NJPW x AEW Wrestle Dynasty – Jan. 5, 2025 – Zack Sabre Jr. vs. Ricochet

Results
Jan 5, 2025

January 5, 2025
Tokyo, Japan – Tokyo Dome
English Commentary: Walker Stewart and Chris Charlton
Results via Corey Michaels of F4WOnline.com

Quick Match Results

  1. Pre-show: International Women’s Cup Four-way match – Momo Watanabe defeated Athena, Persephone, and Willow Nightingale via Peach Sunrise (pinfall 11:13)
  2. Pre-show: ROH World Tag Team Championship – Sons of Texas (c) defeated House of Torture via Swanton (pinfall 9:27)
  3. Eight-Person Lucha Gauntlet match – Taiji Ishimori defeated El Desperado, Hechicero, Kosei Fujita, Soberano Jr., Master Wato, Mascara Dorada, and Titan via Gedo Clutch (pinfall 16:23)
  4. 5-Minute Time Limit Special Exhibition match – Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. Katsuyori Shibata went to a Time Limit Draw (5:00)
  5. NJPW Strong Women’s Championship & RevPro Undisputed British Women’s Championship Title vs. Title match – Mercedes Mone (NJPW) defeated Mina Shirakawa (RevPro) via Mone Maker (pinfall 14″06)
  6. David Finlay defeated Brody King via Overkill (pinfall 12:03)
  7. Shota Umino defeated Claudio Castagnoli via Death Rider (pinfall 14:31)
  8. AEW International Championship and NEVER Openweight Championship match – Konosuke Takeshita (c) defeated Tomohiro Ishii via Raging Fire (pinfall 13:30)
  9. Vacant IWGP Tag Team Championship Tornado Three-way match – The Young Bucks defeated United Empire and Los Ingobernables de Japon via TK Driver (pinfall 13:46)
  10. IWGP Global Championship – Yota Tsuji (c) defeated Jack Perry via Gene Blaster (pinfall 13:12)
  11. Kenny Omega defeated Gabe Kidd via One-Winged Angel (pinfall 31:55)
  12. IWGP World Heavyweight Championship – Zack Sabre Jr. (c) defeated Ricochet via Clarky Cat (submission 20:57)

Pre-show
International Women’s Cup Four-way Match
Athena vs. Persephone vs. Willow Nightingale vs. Momo Watanabe

Watanabe controlled the early goings, dismantling Persephone and Athena with relative ease. Nightingale, however, persevered until Persephone sent her out of the ring. Frenzy after frenzy ensued, with each hard-hitting competitor giving it their all, with Athena’s bully style ruthlessly cutting her opponents down.

Interrupting Nightingale’s offense to Persephone, Athena sought to take advantage of her distracted state. As the ROH Women’s Champion pinned the AEW star, Watanabe’s H.A.T.E. stablemate Thekla pulled the referee out at the last second. Athena’s aspirations for the International Women’s Cup were undercut wholly with a swing from Watanabe’s bat and her signature Peach Sunrise.

Winner: Momo Watanabe via Pinfall.

Pre-show
ROH World Tag Team Championship
House of Torture (Yoshinnobu Kanemaru & SHO) vs. Sons of Texas (Dustin Rhodes & Sammy Guevara) (c)

Rhodes extended a hand of sportsmanship to SHO, who seemingly obliged until Kanemaru ambushed him from behind. The House of Torture stablemates plucked at Guevara like vultures, going so far as to expose the turnbuckle on their side of the ring and tossing the younger half of the champion team into it. Rhodes made a hot tag, playing all his greatest hits on SHO, crushing him with a scoop slam. A Spear from SHO granted Kanemaru a tag of his own, to which he worked the legs of The Natural.

Kanemaru followed his typical dastardly approach with his Whiskey Mist following a Goldust homage from Rhodes. A Dustin Destroyer and a Whiskey Mist of his own saw Rhodes flatten Kanemaru with a Final Reckoning. Guevara punctuated this with a 630 Splash to give Rhodes the pinfall victory.

Winner: Sons of Texas via Pinfall to retain the ROH World Tag Team Championship.

Eight-Person Lucha Gauntlet Match
Hechicero vs. Kosei Fujita vs. Soberano Jr. vs. Master Wato vs. Mascara Dorada vs. Taiji Ishimori vs. Titan vs. El Desperado

Hechicero and Kosei Fujita opened the match, locking up to no avail. Soberano Jr entered, breaking up their attempts before Master Wato sent him to the outside. Mascara Dorada emerged, overwhelming everyone with high-flying maneuvers. His miraculous abilities were quickly quelled by the equally agile Taiji Ishimori, who proceeded to test his mettle with the incoming Titan. The final entrant, El Desperado, strutted in with Junior Heavyweight Championship gold droped over his shoulder.

Seeing the prize on the horizon, each NJPW and CMLL entrant in the gauntlet charged for Desperado, blasting him in succession with their signature moves. Chaos erupted in the gauntlet, with tope flips and dives abound to the outside. Dorada was the last to soar, as Desperado and Fujita grappled on the mat. Ishimori broke up their test of sport by tossing the referee onto them, sealing the deal with a Gedo Clutch to Desperado for the win.

Winner: Taiji Ishimori via Pinfall.

5-Minute Time Limit Special Exhibition Match
Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. Katsuyori Shibata

A lock-up, a chest-chop sequence. The more it went on, the more Tanahashi and Shibata furiously exchanged brutality. Shibata’s chest was red, but not as significantly as Tanahashi, as they traded blows that echoed through the Tokyo Dome.

Winner: None.

NJPW Strong Women’s Championship & RevPro Undisputed British Women’s Championship Title vs. Title Match
Mina Shirakawa (RevPro) vs. Mercedes Mone (NJPW)

Moné’s confidence shone while determination gleamed and sparkled within Shirakawa’s eyes. Moné dived to her opponent on the outside after she took a spill, but fell from the top rope a moment later after a Dragon Screw Leg Whip. Shirakawa worked the knees of Moné, but couldn’t avoid the Strong Women’s Champion’s Meteora.

Continuing targeting Moné’s week spot, Shirakawa trapped her in a leglock. Another Dragon Screw Leg Whip by Shirakawa keeps her in control, as she followed up with another leglock. Shirakawa tried a Venus Driver for a very close 2-count pin, with Moné’s Bank Statement reaching the same result. Frantically struggling to survive, Moné won with a Moné Maker.

Winner: Mercedes Mone via Pinfall to become the new RevPro Undisputed British Women’s Champion and to retain the NJPW Women’s Championship.

David Finlay vs. Brody King

King’s domineering size, while not dwarfing Finlay, certainly overwhelmed him with brute strength. The cunning of Finlay served him well enough, but King moved unforgivingly, tossing Finlay every which way, even into the steel barricades. This wasn’t just a match to emerge victorious, this was a match for Finlay to survive. The overall welfare of the War Dog was in dire condition, helplessly enduring the abuses of King as Gedo pleaded on the outside.

Something awoke in Finlay, as he struck back, poked King in the eyes, and threw himself completely into his larger opponent towards the barricade—twice. And yet, despite all of this renewed rage inside of the Bullet Club Leader, Finlay only made a small chip in the armor of King. All he could do was kick out of subsequent pins. Eventually, the former Global Heavyweight Champion found it in himself to unleash Oblivion and Overkill to ultimately slay the giant.

Winner: David Finlay via Pinfall.

Shota Umino vs. Claudio Castagnoli

Halfway through Umino’s entrance, Castagnoli ambushed the Roughneck. His wrath was delivered unto Umino far into the outside of the arena, across steel and ground. Wrenching back Umino’s face, Castagnoli’s remorseless approach read more like a message than competition.

Castagnoli’s wealth of strength paid dividends, such as a spot where he casually tossed him from the top turnbuckle as though he were a lightweight teddy bear. When his signature Swing couldn’t disorientate Umino enough for the win, he pulled deep with a Boston Crab to no success. Seeking to toss him off the top rope again, Castagnoli fell victim to elbow strikes to the neck and a DDT from the top. A Ricola Bomb nearly gave Castagnoli the victory, but Umino survived and won with an Underhook Death Driver.

Winner: Shota Umino via Pinfall.

AEW International Championship and NEVER Openweight Championship Match
Tomohiro Ishii vs. Konosuke Takeshita (c)

Like rampaging beasts, Takeshita and Ishii tore into one another with the ferocity of apex predators on nature documentaries. For the most part, Takeshita’s stiff strikes kept Ishii at bay, despite his tenacity enduring. Through a stretch of back-and-forth intensity, Takeshita regained control courtesy a suplex and later a Blue Thunderbomb. A Falcon Arrow from the top rope crumpled Ishii, but could not elicit a pinfall.

The indominatable versus the impervious, neither man were able to incapacitate the other without taking themselves out first. Miraculously, the knackered Ishii countered the top rope aspirations of Takeshita into a Hurricanrana, following up with a series of headbutts and lariats. Takeshita managed a hard-fought comeback with elbows, but sealed the envelope to this match with a Raging Fire for the pinfall.

Winner: Konosuke Takeshita via Pinfall to retain the AEW International Championship and NEVER Openweight Championship.

Vacant IWGP Tag Team Championship Tornado Three-way Match
United Empire (Great-O-Khan & Jeff Cobb) vs. The Young Bucks (Matthew & Nicholas Jackson) vs. Los Ingobernables de Japon (Tetsuya Naito & Hiromu Takahashi)

United Empire and Los Ingobernables de Japon immediately took each other on, as the Young Bucks watched. The Jackson brothers then proceeded to venture towards their vintage teamwork while loudly bantering.

Khan and Naito locked up, with Cobb throwing his weight around but suffered a well-synced flip from the Bucks. United Empire staged a front that overwhelmed the competition, nearly suffering an EVP Trigger from the Bucks, but overcame both with a singular massive suplex. Briefly allying with LIJ, the Bucks betrayed them, thrashed Naito and Cobb, and then won the match with a Meltzer Driver onto a defeated Khan.

Winner: Young Bucks via Pinfall to win the IWGP Tag Team Championship.

IWGP Global Heavyweight Championship
Jack Perry vs. Yota Tsuji (c)

Tsuji maintained neck control initially, halted by Perry’s leg work. The Scapegoat gave little room for the champion to breathe, as Perry threw everything he had at him. A Spanish Fly from Tsuji earned a brief reprieve, had it not been for Perry’s knee; this was a double-edged sword as the challenger began to favor his other knee.

Failing to stage another comeback, Tsuji fell victim to a low-blow by Perry but kicked out at the last second. Recovering just enough adrenaline, the champion dodged and weaved through any attack Perry could muster. Slowed by his knee, Perry collapsed under the force of a devastating Gene Blaster. Tsuji retained, standing tall over The Scapegoat.

Winner: Yota Tsuji via Pinfall to retain the IWGP Global Heavyweight Championship.

Kenny Omega vs. Gabe Kidd

Kidd’s standard fare blazed like an inferno, hushed to an ember as Omega’s traditional style delivered skin-reddening strikes and familiar taunts. Kidd snatched the flow of the match and whipped Omega to the barricades repeatedly. Renovating the commentary area, Kidd’s plans were postponed thanks to Omega diving him into the barricades.

Kidd staged a coup against the experience of Omega on the apron, but was punished for it by spilling onto the floor and rammed mercilessly under a vicious sneer to the barricade and the tables Kidd set earlier. Bloodied, Kidd could only watch as Omega soared through the Tokyo sky past the barricade and onto him below. Having damaged his hip during the dive, Omega berated the ringside crew, leaving just enough time for Kidd to recover in a fury rendering him almost zombie-like.

With another table set up, Kidd dragged Omega’s crumpled corpse and dropped him through it with a cruel Powerbomb. Commentary declared that Omega was oozing blood while Kidd and his War Dogs threw a collection of steel chairs into the ring. Omega, sensing the danger, kneed Kidd onto the mountain of chairs but fell soundly to a Straight Vertical Suplex onto the chairs he so hoped to avoid. The pair dueled with chairs until Omega landed one directly onto Kidd’s head.

Omega opted for each of his signature moves, from Croyt’s Wrath to a V-Trigger, hoping to end it with a One-Winged Angel, which faltered due to Omega’s diverticulitis. Kidd countered this further with an Inoki hold to the crowd’s ovation. Kidd pummelled Omega with multiple Drivers but failed to get the job done. Mustering the strength to rise once more, Omega used Kota Ibushi’s Kamigoye and ended the match with a One-WInged Angel for the pinfall.

Winner: Kenny Omega via Pinfall.

IWGP World Heavyweight Championship
Ricochet vs. Zack Sabre Jr. (c)

Before Sabre could even enter the ring, an impassioned Ricochet charged full velocity at the champion. Enraged, Sabre swung with uppercuts on the challenger, catching the bouncy Ricochet at every chance. The early offense has wore on Sabre, made worse by the unrelenting nature of Ricochet. The aerial wrestler’s style contrasted wildly to Sabre’s grounded approach.

Any moment Ricochet extended his limbs to Sabre in his strikes, he reacted quick enough to avoid any reversal by the champ. Sabre mounted a comeback, throwing kicks and strikes like his life depended on it. However, Ricochet caught him and suplexed him consecutively from the middle of the ring to the padding outside. Sabre re-entered the ring, barely beating the count and engaged in a slap-fest with Ricochet.

Sabre powered through with a series of uppercuts, trounced soundly by Ricochet’s knee. At last countering Ricochet, the champ plunged Ricochet with a Sabre Driver, transitioned into a Cross Armbreaker. Ricochet floated in a Shooting Star Press for a heart-stopping 2-count. Sabre grounded Ricochet and defeated him with a Jim Breaks Armbar to a vocal submission.

Winner: Zack Sabre Jr. via Pinfall to retain the IWGP World Championship.

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