Callis isn't exactly known for his subtlety so him mentioning the white towel Ibushi has me thinking something's going down with that. We'll see.

The timing of when the Rainmaker and One Wing Angel finally hit was genius. Once one happened, the other loomed as the huge threat remaining in the match. Same for the booking of both finishers being hit the first time.

:eek: Omega busting out the Styles Clash.

YESSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS

IWGP Heavyweight match was legendary.

Jericho vs Naito was great (just watched it). So happy he stopped trying to hold-for-hold with guys in their physical prime and instead is wrestling matches that are "supposed" to be kind of clunky and heavily based on psychology.

and he's also somehow a babyface to the crowd lmfao guess he reminds them of Hansen/Brody with his mannerisms/style

Osaka were the crowd that REALLY turned on Naito back when NJPW were trying to force push him like Reigns. Them still shitting on him now that he’s actually well liked is kinda cool unintentional continuity.

Not huge on Callis and Kelly's commentary but like how they acknowledge the booing.

Pretty great show, only outcome I didn't really like was the Never Openweight 3 way. Main event was great and so was the IC match.

How was it -- is it worth watching?

Yes

Yes. Whole card was pretty great overall. Usually with NJPW, the undercard or early matches can be pretty skippable but they were good as well at Dominion.

Just finished Dominion.

Goddamn. Feel like I just watched every Game of Thrones season finale at once.

Gonna sleep for like two days.

I've said for a while that part of njpw's strength is the diversity of styles on display, and Jericho being a vicious street fighter just adds yet another facet to that.

Young Bucks vs. Evil & Sanada, Jay White vs. Juice Robinson, Okada & Ospreay vs. Naito & Bushi, Omega vs. Cody all at Cow Palace on 7/7

To me this is Cody's first big main event, I'm pretty pumped for it. I don't see him beating Kenny and taking the IWGP Title though, so that might affect the way I view ALL IN vs Nick Aldis.

Watched this today wonderful card. Flawless execution throughout. Outstanding

Cow Palace card sounds fantastic

I think I might actually check this show out. Some of the results surprise me, but none of them "shock" me. New Japan is great like that. The sporting feel means they can get away from story arcs as real life can break like that.

:y: I haven't watched Jericho/Naito yet, but this evolution of Jericho feels like the way a worker should age.

Just tossed a proposed list of G1 participants into a randomizer and here's the blocks in came up with.

Block A
Cody
Kazuchika Okada
KUSHIDA
Michael Elgin (don't want him in, but he's going to be in)
Minoru Suzuki
SANADA
Tama Tonga
Tetsuya Naito
Tomohiro Ishii
Zack Sabre Jr.

Block B
Bad Luck Fale
EVIL
Hirooki Goto
Hiroshi Tanahashi
Jay White
Juice Robinson
Kenny Omega
Kota Ibushi
Togi Makabe
Toru Yano

In terms of participants, I went under the theory that there are only two guaranteed openings from last year (Satoshi Kojima, Yuji Nagata). Jay White is definitely getting one of those spots, and I decided to give some love to KUSHIDA who as others have mentioned doesn't really have much left to achieve in the Juniors.

But at Dominion they referenced YOSHI-HASHI being on the bubble, so I was wondering who would bump him. While I'm not sure they can actually get Cody for a full month, I decided to throw him in anyway.

These blocks actually have some fun stuff. Get to see Ishii and Suzuki have their slugfest. The inter-stable battles of Naito/SANADA and Suzuki/Sabre would be fun. KUSHIDA vs. anybody would be grand.

The real highlight of Block B would of course be Omega/Ibushi. If they aren't planned to wrestle each other in the Dome, then putting them together in the final day of Block B presumably to decide the finalist is workable.

Based only on this group I'd guess an Okada/Ibushi finals, sticking with Okada winning it.

Cody was asked about this year's G1 on twitter and said:

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">0%<br><br>I've got a new project that runs mon-fri all the way to <a href="https://twitter.com/ALL_IN_2018?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@ALL_IN_2018</a> <br><br>Those two items alone, and some pretty large matches on the schedule. I'm full up. <a href="https://t.co/d3VA6jsGw1">https://t.co/d3VA6jsGw1</a></p>&mdash; Cody Rhodes (@CodyRhodes) <a href="https://twitter.com/CodyRhodes/status/1004870009250832384?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">June 7, 2018</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

Looks like Jericho and The Bucks are going to team up for a six man on the Jericho Cruise.

Looks like YOSHI-HASHI might make it back in then. Although Taichi getting a run would be fantastic.

Taichi would be my choice.

What qualifies a person for G-1 throughout the year?

Being a competent heavyweight, or being Yano or YOSHI-HASHI

YOSHI-HASHI and Yujiro Takahashi are pretty comparable I think. Two guys who, while talented, aren’t particularly interesting but the company’s probably not ever gonna fully cut bait as they came up through as Young Lions.

The dojo training is brutal, and the company wants to reward that and send a message that they’ll stay loyal to the guys who put themselves through it.

Speaking of Yujiro, I miss Mao.

I want Omega/Ibushi and Okada/Danielson at the Dome so badly.

I'm rooting for Danielson in New Japan too. And Brock Lesnar.

I should watch the show in order, but I've seen The Young Bucks vs. EVIL & Sanada and the six-man tag with the dream team babyfaces.

On the six-man:

* Rey Mysterio is a fucking gem. He looked so amazing and crisp in this thing.

* Tanahashi is such a great babyface.

* Cody Rhodes is such a geeky mid-carder.

* Marty Scurll was technically very good, but I don't get why he kept acting like a bird. It's like he's trying to be 1998 WCW Chris Jericho, but with a lot less natural charisma. He also did that geeky talking in the match. "Just kidding!" What the fuck is that?

* Hangman Page was trying his little heart out. It is obvious that he hasn't pieced it together yet, but it was a huge spot for him, I guess, so good for him.

On the Tag Title match:

* I should appreciate The Young Bucks slowing down and trying to inject some psychology into their matches. And I do. But it's very basic stuff they haven't done much of and need to get a lot better at if they're going to be true greats like they pretend to be.

* Don Callis is a fucking awful announcer. He was pissing me off in this match.

* The crowd laughed at Nick Jackson not being able to pull off the springboard. They fucking laughed at him. It was at this moment that it dawned on me that drama in wrestling may not exist anymore. The main events might change my mind.

* It also dawned on me in this match that this was exactly the sort of thing you would see in WWE. I don't mean that as an insult or a compliment. But this was just your typical WWE tag team match. They did all the match blocking like it was intended to heighten interest, ala Gargano/Ciampa vs. The Revival, but because it was a WWE tag team match, no one really bought into it the same way. It wasn't so much working that audience as it was performing a routine in front of an audience with things intended to work, in theory.

* The match wasn't bad or anything, it was just that gentrified and pedestrian "here's a tag team match; this is how tag team matches are worked these days."