New Japan Dominion results: Titles changes as the stage is set for G1 Climax

New Japan Pro Wrestling (NJPW) held their annual start of Summer pay-per-view (PPV), Dominion, on June 18, 2016 in Osaka.

All the company’s belts were on the line - and all but one changed hands. It was a wild night (or early morning, for us gaijin) that featured a widely-praised ladder match between Kenny Omega and Big Mike Elgin, a title win for Ring of Honor (ROH)’s most identifiable stars and the payoff of Will Ospreay’s Best of the Super Juniors win.

Oh, and a little showdown between Los Ingoberables rebel Tetsuya Naito and company ace Kazuchika Okada for the IWGP Heavyweight championship.

Here are the results from the show:

- Bullet Club (Bad Luck Fale, Yujiro Takahashi & Adam Page) def. Hunter Club (Togi Makabe & Yoshitatsu) & Captain New Japan via pinfall

– CHAOS (Tomohiro Ishii & YOSHI-HASHI) def. Los Ingobernables de Japón (SANADA & BUSHI) via submission

– Hirooki Goto defeated EVIL via pin

– The Young Bucks def. Champions Matt Sydal & Ricochet, ReDRagon and RPG Vice in an elimination match to become new IWGP Jr Tag Team Champions

– KUSHIDA def. Will Ospreay via submission to retain the IWGP Jr Heavyweight Championship

– The Briscoes def. Guerrillas of Destiny (Tama Tonga & Tanga Loa) via pin to become the new IWGP Tag Team Champions

– Katsuyori Shibata def. Yuji Nagata via pin to become the new IWGP NEVER Openweight Champion

– Michael Elgin def. Kenny Omega in a ladder match to become the new IWGP Intercontinental Champion

– Kazuchika Okada def. Tetsuya Naito via pin to become the new IWGP Heavyweight Champion

Initial reaction from the press and fans seems to be full of praise for the in-ring action with some concerns about the booking decisions. From this writer’s perspective, I can’t get too worked up about the title changes, as Dominion falls at an interesting place on the New Japan calendar. They can do a lot of things with August’s G1 tournament to re-establish guys and create new rivalries, so I’m prone to give them some leeway with what looks like a return to the status quo in the main event.

Plus, Los Ingobernables never got their numbers game working (they are technically heels, after all) and Naito got to kick out of a RAINMAKER, so the hot stable was hardly “buried” while CHAOS got some redemption.

It’s also wild that ROH guys (not that Elgin is really theirs any more, but Jay & Mark definitely are THE ROH guys) are booked better here than they are on U.S. joint shows.

Anyway... who stayed up late and caught the show live? What did you think?

If you’re looking to check out Dominion or any NJPW goodness, their streaming service is available here for (at current exchange rates) less than $9.99 per month.