While Kenny Omega fell short in his quest to win the IWGP Heavyweight Championship, drawing Kazuchika Okada in a 60-minute time limit, the landscape of New Japan Pro Wrestling still managed to change pretty drastically at this weekend’s Dominion event.
Moments after the show ended, the “American Nightmare” Cody Rhodes interrupted a backstage press conference with Okada and his fellow CHAOS stablemates. Rhodes chastised Okada for playing it safe and “staying on the island”, calling himself a true superstar and issuing an official challenge for the upcoming NJPW events in Long Beach. Historically the promotion doesn’t run these segments unless the match is already considered official, so it looks like we’ll be getting Cody Rhodes vs. Kazuchika Okada for the IWGP Heavyweight Championship at one of the two events in Long Beach this July.
Four championships changed hands at Dominion this weekend. It wasn’t all bad for Bullet Club, as the Young Bucks defeated Roppongi Vice via submission to extend their own record, winning the IWGP Jr. Tag Team titles for the sixth time. The “Biz Cliz” bad boys Tama Tonga and brother Tanga Loa also scored big, as the Guerrillas of Destiny recaptured the IWGP Tag Team titles from War Machine in a chaotic bout.
KUSHIDA finally got a measure of revenge on the man who has been one step ahead of him since making his late 2016 return to New Japan, Hiromu Takahashi. The Ace of the juniors division celebrated a victory with his newly earned IWGP Jr. Heavyweight title, as well as the Ring of Honor World TV Championship and his recently won Best of the Super Juniors tournament trophy. And rounding out the night is Hiroshi Tanahashi, who avenged his loss at Wrestle Kindom 11 and numerous beatings at the hands of Los Ingobernables de Japon, defeating Testuya Naito to claim the broken down and IWGP Intercontinental title.
