BRM Reviews NJPW Dominion 6.21

[Big Red Machine]

NJPW Dominion 6.21 (6/21/2014)- Osaka, Japan

IWGP JR. HEAVYWEIGHT TAG TEAM TITLE MATCH: The Young Bucks(c) vs. Time Splitters- 9.25/10
Amazing false finishes and great action, babyfaces you really to see win and heels you really want to see lose. My runner up for Match of the Year so far.

TETSUYA NAITO vs. TAMA TONGA- 4/10
I liked the last minute or two, but other wise I wasn't into most of this match. It wasn't bad... I really just didn't care one way or the other.

HIROOKI GOTO & KATSUYORI SHIBATA vs. TOMOAKI HONMA & YUJI NAGATA- 6.25/10
Shibata and Goto work over Honma's head (which is a good idea when you consider his propensity for missing falling headbutts), and Honma sold it well, aside from those times when he would no selling a million straight forearms to head. He also kicked out right after three for no real reason.
Shibata and Nagata were brawling in the crowd at the time of the finish, and they kept brawling after the match. The young boys running around following them made no attempt whatsoever to break up the fight.

NWA WORLD TAG TEAM TITLE MATCH: Hiroyoshi Tenzan & Satoshi Kojima(c) vs. K.E.S. (Davey Boy Smith Jr. & Lance Archer) (w/TAKA Michinoku)- 7.25/10
K.E.S. have gotten themselves masks for their entrance. The big mean scary heels beat up the popular babyfaces until the babyfaces make their comeback. Tried and true, and with good workers, it never fails.

IWGP JR. HEAVYWEIGHT TITLE MATCH: Kota Ibushi(c) vs. Ricochet- 8.5/10
I think everyone was pretty surprised when Ricochet won this year’s Best of the Super Juniors Tournament, being that he is not only a gaijin, but a gaijin without a New Japan contract (and one who is pretty recognizable as a star for Dragon Gate), but even after that, there really didn’t seem like there was a chance that he would win here…. until they hit one spot in this match (and if you watch the match, you’ll know exactly which spot I’m talking about the moment it happens), and at that point, Ricochet winning the IWGP Jr. Heavyweight Title went from unlikely to inevitable. After that point, you just get this feeling that it has to happen, and thus you go nuts for every single nearfall.


KAZUSHI SAKURABA & TORU YANO vs. SUZUKI-GUN (Minoru Suzuki & Takashi Iizuka) (w/TAKA Michinoku)- 0.5/10
The match started off with Sakuraba and Suzuki doing mat wrestling for about a minute, which I loved. Then Iizuka and Yano came in and did what they always do: make the match tedious and boring. They did crappy crowd brawling, which forced Suzuki and Sakuraba to do the same. They used weapons in front of the ref with no disqualification and some other bad stuff. Sakuraba and Suzuki got another minute in the ring to wrestle, which I also loved. Then more crap with Yano and Iizuka happened. Then Sakuaraba and Yano, who are supposed to be the babyfaces, took the turnbuckle pad off. They then did a spot where Yano, (again, the babyface) tried to whip Suzuki into the turnbuckle, but Suzuki stopped himself in time... but Yano had already turned around to celebrate like a cliche villain, gloating at the hero's demise without ever checking to make sure that his deathtrap worked. Suzuki just attacked Yano from behind, making Yano (once again: the babyface) look like a total goof. Then they did the same spot AGAIN. Then Yano used a low blow). Then we were supposed to care when Iizuka hit Yano with his stupid rip-of Wolverine claws Halloween costume thing. I wish Iizuka and Yano would face off in a Winner & Loser Leave Town match. The two minutes of Sakuraba vs. Suzuki saved this from being a dud.

AFTERMATH- good.
Suzuki-Gun beat up Sakuraba after the match. Iizuka hit him in the throat with his claw thing and Suzuki hit him with a piledriver.

BULLET CLUB (AJ Styles & Yujiro Takahashi) vs. CHAOS (Kazuchika Okada & Tomohiro Ishii) (w/Gedo)- 6.75/10
Ishii's crappy selling once again ruins a match that could have been much better. Yujiro pinned Ishii, so hopefully this will lead to Ishii losing the NEVER Openweight Title. Okada and Yujiro had almost no interaction, so they are keeping that fresh. I would think they would wanto save it for King of Pro Wrestling 2014 in October, but apparently these two are in the same block of the G1. That seems like waste of a big singles match).

IWGP HEAVYWEIGHT TAG TEAM TITLE MATCH: Karl "Machine Gun" Anderson & Doc Gallows(c) vs. Hiroshi Tanahashi & Togi Makabe- 6.75/10

IWGP INTERCONTINENTAL TITLE MATCH: Shinsuke Nakamura(c) vs. Bad Luck Fale (w/Tama Tonga)- 7/10
Holy f*ck. Fale beat Nakamura, and pretty much cleanly, too. Nakamura even got stretchered out.

There's no way I can call this a bad show, because it wasn't. It was very good... but between having an absolutely amazing opener and the HUGE drop in quality between the IWGP Jr. Heavyweight Title match and the Sakuraba & Iizuka vs. Yano & Suzuki match, the show had this major sense that you were just going downhill.

[cero2k]

IWGP JR. HEAVYWEIGHT TITLE MATCH: Kota Ibushi(c) vs. Ricochet- 8.5/10
I think everyone was pretty surprised when Ricochet won this year’s Best of the Super Juniors Tournament, being that he is not only a gaijin, but a gaijin without a New Japan contract (and one who is pretty recognizable as a star for Dragon Gate)

i was thinking about this in the morning, their main champ is from ROH, their former junior tag ones are from ROH, Ricochet is from DG/DGUSA, they have a working relationship with CMLL and the NWA, and now they just signed a working deal with Jarrett's GFW.

If someone doesn't capitalize on this before, Wrestle Kingdom is gonna be a monster of a show.

[Big Red Machine]

IWGP JR. HEAVYWEIGHT TITLE MATCH: Kota Ibushi(c) vs. Ricochet- 8.5/10
I think everyone was pretty surprised when Ricochet won this year’s Best of the Super Juniors Tournament, being that he is not only a gaijin, but a gaijin without a New Japan contract (and one who is pretty recognizable as a star for Dragon Gate)

i was thinking about this in the morning, their main champ is from ROH, their former junior tag ones are from ROH, Ricochet is from DG/DGUSA, they have a working relationship with CMLL and the NWA, and now they just signed a working deal with Jarrett's GFW.

If someone doesn't capitalize on this before, Wrestle Kingdom is gonna be a monster of a show.

Hate to say it, but I think that AJ and the Bucks are both now NJPW guys who also work for ROH on occasion.

For the sake of helping, though, don't forget that their Jr. Heavyweight Champion is a top star in DDT, and Yuji Nagata is the current GHC Heavyweight Champion.