Jay White Wins IWGP World Heavyweight Title At NJPW Dominion 2022

Major Forbidden Door implications as Switchblade topples Kazuchika Okada.

by Andrew Pollard
NJPW Dominion 2022 Jay White
NJPW

Jay White is the new IWGP World Heavyweight Champion.

To the surprise of some, Switchblade defeated Kazuchika Okada at NJPW Dominion earlier today to embark on his second run with New Japan Pro Wrestling's top prize.

With Hiroshi Tanahashi watching on from ringside, White got the better of Okada in a 36-minute affair. Complete with interference from Gedo, the New Zealander eventually put his rival away after countering a Rainmaker into a Blade Runner to secure the 1-2-3.

Advertisement

Of course, Jay White cut the perfect Jay White promo post-match, claiming credit for the entire creation of AEW. He'd also tell Adam Page that he can have his match with Okada, because he's not getting the IWGP Title... and obviously called Page a "dumb cowboy b*tch".

This throws up all kinds of question for AEW X NJPW Forbidden Door on 26 June. The belief was that 'Hangman' Adam Page would challenge Okada for the IWGP Title at that crossover PPV, with there also a chance of Adam Cole being involved in that contest.

Could we now get a slight change of course that gives us Hangman vs. White for NJPW's top prize, while Cole takes on Okada? Do we get Page vs. White. vs Cole? Maybe it's Page vs. White vs. Cole vs. Okada? Or maybe it's Page vs. Okada, and Cole vs. White? Either way, this title change definitely creates plentiful buzz coming out of Dominion and heading into this week's AEW Dynamite.

Advertisement

The IWGP World Heavyweight Championship wasn't the only piece of gold to change hands at Dominion, with the full results of the show as follows:

- United Empire's Aaron Henara, Francesco Akira & TJP defeated Hiroyoshi Tenzan, Master Wate & Ryusuke Taguchi

- Bullet Club's Taiji Ishimori, Ace Austin & El Phantasmo defeated Los Ingobernables de Japon's BUSHI, Hiromu Takahashi & Tetsuya Naito

- Toru Yano defeated Doc Gallows

- NEVER Openweight 6-Man Tag Team Champions EVIL, SHO & Yujiro Takahashi defeated Suzuki-gun's Zack Sabre Jr., El Desperado & Yoshinobu Kanemaru

- United Empire's Great-O-Khan & Jeff Cobb defeating Bullet Club's Bad Luck Fale & Chase Owens to become the new IWGP Tag Team Champions

- Hiroshi Tanahashi defeated Hirooki Goto to earn a spot against Jon Moxley to crown the interim AEW World Champion at Forbidden Door

- King of Pro Wrestling Champion Shingo Takagi defeated Taichi

- Karl Anderson defeated Tama Tona to become the new NEVER Openweight Champion

- Will Ospreay defeated SANADA to become the new IWGP United States Champion

- Jay White defeated Kazuchika Okada to become the new IWGP World Heavyweight Champion

Senior Writer
Senior Writer

Once described as the Swiss Army Knife of WhatCulture, Andrew can usually be found writing, editing, or presenting on a wide range of topics. As a lifelong wrestling fan, horror obsessive, and comic book nerd, he's been covering those topics professionally as far back as 2010. In addition to his current WhatCulture role of Senior Content Producer, Andrew previously spent nearly a decade as Online Editor and Lead Writer for the world's longest-running genre publication, Starburst Magazine, and his work has also been featured on BBC, TechRadar, Tom's Guide, WhatToWatch, Sportkskeeda, and various other outlets, in addition to being a Rotten Tomatoes-approved film critic. Between his main day job, his role as the lead panel host of Wales Comic Con, and his gig as a pre-match host for Wrexham AFC games, Andrew has also carried out a hugely varied amount of interviews, from the likes of Robert Englund, Kane Hodder, Adrienne Barbeau, Rob Zombie, Katharine Isabelle, Leigh Whannell, Bruce Campbell, and Tony Todd, to Kevin Smith, Ron Perlman, Elijah Wood, Giancarlo Esposito, Simon Pegg, Charlie Cox, the Russo Brothers, and Brian Blessed, to Kevin Conroy, Paul Dini, Tara Strong, Will Friedle, Burt Ward, Andrea Romano, Frank Miller, and Rob Liefeld, to Bret Hart, Sting, Mick Foley, Ricky Starks, Jamie Hayer, Britt Baker, Eric Bischoff, and William Regal, to Mickey Thomas, Joey Jones, Phil Parkinson, Brian Flynn, Denis Smith, Gary Bennett, Karl Connolly, and Bryan Robson - and that's just the tip of an ever-expanding iceberg. Where his beloved Wrexham AFC is concerned, Andrew is co-host of the Fearless in Devotion podcast, which won the Club Podcast of the Year gong at the 2024 FSA Awards.