Masa Kitamiya & Daiki Inaba vs. Yoshiki Inamura & Yasutaka Yano
Whether you perform in the Tokyo Dome or in your uncle’s backyard, mastering the basics is the most important part of wrestling. These reliable undercard warriors reminded us of this universal fact of life by distributing meat and potatoes to the audience. Yasutaka Yano – a small man, had to work extra hard to overcome Masa Kitamiya – a large man. This is wrestling. **1/2
Yuka Sakazaki, Miyu Yamashita, Shoko Nakajima & Rika Tatsumi vs. Mizuki, Maki Ito, Miu Watanabe & Yuki Arai
Full disclosure: my last encounter with the TJPW crew was a whole year ago at Grand Princess ‘22. As an occasional Teej Enjoyer, I was glad to see them knock it out of the park here. They had an optimal showcase match, balancing out their company’s colorful side with compelling wrestling. While the general public (aka. Wrestling Twitter) is becoming increasingly familiar with Maki, Yuka and Yamashita, the match made a strong case for some of the lesser-known TJPW roster members. Shoutout to Watanabe’s always-impressive power spots and Mizuki’s gravity-defying Whirling Candy. Good times! ***1/2
Takashi Sugiura, Satoshi Kojima & Timothy Thatcher vs. Jake Lee, Jack Morris & Anthony Greene
You know you’ve made it as a pro-wrestler if you get a Tokyo Dome pop like the one Kojima got here. As aspiring FUTURE LEGENDS, Good Looking Guys working Japanese wrestling royalty in this mythical venue simply felt right. It was the Jake/Thatcher segment that most piqued my interest – both dudes revealing cracking chemistry on their way to the finish. **3/4
Atsushi Kotoge, YO-HEY, Seiki Yoshioka, Alejandro & Junta Miyawaki vs. Yoshinari Ogawa, Eita, HAYATA, Chris Ridgeway & Daga
With the dark matches out of the way, NOAH officially kicked off this Dome card with their most controversial storytelling device: Stinger Drama. Every day, Japan’s top scientists are hard at work – trying to unravel the mystery behind this junior division’s faction alignment. Will we get any concrete answers in our lifetime? Unlikely. **1/2
Yuki Ueno, MAO, Shunma Katsumata & Toi Kojima vs. Tetsuya Endo, Hideki Okatani, Yuya Koroku & Takeshi Masada
NEPPOWER! In a bold and admirable move, DDT used their Muto Dome slot to showcase their young upstarts. The gamble paid off in a big way – Toi, Okatani, Koroku and Masada looking almost unnaturally comfortable wrestling alongside Sauna Club on such a massive stage. If you’ve been keeping up with the D-Generations Cup, then you know that these lads are ready to cook. The match was low on hijinks and high on quality content, Endo snatching up Dive Of The Night honors with a mind-melting Corkscrew Sasuke Special. A whole lot of fun. ***1/4
Naomichi Marufuji, Hijo De Dr. Wagner Jr. & Ninja Mack vs. Shun Skywalker, KAI & Diamante
This one was slightly hampered by unreasonable expectations and an unfortunate Diamante injury. Did the match still provide three and a quarter stars worth of wrestling? It certainly did. Marufuji/Skywalker were visibly excited to work each other and added some proper character moments to the flippier side of things. Not to diminish the flips, as a lot of them were quite good. Case in point: the Cirque du Soleil double team that Diamante/Shun pulled on Mack. ***1/4
Kento Miyahara, Suwama & Yuma Aoyagi vs. Kenoh, Katsuhiko Nakajima & Manabu Soya
Here we fucking go. Jam-packed with blockbuster moments and juicy fan service, the Team AJPW/Kongo showdown lived up to the hype – both as a wrestling match and as a colossal Piece of Business. From the Kensuke Office drama revival to NOAH fans rediscovering the force of nature known as Suwama – there was a lot going on here.
The elusive Big Fight Feel was palpable from the get go and everyone brought their A-Game in an attempt to leave their mark on a historic card. Miyahara looked right at home in the Dome, oozing charisma and milking every bit of his nebulous history with Katsuhiko Nakajima.
In one of the match’s wildest twists, Kenoh got damn near knocked out by a Suwama slap and somehow made it through the ending stretch in a semi-conscious state. A good indicator of the stiffness level on display here, the accidental KO subplot brought the kind of emotionally-destabilizing thrills that only pro-wrestling can offer.
If they decide to follow this up properly, both All Japan and NOAH have an entire year’s worth of stories to tell. With two suspicious X entrants announced for this year’s Champion Carnival, the next chapter in this saga should reveal itself very soon. ****
NOSAWA Rongai & MAZADA vs. Taiji Ishimori & Gedo
With NOSAWA and Muto both walking into the sunset, the new generation will have to significantly raise their grifting abilities to make up for their absence. The Wrong Guy’s swan song was short and sweet – Ishimori unveiling a deep emotional connection with NOSAWA that I simply was not aware of. Let me catch up on Taiji/NOSAWA lore and I will get back to you. **
Hiromu Takahashi vs. AMAKUSA
No stranger to Tokyo Dome bangers, Hiromu rekindled his excursion bromance with AMAKUSA/Kenbai in epic fashion. The two junior champs packed a hefty amount of content in 11 minutes, dazzling the Dome with high-energy workrate. They designed the match to highlight AMAKUSA’s strengths, Takahashi taking the aggressor/heel role and letting his Euro Trip buddy get most of the shine.
The former Haoh stepped up and worked his ass off here. Bumping all over the place, breaking out TWO all-timer dives and blowing minds with the most technically-impressive rollup trickery of the year. Clearly, the occasion wasn’t lost on NOAH’s pint-sized warrior. The mask melodrama didn’t land 100%, but the match had enough excitement to make up for the slight misfire. ***3/4
Kazuchika Okada vs. Kaito Kiyomiya
Friends and fellow appreciators of the mystical artform known as Japanese wrestling, we are witnessing something special in real time here. The IWGP and GHC champions had the difficult task of following up the hottest angle in years with a match on the biggest possible stage. Not only did they deliver the goods, but Okada and Kaito actually planted seeds that could blossom into an all timer of a wrestling journey.
The Choshu/Maeda reenactment from January awakened something primal in New Japan’s golden boy. Building off the energy of the Kick Heard Around The World, Okada approached this match with peak surgical precision and delivered an enthralling heel masterclass. Everything he did exuded mean-spirited, Jumbo Tsuruta-like surliness. No chinlocks were applied.
Even in full Asshole Mode, Okada remains one of the more nuanced big match wrestlers around. The way he sold for Kaito’s comebacks was extremely revealing and showed a guy more than willing to play ball. We’ve gone from Okada completely dismissing Kiyomiya to him screaming in agony after getting dunked on the floor.
Feeding off Okada’s multi-layered performance, Kaito cranked up the babyface rage and wrestled one of the very best matches of his career. A confident and pissed off Kiyomiya made the absolute best use of his current Muto-ISM phase, weaving in an intricate arm work subplot with expertly-timed Shining Wizardry.
Despite all the controversy and pearl-clutching it caused on social media, the finish perfectly encapsulated this current chapter of the Okada/Kaito story. Unhinged by Kaito’s fighting spirit, the Rainmaker pulled the ultimate dick move and the Dome booed his ass for it. The man is GOTTEN TO. Hyperbole warning: this is shaping up to be Interpromotional Okada/Tanahashi with the roles reversed. Buckle up. ****1/2
Keiji Muto vs. Tetsuya Naito
The greatest strength of the Great Muta retirement match was that it embraced pure spectacle and abandoned all pretensions of a typical Epic Main event. This went very much in the opposite direction and fell in line with the high-profile NOAH Muto matches of recent years. Long, heavy on rest-holds – kind of a chore to get through.
That being said, the Tokyo Dome atmosphere was hard to deny and played a major role in patching some of the weaknesses. Naito wisely worked heel and tried very hard to extract drama from the well-worn Big Match Muto tropes. Kudos to him for elevating every Figure 4 segment into a life-or-death struggle –selling like a man possessed and literally spitting on his childhood hero.
Truth be told, the real (trans) magic happened before and after the actual match. Muto’s career-spanning entrance and the impromptu scrap with Chono will go down in history as the ultimate snapshots of this Tokyo Dome retirement adventure. Thanks for the memories, Muto-san. ***1/2
