Pantoja’s Wrestle Dynasty 2025 Review

AEW x CMLL x NJPW Wrestle Dynasty

January 5^th, 2025 | Tokyo Dome in Tokyo, Japan | Attendance: 16,300

This review was a bit delayed as I had some plans over the past two days that pushed it back.

International Women’s Cup: Athena vs. Momo Watanabe vs. Persephone vs. Willow Nightingale

The winner gets a shot at the women’s title in one of these promotions which is funny given Athena is the champion in hers. The only one here who I’m not familiar with is Persephone. Thekla was out with Momo. Athena’s endless ROH Title reign is like the “if a tree falls in a forest” thing because nobody seems to be watching/caring about ROH and most of it has gone unnoticed. There was action in this one from the opening bell with everyone getting a chance to shine. I liked the Willow/Momo interaction and would love a singles match between them. Persephone impressed with some of her offense, including a tornillo to the outside right after a plancha from Athena. The Momo/Athena standoff was given a moment to shine and felt like the most important bit of the match. Athena chokeslamming Persephone on the apron was one of the match’s better spots. Athena had this won with the O-Face but Thekla pulled the referee out. Momo then hit Athena with a bat and beat her with Peach Sunrise in 11:13. That was fun! Surprised Athena at the fall though. [***½]

ROH Tag Team Championship: Dustin Rhodes and Sammy Guevara [c] vs. SHO and Yoshinobu Kanemaru

Man, who put this on the card? Yikes. Did they only do this because Sammy would be in Japan with Tay? Dustin is still good but the House of Torture is awful and Sammy is hilariously miscast as a babyface. They went out there and had a basic, generic tag. The heels worked over Sammy until Dustin got the mild tag. He did his thing, as has been the case for decades. Dustin got to earn a pin in the Tokyo Dome after Sammy hit a Swanton in 9:27. That was a match that happened. [*]

Lucha Gauntlet: El Desperado vs. Hechicero vs. Kosei Fujita vs. Mascara Dorada vs. Master Wato vs. Soberano Jr. vs. Taiji Ishimori vs. Titán

This follows Casino Gauntlet rules. Hechicero and new Jr. Tag Champ Kosei Fujita started this. The match kind of went exactly as you’d expect. They kept the action up, gave us some wild and fast paced exchanges, and kept things moving at a great pace. Master Wato came out and I kind of forgot he existed. Dorada had a dope lucha spot in the corner that was super smooth. El Desperado was the final man in and the rest of the competitors stopped to stare him down because he holds the title they all want. He fought hard but they really all went after him. It was cool to see Despy get to work given his match got cut short by injury yesterday. Of course, everyone went after each other once it was time to try and pin Desperado. That said, Ishimori was able to sneak in from Fujita and steal this with a pinning combination on Desperado in 16:23. A good, fast paced match. [***]

Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. Katsuyori Shibata

I’m not someone who is nearly as nostalgic for the New Japan I started watching in the mid-2010s as other folks but this warms my heart. Shibata and Tanahashi had some special matches during that time (and a bit of personal history). This was an exhibition and was just designed to give them a chance to lock up again. They went out there and traded chops and had a fun little back and forth right up to the 5:00 bell. I can’t really rate this since it was an exhibition for emotional purposes more than anything else. It’s good to see Shibata back in New Japan though. [NR]

NJPW Strong Women’s & RevPro Women’s Championships: Mercedes Moné [c] vs. Mina Shirakawa

You could tell early on that this was a first time meeting. A handful of little moments felt awkward as it took a bit for them to learn each other’s timing. They figured it out though. This was very much a Mina Shirakawa match in that she worked the leg, including busting out my personal favorite, the ring post Figure Four. As usual, Mina manages to make a “work the leg” match interesting. I saw some people complain about Mercedes’ selling but I think it was fine. She still hit some notable moves with the bad leg but that was few and far between. When Mercedes started getting her shit in and they were trading stuff, this really got better. Both ladies had close calls down the stretch and the crowd was into it. I didn’t think Mina had a shot but since she is on AEW TV enough, it was plausible which helped add drama. In the end, Mercedes hit a surprisingly decent Moné Maker to win and retain the title after 14:06. A very good match and it feels like a potential rematch should be better. [***¾]

Brody King vs. David Finlay

Really cool to see Brody King getting this kind of opportunity. Japanese audiences would love him. Finlay is coming off of one of his better performances against Yota Tsuji a day ago. What was interesting here was that David’s success this past year came from being a bully heel but there was no way he could bully a guy like Brody. So Brody kicked his ass which he’s deserved for a while. But then David kind of got to return to his roots as an underdog fighting from beneath. And I feel like this was further proof that his best role is as a face. Watching him do whatever he could to overcome Brody was enjoyable. Brody was also a great monster, doing things like splashing him into the guardrail and tossing him around with ease. Finlay managed to come back and win with Overkill in 12:53. A very good match that again shows why David should be a face. He had a good set of shows. [***½]

Claudio Castagnoli vs. Shota Umino

Shota is coming off a miserable performance in the Tokyo Dome main event. Claudio jumped Shoat during his entrance since that’s the kind of thing the Death Riders do. They’re such a generic heel faction. Anyway, that gave Claudio the upper hand and he threw Shota around with relative ease for most of this. Claudio worked as a bully and Shota having to fight from beneath fits the role they have him in. The problem was that the crowd was pretty dead for this. They seem to really not be feeling Shota and you need the audience to be into it for this kind of match to really work. The popup uppercut looked surprisingly weak as he only grazed Shota. Shota survived the Ricola Bomb and then won with the Death Rider at the 14:31 mark. This was fine and considering Shota’s string of big match performances, he needed this to be better. [**½]

AEW International & NEVER Openweight Championships: Konosuke Takeshita [c] vs. Tomohiro Ishii

Takeshita became a double champion 24 hours prior. The NEVER Title is Ishii’s wheelhouse and he reminded everyone of why. It’s nuts that Tony Khan didn’t give him the ROH Title. Takeshita didn’t seem to take him seriously to start, cockily kicking away at the veteran. Ishii obviously showed him that he should be taken seriously with some stiff shots of his own only for Takeshita to hit him with a huge German suplex. Ishii took a beating here and that worked because it makes Takeshita look like even more of a killer and because Ishii is among the best at selling on the planet. As this progressed, they were throwing bigger bombs at each other and having the hard hitting match you want from them. The fact that Takeshita can trade vicious shots with Ishii but then bust out a poison rana is wild. Takeshita retained with Raging Fire after 13:30. I may not have written as much as I do with other matches but this ruled and was basically just what I wanted. [****¼]

IWGP Tag Team Championship: The Great-O-Khan and Jeff Cobb vs. Hiromu Takahashi and Tetsuya Naito vs. The Young Bucks

I was under the impression that this was just O-Khan and his mystery partner against the Bucks. Also, hilarious that the Bucks said “we had bad matches on purpose.” Sure you did. Cobb being something of a mystery partner was weird since he just picked his obvious stablemate. Anyway, this was contested under tornado rules and played right into the strengths of the Young Bucks. In a lot of ways, this felt like a tribute to the Bucks. The match was structured perfectly for them and it was the kind of spotfest they mastered in their prime. Cobb and O-Khan played the bigger, imposing men while the Bucks did their usual spots. Hiromu and Naito were kind of just there. It’s unfortunate but that was the case. The Bucks ultimately won the titles they’ve held before with the Meltzer Driver on O-Khan in 13:46. Nothing about this stood out to me but it was solid all around. [**½]

IWGP Global Heavyweight Championship: Yota Tsuji [c] vs. Jack Perry

At Wrestle Kingdom, I said Finlay trying to be a tough guy bully wasn’t going to work against Yota. They ended up proving me wrong and having a great match. I’ve had similar issues with heel Jack Perry but on a much more egregious level. This was a lot like Claudio/Shota in that it wasn’t bad but it also was never even remotely gripping. They just went out and had a perfectly acceptable wrestling match. Perry did his heel stuff and Yota was able to send his challenge back without much threat. I think it hurt that the outcome here was absurdly obvious. Yota wasn’t going to drop the title a night after getting it, especially to Perry. Perry did get a few decent spots like his basement dropkick and a German suplex but Yota put him down with the Spear in 13:12. The crowd didn’t care and neither did I. [**¼]

Gabe Kidd vs. Kenny Omega

Most of the time, I write these reviews as I watch the matches. Not in this case. I wanted to fully take in the return of Kenny Omega. A guy who I wasn’t too high on when everyone else jumped on the bandwagon but someone who won me over by being a stellar wrestler. AEW and wrestling in general has missed him. This had a big match feel and commentary did well to hype the AEW vs. New Japan thing here. Gabe Kidd hates that Omega used NJPW and left. This was intense from the start and only got taken up a notch when Kenny powerbombed Gabe through a table outside. The crowd was rather split but leaned toward Gabe as he might be a bastard but he’s defending the honor of New Japan. Kenny played into that, doing things like yelling at the Young Lions. Gabe responding with a Brainbuster through a table and then doing the Shibata pose is wild. Chairs were brought into play for some vicious spots but the true highlights were the strikes and kicks. The strikes, V-Trigger, and lariat section, complete with Gabe shouting “FUCK YOU” was special. Then, they made me pop for a goddamn abdominal stretch. Gabe countered the One Winged Angel into it and given Kenny’s diverticulitis and that the move is an Inoki staple, it was absolutely perfect here. Gabe had another few great chances and remained defiant to the end as he ate a V-Trigger and fell to the One Winged Angel after 31:55. That was special. Nuts that Kenny’s two best Tokyo Dome matches came in 2023 and 2025. New Japan needs to make Gabe Kidd a top guy. Him and Yota should be the two to carry this thing for years to come. This is only the third time I’ve given this score out in the Tokyo Dome after Ibushi/Nakamura and Ospreay/Omega. [*****]

IWGP World Heavyweight Championship: Zack Sabre Jr. [c] vs. Ricochet

Good luck following that. Ricochet is in his new heel persona while ZSJ is coming off a bad showing in the main event a night prior. They did have a great match in PWG’s Battle of Los Angeles a decade or so ago (****). Man, I feel old. Ricochet opened with a dive onto ZSJ, attacking early like a true villain. He kept up the attack with more aerial stuff but when things slowed, it was ZSJ tying him up. And that’s how the match went, which was how it should. Ricochet using cheap shots and his ability to fly while ZSJ could ground and slow him with technical acumen. Sabre Jr. locked in several submissions while Ricochet responded with springboard clotheslines and a sweet suplex combination. I think the lack of drama hurt here too as again, nobody believed Ricochet had a chance. The challenger hit Vertigo twice for near falls but made a mistake when he missed the 630. ZSJ pounced with the Zack Driver and then trapped him in a sick double arm submission to retain in 20:57. Much better than Wrestle Kingdom. A clash of styles that worked to produce a strong main event. [***½]

8.0

The final score: review Very Good

The 411

There are matches in there that disappointed or didn’t do much for me (Claudio/Shota, Tag Titles, Yota/Perry) but other than that, this worked. A bunch of good matches, the emotion of Tanahashi/Shibata, five matches at ***1/2+, and that incredible Kenny/Gabe match.