NJPW Dominion Reactions

Recently the second biggest event of the New Japan calendar year took place and really lived up to all the expectations that were in place prior to the event. Though some of the matches did fall a little flat but other matches hit a higher peak then some expected. This event was the sight of Omega vs Okada IV which tore the house down after an hour long match the wrestling world would change. I don't remember the last time I actually said that about something that happened in modern wrestling but the end of this event was one of those moments. 

To start it is worth noting that following the event more than half of the championships are held by non Japanese stars including two being held by the Young Bucks. I will point out that I don't remember the last time that one team was able to capture both the IWGP Junior and Tag Team titles. Normally it is very rare for junior heavyweights to rise up to the heavyweight division but after seven reigns with junior heavyweight tag titles. One other point I wanted to make was that in 2018 a former WWE star is champion in NJPW; last Saturday the company crowned a new Intercontinental Champion in Chris Jericho. It is incredible to think that Jericho is actually a champion in a company other than WWE and is still on good terms with the company. This is something that I never thought I would see and I don't just mean Jericho holding a title but at one point I really never expected him to return to NJPW. 

Though this title change is a major turn of events but we can't talk about this years Dominion event without talking about the main event of the show. As of the event Okada had been IWGP Heavyweight champion for an incredible 720 days becoming the longest running World Champion by a long stretch. However, it was really nearing the time that the company needed to begin thinking about who could defeat Okada and become the new champion. At one point I thought it was academic that Okada would get the win in this match as I didn't think that Omega was looked at as a top star in the same way that Okada, Naito, or Tanahashi are within the company. Overall as I look back on all the years that I have watched Kenny Omega starting with during his time in ROH it is insane to think that the former comedic wrestler is the World Champion. 

Looking at this event I think it raises some interesting questions for not just the future of New Japan, but also what this year could look like. I do believe after this event that within the next year we will see the expansion of New Japan continue and for the time being I think that the foreign stars will maintain their stronghold on titles. The main underlying idea that I believe has been brought up after this event is that with the feud between Kenny Omega & Cody not over yet things can take an interesting turn with the World Title now in the feud. Recently, I made a prediction that put Cody in the Wrestle Kingdom title match next January but I didn't expect it to be between Cody and Kenny. I guess at this point we will just have to wait and see what the rest of 2018 has in store for us from New Japan.