then scored a close near fall with a swinging Destino off the second rope. Tanahashi fought back, hitting Sling Blades, then went up top, did the Shinsuke hand gestures and hit the High Fly Flow for a ridiculously close 2.99. Tana then locked in a deep Texas Cloverleaf, which he had on for what felt close to two minutes, before Naito tapped out, and Tanahashi rescued the title. The execution of the move was fantastic as when Tana first applied it, the crowd weren't buying it as a finish, but the way he cranked down on it and the way Naito masterfully sold the hold, they completely bought it and popped big once he submitted. This gives Tana his second IC reign but, as amazing as he was here, I really do worry about him as he seems to be falling apart these days, and matches like this are going to bring it about sooner rather than later.

Then the main event. This was an interesting match as, for the first half, I wasn't especially blown away by it. It didn't suck me in like the Tokyo Dome match in January did, and I was thinking it was a bit of a disappointment. However, it built, and it built, and it built, and by the end it was one of the most dramatic wrestling matches I've ever seen. On the whole I’d say it probably wasn't as good as the WK 11 match, but it was a completely different animal. This wasn't the big bumps and moves spectacle of their previous bout, instead it told a marvellous story and just had unreal drama. The main story arc being that Okada was the aggressor this time, going out of his way to finish Omega off and prove once and for all he's the best around. There were of course a lot of big spots; Okada hit a Tope con Hilo, Omega hit a gigantic Asai Moonsault, the Champion hit a nasty looking Heavy Rain on the ring apron, and top rope elbowed Kenny through a table on the floor. Okada hit a Rainmaker, then another, which caused the whole Bullet Club to come out. Cody teased throwing in the towel, but he was prevented by the Young Bucks. This fired Kenny up, who came back with a V-Trigger and a reverse Frankensteiner, to start his big comeback. Omega finally hits the One Winged Angel on Okada in a match, but Okada was too close to the ropes and got his foot on them at 2. Kenny made the gun hand gesture, but Oakda quickly recovered, grabbed his arm and hit a third Rainmaker as Osaka-Jo Hall went crazy. The final 10 minutes were unreal, and the drama built expertly with Okada countering everything Kenny did with a dropkick. Kenny tried another OWA, But Okada reversed it into a Tombstone, and goes for the Rainmaker yet again, however Kenny collapses as he tries to hit it, and both men fell to the mat. Okada then destroyed Omega with a dropkick and hit yet another Rainmaker, but was too exhausted to make the cover as the 60 minute time limit expired. This was so good, and as previously said, very different to the Dome match. There were a lot of callbacks and similar spots, but this one was all about the story and the drama. Hour broadways are difficult to do as they are the wrestling equivalent of a 3 hour epic movie; either you get bored and restless, or you are completely enveloped by the ensuing drama. In my opinion, this was definitely the latter. Backstage in the press section, Cody Rhodes, of all people, challenged Okada to a title match in Long Beach, which was accepted. I’m sure the match will probably be great, but I don't think Cody has necessarily had the best of builds to a title shot. All in all this was yet another brilliant super show from New Japan, perhaps even surpassing Wrestle Kingdom as Show Of The Year. Lets face facts, when it comes to these shows, New Japan just can't be touched.