Kevin’s Random Reviews: NJPW Dominion 2012

NJPW Dominion 2012
June 16th, 2012 | Osaka Prefectural Gymnasium in Osaka, Japan | Attendance: 6,850

I haven’t seen a ton of New Japan from 2012. This is only the second show I’ve seen from that year and it has the same main event as the other. Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. Kazuchika Okada, just four months after Okada shocked the world and ended Tanahashi’s 404 day reign as champion. I must point out that NJPW World is missing the second match from the show, which saw Rocky Romero, Tomohiro Ishii and YOSHI-HASHI best Captain New Japan, Wataru Inoue and Yuji Nagata.

Daisuke Sasaki, Kenny Omega and Kota Ibushi def. BUSHI, KUSHIDA and Prince Devitt in 10:48
Wow. Talk about a match featuring future stars. Ibushi and Devitt started to a pop. They’d be the Tokyo Dome Jr. Title match in a year and a half. They had a fine exchange before tagging out. Sasaki worked KUSHIDA before Omega and BUSHI went at it. There was a great spot where Sasaki, Ibushi and Omega did triple dives outside, though the camera only caught Ibushi’s. Devitt and Omega had a fun battle of future Bullet Club leaders. Devitt had a dive cut off but fought through it and nailed stereo dives with KUSHIDA. Everyone started getting offense in and BUSHI got a near fall on a super Spanish fly. He countered the Golden Star powerbomb into a code type move but Ibushi hit it on the second attempt to win. Great choice to open. Didn’t go too long and featured a bunch of action from some great performers. ***½

IWGP Jr. Heavyweight Tag Team Championship: Jushin Thunder Liger and Tiger Mask IV def. Taichi and TAKA Michinoku in 9:26
The titles are vacant here. Liger was dressed in all white, which looks odd. Taichi seemed obsessed with Liger’s mask, going after it several times while the legend took the heat. Liger got worked over with all sorts of classic heel tactics and a steel hair outside. Taichi broke Liger’s horns, placed one on his crotch and jerked it off. I kid you not. He finally ripped most of Liger’s mask only to get hit with the red mist, which got a huge pop. Liger set up a table in the corner and tried to drive a spike into Taichi, who moved and it went right through the table. WHAT IS THIS MATCH? He powerbombed Taichi through the table and then Tiger Mask used a flurry of offense on TAKA, ending with a tiger suplex to win. I appreciated how different this was from most Jr. Tag Title matches. The hardcore aspect and intensity down the stretch was cool, while the heel work from Taichi and TAKA was good. ***

MVP and Shelton Benjamin def. Karl Anderson and Tama Tonga in 10:19
This was the post-Bad Intentions but pre-Bullet Club phase of Anderson’s NJPW run. He worked singles and would make the finals of the G1 Climax in a few months. MVP started with Anderson before we got Benjamin and Tonga. The crowd only gave Anderson a legit reaction though. MVP and Shelton ran through some WWE stuff like MVP’s corner boot followed by a stinger splash. MVP even did the BALLIN elbow. Anderson got a hot tag and did well but made the mistake of tagging back out. The shitty Jimmy Snuka cosplayer didn’t do well. Shelton finally got a pop when he jumped to the top for a belly to belly and pinned Tonga with Paydirt. Nothing special here. The crowd was the quietest it had been all night. Benjamin looked good and you could tell Anderson was getting over. **½

IWGP Jr. Heavyweight Championship: Low Ki (c) def. Ryusuke Taguchi in 12:32
It looks like this is before Taguchi became a comedy act. He came out hot, overwhelming Low Ki. Ki turned it around and Taguchi’s knee became the target. It got stuck in a tree of woe, Ki attacked it on the guardrail and worked a submission. Ki’s leg work was good and vicious at times. Taguchi kept having his comebacks cut off but then he surprised many by kicking out of the Ki Krusher. Taguchi fired up and the crowd believed the title would change hands. At least it felt like it. Ki had a great counter, turning a Dodon attempt into the Warrior’s Way double stomp. After surviving a Sharpshooter, Taguchi fought Ki up top. He got stuck in the tree of woe and Ki hit Warrior’s Way to retain. A good match with some smart limb work. They got the crowd into it as Taguchi played a strong underdog. ***¼

After the match, Kota Ibushi showed up and challenged Low Ki for the title in English. Ki accepted in Japanese to a huge pop.

IWGP Tag Team Championship: Takashi Iizuka and Toru Yano (c) def. TenKoji via disqualification in 14:07
The champs were their usual wild selves and jumped commentators before the bell. TenKoji followed, leading to a brawl outside. Within minutes, the referee threw the match out as a double countout. Yano was happy about that, until they decided to restart the match. This just led to more brawling, though at least some it occurred in the ring. It finally calmed down into a standard tag match, with Tenzan getting worked over by the champ. Tenzan fired up and made the hot tag to Kojima. He came in on fire and laid out Yano with the Cozy Cutter but couldn’t cover quickly. Chairs were brought back into play and the referee was knocked into one. He got up in time to see the teams battling with chairs and threw the match out. I believe he caught Tenzan using one, so they got DQed. The fans hated that decision and so did I. They spent too much on this match, especially for it to end the way it did. Also, despite being a brawl, it lacked the intensity that the Liger match had. **

Masato Tanaka and Shinsuke Nakamura def. IWGP Intercontinental Champion Hirooki Goto and Tetsuya Naito in 13:28
Nakamura and Goto started, reminding me of their rivalry in 2015. All four men got the chance to work with one another in the opening minutes. I’d say Nakamura vs. Naito was the highlight. Naito got in trouble but found an opening with a flurry of offense, including a tornado DDT on Tanaka while kicking Nakamura. He made the hot tag to Goto, who caused miscommunication by his opponents and wiped out Nakamura with a lariat. As usual with tag matches, the pace picked up down the stretch. Naito shined here with his high flying offense. He hit a German but Nakamura broke up the count. He had the Stardust Press cut off and ate a seated lariat but kicked out. Naito countered a second and his rollup was broken by Boma Ye to the back of the head! Tanaka put him down for good with a sliding elbow. It started a bit slow but got strong down the stretch. Some of the interactions were great and I liked the teamwork in the finish. Naito sold the Boma Ye like it concussed him. ***¾

Togi Makabe def. Minoru Suzuki in 16:21
They began by trading vicious strikes. You got the impression they hate each other. Like Low Ki earlier, Suzuki goes after his opponent’s knee. When he locks in a submission, he twists the leg in ways it shouldn’t bend. Makabe rallied, complete with his trademark yelling, but Suzuki stayed on the offensive. E lit him up with kicks to the chest and applied the sleeper. Makabe blocked the Gotch piledriver before hitting a lariat. He missed the King Kong knee drop and again got placed in the leg submission. The crowd cheered him on and he refused to quit. He reached the ropes, continuing his fight. A corner lariat sent Suzuki into the turnbuckle and shortly after, they fought up top. Makabe knocked him off and hit two King Kong knees, with the first coming while Suzuki was kneeling. It was enough for the win. Something about Makabe matches just never click with me. I wasn’t a fan of him using the knee so much after it was worked on extensively. I enjoyed the hard hitting aspects though. **¾

IWGP Heavyweight Championship: Hiroshi Tanahashi def. Kazuchika Okada (c) in 28:06 
Though Okada was new to the main event scene, there was a big fight feel here. I love all their matches except one (Wrestle Kingdom 10) but this was my first watch of this particular one. Tanahashi controlled the early stages with mat work and took it to Okada’s knee. Okada sold it well, nearly falling while being sent into the corner. He shook it off enough to dropkick Tanahashi to the outside. Once there, possibly out of desperation, Okada used the guardrail to work Tanahashi’s neck. Okada continued to focus on the neck and hit a few more dropkicks. I was okay with him not selling the leg too much since Tanahashi didn’t get the chance to work it a ton to this point. Tanahashi’s comeback saw him fire off strikes and then hit High Fly Flow to a standing Okada outside. He was in his domain now, ripping off dragon screws on the middle rope. Okada frantically reached the ropes to prevent a submission and took over for a bit. After the big elbow, Tanahashi countered the Rainmaker into slingblade. Tana’s cloverleaf spot brought the crowd to their feet but Okada reached the ropes. He called for the Rainmaker this time but ended up with a straightjacket suplex before Okada avoided High Fly Flow. Red Shoes is beyond overdramatic at this point. Tanahashi hit High Fly Flow to Okada’s back but turned him over for a second and Okada got his knees up. This led to a fantastic series of reversals including a tombstone battle won by Tanahashi. He again countered the Rainmaker into the slingblade and hit High Fly Flow to regain the title. Tremendous match and one of their best. Great reversals and overall wrestling with some awesome small details sprinkled in throughout. I realize that I prefer their matches in these venues more than their Tokyo Dome stuff. ****½

7.5

The final score: review Good

The 411

I wanted to like this show more. Dominion tends to be a big event that usually delivers. For the most part, this is a good show but nothing blows you away until the end. Hell, the best match to me up to that point was the six man tag opener. The rest of the card produces good matches throughout and the only thing I didn’t enjoy much was the Tag Team Title stuff. Some stuff underwhelmed (mainly Makabe/Suzuki) but I enjoyed a lot of it (Jr. Title, two Tag Team Title matches and the Nakamura & Tanaka/Naito & Goto tag). Seriously though, the show is strong but if you can only watch one thing, make sure it’s Tanahashi/Okada