New Champions Crowned At NJPW Dominion
A big night for Bullet Club and United Empire as new champions were crowned at Dominion
Jun 12, 2022
Beyond the main event for the IWGP World Heavyweight Championship, several titles were on the line at New Japan Pro-Wrestling's Dominion show from Osaka-Jo Hall on Sunday, June 12. After those title matches had come to an end, four new champions had been crowned in three championship bouts.
In the first title change of the night, United Empire's Great-O-Khan and Jeff Cobb defeated Chase Owens and Bad Luck Fale to regain the IWGP Heavyweight Tag Team Championships they lost to the Bullet Club team one month ago. Owens and Fale enjoyed plenty of control during the contest but Cobb scored the win for the United Empire following a Tour Of The Islands to Chase.
A Winner Take All Match at Forbidden Door with FTR and Roppongi Vice now looks to be on the horizon for Cobb and Great-O-Khan as they laid out Rocky Romero following their title win. This comes after O-Khan and Cobb interfered in the ROH World Tag Team Title match between FTR and Roppongi Vice on the May 25 episode of AEW Dynamite, causing the match to be ruled a no contest.
The NEVER Openweight Championship was then on the line later in the show as Tama Tonga defended the gold against his former friend Karl Anderson. The match quickly descended into a battle of who could connect with a Gun Stun and it was ultimately Karl Anderson who came out on top.
'Machine Gun' got the better of his former Bullet Club faction-mate after he hit the deck and asked the referee to check his teeth. This provided the opening for Doc Gallows to enter the ring and he was quickly dispatched of by Tonga with a Gun Stun. The momentary distraction allowed Anderson to connect with a Gun Stun of his own to Tama, though, and 'Machine Gun' covered the champion for the 1-2-3 to capture the NEVER Openweight Title for the first time in his career.
The United Empire's night proceeded to get better in the semi-main event as Will Ospreay overcame SANADA to win the vacant IWGP United States Heavyweight Championship. The Commonwealth Kingpin emerged victorious following a second Hidden Blade and Stormbreaker but he was unable to celebrate with the title belt as it remains in the possession of former champion Juice Robinson. Robinson proclaimed over the weekend that he would not defend the title at Dominion, which resulted in him being stripped of the gold by NJPW. This hasn't stopped Robinson from keeping ahold of the physical belt, however.
