Yota Tsuji Wins IWGP Heavyweight Championship, Plus More Title Changes at NJPW Dominion

By Noah Leatherland

NJPW were in Osaka Jo Hall for this year’s Dominion event, with a card stacked full of title matches. The event marked a major shift in the NJPW landscape, as Yota Tsuji reclaimed the IWGP Heavyweight Championship in the main event to cap off a night of title changes.

Tsuji entered Osaka Jo Hall with a brand new theme to play him to the ring. There, he stood across from the youngest IWGP Heavyweight Champion in history, Callum Newman. With Newman being the man that ended Tsuji’s first reign, the hostilities between this men made for an explosive start to the match. The battle saw the competitors battle on the outside and deliver some devastating high-impact moves onto one another.

Tsuji expanded his repertoire in order to defeat Newman. A modified, twisting Gene Blaster added even more impact to Tsuji’s signature offence, and proved to be the move that would finally put Newman away.

Tsuji now begins his second reign as champion, taking back the belt he introduced at New Year Dash earlier this year. Speaking after the match, Tsuji expanded on his new finishing maneuver and his intentions to use it moving forward:

Did you see my new move? It was inspired by ‘Wildfire’—the new entrance theme May J. wrote for me. I came up with it whilst listening to that song. That move is called the ‘Fire Blaster’. I’ll be using it to fight my way through the G1 and the IWGP from now on.

The night opened with the NJPW World TV Title on the line, with Konosuke Takeshita defending the belt against the returning SANADA. The Alpha proved to be just too much for SANADA, despite being re-energized from his time away. A Raging Fire put SANADA away, with Takeshita making a successful title defence, ending up being the only champion to do so at NJPW Dominion.

Holding two belts across his multiple promotions, Takeshita promised to keep on being a fighting champion:

The world’s Takeshita will always be coming back, so all you New Japan Pro-Wrestling fans, please look forward to it. And when I return next time, I’ll be bringing back this AEW International Championship belt that I won from “The Rainmaker” Kazuchika Okada.

Later on, Aaron Wolf sought to take back the NEVER Openweight Championship. The champion, Ren Narita, employed the underhanded tactics that have worked so well for him throughout his reign. Narita attacked Wolf’s leg with a weapon, and when Wolf managed to fight back, the House of Torture ran in to intervene. Wolf luckily had some back-up as Takeshita and Toru Yano ran to the ring, running off Narita’s stablemates. With the odds evened, Wolf managed to defeat Narita, the Angle Slam proving to be the vital blow.

Speaking after the match, Wolf is not content with this win alone, and is looking forward to the G1 Climax:

I think it’s only right to aim for the top when you’re a pro wrestler, and I’d be delighted if the top brass at New Japan Pro-Wrestling watched my match closely and felt confident enough to say, ‘He’s ready to compete.’

The Knockout Brothers put their IWGP Tag Team Titles on the line against the United Empire duo of Great-O-Khan and HENARE. With four heavy hitters, the match proved to be a slugfest.

Ultimately, O-Khan and HENARE emerged as the victors from the hard-hitting contest, putting an end to the Knockout Brothers’ time at the top of the NJPW tag team division. O-Khan and HENARE now hold both the tag belts and the NEVER Openweight Six Man Tag titles.

AEW’s Andrade El Idolo was in Osaka to defend the IWGP Global Heavyweight Championship. The champion was under the gun against two challengers in the shape of Drilla Maloney and Shota Umino. Though the champion risks not being involved in the deciding fall in a three-way bout, that was not the case in this match. The intense, high-octane match ended up coming down to El Idolo and Umino. Umino hoisted El Idolo up and landed the Second Chapter, pinning the champion and claiming the first title of his career.

Umino did not get to celebrate the momentous occasion for long. Gabe Kidd appeared and laid Umino out, setting his sights once again on the white belt. Battered and bruised backstage, Umino addressed his attacker in the post-match comments:

You went to AEW, ditched the Lion Mark—have you actually achieved anything? It’s as if you’re struggling right now because you lack confidence and can’t bring yourself to leave New Japan. Do you really love New Japan that much? … Even the first IWGP title I ever won has been dragged through the mud like this—I’m absolutely disgusted!

(Quotes translated via DeepL)

Next, the IWGP Jr. Heavyweight Championship was on the line. Fresh off winning the NJPW Best of the Super Juniors Tournament, YOH stepped up to challenge DOUKI. Once again, the House of Torture reared their head as SHO looked in interfere. Even NJPW President Hiroshi Tanahashi wasn’t safe from their brutish tactics.

YOH managed to overcome the odds, landing a DIRECT DRIVE to put DOUKI away and claim the junior title. With six reigns as junior tag champion, this marks YOH’s first reign as the IWGP Jr. Heavyweight Champion. After such a close BOSJ tournament, it was inevitable that multiple men would be gunning for the belt next. After the bout, SHO, Kosei Fujita, Francesco Akira and Master Wato all appeared, eyeing up the title belt.

With Dominion in the books, the rest of the month will see NJPW talent gear up for Fantastica Mania in Mexico, and then Forbidden Door in California. Then, July brings the G1 Climax.

Here are the full results for NJPW Dominion, courtesy of purolove.com:

• NJPW World TV Title: Konosuke Takeshita (c) def. SANADA (8:24)
• No DQ Match: Jake Lee def. El Phantasmo (9:40)
• Yuya Uemura & Taichi def. Zack Sabre Jr. & Ryohei Oiwa (13:15)
• El Desperado def. Mistico (9:33)
• NEVER Openweight Title: Aaron Wolf def. Ren Narita (c) (9:24)
• IWGP Tag Team Title: Great-O-Khan & HENARE def. Yuto-Ice & OSKAR (c) (21:30)
• IWGP Global Heavyweight Title: Shota Umino def. Andrade El Idolo (c) & Drilla Moloney (14:20)
• IWGP Jr. Heavyweight Title: YOH def. DOUKI (c) (17:57)
• IWGP Heavyweight Title: Yota Tsuji def. Callum Newman (c) (24:32)