10 Major Predictions For NJPW Dominion 2018

7. Tomohiro Ishii & Toru Yano Vs. Minoru Suzuki & Zack Sabre, Jr.

Tetsuya Naito Chris Jericho
NJPW1972.com

The only concern ahead of Dominion is that the card is simply too astonishing. The molten Osaka crowd is nonetheless made up of human beings with physical limits. At least one match will suffer from a sad but inevitable content/reception disconnect, and, given the projected card order, this may be it.

Minoru Suzuki and Tomohiro Ishii will probably shatter that pessimistic take the second they shatter one another's faces in their major striking exchange, which one would firmly expect Zack Sabre, Jr. to tee up beautifully by contorting Toru Yano into positions of agony - itself a prospect worth popping over, provided Yano leans hard enough into his comedy posturing, which, spoiler alert. The expected brevity will help. There's a chance Okada Vs. Omega IV goes 90 minutes - 60 at the very least, given the events of last year's show - which should give the crowd no reason to tune out during the undercard.

Prediction: The Suzuki-gun lads are a shoe-in. Minoru operates best as a vicious badass with the upper hand, while Ishii is one of the all-time greats at fighting from underneath.

As a platform for their much-anticipated singles match, there can be but one outcome.

Contributor
Contributor

Michael Sidgwick is an editor, writer and podcaster for WhatCulture Wrestling. With over seven years of experience in wrestling analysis, Michael was published in the influential institution that was Power Slam magazine, and specialises in providing insights into All Elite Wrestling - so much so that he wrote a book about the subject. You can order Becoming All Elite: The Rise Of AEW on Amazon. Possessing a deep knowledge also of WWE, WCW, ECW and New Japan Pro Wrestling, Michael’s work has been publicly praised by former AEW World Champions Kenny Omega and MJF, and current Undisputed WWE Champion Cody Rhodes. When he isn’t putting your finger on why things are the way they are in the endlessly fascinating world of professional wrestling, Michael wraps his own around a hand grinder to explore the world of specialty coffee. Follow Michael on X (formerly known as Twitter) @MSidgwick for more!