This Sunday is Father's Day but it's also NJPW Dominion 2025, New Japan's second-biggest show of the year behind WrestleKingdom. I guess technically third-biggest now that Forbidden Door exists, but that's a co-promoted show. Anyway, this lineup looks quite solid, so let's get to it!
Bullet Club War Dogs vs. House of Torture
This is the BCWD B-team vs. three of Evil's lieutenants plus a TBA. No idea who that'll be. But since the War Dogs won the big match to determine who gets the Bullet Club name, I'll go with HoT to get some payback.
Pick: House of Torture
Shota Umino & El Phantasmo vs. Zack Sabre Jr. & Ryohei Oiwa
Very odd that Shota and ZSJ are this low on the card in some rando tag match. Should be a good one though if it gets time.
Pick: My gut says Team Zack
Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. Yuya Uemura
This should be solid. Tanahashi's retirement tour has produced way better work than John Cena's that's for goddamn sure. I would say Uemura SHOULD win this since Tana's on his way out, but you never know....
Pick: Uemura
IWGP Jr. Tag Championship: Yoh & Master Wato vs. Sho & Yoshinobu Kanemaru
Still waiting for this company to merge the two sets of tag belts since they barely have enough teams for ONE division, and the Jr. Tag belts have been pretty absent on PPVs this year. Yoh and Wato just won these belts at the end of April so I guess they keep them?
Pick: Champs retain
IWGP Tag Team Championship: Great-O-Khan & Callum Newman vs. Tomohiro Ishii & Taichi
This should be fine. I don't see Ishii and Taichi winning the titles here, seems more of a "let's solidify Callum as a champion" kinda situation.
Pick: Champs retain
NEVER Openweight Championship: Konosuke Takeshita vs. Boltin Oleg
Alright now we're talkin'. This should be fantastic. Two big dudes beating the crap out of each other. Takeshita is almost always the MVP of whatever NJPW show he's on and he could be here too.
Pick: Takeshita retains
Dog Collar Match: David Finlay vs. Evil
I was ready to groan over this one but since it's a Dog Collar Match it could actually be good. There needs to be plenty of crimson though. The two faction leaders will battle in barbaric fashion for all the chips. I think Finlay has to win this, right?
Pick: Finlay
IWGP Global Championship: Yota Tsuji vs. Gabe Kidd
This one could also steal the show. It's also the toughest one for me to pick a winner for. Kidd is a hot rising star but Tsuji could probably benefit from keeping this title longer, unless he's finally being groomed for the big belt. They could also trade this back and forth for several months to build up both guys.
Pick: I guess I'll be bold and pick Kidd to finally win singles gold
IWGP World Championship: Hirooki Goto vs. Shingo Takagi
Another great match on paper, these two always deliver when they meet up. I don't see Shingo winning the belt back at this point and I'm still not sure who will eventually dethrone Goto. But this should be an excellent main event.
Pick: Goto retains
So not the most star-studded Dominion they've ever put together, but this does have something of a big card feel. Dominion used to be an automatic PPV of the Year contender, and this could get there at least for NJPW.
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