Posts Tagged ‘NJPW Dominion’

Jon Moxley Challenged By EVIL To A Lumberjack Match At NJPW: Dominion 6.9

Earlier this month, New Japan Pro Wrestling officially announced that AEW star and current IWGP World Heavyweight Champion Jon Moxley would face EVIL on June 9th at the historic Osaka-jo Hall in Japan. EVIL, the leader of the Bullet Club sub-group “The House of Torture,” has now demanded that their match be a Lumberjack Match, adding an extra challenge to the already anticipated showdown.

During an Interview with New Japan Pro Wrestling, EVIL declared that he is the rightful IWGP Champion and that a Lumberjack Match would ensure that Moxley would have “no escape.”

“Since this low life mud show ‘wrestler’ wants to run away from any kind of a fair fight under IWGP rules then I have something for him. June 9 in Osaka Jo Hall, a Lumberjack Match for the title. That way he has no escape…

He can talk about “gang warfare” all he wants, but all he has in his gang of reprobates is that waste of space, Umino, right? When he’s trapped in the ring with no way out around him, he’ll see his future is as bleak as that fake title he carries around.

If he wants to bring his snot-nosed brat with him, he can, and we’ll make sure both understand what justice looks like. June 9 in Osaka Jo Hall, I’ll crush you in a Lumberjack Match. Don’t you forget it!” – EVIL

(h/t New Japan Pro Wrestling)

The match type is one that EVIL is very familiar with; in January, he defeated Tama Tonga for the NEVER Openweight Championship in the aforementioned match stipulation. One can assume he’s hoping for the same results at Dominion. EVIL’s clash with Jon Moxley was made official shortly following his attack on Moxley At NJPW Resurgence. 

While this is the first time Moxley and EVIL will square off one-on-one, it isn’t the first time they have shared a ring. Recently, the two faced off as part of a 6 man-tag-team match at Night 1 of NJPW Wrestling Dontaku 2024.


Jon Moxley has been nearly unstoppable since winning the IWGP Heavyweight Championship.

Since dethroning Tetsuya Naito at Windy City Riot to win his first IWGP Heavyweight Championship, Jon Moxley has been on a solid run in both NJPW and AEW. Moxley has already defended the championship three times since winning it in April, defeating Powerhouse Hobbs, Ren Narita, and Shota Umino. 

Jox Monley was supposed to defend the championship against Takeshita at AEW Double or Nothing. However, it was later reported that NJPW vetoed the match being for the title. 

AEW Double or Nothing Match Card (Photo Credit: All Elite Wrestling)

The report from The Wrestling Observer noted that the Japanese promotion likely did not want to announce another title match ahead of Moxley’s bout against EVIL at Dominion. The match was later made into an “Eliminator Match,” meaning that Takeshita could have received a championship match at a future date if he had won.

Moxley faced off against Rocky Romero in a match with the same stipulation on the latest episode of AEW Dynamite. 

 

Results: NJPW Dominion 2020

Following the events of yesterday’s New Japan Cup Final, New Japan Pro-Wrestling has been shaken up by the betrayal of EVIL, turning his back on Los Ingobernables de Japon and joining Bullet Club after his victory over Kazuchika Okada to win the New Japan Cup. Today, he challenges Tetsuya Naito in the main event for Naito’s IWGP Heavyweight and IWGP Intercontinental Championships.

Watch exclusively on NJPW World with Japanese commentary.
English commentary will be recorded and uploaded to NJPW World this week.
Note: This event will have a reduced attendance capacity to comply with social distancing regulations. Also, the live audience was instructed not to cheer loudly to reduce exhalation of potentially contagious aerosols.

NJPW Dominion 2020 Results

Yuji Nagata, Satoshi Kojima & Ryusuke Taguchi def. Togi Makabe, Tomoaki Honma & Gabriel Kidd (9:25)
The audience only reacting by applause is still somewhat jarring, but the crowd is making the most of it. There was an extended bit of Kojima and Honma trading Machine Gun chops in which the crowd clapped in time with every single chop. Their hands are going to be sore by the end of the night. These matches do get repetitive, but when a young lion’s in there it’s always satisfying to see the process of their development.
Finish: Yuji Nagata over Gabriel Kidd by submission (Nagata Lock II)

Los Ingobernables de Japon (Hiromu Takahashi, BUSHI & SANADA) def. Tomohiro Ishii, Toru Yano & Yota Tsuji (10:15)
The story of this match was more how Los Ingobernables de Japon were processing EVIL’s betrayal yesterday. None of them looked particularly happy to be there. and SANADA and BUSHI weren’t carrying the NEVER Openweight 6-Man Tag Team Championships that they were holding with EVIL. Hiromu Takahashi’s hair was frayed like he’d been up all night and his wrist tape had “Why?” written on it over and over again.
Finish: Hiromu Takahashi over Yota Tsuji by submission (Boston crab)

Suzuki-gun (El Desperado, Yoshinobu Kanemaru & DOUKI) def. Master Wato, Hiroyoshi Tenzan & Yuya Uemura
Master Wato’s strikes are a little loose, but he wrestles with a good energy about him and he’s very young so I don’t view it as particularly problematic. He got over as a young lion for being an underdog who you could really feel for, so his lack of dominance can be forgiven, but Hiroyoshi Tenzan being the one to draw sympathy by being beaten up by all three members of Suzuki-gun seemed misplaced.
Finish: El Desperado over Yuya Uemura by pinfall (Pinche Loco)

Bullet Club (Taiji Ishimori & Yujiro Takahashi) def. CHAOS (Kazuchika Okada & Hirooki Goto)
Okada threw his big coat at Yujiro as he entered, incensed by Yujiro’s intereference in the New Japan Cup yesterday, and he kept trying to go after Yujiro. This isn’t the first time Yujiro interfered to Okada’s detriment in a big match, so Okada’s bone to pick was evident. After a while, Gedo came out and hit Okada in the back with a spanner while Goto was the legal man, and this gave Ishimori and Yujiro the opportunity to team up on Goto for the victory.
Finish: Yujiro Takahashi over Hirooki Goto by pinfall (Pimp Juice)

After the match, Okada was able to shake Gedo off to attack Yujiro some more, but Yujiro planted him with a Pimp Juice of his own. As he said in an interview yesterday, he wasn’t on Okada’s level, but he could pull Okada down to his own level.

NEVER Openweight Championship Match: Shingo Takagi (c) def. SHO
We’ve seen a lot of this match over the last month, with SHO defeating Shingo for the first time in the first round of the New Japan Cup, and them coming to blows ever since. SHO has continued to carry himself more and more like Shingo’s equal despite Shingo’s advantage in experience and size. It goes without saying that these two hit each other hard and threw each other hard, but they brought it into a new gear in this match, just potatoing each other in a way that pleased my hindbrain very much. SHO looked to have Shingo on the ropes and lifted him for the Shock Arrow, but Shingo sprawled and lifted SHO for a Made in Japan that gave him a near fall. He hit a Pumping Bomber, but SHO kicked out immediately, even before the one count. SHO attacked with a cross-arm piledriver for a near fall. From that point, he kept going for a cross armbreaker, but Shingo used his strength to keep getting out of it. SHO finally hit a straight punch, followed by a GTW and the Last of the Dragon for the win. Shingo Takagi defends the NEVER Openweight Championship.

As Shingo celebrated on the ramp, El Desperado came from behind the curtain and punched him in the face, then hit Shingo with his own belt. He yelled that Shingo would be accepting this challenge no matter what.

IWGP Tag Team Championship Match: Dangerous Tekkers (Taichi & Zack Sabre Jr.) def. Golden Ace (Hiroshi Tanahashi & Kota Ibushi) (c)
Even Zack Sabre Jr., who is considered a relatively noble wrestler by Suzuki-gun’s standards, couldn’t help but stoop down to Taichi’s level. The two of them took turns beating down Tanahashi while keeping him separate from Ibushi. Zack bit off more than he could chew and Tanahashi got out of his abdominal stretch and whipped him with a reverse Dragon screw. He reached Ibushi for the hot tag, who unleashed hot fire on his enemies. Ibushi was on the verge of winning, but Zack came in and put him in a guillotine, which he was nearly disqualified for. Ibushi landed a LOUD high kick that dropped Taichi to the mat, then tagged in Tanahashi as Taichi tagged in Zack. Tanahashi hit a sling blade for a near fall when Taichi came in to break up the pin. Tanahashi hit another sling blade and a high fly flow, but Zack got his knees up. With Taichi holding Tanahashi in place, Zack hit repeated dragonscrews on both of Tanahashi’s legs. Taichi hit a high kick on Tanahashi as Zack planted him with the Zack driver for the victory. Dangerous Tekkers (Taichi & Zack Sabre Jr.) are the new IWGP Tag Team Champions.

IWGP Heavyweight & IWGP Intercontinental Championships Match: EVIL def. Tetsuya Naito (c)
EVIL entered with new music and a new look about him, like a cross between a Roman gladiator and a dominatrix. Every member of Bullet Club in the country accompanied him to the ring, but the referee refused to start the match with them present. EVIL rolled in and out of the ring as the match began, but the angered Naito ran straight after him. EVIL took the early edge, and with Naito laying, EVIL took Milano Collection AT’s EVIL toy scythe and broke it in half, then threw it at him. Incensed, Milano jumped the barricade and tried to fight EVIL, but EVIL whipped him into the guardrail, knocking him out of commission. EVIL continued to batter Naito, destroying his knee to nullify his speed advantage. He had pulled out a table earlier in the match and he lifted Naito and gave him a sickening knee drop straight through the table on the outside, which also gave Naito a big cut on his back. He grinned (evilly, as you might imagine) at Naito, then floored him with a running lariat and Darkness Falls for a two-count. Naito took back the momentum with a turning rope-assisted DDT and the Gloria for a near fall of his own. He lifted EVIL to the top rope to hit a super hurricanrana, then a running DDT for yet another count of two. Naito went for the Destino again, but EVIL blocked it and pushed him into the referee, giving Bullet Club the opportunity to interfere. Hiromu Takahashi ran out and took on Jado and Taiji Ishimori by himself. Although they were apprehended, EVIL had grabbed a steel chair amidst the chaos and slammed it right over Naito’s head, popping the seat off. He looked to capitalize, but Naito blocked the EVIL finish and went for the Destino only for EVIL to hit a mule kick while pushing the referee down. BUSHI came out and lifted Naito to his feet, only to attack him. EVIL stomped Naito in the groin and hit the EVIL for the three count. EVIL is the new IWGP Heavyweight and IWGP Intercontinental Champion.

BUSHI, who had helped EVIL win the match, took his mask off to reveal he wasn’t BUSHI, but Dick Togo, a freelance wrestler who has been in NJPW before. Hiromu Takahashi came out and, to avenge Naito’s loss, wanted to challenge EVIL for his newly won championships. If not both, either one would be fine, he noted. EVIL brushed him off and left Hiromu going ballistic in the ring.

NJPW Announce Marquee Matches for Dominion, New Japan Cup Final

Following the New Japan Cup 2020 Semifinals which took place yesterday, New Japan Pro-Wrestling has revealed matches to take place on their next major events. The New Japan Cup winner will be crowned at the tournament final on July 11th. The next day, Dominion 2020 in Osaka-jo Hall, traditionally one of NJPW’s biggest events of the year, will take place. Notably, these two events will be the first NJPW events since late February to take place in front of a live audience, albeit with reduced capacities to accommodate social distancing between attendees.

These events will be streamed live on NJPW World.

New Japan Cup 2020 Final (July 11)

  • Great Bash Heel (Togi Makabe & Tomoaki Honma) vs. Yota Tsuji & Yuya Uemura
  • TenKoji (Satoshi Kojima & Hiroyoshi Tenzan) vs. Hirooki Goto & Gabriel Kidd
  • Master Wato vs. DOUKI (Master Wato’s return match)
  • Los Ingobernables de Japon (SANADA & BUSHI) vs. Bullet Club (Taiji Ishimori & Yujiro Takahashi)
  • Hiroshi Tanahashi, Kota Ibushi, Yuji Nagata & Ryusuke Taguchi vs. Suzuki-gun (Taichi, Zack Sabre Jr., Minoru Suzuki & El Desperado)
  • CHAOS (SHO, Tomohiro Ishii & Toru Yano) vs. Los Ingobernables de Japon (Tetsuya Naito, Shingo Takagi & Hiromu Takahashi)
  • New Japan Cup 2020 Final Match: Kazuchika Okada vs. EVIL

Dominion 2020 in Osaka-jo Hall (July 12)

  • IWGP Tag Team Championship Match: Golden Ace (Hiroshi Tanahashi & Kota Ibushi) (c) vs. Dangerous Tekkers (Taichi & Zack Sabre Jr.)
  • NEVER Openweight Championship Match: Shingo Takagi (c) vs. SHO
  • IWGP Heavyweight & IWGP Intercontinental Championship Match: Tetsuya Naito (c) vs. New Japan Cup 2020 Winner
  • Between 4 and 6 remaining matches will be announced after the New Japan Cup Final

NJPW Annnounces First Events Post-COVID19 State of Emergency

On May 25th, the Japanese government lifted the nationwide state of emergency caused by the coronavirus pandemic. New Japan Pro-Wrestling has announced their plans to return to conducting live wrestling events over the next month. To ensure minimal risk of virus propagation, NJPW has been conducting antibody testing on wrestlers, crew, trainers, and other live event staff, and preparation of venues has begun.

The last NJPW event took place on February 26th in Okinawa, Japan. New Japan Pro-Wrestling’s first live event following the end of Japan’s COVID-19 state of emergency will be an empty arena event on June 15th, called the NJPW Together Special. In all, eleven events have been scheduled, including a rescheduled New Japan Cup and Dominion.

The New Japan Cup participants have changed to accommodate international travel restrictions caused by the pandemic. The majority of participants who live overseas have been replaced. As such, the 32-man New Japan Cup, usually a heavyweights-only tournament, now includes a number of NJPW’s junior heavyweight wrestlers. Also, it has been announced that, as previously, Tetsuya Naito will defend both his IWGP Heavyweight and IWGP Intercontinental championships against the winner of the New Japan Cup.

All events will be streamed live on NJPW World. NJPW has also announced that their Summer Struggle 2020 tour, originally scheduled to take place from July 11 to July 19, has been cancelled.

NJPW Event Schedule

  • June 15: NJPW Together Project Special
    • Matches unknown
  • June 16: New Japan Cup 2020 First Round (empty arena)
    • Togi Makabe vs. Yota Tsuji
    • Tomohiro Ishii vs. El Desperado
    • Toru Yano vs. Jado
    • Tomoaki Honma vs. Hiromu Takahashi
    • Unknown “special match”
  • June 17: New Japan Cup 2020 First Round (empty arena)
    • Kazuchika Okada vs. Gedo
    • Yuji Nagata vs. Minoru Suzuki
    • Yuya Uemura vs. Yoshinobu Kanemaru
    • Gabriel Kidd vs. Taiji Ishimori
    • Unknown “special match”
  • June 22: New Japan Cup 2020 First Round (empty arena)
    • Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. Taichi
    • Kota Ibushi vs. Zack Sabre Jr.
    • Ryusuke Taguchi vs. SANADA
    • SHO vs. Shingo Takagi
    • Unknown “special match”
  • June 23: New Japan Cup 2020 First Round (empty arena)
    • Hiroyoshi Tenzan vs. YOSHI-HASHI
    • YOH vs. BUSHI
    • Satoshi Kojima vs. EVIL
    • Hirooki Goto vs. Yujiro Takahashi
    • Unknown “special match”
  • June 24: New Japan Cup 2020 Second Round (empty arena)
    • Four New Japan Cup second round matches
    • Unknown “special match”
  • July 1: New Japan Cup 2020 Second Round (empty arena)
    • Four New Japan Cup second round matches
    • Unknown “special match”
  • July 2: New Japan Cup 2020 Quarterfinals (empty arena)
    • Four New Japan Cup quarterfinal matches
    • Unknown “special match”
  • July 3: New Japan Cup 2020 Semifinals (empty arena)
    • Two New Japan Cup semifinal matches
    • Two unknown “special matches”
  • July 11: New Japan Cup 2020 Final (Osaka-jo Hall, Osaka, one third capacity attendees)
    • New Japan Cup 2020 Final match
  • July 12: Dominion (Osaka-jo Hall, Osaka, one third capacity attendees)
    • IWGP Heavyweight and IWGP Intercontinental Championships Match: Tetsuya Naito © vs. New Japan Cup 2020 Winner

Watch NJPW’s announcement video with English subtitles.