Multiple new champions were crowned on Sunday at NJPW Dominion in Osaka.
Every title that was on the line during the show, at Osaka-Jo Hall, changed hands except for the IWGP World Heavyweight Championship.
Young Lions opener
Young Lions Katsuya Murashima & Shoma Kato set an energetic tone by defeating dojo classmates Daiki Nagai & Masatora Yasuda. A brisk sequence of arm-drags and drop-kicks gave way to Murashima cutting off Nagai with a running elbow, before cinching in a high Boston crab in the centre of the ring.
House of Torture expands its ranks
Chaos erupted in the second match when Bullet Club original Bad Luck Fale re-emerged as “Don Fale” to join SANADA, Ren Narita & Yujiro Takahashi against Bullet Club War Dogs. Mid-match, Chase Owens low-blowed partner Drilla Moloney, smashed a guitar over his head and embraced EVIL’s faction. The five-on-three advantage allowed SANADA to pin Moloney with the Deadfall. Post-match, Owens unfurled a House of Torture flag while Fale vowed to “crush Bullet Club from the inside”.
TMDK gains momentum ahead of G1
Zack Sabre Jr. & Ryohei Oiwa toppled El Phantasmo & Shota Umino. A mistimed superkick from Phantasmo rocked Umino, enabling Sabre to catch a European clutch for the pin. Sabre mocked the “rookie mistake”, predicting that Oiwa would out-score Umino in the G1, while Phantasmo promised to review the tape “a hundred times” before the tournament begins.
Tanahashi’s Final Road continues
Hiroshi Tanahashi recorded the eighth win of his farewell tour against Yuya Uemura. Uemura survived an early dragon-screw and nailed the Lightning Spiral for a two-count, but Tanahashi countered a second attempt, strung together a Sling Blade, a twisting neck-breaker, and the High Fly Flow for the three-count. Backstage, the company President thanked Uemura for “raising my heart rate”.
IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Championships
An elbow injury to Yoshinobu Kanemaru turned out to be misdirection as Kanemaru’s former ally DOUKI returned, revealing himself as a new House of Torture member and teaming with SHO to unseat champions Master Wato & YOH. After relentless work on Wato’s knee, assisted by DOUKI’s steel pipe, SHO blasted YOH with a wrench, allowing DOUKI to hit Suplex de la Luna for the win and the first title change of the show.
IWGP Tag Team Championships
The veteran pairing of Taichi & Tomohiro Ishii dethroned United Empire’s Great-O-Khan & Callum Newman. Newman absorbed Ishii’s lariat, but Taichi staggered him with an axe bomber and finished with the Black Mephisto. Ishii later noted that the win makes Taichi his eighth different tag-title partner, while O-Khan vowed “swift revenge” once the rematch clause is invoked.
G1 Climax 35 blocks revealed
Between matches, Tanahashi announced 16 of 20 entrants for the summer tournament. Four play-in matches on June 23 and July 4 will complete the field.
NEVER Openweight Championship
Former Greco-Roman Olympian Oleg Bolitin earned his first singles gold by ending Konosuke Takeshita’s six-defence reign. Takeshita’s jumping knee drew a near-fall, but hesitation on the half-and-half suplex let Oleg counter with a belly-to-belly, then the Kamikaze Slam. Takeshita offered a handshake post-match and said Boltin “should be in every heavyweight conversation now.”
Dog Collar Chain Deathmatch
House of Torture’s influence peaked when EVIL beat David Finlay in an 18-minute blood-soaked chain match. Ten faction members swarmed the ringside area. Newly named Don Fale drove Finlay through a table, Dick Togo applied the garrotte and EVIL wrapped the chain around Finlay’s neck before landing Everything Is EVIL onto a pile of chairs for the pin. Finlay was stretchered out while EVIL declared, “One down, Bullet Club finished!”
IWGP Global Heavyweight Championship
Gabe Kidd unseated Yota Tsuji after 21 minutes. Kidd used a Cesaro swing and Jon Moxley’s Death Rider before drilling Tsuji with the Drill-A-Hole piledriver. Kidd thanked the crowd for “letting a London boy grow up in Japan” and challenged Tanahashi to be his first defense on next month’s Soul tour. Tanahashi accepted with a nod.
IWGP World Heavyweight Championship main event
Champion Hirooki Goto survived Shingo Takagi in a 28-minute match that the crowd were heavily invested in. Takagi kicked out of an early GTR and levelled Goto with the Pumping Bomber. Goto escaped the Last of the Dragon before an exchange of head-butts left both men rocking. Goto then hit a Shoten-Kai and two consecutive arm-trap GTRs for the win, his seventh title defence since February. Backstage, Goto challenged Zack Sabre Jr. to a title match on the forthcoming Soul tour.
NJPW Dominion 2025 – full results
- Katsuya Murashima & Shoma Kato def. Daiki Nagai & Masatora Yasuda
- House of Torture (SANADA, Ren Narita, Yujiro Takahashi & Don Fale) def. Bullet Club War Dogs (Taiji Ishimori, Clark Connors, Drilla Moloney & Chase Owens)
- TMDK (Ryohei Oiwa & Zack Sabre Jr.) def. El Phantasmo & Shota Umino
- Hiroshi Tanahashi def. Yuya Uemura
- IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Championship: House of Torture (DOUKI & SHO) def. Master Wato & YOH (c)
- IWGP Tag Team Championship: Taichi & Tomohiro Ishii def. Great-O-Khan & Callum Newman (c)
- NEVER Openweight Championship: Oleg Boltin def. Konosuke Takeshita (c)
- Dog Collar Chain Deathmatch: EVIL def. David Finlay
- IWGP Global Heavyweight Championship: Gabe Kidd def. Yota Tsuji (c)
- IWGP World Heavyweight Championship: Hirooki Goto (c) def. Shingo Takagi
Karen Peterson and Bruce Lord will have a full review of NJPW Dominion 2025 for POST Wrestling Café members later on Sunday.
