NJPW Dominion in Osaka Jo Hall

[Defrost]

http://i.imgur.com/tk6QI0o.jpg



So far we know it will be AJ Styles defending the IWGP Heavyweight Title against Kazuchika Okada, and Kenny Omega defends the Jr Title against the winner of the Best of the Super Juniors.

[Tainted Eclipse]

doesn't sound good so far! well, okada/styles should be a good match, but i can't possibly care about that matchup. hopefully the undercard is good this time.

[Defrost]

Matches


- Special Singles Match: Katsuyori Shibata vs. Kazushi Sakuraba
- Special Singles Match: Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. Toru Yano
- IWGP Jr. Heavyweight Title: Kenny Omega vs. BOSJ XII Winner
- IWGP Tag Team Title: Michael Bennett & Matt Taven (c) w/ Maria Kanellis vs. Karl Anderson & Doc Gallows w/ Amber Gallows
- NEVER Openweight Title: Togi Makabe (c) vs. Tomohiro Ishii
- IWGP Intercontinental Title: Hirooki Goto vs. Shinsuke Nakamura
- IWGP Heavyweight Title: AJ Styles (c) vs. Kazuchika Okada

[Ringo]

Now this is a proper card.

[Caito]

Suppose I'll have to figure out a way to watch this.

[Cewsh]

That is a killer card top to bottom so far.

[Tainted Eclipse]

sakuraba/shibata is the only match that particularly interests me but it should be a good show overall.

[Defrost]

I am wondering how the crowd will be. The Osaka gym is their hottest building, but that means nothing. I mean Korakuen is super hot, but Tokyo Dome City Hall is almost literally across the street and that building is always dead.

[Panther52]

sakuraba/shibata is the only match that particularly interests me but it should be a good show overall.

wonder if they'll build it as student vs teacher. or a revenge match for shibata getting subbed by Saku

[Defrost]

NJPW "DOMINION 7.5 IN OSAKA-JO HALL", 05.07.2015
Osaka Castle Hall

0. Hiroyoshi Tenzan, Satoshi Kojima, Jushin Thunder Liger, Tiger Mask & Yohei Komatsu vs. Yuji Nagata, Manabu Nakanishi, Ryusuke Taguchi, Mascara Dorada & Sho Tanaka
1. IWGP Jr. Heavyweight Tag Team Title, 3 Way Match: Nick Jackson & Matt Jackson (c) vs. Bobby Fish & Kyle O'Reilly vs. Rocky Romero & Barreta
2. Special Tag Match: Tetuya Naito & Tomoaki Honma vs. Bad Luck Fale & Yujiro Takahashi
3. Special Singles Match: Katsuyori Shibata vs. Kazushi Sakuraba
4. IWGP Jr. Heavyweight Title: Kenny Omega (c) vs. KUSHIDA
5. NEVER Openweight Title: Togi Makabe (c) vs. Tomohiro Ishii
6. IWGP Tag Team Title: Michael Bennett & Matt Taven (c) w/ Maria Kanellis vs. Karl Anderson & Doc Gallows w/ Amber Gallows
7. Special Singles Match: Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. Toru Yano
8. IWGP Intercontinental Title: Hirooki Goto (c) vs. Shinsuke Nakamura
9. IWGP Heavyweight Title: AJ Styles (c) vs. Kazuchika Okada

[DDT]

I have to admit, this is a pretty dope card. I've been a bit sour on New Japan after Wrestle Kingdom; this is their chance to reel me back in.

[Hero!]

Anyone else getting sick of the Jr tag triple threats? Just me? Other than that, all the other titles matches should be excellent, so i'm stoked.

[DDT]

I've resigned myself to the fact that they will continue to do this, because let's face it, it's the only way to make New Japan's junior tag division interesting.


When NOAH's jr. tag division is more interesting then yours, you KNOW you have problems.

[Hero!]

Well, one of those divisions features TAKA and the other does not. I feel like that's the difference maker.

[Defrost]

The problem is they never do Jr Matches without titles involved.

[Defrost]

Incoming Tetsuya Naito heel turn warning. I repeat incoming Tetsuya Naito heel turn warning.

[Ringo]

That sounds like a good thing...

[Defrost]

Indeed. Did you see today's Korakuen show?

[Ringo]

Nooope, is it worth a watch?

[Defrost]

Yeah. All the young lion singles matches were super fun. The Naito stuff is interesting, and the main event was good.

[Ringo]

:yes:

[Defrost]

According to New Japan the only tickets left are in section A

http://www.osaka-johall.com/seat/

[Defrost]

Show is sold out. They're going to have standing room tickets available on the day of the show for 4000 yen a pop. That's $40.

[Defrost]

Then this happened

http://i.imgur.com/DOKb75u.jpg

[Tainted Eclipse]

ok im drunk as shit. hopeful i can sober up a bit for the show. first njpw show im staying up for since tokyo dome i think. woo who else is watching this? only defrost? you my boy defrost.

[Defrost]

I'm here. Watching Shinya Hashimoto vs Oz.

[Tainted Eclipse]

oz as in kevin nash? you know what are some good matches. hashimoto vs. masato tanaka.

[Tainted Eclipse]

sakuraba vs. shibata better be fucking good tonight.

[Defrost]

oz as in kevin nash? you know what are some good matches. hashimoto vs. masato tanaka.

Indeed Magic Mike star Kevin Nash.

When the internet got fast enough to actually be able to download matches a Hashimoto vs Tanaka match was the first time I saw Tanaka after ECW.

[Tainted Eclipse]

defrost out of curiosity when did they first start watching japanese wreslting. i rememebr when i joined here you were one of the few who had any idea about it. myself i got my first tape in september 2004.

[Defrost]

Not long before that. Less than a year. When the WWF really nose dived after the Invasion, and like I said when the internet got fast enough to start downloading these things because I was not at a place where I could afford that much tape trading. Basically I went from the WCW/WWF guys who were in New Japan like Benoit and Eddie. Then doing the old stuff I got into NOAH which was at its peak when I started watching with Kobashi as GHC Champ and KENTAFuji doing their thing.

So I tell people they can't accuse me of bandwagon jumping when New Japan got hot. I sat through Fujita as champion. Actually the first guy in NJPW I really got behind was Devitt when he was the CTU young boy. They did one great angle with him where he kept trying to get into CTU, but would fuck up. Finally he was the reason they won a big 10 man tag I think, but Liger was working another company's show so he didn't see it. Might have been when Liger was Dream Gate Champion. Then Liger comes back and on that show Devitt fucked up again.

[Defrost]

I think the announcers are fantasy booking an Oz vs El Gigante match now

[Tainted Eclipse]

myself i never followed the current scene so much back in the day. i just got a lot of older tapes. i saw most of the great 90s ajpw before i saw any noah which sort of colored my persepctive on it. im glad i got in on the tail end of VHS being viable and popular, as i always say you cant be real fan of japanese wrestlintg unless you paid 20 dollars for a vhs consisting of one match and waiteed 3 weeks to see it.

[Tainted Eclipse]

you know what i REALLY love? those NOAH tags with liger v. kikuchi. one of my favorite series of matches of all time.

[Tainted Eclipse]

although the best of those tags was in NJPW in august 2002.

[Defrost]

We are staggeringly spoiled with how easy this stuff is to watch now. I remember waiting months to see something not that long ago, and yet I was bitching and moaning when I thought Jarrett's PPV would be the only way to watch the Dome live.

[Tainted Eclipse]

We are staggeringly spoiled with how easy this stuff is to watch now. I remember waiting months to see something not that long ago, and yet I was bitching and moaning when I thought Jarrett's PPV would be the only way to watch the Dome live.

i hear you. when its harder to watch stuff you form a more personally attachment to it. nothing can match the personal attachement to that 90s ajpw and njpw juniors back when i was a teenager, and the joshi. though you're not much of a joshi guy i think.

[Defrost]

i hear you. when its harder to watch stuff you form a more personally attachment to it. nothing can match the personal attachement to that 90s ajpw and njpw juniors back when i was a teenager, and the joshi. though you're not much of a joshi guy i think.

Joshi's hard because where is a good starting point you know. Like it was easier with Puro because I started with guys I already knew.

[Tainted Eclipse]

i never cared about guys i alreayd knew personally, in fact a lot of the appeal was the fact that it was so different. just the names themselves made me more interested to be honest.

[Tainted Eclipse]

i rememebenr watching hokuto/kandori for the first time, that match was nuts. watched it a coulple months ago and still loved it. some joshi might not hold up so much but no doubt that is one of the best matches ever.

[Defrost]

When NJPW claimed the sell out on this one I was a bit cynical and assumed like a Tokyo Dome sized stage blocked off a ton of seats. Looking on Twitter I think WWE had a bigger entrance deal in Sumo Hall yesterday.

[Defrost]

Most of the guys in this match deserve better

[Tainted Eclipse]

i wonder how good those two young lions will turn out

[Tainted Eclipse]

oh damn they got that announcer

[Defrost]

I love the fake Pride announcer

[Tainted Eclipse]

fun match. i wish they'd make a new juniors tag to add to the mix.

[Defrost]

Get Dorada a partner. That'd be cool.

Loving this Naito.

[Tainted Eclipse]

heel naito is great

[Defrost]

I was hoping for the big turn there. A heel Naito vs Honma feud would be immense.

[Tainted Eclipse]

how bad would sakuraba kill shibata in real mma

[Defrost]

They did fight in MMA and Saku did kill him

In a stiff worked match Shibata might kill Saku with those dropkicks though

[Defrost]

Plancha? Saku been watching Dragon Gate.

[Defrost]

This is fucking great

[Tainted Eclipse]

that match ruled

[Defrost]

That Sakuraba has this kinda match in him like he had with Nak and MiSu before makes me sad we don't see it more often

[Tainted Eclipse]

i wish sakuraba would be in a g1

[Tainted Eclipse]

COME ON KUSHIDA. i could sure live with a kushida/richoet rematch at the g1 final card.

[Defrost]

New Japan has a hilarious amount of ring announcers at this point

[Defrost]

When was the last Jr Heavyweight Match where leg work didn't lead to the obvious dead end?

[Defrost]

Well that was decisive

[Defrost]

Meiyu Tag died for this

[Defrost]

Words can not describe whatever it is Tanahashi has done to his hair

[Defrost]

Words can not describe what Shinsuke is wearing

[thesamuelcooke]

Nakamura's entrance makes up for Tana's hair.

[DDT]

Comm. "I don't get why a ninja would be covered in sequins, but that's Nakamura for you."

[Defrost]

Attendance: 11,400

[Tainted Eclipse]

god damn the last couple minutes of okada/aj were incredible. match was good overall too.

[Tainted Eclipse]

there was some filler on this show for sure but the good stuff really got me back into the njpw kick and looking forward to the g1

[Bad Collin]

I agree, very enjoyable show for the most part but I skipped through the tag match.

I think we need something different from the Bullet Club now. Perhaps some kind of civil war with the weak links being removed.

[DDT]

god damn the last couple minutes of okada/aj were incredible. match was good overall too.

One of the best closing stretches to any match I've seen in years. Maybe THE best.

[Hero!]

Results look good. How was the show? What should I watch, what should I skip?

[Tainted Eclipse]

definitely watch sakuraba/shibata and aj/okada. watch the naito tag if you're interest in naito because it was some interesting character development and fun in that regard. omega/kushida was pretty good. i skipped the kingdom tag and ishii/makabe, neither got good reviews that i've heard. nakamura/goto was boring for the most part but the end stretch did feature goto blocking a punch with a headbutt.

[DDT]

-Skip the three-way tag. Not because it was bad, but because you've seen it 50 times now.


-Watch the Naito/Honma vs. Bullet Club match. It isn't long, and the heat Naito (purposefully) gets is jaw-droppingly awesome. Easily the best thing Naito's ever done outside the ring.


-Watch Sakuraba/Shibata match. Fantastic stuff.


-KUSHIDA vs. Omega was another one you should watch. Omega's stupid entrance aside (he's a cleaner, so he's sweeping with a broom! GET IT?!) and KUSHIDA of all people having selling issues, this was a really good modern Jr.'s match.


-You MAY want to skip Ishii/Makabe. Makabe is just so damn bad here, to the point of where we clearly see him whiff his shots. Ishii is simultaneously trying to bring this match up while Makabe brings it back down. It's not a BAD match, which is why I don't say skip it outright, but don't go in thinking it will be their amazing Wrestle Kingdom war.


-Skip the ever-loving shit out of the Tag match between Kingdom and Bullet Club. It's garbage, not least of which for the Maria shit.


-Yano/Tanahashi you CAN skip if you want, but it was some good fun.


-Watch the IC title match, behold Nakamura's based entrance, and shake your head at the marvelous missed opportunity by Hirooki Goto.


-Watch the main event. The best Okada/Styles match, and the best closing stretch in pro wrestling in at least the last year.

[Hero!]

:yes: thanks boys. So much wrestling to watch these days with so little time.

[Defrost]

I'm just gonna echo what these guys said on what to watch and what to skip. I would watch Tanahashi vs Yano though. It was fun and Tanahashi's hair was something to behold.


The best AJ vs Okada match? I'd still put their G1 match from last year ahead of this I think.

[DDT]

I'd have to re-watch to compare, but honestly:

Did Red Shoes tell Bullet Club to suck it before ejecting them from the building? If not, then it auto loses.

[Tainted Eclipse]

it was definitely the best piece of bullet club match shenanigans ever

[Defrost]

So apparently there was a big ninja vs samurai battle at Osaka Castle hundreds of years ago, and with Goto having a samurai gimmick that's why Shinsuke was dressed like a ninja.

[Panther52]

That Sakuraba has this kinda match in him like he had with Nak and MiSu before makes me sad we don't see it more often

Gotta remember he's 45 and his body is tore up to hell from his MMA and Kingdom/UWFi days. Hell he already had one done knee before starting his MMA career.

[Defrost]

I would suck at estimating attendance. This looks like way more than 11,400 to me.

http://i.imgur.com/rHAfcjQ.jpg

[McBain]

Gonna watch this tonight. :D

[Defrost]

What'd you think of it?

[Gibby]

I blimmin' loved it. Here is my quick take.

- Dark match: SKIPPED. Sorry lads.
- 3-way tag. It was that match they have but the crowd were into it and that helps me for whatever reason. 3.5-3.75 range.
- Naito-Honma v BC Losers was pure character development, won't even apply star rating. I hope Naito's CMLL stable rock up in NJPW.
- Shibata-Saku was brilliant, absolutely brilliant, I am more of a fan of this style as of late and they nailed it as best they could for this position on the card. Shibata's best ever outing in terms of selling. He was magnificent. Sakuraba is a god. FOUR STARS.
- KUSHIDA v Kenny was cool, some of the heel routine is a bit zany for me but I like both guys a lot. Seen this given above 4 in places but I was more 3.75 (ie really good on most cards anywhere in the world but in a way that makes it seem jaded bcs New Japan).
- Ishii v Makabe was the other way around, I liked it because I like these guys and when I saw it went 17 min I couldn't believe it, felt like 10. Makabe did whiff some shots though and that wasn't great. 3.75-4 range for me.
- HEAVY TAG: skipped that, life is too fuckin' short.
- Tanahashi v Yano was exactly what it needed to be and I enjoyed the hell out of it. Wanted Yano to revisit the failed skin the cat spot but we can't have everything. Stars don't apply really, it was a good comedy match.
- Nakamura v Goto was better than the initial match, I was deep into this one and spontaneously went wild when Nakamura did that standing axe kick to Goto as he slumped, pure instinct, looked at once brutal and cartoonish. 4 to 4.25 range here, very much enjoyed.
- Okada v AJ was really good and once they got rid of the sideshow players at ringside settled into a classic. Not a MOTYC like some have said and also not even my favourite between the two (LOVED the G1 encounter last year, don't care what anyone says) but a worthy main event. 4.25-4.5 range.

Pacing maybe an issue, two joke matches opening the second half off the back of three serious/good hard matches at the close of part one. Minor quibble and I just loved the variety and the feel of the whole thing. More please.

[Defrost]

So I must have been way more tired than I thought watching live. I rewatched AJ vs Okada. Holy fuck that was great.

[McBain]

Closing sequence was spectacular. I still can't get into matches as much without English commentary though. Still, fantastic work by both men. AJ is going to become a legend out there.

[Defrost]

So I must have been way more tired than I thought watching live. I rewatched AJ vs Okada. Holy fuck that was great.

I thought that Goto vs Shinsuke suffered from the same thing. When about half way through I found myself more interested in the menu that had been left out after getting pizza the other night I realized that was more of an issue with the actual match and not my state of sleep deprivation.