8 Major Talking Points From NJPW Dominion In Osaka

7. The Guerrillas Of Destiny Might Be The Most Underrated Act In Wrestling

Kenny Omega Dominion
njpw1972.com

The Guerrillas Of Destiny vs. War Machine match was a relentless tour de force, virtually a tornado tag team match.

War Machine were the usual brutish, brilliant selves, but the Guerrillas tandem of Tama Tonga and Tanga Loa - who will not in all likelihood crack any wrestler of the half year lists, even as honourable mentions - anchored the action with their sadly unheralded character work.

Tama Tonga in particular has immense singles credentials. His Baron Samedi paint job makes him look like a killer, as do his savage grunts and leaping, animalistic offence. He can turn himself inside out when the hope spot demands it, too. He is a great midcard heel capable even of entering the wall to wall brilliant upper midcard heavyweight ranks.

There was an excellent no sell German suplex sequence between Raymond Rowe and Loa, who continued to turn the airwaves blue as f*ck with a constant stream of expletives. Even better was the sequence in which Tonga delivered a succession of forearms to Rowe, a slow burn then revealing that Rowe was delivering headbutts to Tonga’s forearm.

It was a ludicrously fun and furious ten minutes. Sadly, but understandably, it was completely overshadowed.

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!