It’s going to be an eventful weekend this week, as Osaka Jo Hall sees fans return for the New Japan Cup final and Dominion, while Stateside, three new wrestlers debut on Lion’s Break Collision. An international feel then, which is also seen this week in history:
July 5, 2015: A Phenomenal return to Osaka
2015’s Dominion saw a significant return for NJPW; after years of the event being housed in the Osaka Prefectural Gymnasium, this year it would be in the historic Osaka Jo Hall for the first time in 21 years. The grand scale of a sold out hall in the shadow of the Osaka Jo castle deserved a big main event match, and Kazuchika Okada and AJ Styles was certainly a deserving main event.
In the first singles match between the two for close to a year, Okada certainly seemed on the back foot when it came to Styles. The Rainmaker had secured victory in that singles contest, a win on the first night of G1 Climax 24, but had been on the losing end against Styles and BULLET CLUB since through the spring of 2015.
Okada had to come to terms with a difficult first half of the year. He had been poised to defeat Hiroshi Tanahashi on the grand stage of the Tokyo Dome at last at Wrestle Kingdom 9, instead suffering a crushing defeat on January 4, and crashing out in the first round of the New Japan Cup to Bad Luck Fale that March. Okada vanquished his loss to the giant at Invasion Attack however, and set himself on a collision course with the IWGP Heavyweight Champion. Putting his recent record behind him would be key in sezing gold in the main event, as NJPW was poised to begin a new and exciting era of growth worldwide.
July 6: A Historic Open
Four years on from one victory in a historic main event, Kazuchika Okada headed to another on the other side of the Pacific Ocean. For the open of G1 Climax 29, he would face his old rival Hiroshi Tanahashi, the feud tat held audiences rapt around the world nopw haing its first installment in the USA.
Not only was this a first for Okada and Tanahashi, it was a first for the G1 Climax. Never before had the summer tournament seen matches outside of Japan, let alone the attention grabbing series opener. A rabid crowd in the American Airlines Center was witnessing history then, and their energy expressed to the world that they knew.
The fans had already seen four thrilling bouts to start the evening, with Lance Archer and Will OSpreay exploding out of the gates, SANADA and Zack Sabre Junior having a typical exchange of mat mastery, Bad Luck Fale and EVIL brawling in and all around the ring, and KENTA having his first official match in the G1 against Kota Ibushi. This 13th singles contest between Okada and Tanahashi since the Rainmaker’s dramatic 2012 New Beginning challenge however, was what everybody in Dallas, and around the world, were transfixed upon.
July 7, 2018: Recognition for Robinson
Juice Robinson took a huge gamble on himself when he first came to Japan. Willingly starting from scratch in the NJPW Dojo, his dedication saw him earn the love of the New Japan fans and the respect of his competition. Yet recognition as a champion seemed elusive until the summer of 2018.
As NJPW headed to San Francisco’s historic Cow Palace for the first time, the IWGP United States Championship that had been inaugurated one year prior was around the waist of second champion Switchblade Jay White. This in itself was the cause of consternation for Juice; White and Robinson had formed a bond when they both trained in the Dojo, yet it was White that had earned his first New Japan gold earlier, and with a dark attitude shift that spat in the face of Robinson’s flamboyant positivity.
That dark attitude shift would manifest itself before the G1 Special, when Juice attempted to fight off a chair based assault with his bare fists, and paid dearly. His trademark left punch would be denied Robinson, rendered illegal when his broken hand was encased in a hard cast. In the Cow Palace, there was to be no love lost for Robinson to Jay White; in the Switchblade’s mind, there was never any in the first place. For Robinson, the chance to finally seize glory and take his place in the roll call of New Japan champions.
July 9, 10 2016: Struggles in Singapore
July 2018 and 2019 saws NJPW wow audiences in Ameruica, but back in 2016, it was Singapore’s turn to sample NJPW action. The Singapore public got a rare chance to see NJPW up close and personal for two days during the CharaExpo convention, including a tag match that saw EVIL and Tetsuya Naito take on Kazuchika Okada and Gedo.
Naito was heading into the G1 Climax having recently lost the IWGP Heavyweight Championship back to Okada. Okada had won the title in Osaka Jo Hall without the assistance of then right hand man Gedo, but the two put up a combined force in Singapore against Naito and EVIL, who was preparing for his first G1 Climax in just a few days.
The next day, Juice Robinson and David Finlay would kick off the action. It was two years before Robinson captured the IWGP United States Championship, and almost four before FinJuice would seize the IWGP Tag Team Championships at the Tokyo Dome during Wrestle Kingdom 14. The two had a strong bond as soon as both met in the NJPW Dojo however; though that good natured relationship would soon go out of the window. Years later, Finlay would say that nobody had hit him harder than Juice during these competitive early bouts; Singapore would see just how heated both could become.
