IWGP Tag Team Title Match: Champions EVIL & SANADA vs. The Young Bucks:
Another match with the potential of stealing the show, you could give the Bucks any opponent and they would still pull a rabbit out of the hat.
EVIL and SANADA’s run as champions, after winning the titles at WrestleKingdom in January, has been blighted by an injury to EVIL. The two LIJ members haven’t been bad champions but I just don’t see NJPW bumping up the Young Bucks to the heavyweight division without the justification of them beating two top workers like EVIL and SANADA to win the belts.
Prediction: The Young Bucks, new IWGP Tag Team champions
#njDOMINION goes down tonight‼︎ @s_d_naito vs @IAmJericho head up an unmissable event! Live, exclusive and in English, the world’s best pro-wrestling is on https://t.co/Tj7UBJ4PjP Is your subscription at the ready?#NJPW #NJPWWorld pic.twitter.com/rnOCXGZggx
— njpwworld (@njpwworld) June 8, 2018
IWGP IC Title Match: Champion Tetsuya Naito vs. Chris Jericho:
Everyone thought Jericho’s run with New Japan was over but the man who loves to shock the fans came back for one more fight, this time attacking the leader of the Los Ingobernables de Japon, Tetsuya Naito, to start off a feud for the Intercontinental Championship.
The build-up has been excellent and mysterious. Jericho attacked Naito the night after WrestleKingdom in January before disappearing for months. He said he was a free agent with his contract up with NJPW, even appearing on WWE’s television on a couple of occasions. However, Jericho reappeared in Japan at the NJPW Wrestling Dontaku show in May, attacking Naito again, leaving him a bloodied mess. It was unexpected and brilliant. Nobody knows how to break the internet quite like Chris Jericho.
I may be biased here but I expect Jericho to win the IC title here in Japan, cementing his status as the greatest Intercontinental Champion to ever live before dropping it back to Naito at the July show in San Francisco. Naito winning the belt back in Jericho’s territory would also be perfect for his character.
Prediction: Chris Jericho, new NJPW Intercontinental champion
IWGP Title No Time Limit Best 2 of 3 Falls Match: Champion Kazuchika Okada vs. Kenny Omega:
Where to begin with this match? These two have not just set the bar but broken the bar (sorry, Sheamus and Cesaro) when it comes to wrestling matches.
Kazuchika Okada and Kenny Omega main event-ed the Tokyo Dome at WrestleKingdom 11, and had a tremendous 60-minute time limit draw at Dominion last year, NJPW’s first in 12 years, before Omega beating Okada at the G1 Climax last year. Now, the score between them is 1-1-1. There will be no time limit this time and there has to be a definitive winner.
Okada became the longest-reigning IWGP Heavyweight Champion in history by breaking the previous record of 489 days, held by Shinya Hashimoto. On January 3, 2018, the day before successfully defending his title against Tetsuya Naito in the main event at WrestleKingdom, Okada also broke Hiroshi Tanahashi’s record of 1,358 combined days as champion. At Wrestling Dontaku in May, Okada defeated Hiroshi Tanahashi for a record-breaking 12th successful title defence, breaking Tanahashi’s record of 11.
The (debatable) leader of the Bullet Club, Kenny Omega, has been trying for so long to win the big belt that has eluded him so far and this could finally be his crowning moment. Omega and Okada have torn the house down before, earning numerous accolades for their 5* and 6* matches, and according to wrestling journalist Dave Meltzer, breaking the ratings system. I expect this to finally be Kenny’s moment as Okada’s reign comes to an end.
Prediction: Kenny Omega, new IWGP Heavyweight champion