In my opinion, Cody Rhodes and Michael Elgin had one of the best matches on the Dominion card. It was a showcase where both men displayed some amazing power moves (Cody’s delayed suplex on Elgin) and surprising aerial attacks (Elgin springboard onto Cody) which you would not expect from their physical stature. I support “Big Mike” but it was nice to see Cody get a clean victory after reversing Elgin’s deadlift suplex into a Cross Rhodes. 1-2-3. Great match. Post-match, Cody issues warnings to both ROH World Champion Christopher Daniels and IWGP Heavyweight Champion Kazuchika Okada, letting them know that he is coming after their crowns. 2017 could be the year Cody finally gets the chance to fulfil his wrestling destiny.
Kazuchika Okada vs Tetsuya Naito, for IWGP Heavyweight and Intercontinental title combining match at Night 2 of Wrestle Kingdom 14. Right start for 2020!!!
I am truly in awe of how good he is at pissing me off by doing literally nothing wrong. He’s in a league of his own. And he’s only going to get better…!
Kazuchika Okada vs. Jay White - Okada is seeking his 5th successful defense of the IWGP world championship. On May 1, White and Bullet Club attacked Okada and issued the challenge for this match. The winner here will likely respond to Adam Page, who challenged Okada for the title at Forbidden Door, an AEW-NJPW co-promotion in Chicago on June 26.
These two have a vicious history. After White rebuffed Kenny Omega’s offer to join Bullet Club in January 2018, he was recruited into CHAOS by Okada. From day one Jay made it clear he was only out for himself. He finally proved it eight months later, when he turned on Okada alongside Okada’s hype man Gedo. After Bullet Club turned on Omega and the Elite, White took over as the new leader and Okada’s personal nemesis. White has had Okada’s number ever since.
In singles matches, White is 3-1 against Okada, and even in tag matches White has a considerable advantage. Okada has only handed his ex-protege a single significant setback, but it’s a big one. In April 2019 Okada defeated Jay in the main event at Madison Square Garden for the IWGP heavyweight title (the forerunner to today’s world title). Naturally, White glosses over that loss when he crows about “singlehandedly” selling out that show.
The pandemic has helped keep these two apart, with White being largely absent from Japan during March-September 2020 and May 2021-May 2022. In the past year Okada has scored big wins over EVIL, Hiroshi Tanahashi, Kota Ibushi, Shingo Takagi, Will Ospreay, Zack Sabre Jr., and Tetsuya Naito. So Jay is the biggest challenge he has left. It’s easy to imagine a title change happening so White can swoop in and shake up the main event scene with fresh matchups.
The one thing going for Okada is that he’s Okada. He was the final boss of New Japan long before Roman Reigns made it cool in WWE. He’s not unbeatable, but nearly every time you think it’s time for him to lose, he just wins anyway. I gave up betting against him a long time ago. So I’m picking him to retain. And if I’m right, Hangman Page had better pack a lunch for Chicago.
SANADA vs. Will Ospreay - This was originally booked to be a three-way with Juice Robinson defending the IWGP United States title, despite reports that Juice suffered appendicitis on June 3. On June 9 Robinson did a promo refusing to do the match and claiming he’s scheduled an appendectomy, so New Japan stripped him of the title. This is weird, whether the appendicitis thing is real or not–NJPW essentially advertised a three-way they must have known wasn’t going to happen.
This championship has been snakebit for months now. Sanada and Ospreay last met in the New Japan Cup on March 17, in a match that had to be stopped when Sanada suffered an orbital bone fracture. The injury forced Sanada to vacate the US title on April 9. Ospreay was set to face Hiroshi Tanahashi for the belt on May 1, but Will was sidelined with COVID-19, so Tana beat Tomohiro Ishii to become the new champion. On May 18 Juice beat Tana, Ospreay, and Jon Moxley in a four-way to capture the title. Shortly thereafter, Ospreay was sidelined again with a kidney infection. So by the time Sanada returned on June 3 to issue a challenge to get his belt back, it wasn’t immediately clear that he’d have anyone to challenge.
Ospreay returned to the ring earlier this week to make his AEW debut, so it looks like he’s none the worse from that kidney problem. Assuming both guys are healthy, this should be a good-to-great match. Either guy would make sense as champion, so it’s tough to pick a winner. I suppose I’m leaning slightly toward Sanada reclaiming his belt.
Tama Tonga vs. Karl Anderson - Tonga won the NEVER openweight title on May 1, and was immediately attacked by Anderson, so now Anderson gets a title shot. Both men were founding members of Bullet Club when the group was created in 2013. However, in February 2022 Jay White betrayed Tama and Tanga Loa to welcome Anderson and Doc Gallows back into the fold.
This feels like a crucial match for Tonga. He’s been higher on the card before, but being third for the top as a defending singles champion is a big step up. A loss will probably knock him back where he was, further down the midcard. I’m pulling for Tama, but Bullet Club is dominating most of the championships in New Japan right now, so it would make a lot of sense for Anderson to pick up this one.
Shingo Takagi vs. Taichi - Shingo won the KOPW 2022 trophy from Taichi on April 25, so this is the rematch. KOPW matches always have wacky stipulations, so in this one pinfall counts are cumulative–the count in each pin attempt is added together, and whoever has the highest total after ten minutes is the winner. It sounds kind of stupid to me, but the April 25 match was similar (first man to 30 wins) and was surprisingly well received.
For most of its existence the KOPW title has been an excuse for Toru Yano to do wacky matches in the undercard. When Taichi captured the trophy things started to feel more serious, but a big part of that is the fact Taichi immediately offered a title shot to Shingo. With all due respect to Taichi, keeping the trophy on Takagi will make it mean more. Then again, for all I know New Japan doesn’t want it to mean more, and would rather keep it at Taichi’s level for a while. So this one’s pretty tough to call. I’ll be rooting for Shingo, though.
Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. Hirooki Goto - The winner of this match will face Jon Moxley on June 26 in Chicago, to determine an interim AEW men’s world champion. The official titleholder, CM Punk, was originally scheduled to face Tanahashi on June 26. But Punk is sidelined with a foot injury. Whoever wins the interim title should eventually get a unification match with Punk down the line. So Tana may still get his chance to beat Punk to become the undisputed AEW world champion, but now there are a few more hoops to jump through.
In one-on-one matches, Tanahashi is 11-2-1 against Goto. But that’s a series stretching back to their Young Lion days in 2004. In the past four years, they’re 1-1. So although Tana has had a far more prestigious career, you can argue that he’s slowed down enough that Goto has caught up to him. All the same, Goto doesn’t have the star power to headline Forbidden Door, so there’s very little chance he’s going to win this one. I think these two can make us believe Goto could win for a few minutes, but he definitely won’t win.
Bad Luck Fale & Chase Owens vs. Great-O-Khan & Jeff Cobb - Fale and Owens won the IWGP heavyweight tag team title from Khan and Cobb in a three-way on May 1, so this is the rematch. Cobb and Khan already have a feud with FTR and Roppongi Vice brewing for Forbidden Door, so I would expect them to win this match. Unless they’re going to add Fale and Chase to that feud and book a four-way, in which case anything might happen. I think this show is bound to have at least one AEW run-in, and this match is probably the easiest place to do it.
EVIL & SHO & Yujiro Takahashi vs. Zack Sabre Jr. & Yoshinobu Kanemaru & El Desperado - Evil’s team is defending the NEVER trios title, after Sabre and Kanemaru each scored wins over Sho during the last tour. It’s vaguely interesting that they’re pitting Evil’s House of Torture (a subgroup within Bullet Club) against Suzuki-gun, since both factions are defined by their sadism. I’d rather see them beat up each other than the other factions, I suppose. But we’ll see if this really lasts. I want Sabre’s team to win, so I expect Evil’s team to go over to frustrate me.
Doc Gallows vs. Toru Yano - Gallows is normally Karl Anderson’s partner, so he doesn’t have much to do right now while Anderson is chasing Tama Tonga for a singles title. (Tama’s partner Tanga Loa is out with an injury, it seems.) So I guess he’s looking to beat up Yano, but Yano isn’t a pushover just because he’s a comedy guy. I expect Gallows to win, but Yano should keep him on his toes for at least a few minutes.
Taiji Ishimori & Ace Austin & El Phantasmo vs. Hiromu Takahashi & Tetsuya Naito & BUSHI - Ishimori is the IWGP junior heavyweight champion, and Hiromu just won the Best of the Super Jr. tournament. Normally that would mean Ishimori vs. Hiromu for the title on this show, but for some reason the match was booked on June 21 instead. So for Dominionwe just get a glorified preview match. All right, I guess.
The other big storyline here is that Austin has joined Bullet Club, turning on Alex Zayne in the process. But that issue will be addressed over in Impact Wrestling, so I don’t expect much will come of it in this match.
Takahahsi should probably get the win here.
Ryusuke Taguchi & Master Wato & Hiroyoshi Tenzan vs. TJP & Franceso Akira & Aaron Henare - This is a preview of Wato/Taguchi vs. TJP/Akira on June 20, for the IWGP junior heavyweight tag team title. Not much else to this. I think we’re getting a title change, so I’m expecting Wato to get pinned here.
What’s gonna happen ** if ** Jay wins the IWGP Heavyweight Championship from Okada - is it still gonna be Okada vs Hangman but non title? Is it gonna be Jay vs Hangman?
Or Jay vs Hangman vs Okada?
Page made it pretty clear that he was challenging the IWGP world champion, whether it’s Okada or White. “And I want Okada” seemed to mean that he wanted Okada to be the champion, not that he wants Okada more than the title.
My guess is we’ll know for sure on June 12. The winner of Okada-White will almost certainly respond to Hangman’s challenge. If Jay wins I suppose he might be a dick and refuse to face Page. But if that happens they’ll probably do an angle to set up a match of some sort.
