Four titles changed hands at NJPW Dominion in Osaka-jo Hall.
Great-O-Khan started the night of new champions, defeating Yuya Uemura to regain the KOPW 2024 provisional championship, pinning Uemura following a slam. The match had been held under storm catch rules, where there was a two rope break/ring escape limit.
Yota Tsuji won his first championship in NJPW on Sunday, with him, Hiromu Takahashi, and BUSHI defeating Hiroshi Tanahashi, Oleg Boltin, and Toru Yano to become the new NEVER Six-Man Tag Team Champions. Tsuji pinned Tanahashi after hitting the Gene Blast, ending the reign of the champions after 56 days.
Shane Haste and Mikey Nicholls of TMDK ended up leaving Osaka-jo Hall with both the IWGP Tag Team titles and the New Japan Strong Tag Team titles, defeating Bishimon (Hirooki Goto and YOSHI-HASHI) to become double champions. Strong champions Hikuelo and ELP were the first to be eliminated, followed by the IWGP champions Chase Owens and KENTA.
The two other title matches of the night saw Shingo Takagi and Aaron Henare go to a draw for the NEVER Openweight title and Jon Moxley defeat EVIL to retain the IWGP World Heavyweight title.
The stipulation for the upcoming KOPW title defense has been set.
NJPW announced on Sunday that Yuya Uemura will defend the title against Great-O-Khan in a storm catch rules match. Uemura’s stipulation defeated Great-O-Khan’s 61 minute time limit, 2 out of 3 falls stipulation 58.3 percent to 41.7.
According to NJPW, storm catch rules will have a 15 minute time limit. Each competitor has two rope breaks, after which breaking at the ropes or leaving the ring will be a disqualification.
Osaka-jo Hall will host Dominion on Sunday, June 9. The show will stream on NJPW World beginning at 3 a.m. Eastern time. The current card for the event:
Best of the Super Juniors 31 finals: A Block winner vs. B Block winner
IWGP World Heavyweight Champion Jon Moxley defends against EVIL in a lumberjack death match
NEVER Openweight Champion Shingo Takagi defends against HENARE
NJPW World TV Champion Jeff Cobb defends against Tomohiro Ishii
Provisional KOPW 2024 Champion Yuya Uemura defends against Great-O-Khan in a storm catch rules match
IWGP Tag Team & NJPW Strong Tag Team title elimination match: KENTA & Chase Owens vs. El Phantasmo & Hikuleo vs. Hirooki Goto & YOSHI-HASHI vs. Mikey Nicholls & Shane Haste
Rising NJPW star Yuya Uemura has won the first championship of his career.
At Saturday’s Road to Wrestling Dontaku show in Hiroshima, the 29-year-old Uemura defeated Great-O-Khan to claim the provisional KOPW 2024 Championship. It was a Rural Revitalization match with three different stipulations. Uemura won the two-out-of-three falls match 2-1.
It ended with Uemura winning a tables match. They had split the first two sillier stipulations, with Uemura winning a Mazda tire carrying contest and Great-O-Khan winning a Hiroshima lemon eating contest.
Rural Revitalization was a match proposed by Great-O-Khan as he attempted to defend the KOPW title around Japan and at smaller shows while champion. O-Khan had held the title since January.
Following an excursion to the United States, Uemura returned to NJPW last October. He’s a member of Just Five Guys with SANADA, Taichi, DOUKI, and TAKA Michinoku.
The provisional KOPW Championship is defended throughout the year in matches where each wrestler proposes a stipulation. A fan vote is then held to determine which stipulation is chosen.
The wrestler who holds the KOPW title at the end of 2024 will be declared the official champion for this year. A new champion will then be crowned at the start of 2025.
A title match is set to take place on NJPW’s Road to Sakura Genesis tour.
NJPW has announced that Great-O-Khan will defend his KOPW 2024 Championship against Tanga Loa in Hamamatsu on Sunday, March 31. It’s a Road to Sakura Genesis event that will not be airing live on NJPW World.
The stipulation options for the match have not been revealed yet. In KOPW title matches, the competitors each propose a rule set for the match. A fan vote then determines which stipulation the match is held under.
NJPW wrote:
Since winning the championship during the Road to New Beginning, O-Khan has stated loud and proud that he would be taking the title to be defended around the country and not simply at the big tour ending dates. True to his word, this KOPW title match is set for March 31’s Road To live event, and the only way to watch the match as it happens will be in person at the venue. What rules will the competitors choose, and how will the bout play out?
Great-O-Khan has been provisional KOPW Champion since winning the title from Taiji Ishimori this January. Taichi had ended 2023 as the official KOPW Champion for that year.
Loa defeated Great-O-Khan when they faced off in the first round of the New Japan Cup. Loa later challenged Great-O-Khan to this KOPW title bout.
New champions were crowned at Saturday’s NJPW The New Beginning in Nagoya event.
EVIL defeated Tama Tonga in the main event to win the NEVER Openweight Championship in what might have been Tama’s NJPW swan song.
The main event originally ended in a double disqualification after Bullet Club, Guerrillas of Destiny, and Hontai members hit the ring as EVIL and Tama brawled. Tama then insisted that the match be restarted as a lumberjack match with the factions ringside. EVIL then pinned Tama in the restart after interference from Dick Togo and Ren Narita to win the title.
An emotional Tama cut a promo thanking the fans after the match after announcing earlier this month that he would be leaving NJPW at the end of January.
The provisional KOPW 2024 title was also switched on the show, with Great-O-Khan defeating Taiji Ishimori to claim that championship.
In the evening’s other title bout, El Phantasmo & Hikuleo retained the NJPW Strong Openweight Tag Team Championship by defeating KENTA & Chase Owens.
Saturday’s tour opener also featured Kazuchika Okada’s final NJPW match in Nagoya, as the star announced Thursday that he is departing NJPW after three dates next month.
NJPW shot angles for all of its key players at Friday’s New Year Dash show.
Notes from the event:
Jon Moxley —
Shingo Takagi challenged Moxley to a match at next Saturday’s Battle in the Valley pay-per-view in San Jose. Moxley accepted the challenge and proposed a no-DQ match.
Kazuchika Okada & Tomohiro Ishii teamed with AEW’s Moxley & Bryan Danielson in the show’s main event against TMDK’s Zack Sabre Jr., Mikey Nicholls, Shane Haste & Kosei Fujita. TMDK came away with the victory.
Bryan Danielson —
Sabre talked trash to Danielson in his post-match comments, with Danielson responding that Sabre can’t tap him out. Sabre vs. Danielson could be set for as early as Battle in the Valley next Saturday, a show that will be headlined by Okada vs. Will Ospreay as the company announced Friday.
Will Ospreay —
In addition to Ospreay vs. Okada being made official, Ospreay announced that February 11th’s The New Beginning in Osaka will be his “last NJPW match,” agreeing to team with United Empire ‘s TJP, Francesco Akira, HENARE & Jeff Cobb against Bullet Club War Dogs (David Finlay, Alex Coughlin, Gabe Kidd, Clark Connors & Drilla Moloney) in a ten-man tag. Finlay accepted the challenge and announced that the match will be held inside a steel cage.
Matt Riddle —
Matt Riddle appeared on the show in a video promo challenging NJPW World TV Champion and company president Hiroshi Tanahashi to a future match. Tana made his first successful defense of the TV title in the opener against Ryusuke Taguchi.
IWGP World Heavyweight Championship —
SANADA issued a challenge to new champ Tetsuya Naito following a ten-man tag with SANADA’s Just Five Guys defeating Naito’s LIJ. The conclusion to Wrestle Kingdom left you to believe that either SANADA or EVIL would face Naito next.
NEVER Openweight Championship —
EVIL attacked new NEVER Openweight Champion Tama Tonga on the show and cut Tonga’s hair, which would appear to set a program between the two over the NEVER title in motion and keep EVIL out of the World title picture for the moment.
NEVER Openweight Six-Man Tag Team title challenge —
The main event also led to Fujita, Nicholls & Haste challenging Okada, Ishii, and Hiroshi Tanahashi for the NEVER Openweight Six-Man Tag Team titles at a later date.
IWGP Junior Heavyweight Championship —
Yoshinobu Kanemaru was involved in House of Torture’s attack on Tonga and Junior champ El Desperado, with Kanemaru posing with Desperado’s title belt to establish himself as the next challenger.
IWGP Tag Team Championship —
New title holders El Phantasmo & Hikuleo were attacked after their match as Chase Owens laid out ELP with a piledriver and challenging the new champs to a title match with KENTA as his partner.
KOPW —
The first KOPW 2024 Champion was crowned after Taiji Ishimori scored the final pinfall in a four-way with a ten-minute time limit.
Young Blood sendoff —
Phantasmo & Hikuleo defeated Young Blood (Oskar Leube & Yuto Nakashima) in Young Blood’s final outing before they will be sent away on their international excursion.
The four-way match to determine the first KOPW 2024 Champion is set for Friday’s New Year Dash event.
Great-O-Khan, YOH, Taiji Ishimori, and Toru Yano were the final four participants in this year’s Ranbo battle royal that kicked off Wrestle Kingdom 18. Chase Owens was the final participant eliminated. As a result, The four will now advance to a four-way match to determine the first KOPW Champion of 2024 at Friday’s New Japan Dash show at Sumida City Gymnasium.
Two surprise entrants during the battle royal included Fujita Jr. Hayato and Takashi Iizuka, who retired back in 2019. Iizuka played a part towards the end of the match where he turned on Taichi, biting his forehead before both were eliminated. Taichi had been the champion at the end of 2023, defeating Yoshinobu Kanemaru in a whiskey on a poll match to become the official KOPW Champion of 2023.
Most of the card for New Year Dash usually isn’t announced until the start of the show. Last year’s main event had Kazuchika Okada and Kenny Omega defeat Aaron Henare and Jeff Cobb.
NJPW has revealed the full card for Wrestle Kingdom 18.
Two more matches have been added to the card. A special tag match will see Shota Umino and Kaito Kiyomiya of Pro Wrestling NOAH take on EVIL and Ren Narita. Earlier this month, Narita turned on Umino and aligned himself with the House of Torture stable. EVIL and the rest of House of Torture recently appeared at a Pro Wrestling NOAH event targeting Kiyomiya.
In addition to the new tag match, the annual New Japan Rambo has been confirmed. The final four in the timed battle royal will move on to New Year Dash the following night in a four-way match where the winner will become the first holder of the KOPW Championship belt in 2024.
Here’s the updated card for Wrestle Kingdom 18:
IWGP World Heavyweight Champion SANADA defends against Tetsuya Naito
Kazuchika Okada vs. Bryan Danielson
Three-way match: Will Ospreay vs. Jon Moxley vs. David Finlay to determine the inaugural IWGP Global Heavyweight Champion
IWGP Junior Heavyweight Champion Hiromu Takahashi defends against El Desperado
NJPW World Television Champion Zack Sabre Jr. defends against Hiroshi Tanahashi
NEVER Openweight Champion Shingo Takagi defends against Tama Tonga
IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Champions Clark Connors & Drilla Moloney defend against TJP & Francesco Akira
Winner-takes-all Tag Team title match: IWGP Tag Team Champions Hirooki Goto & YOSHI-HASHI vs. NJPW Strong Openweight Tag Team Champions Hikuleo & El Phantasmo
Yuya Uemura vs. Yota Tsuji
Kaito Kiyomiya & Shota Umino vs. Ren Narita & EVIL
New Japan Rambo – final four advance to New Year’s Dash for KOPW 2024 belt
