NJPW Dominion 2024 Preview & Predictions

Remember when NJPW Dominion was a lock for one of the best shows of the year?  Good times....

Yeah so this Sunday is New Japan's second-biggest PPV of the calendar year, and this lineup.....this is not my kinda lineup.  We have an IWGP Title match I'm not at all excited about, a Super Juniors final that should be good but hardly worthy of the main event of the company's second tentpole event, a couple promising secondary title matches, and that's about it.  I know NJPW is in a rebuilding phase but Jesus, where's the rebuilding??

Tetsuya Naito vs. Callum Newman

Why is the company's biggest remaining full-time star in the opener?  I'm glad Newman is getting this chance but shouldn't this be presented as a way bigger deal if they're serious about his future?  This just seems...weird.

Pick: Naito is obviously winning

TMDK vs. Clark Connors, Drilla Molony & LJ Cleary

Standard undercard throwaway trios match.  I'll go with team Zack.

Pick: TMDK

KOPW Championship Storm Catch Rules: Great-O-Khan vs. Yuya Uemura

Ok this is at least intriguing rules-wise, but why does this stupid title still exist?  Say what you will about AEW having too many belts, and they do, but at least they don't have a goofy provisional title contested under wacky rules every time.  Let's give Mr. Uemura a win, shall we?

Pick: Uemura

NEVER 6-man Championship: Hiroshi Tanahashi/Toru Yano/Boltin Oleg vs. Yota Tsuji/Hiromu Takahashi/Bushi

Man, what a downgrade from when Tanahashi, Okada and Ishii held these titles.  This match should be alright but this is another set of NJPW belts that should probably go away.

Pick: The champs just won these belts in April and haven't defended them yet, so I'll pick them to retain

NJPW TV Championship: Jeff Cobb vs. Tomohiro Ishii

Okay now we're talkin'.  This is the first really exciting match so far in this lineup.  I don't see Ishii winning but he'll make it a helluva show.

Pick: Cobb retains

IWGP/Strong Openweight Tag Team Championship Elimination: Kenta & Chase Owens vs. Guerrillas of Destiny vs. Bishamon vs. TMDK

This could be fun since it's elimination rules.  I imagine it comes down to the two sets of champs in the end, no?  I'll go with GoD to win it all since the original GoD are now in the hands of the Empire.

Pick: Hikuleo & El Phantasmo

NEVER Openweight Championship: Shingo Takagi vs. Aaron Henare

This should be really good as well, and these two will beat the snot out of each other.  I think Shingo probably keeps the belt.

Pick: Shingo retains

IWGP Championship Lumberjack Match: Jon Moxley vs. Evil

Well this was certainly a choice.  For Moxley's title defense on the second biggest show of the year they went with fuckin' Evil??  Christ.  Since this is a Lumberjack match all the usual House of Torture bullshit will be part of the legalities.  Super.  Let's get this over with....

Pick: Mox ain't losing this title before Forbidden Door

Best of the Super Juniors Final: El Desperado vs. Taiji Ishimori

This match should be really good but I don't care that much about it.  The winner obviously gets a title shot but when?  Used to be the BOSJ winner got the match at Dominion.  Sho is the current IWGP Jr. Champion, god help us, so Desperado is almost certainly winning this.

Pick: El Desperado

Yeah, this feels nothing like a Dominion show, and aside from the 2020 COVID edition this is the least excited I've been for a Dominion show since I started watching NJPW.  This company needs a major shakeup and fast.

Thanks for reading - subscribe to our mailing list, and follow us on Twitter, MeWe, Facebook and YouTube!