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Dominion & Forbidden Door

We start off Dominion in the middle of the reign of AEW’s Jon Moxley. Having defeated Naito at Windy City Riot, He’s gone on to defend his title against some of the younger generation of New Japan. First was Ren Narita at Wrestling Dontaku, and then it was Shota Umino at Resurgence. However, at Dominion, he’d have to face a much more experienced foe: House of Torture’s EVIL. Between House of Torture’s tricks and EVIL’s wrestling ability, EVIL was not a foe to be trifled with. However, Mox was able to prevail.

With EVIL dispatched, Mox sought out his next challenger, calling out the New Japan locker room after his title defense against EVIL. His call would be answered by none other than Tetsuya Naito, the previous champion whom Mox beat to win his title. Naito was looking to regain his title, and the match was set for Forbidden Door

Naito had been in a bit of a slump after losing his title to Mox, losing his next singles match to Drilla Moloney, albeit via underhanded means. Thus, he sought to build himself back up going into Forbidden Door. He beat Callum Newman at Dominion, and he would then defeat NOAH’s Jake Lee at the All Together show in Sapporo. With these two wins in his pocket, Naito came into Forbidden Door riding a wave of momentum, and he would go on to win his title back from Jon Moxley at Forbidden Door, bringing the title back to New Japan.

G1 Climax

After regaining his title, Naito had to face his next challenge: going into the G1 Climax as the World Heavyweight champion. Being a champion in the G1 Climax often paints a target on one’s back, and though he finished the tournament with a positive record (5-4) and tied for 2nd place in A Block, unfavorable tie-break results caused him to miss out on the final playoffs, with critical losses to EVIL, Takagi, O-Khan, and the eventual winner of the tournament, Zack Sabre Jr.

It was a masterful performance for ZSJ in this G1. He would attain the highest score in the whole tournament, with 14 points and a 7-2 record (losing only to Shingo Takagi and Shota Umino). With that, he clinched the top spot in A Block, earning a bye in the final playoffs. He then avenged his loss to Takagi by beating him in the Semi-Finals, and then went on to beat Yota Tsuji in the finals to claim his first ever G1 Climax trophy.

With his G1 win in hand, ZSJ had some major deviations from the traditions set in the past decade. For one, he would not be using the G1 Climax win to get himself a main event spot at Wrestle Kingdom, nor would he be defending a title shot contract. Instead, he used his G1 Climax win to set up a match at King of Pro-Wrestling with Naito for the IWGP World Heavyweight title.

Destruction & King of Pro-Wrestling

Before that, however, someone else wanted to get their hands on Naito first, that being Great-O-Khan. O-Khan saw his best G1 Climax performance this year, finishing with a positive win-loss record for the first time, making it into the playoffs, and even beating the champion Tetsuya Naito. Riding this high, O-Khan believed that he could repeat his success, challenging Naito first for a title match at Destruction in Kobe. However, O-Khan was unsuccessful in his challenge against Naito, and the King of Pro-Wrestling match was officially set as Naito vs ZSJ for the IWGP World Heavyweight title, and just two weeks later at the show, ZSJ would win his first IWGP World title by beating Naito.

Royal Quest & Power Struggle

However, Zack’s celebration was short-lived, as shortly after the match ended, a parade of challengers came down to the ring. First came SANADA, who was IWGP champion this time last year, and who was already scheduled for a match against ZSJ at the upcoming London show. He wanted that match to now be for the World title. Then came Shota Umino, who had beaten Zack in the G1 Climax. Lastly was Shingo Takagi, who was Zack’s other loss during the block phase of the G1. Looking to take on all comers, all these men would be granted title matches. The Royal Quest match with SANADA was made into a title match, and Takagi would get his title challenge at Royal Quest, while Umino’s title match was still to be determined.

First up was SANADA at Royal Quest, which was less than a week away. It had been a hard year for SANADA. He started the year as IWGP World champion, but lost the title to Naito at Wrestle Kingdom, and then lost the succeeding rematch. He was then unsuccessful in winning the New Japan Cup, and also lost his challenge to David Finlay for the IWGP Global title. He also placed relatively poorly in the G1 Climax, finishing with a losing record of 4-5. After such a year, this was his chance to go back to the top of New Japan. However, it was a daunting task, and with ZSJ fighting in his native country, SANADA was unsuccessful in his challenge.

Next was Shingo Takagi at Power Struggle. The two have a long history with each other, going back even before either man was in New Japan. They’ve traded wins back and forth several times, making for an exciting match-up. Now, with ZSJ as champion and Takagi as the challenger, the dynamic was new, and on this occasion, it would be ZSJ coming out as the victor, making his second successful defense of the IWGP World Heavyweight title.

Building to Wrestle Kingdom & Wrestle Dynasty

After the match, Shota Umino came out to once again establish himself as a contender for the IWGP World Heavyweight title, and although his reception was a bit frostier than usual, ZSJ once again granted the request, and the match was later made official to be the main event of Wrestle Kingdom 19. However, after Umino’s challenge, ZSJ would also be attacked by AEW’s Ricochet, who is no stranger to New Japan. The two are set to face off at Wrestle Dynasty, and should ZSJ be successful in his defense against Umino, he’ll need to defend his title on consecutive nights. However, the same could be said for Umino, as he’ll be facing Claudio Castagnoli, who’s proxying for Jon Moxley. If Umino wins the World title, he risks losing it just 24 hours later. It’s a very dynamic situation surrounding the IWGP World Heavyweight title this weekend. We’ll have to watch to see how it all resolves.