Pantoja’s NJPW Dominion 2025 Review

NJPW Dominion

June 15^th, 2025 | Osaka-jō Hall in Osaka, Japan | Attendance: 6,525

Alright, so I’m back to covering wrestling and let’s see if New Japan can deliver. They’ve really struggled to gain any kind of momentum pretty much since 2019.

Chase Owens, Clark Connors, Drilla Moloney and Taiji Ishimori vs. Don Fale, Ren Narita, SANADA, and Yujiro Takahashi

So the House of Torture had a mystery partner revealed to be Don Fale, formerly known as Bad Luck Fale. SANADA was out in a Giant Gonzalez looking bodysuit. So, that’s a choice. At least he changed into regular gear for the match. Chase Owens was sad that his old partner had now joined his rivals. This match was just what you’d expect, which was kind of a slog. While Taiji, Clark, and Drilla are usually pretty good, they didn’t bring much to this and it was a lot of the same old, same old from the House of Torture. I haven’t watch New Japan in a while but I see that not much has changed. In the end, SANADA went to use his guitar as a weapon and was stopped by Chase Owens only for him to use the guitar on his own on Drilla. SANADA covered for the win in 6:44. So the awful House of Truth adds Don Fale and Chase Owens. They’re somehow worse now. [*]

El Phantasmo and Shota Umino vs. Ryohei Oiwa and Zack Sabre Jr.

Four good wrestlers here so this should be a notable step up from that bad opener. Indeed, it featured smooth wrestling and good back and forth. It wasn’t the kind of match you’ll remember after it ends but it was good throughout and that’s what we need after the start of the show. I think Shota stood out here. To say he’s been hit or miss in his singles run would be an understatement but here, he was on. There was an added level of viciousness to his offense and he looked like he was out to prove something. I love the way Ryohei has adapted a lot from ZSJ while remaining a little powerhouse in his own right. It’s a great blend. They also showed off some good tandem moves that could help this pitiful tag division if they became a legit team. The closing stretch between ZSJ and Shooter was better than their WK match in totality and ZSJ won with the European Clutch in 11:23. That was good wrestling. [***]

Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. Yuya Uemura

I’m still not ready for my Ace to retire. I know he’s broken down but still. This one is intriguing because more than Shota ever was, Yuya feels more like he could be a spiritual successor to Tanahashi. He’s a fiery babyface, has a similar look, and could develop nicely into a top guy. There’s not much in the way of talent in this company but Kidd, Yota, Yuya, Boltin, and Ryohei stand out. In a lot of ways, this was a mirror match with the two playing well off each other and Yuya doing some classic Tanahashi bits, including going for a High Fly Flow and missing. He landed on his previously injured arm, adding another layer to the match’s story but they didn’t do too much with it. The two had a strike exchange before Yuya applied an armbar, only for Tanahashi to turn it into a pin and steal this in 9:30. My Ace still got it and Yuya should be in for a BIG G1. [***¼]

IWGP Jr. Heavyweight Tag Team Championship: Master Wato and YOH [c] vs. SHO and Yoshinobu Kanemaru

Yoshinobu Kanemaru came out with his arm in a sling and the House of Torture announced another new member to replace him. It was the returning DOUKI. What garbage. His injury at WK was a sad one and he should’ve returned as a big babyface to help lead the division going forward. Instead, he’s in this terrible stable. Kanemaru wasn’t actually hurt, of course, and interfered throughout. They had a bad House of Torture match capped by DOUKI hitting Wato with a pipe to win the titles in 10:52. Just absolute trash. I can’t believe people are STILL defending Gedo as a booker. I knew he wasn’t good back in like, 2017, but it’s beyond laughable how bad he is now. [DUD]

IWGP Tag Team Championship: Callum Newman and The Great-O-Khan [c] vs. Taichi and Tomohiro Ishii

Okay, I fuck with Taichi and Ishii as a duo. Also, no House of Torture here. As expected, we got something solid here. I think O-Khan and Newman are a solid team especially since I haven’t been overly impressed with singles Newman. Taichi and Ishii played the roles of the hard hitting veterans very well and I’d love to see them as a more consistent team. I know that’s asking a lot of a company that hates tag team wrestling but still. Taichi kind of led the way here, getting in a lot of good offense while also doing a strong job of selling. The closing minutes were strong and there were a lot of near falls though they didn’t overdo it with things like finisher kickouts, keeping things rather balanced. In the end, Newman saw his Oscutter interrupted (please drop the Will cosplay stuff) and then he fell to Black Mephisto in 12:46. That was the best thing on the show so far. [***½]

Time for our G1 35 announcements!

A Block: Hirooki Goto, Boltin Oleg, Yuya Uemura, Yota Tsuji, David Finlay, EVIL, SANADA, and Hiroshi Tanahashi.

B Block: El Phantasmo, Shingo Takagi, Shota Umino, Zack Sabre Jr., The Great-O-Khan, Gabe Kidd, Ren Narita, and Konosuke Takeshita.

There will be two more entrants on each side, determined by play-in matches. Not bad. If they’re smart, it comes down to Yota vs. Kidd or Takeshita. But it’s Gedo, so my money is on Finlay vs. Shota.

NEVER Openweight Championship: Konosuke Takeshita [c] vs. Boltin Oleg

These two had a hell of a match at the New Beginning in Osaka (****¼) and I’m hoping for more of the same here. I love Takeshita for bringing back the spirit of the NEVER Openweight Title. Just two dudes beating the hell out of each other for 12-15 minutes. It is so my shit. We were less than a minute in and Takeshita hit a tope con hilo. Yeah, it was that kind of match. A lot of this was Takeshita trying to overcome Boltin’s power. The challenger hit the Boltin Shake and the Verdict at different times, leaving Takeshita breathless. Takeshita also struggled when applying a Boston Crab. Of course, that also meant that whatever Boltin threw at Takeshita never seemed to be enough. The closing stretch saw them trading big blows before Boltin hit a pair of Kamikazes to win the title in 13:12. Just what I want from the division. I prefer their first match by a bit though. Huge win for Boltin and now Takeshita can enter the G1 as a legitimate favorite. [****]

Dog Collar Death Match: David Finlay vs. EVIL

This show is actually not bad when it isn’t run down by the House of Torture. So it’s time for some House of Torture. I saw someone online call them the worst stable in history and I kind of agree. Even other awful factions have at least had short runs. This has been several years and it has never been good. Anyway, this was another in a line of awful matches from the group. At the very least this could’ve been a heated, intense match with some violence. Even if it was riddled with interference, you can still make that enjoyable. Instead, this was slow, plodding, and boring. We got a bit of blood but nothing major. Fale put Finaly through a table and then EVIL beat him with the Darkness Scorpion or whatever it’s called. This somehow lasted 23:05 and bored me to tears. Why didn’t the cage match end this? Why must this go on? Can someone name me ANYONE who has benefitted from the House of Torture as a stable at all? [DUD]

IWGP Global Heavyweight Championship: Yota Tsuji [c] vs. Gabe Kidd

The two guys who have the potential to save New Japan. Their last match was a classic (****¾). I love the idea of these two just waging a war but this was something different. It got off to something of a slow start and something was just missing that was there back in February. Kidd kind of whiffed on a senton and the crowd was pretty flat for most of what they did. That sucks because these guys typically have a ton of energy from the crowd to work with. I do think it was interesting to see Gabe utilize the big swing and the Paradigm Shift here. I don’t like the Death Riders but Gabe’s connection to them being showcased here was something to notice. That middle stretch was otherwise lacking something. As is often the case for big matches in New Japan though, they picked things up late and the fans were back into it. In the end, Kidd countered the Gene Blast, turning it into the Paradigm Shift, and then won with a piledriver after 23:25. Nowhere near what they did the first time around. It was still really good but was very disappointing. The right move would be Yota beating Kidd back in the G1 Finals, hopefully in something closer to their first outing. Again though, this was strong. [***¾]

IWGP World Heavyweight Championship: Hirooki Goto [c] vs. Shingo Takagi

This is my kind of New Japan main event. Two hard hitting dudes who just go out there and have good ass matches consistently. Shingo is one of those guys who New Japan should be leaning on more given the state of the roster because the crowd loves him, he’s legitimately great, and he’s a former IWGP Champion you can just slot in there at any moment. Alas, they’ve mostly done nothing with him. Anyway, he delivered again in a big spot. He and Goto are guys from the NEVER Title cloth and they did just that here. Shingo had control early, really forcing Goto to try and combat his high impact offense. Goto weathered the storm and hit a nasty looking GTR on the outside. That marked a turning point for the match as things really picked up from there. The back and forth was great and when Shingo kicked out of the GTR, it made for an awesome moment. That forced Goto to really dig down deep and he busted out a GTR/Rainmaker combo of sorts to ultimately retain in 28:25. An awesome main event that was only really brought down by a lack of drama since nobody bought Shingo as a winner. Still, Goto having the best world title reign of anyone in 2025 is not something I had on my bingo card but I do like it. [****¼]

5.0

The final score: review Not So Good

The 411

This is a weird one because the highs on the show are strong but the lows are horribly low. They’re also the kind of lows that really make you feel hopeless about the company. DOUKI in House of Torture? The House of Torture just existing? Matches so bad that they flatten the crowd ahead of your two most interesting wrestlers going at it in a highly anticipated rematch? Yikes.