NJPW Dominion 2021 Matches: Ranked

After Wrestle Kingdom, Dominion is the second biggest show on New Japan Pro Wrestling’s calendar. However, going into this show, there was a lot on the line with a new IWGP World Heavyweight needing to be crowned after Will Ospreay had to relinquish his title. Also, with so much uncertainty due to the pandemic, many fans were grateful that Dominion could even go ahead.

Yet, it did successfully and featuring all the most-loved athletes in the company. With a mixture of tag, singles and title bouts, here are all the matches during the show ranked!

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5. CHAOS & Hontai v Bullet Club

As expected, the opening match for the Dominion card was a huge multi-man tag match featuring the members of Bullet Club, CHAOS and Hontai. In reality, this was never going to be the best wrestling match by a stretch and instead served to introduce new storylines for after the show.

Yet, many thought it had more substance than most New Japan opening matches. With the return of El Phantasmo, it felt like Bullet Club had some of its charisma back detracting from the likes of EVIL, Yujiro and Dick Togo. It was also a great chance for fans to see their favourite in Tanahashi.

The main essence of this match was the mixture of Jr and Heavyweight wrestlers involved. From the strength of Ishii and Goto, the athleticism of SHO and Ishimori and the showmanship of ELP and Tanahashi, it had a bit of everything.

After the 11-minute mark, Taiji Ishimori managed to pin SHO with a Bloody Cross. With that win, ELP and Ishimori cemented their right to an IWGP Jr tag title match. However, for some reason, EVIL, Yujiro and Togo saw it as their opportunity to challenge for the NEVER 6-Man titles. It will be an interesting set of storylines to watch going forward.

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4. Suzuki Gun v Los Ingobernables de Japon

On the surface, this match didn’t seem to have any cohesion to it. After beating G.O.D for the titles, the team of Zack Sabre Jr and TAICHI had a rare match acting as the babyfaces. However, to put them against the crowd favourites in Los Ingobernables de Japon seemed to revert all that progress. However, it was a match that proved that these teams have great potential to produce perfect matches.

Throughout the match, all of the wrestlers involved got to show their own personalities. TAICHI quickly got frustrated with Naito trying to strangle him. Naito continued to poke the Suzuki Gun team with his taunts and the juniors showcased their skills.

In particular, the action between ZSJ is something that will never get old. Whenever the two of them get into the ring with each other, it feels like an intricate dance consisting of complicated choreography. Their final exchange of reversals and roll-ups led SANADA to pin ZSJ with a beautiful Aussie Suplex.

With SANADA pinning Zack, the duo has now got a claim to the IWGP tag titles. Although the duo has teamed as a faction, it will be the first time SANADA and Naito will go for titles together. Yet, not only will it be a fresh team for the division, but a new set of opponents to bring something out of Dangerous Tekkers.

• dominion
• Kazuchika Okada
• Shingo Takagi
• NJPW

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