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Every Match Ranked, Worst To Best
Coming hot off the heels of the finale of the Best of the Super Juniors 30, a shocking tournament that saw favorites such as Hiromu Takahashi and El Desperado failing to make it to the finals, while Master Wato would shock the world by winning the tournament, New Japan Pro Wrestling would return with one of their biggest events of the year: Dominion!
Featuring a loaded card featuring Master Wato vs Hiromu Takahashi, Will Ospreay vs Lance Archer, The Blackpool Combat Club taking on Okada, Ishii, & Tanahashi, and a massive main event between Yota Tsuji and SANADA, this event would continue a wild 2023 for NJPW.
9 Los Ingobernables vs Just 5 Guys
As 2023 has seen a number of new factions popping up in New Japan, Just 5 Guys have already found some of the best success, with SANADA winning the IWGP World Heavyweight Championship and Taichi winning the KOPW Championship. Here on the undercard, the two factions would face off in an eight-man tag match. This would be a fun tag bout, but nothing much more than that, with Titan picking up the win for LIJ.
8 Zack Sabre Jr. (c) vs Jeff Cobb (NJPW World TV Championship)
Coming hot off a defense of the NJPW World TV Championship on this week’s AEW Rampage against Action Andretti, The Frontman of TMDK, Zack Sabre Jr. would defend against Jeff Cobb for the second time, after the two’s last match went to a time limit draw.
With 15 minutes on the clock, these two would go for a full-on sprint with this title defense, as Cobb would once again look to dethrone ZSJ. After a fantastic crucifix counter out of the Tour of the Islands, Zack Sabre Jr. would retain his belt on the road to Forbidden Door!
7 Lance Archer vs Will Ospreay
A huge match in its own right, Lance Archer vs Will Ospreay would serve as the opening bout for Dominion, with the stakes being quite high, as the winner fo this match would get a shot for the IWGP United States Championship against Kenny Omega. With the story here being that Ospreay is still dealing with an injury, he would have the tall task of taking down the Murderhawk Monster.
This would start fast, with the two men brawling out to the floor and each trading a number of big moves as they would look to end things early. Later in the bout, Ospreay would manage to kick out of The Blackout and a massive chokeslam for nearfalls, with Archer kicking out of the Hidden Blade at one for a great moment, before being put down with three more for Ospreay to pick up the win, earning a rematch with Kenny Omega at Forbidden Door following up on their MOTY Contender this past January!
6 Bishamon vs House of Torture vs United Empire (Vacant IWGP & NJPW Strong Tag Team Championships)
With the unfortunate news that Mark Davis was injured, Aussie Open would announce that they’d be vacating both of their tag team championships, with a triple threat tag team match being made to crown new double champions. At Dominion, Bishamon, House of Torture, & United Empire would all face off with the belts on the line. This match would be filled with shenanigans from House of Torture, which is always a killer, though YOH would even the odds. This wound up being really, really fun, littered with a few fake finishes, though Bishamon would come out on top as the new double champions. After the match, more Bullet Club members would debut, as Alex Coughlin & Gabe Kidd would attack the champions.
5 KUSHIDA & Kevin Knight (c) vs TJP & Francesco Akira (IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Championship)
After shockingly winning the Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Championship earlier in 2023, KUSHIDA and Kevin Knight would find themselves putitng the belts on the line at Dominion against Catch 2/2 of the United Empire. With KUSHIDA having a terrible BOSJ run, he would look to rebound here by defending the belts against one of the est teams in the world, TJP & Francesco Akira.
Earlier this year, these two teams would face off in a truly great tag match, and this would be more of the same, with great chemistry on display between all four men. Somewhat shockingly, Catch 2/2 would recapture the tag belts, knocking off KUSHIDA & Knight in a great bout. Afterwards, Dan Moloney would turn on United Empire, joining Bullet Club in a shock.
4 David Finlay (c) vs El Phantasmo (NEVER Openweight Championship)
As David Finlay has seized control of Bullet Club, the faction has been undergoing a makeover for the past few months, with new members and the ousting of old ones, with El Phantasmo being the latter. After Finlay defeated Tama Tonga to become NEVER Openweight Champion, El Phantasmo would make his return to NJPW, turning babyface to challenge the leader of Bullet Club. Finlay would dominate ELP through the first half, with Phantasmo coming back to life with some of his normal, fun, fast offense. The BC numbers were too much for ELP however, as Finlay would retain the NEVER belt in a great, heated match that saw another great heel performance for Finlay, and a great babyface turn for Phantasmo.
3 Hiromu Takahashi (c) vs Master Wato (IWGP Junior Heavyweight Championship)
With 2023’s Best of the Super Juniors being one of the most shocking in the history of NJPW, Master Wato would defeat Titan in the finals to earn a singles match against Hiromu Takahashi with the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Championship on the line. At Dominion, Wato would get the chance to face Hiromu in Wato’s hometown. This would be a war between these two, with the match being the biggest of Wato’s entire career, a culmination of the past three years of his rise up the ranks in NJPW.
The hometown crowd would get behind Wato, wanting to see the former joke wrestler get his moment in the sun by defeating The Ace of the Junior Heavyweight Division. Tonight would not be Master Wato’s night however, as despite the great performance, he would fail to defeat Hiromu Takahashi in a fantastic match.
2 SANADA (c) vs Yota Tsuji (IWGP World Heavyweight Championship)
2023 has seen New Japan return to prominence as one of, if not the most exciting wrestling promotion on Earth. The company has featured some of the most compelling, shocking booking all year long, and nowhere would that be more clear than in Dominion’s main event, a singles match for the IWGP World Heavyweight Championship between SANADA & Yota Tsuji. This would be a huge test for Tsuji, who was given a major spotlight upon his return, instantly being put in the world title scene.
Out of the gate, Tsuji would seemingly act like the new leader of Los Ingobernables, showing more control than Tetsuya Naito, before opening the match with true fire, hitting a massive spear and a huge dive to the floor to a massive reaction. Tsuji & SANADA would show off some insanely strong chemistry here, with Yota having a deafening crowd behind him in the later stages of the match. Despite coming so close, Tsuji would fail to capture the IWGP World Heavyweight Championship in his return, as SANADA would retain the belt following Deadfall.
1 Kazuchika Okada, Hiroshi Tanahashi, & Tomohiro Ishii (c) vs Jon Moxley, Shota Umino, & Claudio Castagnoli (NEVER Openweight 6-Man Championship)
Originally scheduled to be earlier on the show, this match would have to be delayed due to travel issues for Claudio Castagnoli due to an ongoing typhoon in Japan, with NJPW opting to push it to the semi-main event. The match would happen, as commentary teased Claudio’s wherabouts throughout the night, as the trio would take on the dream team of Ishii, Tanahashi, & Okada, with Moxley making his return to Japan in this match.
Highlights here would include sequences between Okada & Umino, Ishii, & Claudio, Claudio & Okada, Tanahashi & Claudio, and Moxley & Ishii, giving fans a number of very fun interactions between these loaded trios teams. Simply put, this was pretty nuts from start to finish, with all six guys serving their roles here. Ishii & Moxley brought the violence, Tanahashi & Claudio brought their star power, and Shota & Okada brought the story. The match would even feature Claudio, Moxley, & Shota delivering a Shield Bomb to Okada! In the end, Okada would continue his descent into playing more heel, destroying Umino with a Rainmaker to retain the belts in a wild match. After the bout, Bryan Danielson would challenge Kazuchika Okada to a match, seemingly at Forbidden Door II!
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