6/24/2023 0 Comments Jax sequence in a tubeSanada continued to navigate questions of the past in relation to just how successful he could be as a champion from a storyline standpoint going into the match. I was correct with my guess on how NJPW was going to book the match and in terms of what the company gained coming out of the match. I felt like the company would play it down the middle and establish Tsuji as a force to be reckoned with while also finding a way to make Sanada look good and retain the title. Was NJPW booker Gedo going to attempt to create a star in one night and have Tsuji go over? What exactly was it that NJPW management and creative saw in Tsuji to give him an opportunity that no other wrestler had received that quickly since returning to the company from their excursion? Those were the main questions I had heading into the match. Going into their match today at Dominion, I didn’t know how NJPW was going to handle the finish. Tsuji made his return from his excursion in CMLL in Mexico and attacked Sanada after he beat Takahashi, as he laid him out with a vicious spear. Just as Sanada seems to be establishing himself as someone that might fill a gap at the top of the NJPW roster, he was challenged to a match at Dominion by Yota Tsuji after he beat Hiromu Takahashi to retain the IWGP World Hvt. It isn’t the most catchy name for a stable, but it works with Sanada alongside Taichi, Taka Michinoku, Douki, Yoshinobu Kanemaru, and Douki. He is the leader of a new stable after leaving LIJ and is now the centerpiece of Just 5 Guys. He has a new look, attitude, and finisher since winning the NJPW Cup earlier this year at Sakura Genesis. Sanada has carried himself well as champion after a career full of start and stop pushes in NJPW. This year, NJPW elected to move the focus away from Okada and allowed their new champion Sanada carry the load as the main event attraction. From a drawing standpoint, Dominion did not have a big singles match on the card with two established talents facing each other in the main event. Let’s take a look at the main event from Dominion and what it means for NJPW’s future. Will Ospreay also only recently returned to in-ring action after missing several months with an injury.ĭespite all their issues financially, creatively, and with a lack of depth up top on their roster, the company has shown signs of righting the ship on all fronts for the last several months and that lead to the company putting on a great Dominion PPV, despite a lack of star power in the main event. NJPW also lost Jay White to AEW recently leaving their cupboard bare from a talent standpoint. NJPW announced in February he would not return after his contract expired at the end of January. The company has also faced struggles from a talent standpoint losing Kota Ibushi due to injury and then he never came back after a messy public dispute with the company last year. Wrestlers were pushed hard at times such as Evil and Will Ospreay and didn’t connect with the audience. NJPW has gone through some creative tough times as well. NJPW only recently got back to running shows where crowds could be fully engaged instead of being limited to claps and stomps, as they were during the COVID-19 pandemic.NJPW drew over 7,000 fans for Dominion earlier today, which is a positive trend upwards, but the company has not rebounded back to the levels it was at from a business perspective before the pandemic in 2020 according to Ohbari. NJPW president Takami Ohbari recently spoke to Proseu-Today and told them he could “count on one hand” how many months the company had left during the pandemic because NJPW relies on making income from their touring business. They went through tough times during the pandemic. NJPW appears to be on the rebound right now. For the most part since 2015 this has been Kazuchika Okada’s show, as he has anchored most Dominion PPV main events. NJPW’s Dominion PPV is one of the company’s biggest events of the year along with Wrestle Kingdom and the G1 Climax Finals. SPOTLIGHTED PODCAST ALERT (YOUR ARTICLE BEGINS A FEW INCHES DOWN).
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