The last stop on the road to AEW x NJPW Forbidden Door is one of the biggest New Japan shows of the year in NJPW Dominion 2022. Once against New Japan put on an excellent show (with some questionable booking decisions) en route to the huge super show on June 26th 2022.
Championships changed hands, friendships were made and destroyed and faction warfare was at it’s best when NJPW rolled into Osaka-Jo Hall.
Six Championships were on the line in this event, with an extra AEW Championship eliminator match to round out a star studded event. Hiroshi Tanahashi took of Hikoori Goto for a shot at the AEW Championship later this month, while the main event saw Kazuchika Okada defend his IWGP World Heavyweight Championship against master grappler Jay White.
In other matches, Will Ospreay took on SANADA for the vacant IWGP United States Championship after Juice Robinson was forced to vacate the belt due to injury. Meanwhile, Bad Luck Fale and Chase Owens defend the IWGP Heavyweight Tag titles against Great-O-Khan and Jeff Cobb and Karl Anderson challenges Tama Tonga for his NEVER Openweight Championship.
It is a star-studded card which look set to garner some huge match ratings for NJPW Dominion 2022. The main event looks like it could have even got that coveted 5 star match rating, which is an uncommon Dominion match rating in recent years.
Here are the results of the event and the NJPW Dominion 2022 match ratings and star rating. The match ratings are taken from Cagematch.net whilst the star ratings are decided by Dave Meltzer of the Wrestling Observer.
NJPW Dominion 2022 Star Ratings
TJP, Francesco Akira, and Aaron Henare vs. Ryusuke Taguchi, Master Wato, and Hiroyoshi Tenzan
The opening match for NJPW Dominion was a bit of a nothing match. It featured some lower card wrestlers who failed to overly impress and didn’t really stake their claim to being higher up on the card.
TJP, Akira and Henare (all part of the United Empire faction, led by Will Ospreay) picked up the win after Henare then locked Tenzan in a full Nelson and forced him to top out from the submission.
Match Rating – 5.75
Star Rating –
Tetsuya Naito, BUSHI, and Hiromu Takahashi vs. El Phantasmo, Ace Austin, and Taiji Ishimori
In the second match of the night faction warfare reigned as Bullet Club took on Los Ingobernables de Japon. However, the match was rather disappointing, with no stakes on the line and very little reason to care about the bout.
It felt entirely like a filler match to increase the pay per view time and could easily have a been a match on a “road to” show on the tour. In the end, El Phantasmo pinned BUSHI to win the match for Bullet Club and give Naito another loss on pay per view, a far cry from his huge title win just before the pandemic took over and derailed his push.
Match Rating – 6.20
Star Rating –
Toru Yano vs. Doc Gallows
Toru Yano can be a really fun wrestler. He can’t help but cheat to win, using every ounce of his strength to pull out single trick up his sleeve to beat his opponent. He never wants to win by wrestling, just bambooziling his opponent and using trickery to win the match.
Doc Gallows is not a good wrestler. So this wrestling match was no very good. At all. In fact, it was awful. So, so bad. Yano rolled up Gallows after many shenanigans and a low blow, putting an end to the worst match on the show.
Not a good start for the show, with the first three matches getting very low NJPW Dominion 2022 star ratings.
Match Rating – N/A
Star Rating –
NEVER Openweight Six Man: EVIL, SHO, and Yujiro Takahashi (c) vs Zack Sabre Jr, Yoshinobu Kanemaru, and El Desperado
“Wow, a House of Torture match, I wonder what this is going to be like” said nobody ever. You’ve seen them a million times. Endless interference, lots of cheating, and Dick Togo making it all about himself.
The group retained their titles in a by-the-numbers match after endless outside interference and cheating ended with SHO dropping Kanemaru with shock arrow after a Dick Togo boot and pinning him for the win.
House of Torture retained their titles, in another match that will not get a high match rating at Dominion. So far, not a great show but hopefully the second half of the show will be a lot better.
Match Rating – 5.38
Star Rating –
IWGP Tag Team: Chase Owens and Bad Luck Fale (c) vs. Jeff Cobb and Great-O-Khan
In the tag team title match of the night, Bullet Club defeated United Empire in a match that FWOnline described as “fine”.
This match was nothing special and neither teams are noted as being the best in their field. It was booked really to build up to Cobb and O-Khan vs. FTR at Forbidden Door and is unlike to get a high star rating for NJPW
Match Rating – 5.78
Star Rating –
Provisional KOPW trophy: Shingo Takagi (c) vs. Taichi
An original match type NJPW have come up with recently is actually one of the more fun ones in recent years. The King of Pro Wrestling trophy is fought under special rules where pinfall does not equal victory.
Instead, the cumulative pinfalls are counted towards your score, with the winner getting the highest score. You may get the three count over your opponent, but if they get you for two twice then you’re out of luck.
It’s a fun match you need to go out your way for, as it features two of NJPW’s best wrestlers. Former IWGP Heavyweight Champion Shingo Tagaki defeated Taichi in the entertaining match, winning 11-10 in a close fought contest.
Match Rating – 7.61
Star Rating –
NEVER Openweight: Tama Tonga (c) vs. Karl Anderson
Karl Anderson defeated Tama Tonga to become the new NEVER Openweight Champion, in a match that started out great but soon become another dull match that this card will be infamous for.
After interference from Doc Gallows (who tasted defeated earlier that night), Anderson hit a Stun Gun on Tonga and pinned him for the win. It will be another low match rating for Dominion 2022 and expect a low star rating from Dave Meltzer for a lot of this show.
Match Rating – 6.30
Star Rating –
AEW Eliminator Tournament – Hiroshi Tanahashi vs Hirooki Goto
Hiroshi Tanahashi picked up the win at Dominion 2022 and earned himself a shot at Jon Moxley at Forbidden Door. The pair will face off to become the interim AEW Champion, after CM Punk’s injury forced AEW to make a decision with the title.
Punk will not be vacating the title, instead AEW will crown an interim champion in the meantime. Once CM Punk is back from injury, the two champions will face off and titles will be unified in a match later down the line.
It looks like that match will be CM Punk vs Hiroshi Tanahashi or CM Punk vs Jon Moxley. Tanahashi defeated Goto in a decent match that didn’t pull out all the stops but was fun to watch and definitely to take a look at. The Ace of the Universe predictable won as he does all big matches with the High Fly Flow in a low-pressure affair that will get a good Dominion star rating when all is said and done
Match Rating – 7.12
Star Rating –
IWGP United States: Juice Robinson (c) vs. SANADA vs. Will Ospreay
After an incredible four way match at NJPW Capital Collision, Juice Robinson defended his newly won IWGP US Title against former IWGP Heavyweight Champion Will Ospreay, and NJPW stalwart SANADA.
However, sadly before the match Juice Robinson was forced to vacate his championship due to injury, and the match was changed to a singles match between Ospreay and SANADA.
In a fast paced match that you would expect from a Will Ospreay match, the pair worked at a lightning pace to get the crowd off their feat and excited for this match.
In the lead up to Forbidden Door and Will Ospreay’s match against an AEW star, he showed that he is one of the best wrestlers in the world. Ospreay hit a pair of hidden blades and a Storm Breaker to win the previously vacant IWGP United States Championship, setting up a match against former champion Juice Robinson some place down the line.
Match Rating – 8.32
Star Rating –
IWGP World Heavyweight: Kazuchika Okada (c) vs. Jay White
The most anticipated match on the card is the world title bout between two of the world’s greatest wrestlers. Eternal IWGP Heavyweight Champion Kazuchika Okada, who looks set to face Adam Page at Forbidden Door, had the task of defending against Kiwi grappler Jay White. White is a technical genius who has counters for his opponents counters, and can beat anyone in the world on his day.
The match was, as expected, fantastic. Jay White controlled the match as you expected, slowly dissecting the champion as he tried to take him down and win back the championship. The match built up slowly, with the occasional flurry of offence by Okada shut down by White, who looked like a top star in this bout.
He solidified himself as one of the best wrestlers in the world during this match. At the end of an incredible sequence of reversals, White dodges a rainmaker to hit his own bladerunner to pin Okada and start his second IWGP Heavyweight Championship reign, in a match that was the best at the show.
On Cagematch, the match given a rating of ___. It was one of the matches of the year and one you will need to rewatch again and again it was so good. It is the highest rated Dominion match and made the whole show worthwhile. For me, a five star match rating.
Match Ratings – 8.94
Star Ratings –