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NJPW Wrestle Dynasty 2025: The Forbidden Door Swings Both Ways

The second night of NJPW action in the Tokyo Dome took place this evening, as Wrestle Dynasty took the Forbidden Door off the hinges

Less than 24 hours after Wrestle Kingdom 19 took place in the Tokyo Dome, New Japan Pro Wrestling was back with multiple promotions for day two, which they dubbed Wrestle Dynasty 2025. This is their version of AEW's Forbidden Door PPV they do with NJPW every year, only this one included representatives from CMLL, AEW, DDT, Stardom, RevPro, and Ring of Honor. Night One was already pretty good, but how did Night Two hold up?

Now, before we continue, we're just going to say this: THERE ARE SPOILERS AHEAD. So, if you don't want to know the results and want to watch the show on your own time, this is your only warning that we're going to talk about the show. If you keep going, that's on you!!!

International Women's Cup Final Four Way Match – Athena vs. Momo Watanabe vs. Willow Nightingale vs. Persephone

They kicked the evening off with the Women's Four-Way, which feels like a missed chance in hindsight as these four put on a show. All four of them got some impressive offense in, giving them a chance to shine with some heavy hits from all four. The most impressive to me was Persephone, as she is just tall and agile and can pull off moves other women her size normally don't. Willow and Athena ate this match up, as they appeared to be the two trading off being in charge at different times, which should have been the sign of things to come with Momo involved. Near the end of the match, everyone hit their finishers to a degree, but Momo snagged her baseball bat from the outside, clobbered Athena in the side of the head with it, and took advantage for the 1-2-3.

Momo has earned a shot at the Women's Strong Championship at a later date. At the end when everyone was walking away, I noticed the trophy Momo won from this just said "Victory" on it and nothing else, like it was an achievement you earned on the PS5. I mean… if you wanna show you don't care about women's wrestling that much on your own show, that's certainly a way of doing it. This company makes custom trophies all the time, but for this one, they snagged one from a pawn shop and called it a day. These women all did amazing and deserved better.

ROH World Tag Team Championship Match – The Sons Of Texas (Dustin Rhodes & Sammy Guevara) (c) vs. House Of Torture (SHO & Yoshinobu Kanemaru)

This was the weaker of the two matches on the pre-show and probably the easiest match to predict, as there's no way SHO and Kanemaru were going back to the States to defend a pair of tag titles. This was Guevara's first time in the Dome and Rhodes' first time since 1993. Both teams were impressive in their own right, and this wasn't a bad match. It just wasn't anything special to write home about. The champs retained and got some applause, but its clear the crowd knew how as winning this ahead of time as well.

Lucha Gauntlet Match

This is basically a fun exhibition match between NJPW and CMLL, as they had four unannounced competitors from both promotions. The eight names included Hechicero, Kosei Fujita, Soberano Jr., Master Wato, Mascara Dorada, Taiji Ishimori, Titan, and El Desperado. The match was basically a lucha showcase until Desperado's music hit, and then everyone put their differences aside and wanted a piece of the new champion. They all performed a move on him before breaking down and turning the entire affair into a high-flying spot fest, which is exactly what you would expect from this match. Just a great showcase of what they can all do. The match came to an end when Ishimori shoved Fujita off El Desperado for a sneaky win, which we're sure will come around to a title match in the next month or so.

Special Exhibition Match – Katsuyori Shibata vs. Hiroshi Tanahashi

Shibata has made a great career for himself outside of NJPW, as he is currently wrestling around the world, but primarily for AEW and Ring of Honor. Which has more to do with NJPW not wanting to take a chance on him after his near-fatal brain injury in 2018. So when we do see him in the Cerulean blue ring, it's in short exhibition matches. After last night's events, we got this match between him and longtime friend/rival Tanahashi for Wrestle Dynasty, another stop added to his 2025 retirement tour. The two traded small offenses before jumping into chop battle that fired up the crowd. In the middle of it, there was a headbutt, which gave flashbacks to Shibata's match with Okada. Since it was an exhibition, they were "judging" it based on points. Sounded like it ended in a tie, to which they congratulated each other and left friends.

NJPW STRONG Women's Championship / RevPro Undisputed British Women's Championship Match – Mercedes Mone (c) vs. Mina Shirakawa (c)

You never really know what goes through a wrestler's mind before they go out, but I like to think these two wanted to prove they should have been put on a better spot in the card and made up for the first women's match being the opener. Mina showed up in full Stardom glamour as opposed to how we've seen her in AEW, complete with tassels on half her gear. Meanwhile, Mone showed up dressed as Sailor Moon. This was a trade-off match through and through, as one would get some offense rolling, then the other would take over for a bit with a few moves of her own. A lot of the match revolved around both of their legs as the two worked over the knees.

We got to see Mina's rougher side, which American audiences haven't been exposed to, and Mone really let loose in a way we haven't seen her do in years. Mina hit a Super DDT from the top rope but couldn't capitalize, followed by a Fallaway Electric Chair and a Figure Four. Mina made a few pin attempts, but Mone made a brief comeback for another trade-off before hitting the Mone Maker for the pinfall. Mercedes is now a Triple Crown champion, as she has the RevPro title to add to the collection.

Singles Match – David Finlay vs. Brody King

One of the several singles matches with no titles on the line; this is the first of the AEW vs. NJPW matches on the Wrestle Dynasty card. This was King's first match in the Dome, while Finley was here a day ago, losing the Global Championship. This was a classic powerhouse versus speedy fighter kind of fight, where King basically played Big Van Vader, with Finley being any number of challengers to his IWGP title back in the day. The crowd got on their feet for King barreling into Finlay on the outside, who was seated in a chair against the guard rail.

One of the best elements was listening to King berate Finley, telling him to "wake the fuck up," which he did by getting him off balance back on the outside and torpedoing King with his body into the guard rail, followed by a top rope dive to the outside. King regained the advantage and basically spent three solid minutes beating Finley down, Until Finley pulled out a Spear. Finley managed to pull out a powerbomb on King when he went to the ropes, then nailed him with two of his heavy-duty hits to get the upset over King.

Singles Match – Claudio Castagnoli vs. Shota Umino

Before this match even started, the crowd booed the sight of Umino. Umino showed up on his silly-looking motorcycle again to do another drive around the Tokyo Dome to look cool. But really, if you're not going to slide in on the Akira-style bike in Japan, did you even ride a motorcycle? Claudio ran out and jumped Umino on the ramp, getting him a fair share of boos, because even if they're not fans of Umino, they really don't like Western wrestlers jumping people before the match starts. While Umino got in some offense here and there, the bulk of this match was Claudio beating the tar out of him like he insulted his mom.

Umino got in his array of DDT offenses when he could, but we eventually got the Big Swing and the Sharpshooter from Claudio. Umino fought through it and mounted a slight comeback again with a big DDT from the top rope, but then Claudio hit a powerbomb. After switching off close finishers, Umino got the Deathrider DDT off for the pin. Its clear at some point, Mox is probably going to cross paths with Umino as they look to tell the story of him overcoming his master.

NEVER Openweight Title / AEW International Championship Match – Konosuke Takeshita (c) vs. Tomohiro Ishii

Less than 24 hours after winning the NEVER title from Shingo Takagi, Takkeshita was back in the Dome defending both titles against The Stone Pitbull. The crowd popped for this when they showed the graphic above on the big screens, because they knew the kind of match we were about to get. Ishii got a hero's welcome while Takeshita popped out with Don Callis again to a pop of his own, wearing both belts at once. Much like last night, we started this off with more of a striking trade-off between these two as we dove into a different kind of Hoss Match. These two were trading hits that you feel for days on end with bruising and soreness to come.

At one point, Takeshita hit a Raging Fire from the top rope for a 2 1/2, followed by a Bastard Driver and a German Suplex, followed by a Lariat for a one-count. Ishis responded with a pair of his own that got a two count, with both men collapsing and the crowd getting on their feet! The two continued to trade off on having dominance in the match, but the tried looked to shift when Ishii hit his own "FrankenIshii" from the corner. More hard-hitting blows and wicked Lariats followed, with high suplex from Takeshita, then a Poisonrana that dropped Ishii on his head. A few more heavy hits led Takeshita to nailing a Blue Thunder Bomb and securing the win over Ishii. This was a definite candidate for match of the night as the crowd was louder there than for most of the matches tonight.

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

So the short version of how we got here is that Great-O-Khan was already a tag champ with Henare until the latter got injured, and they needed to vacate the titles. To get them back, O-Khan had to find a new partner, which turned out to be fellow United Empire member Jeff Cobb. Meanwhile, Hiromu Takahashi and Tetsuya Naito, who fought each other the night before, won the World Tag League this year, earning a shot at the belts. Then, for no real explained reason beyond the shock of it all, the Young Bucks were added. The Bucks came out to their old-school NJPW music, but still dressed like they were trying out for the LA Clippers.

Listening to the Bucks yell at the crowd was a treat. "Let's do something super awesome" as they hit a high-rise dropkick on Cobb was great. This was high spot after high spot as all six men delivered some of their greatest hits and best sequences you'll see anywhere. It's a nice reminder that the Bucks can go and that LIJ is still among the best in the company. For a long period of time, the match was just The Bucks sitting in the center of the ring taking people out in various ways. Which should have been the giveaway to it all as the two hit the Tony Khan driver on O-Khan at the end for the win, becoming IWGP Tag Team Champions once again, winning the belts five and a half years later after they had them last.

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

Jack Perry returns to NJPW for the first time in several months, as this is where the Scapegoat moniker was born following the insanity from All-In 2023. Taking on Tsuji, who returns just one day out from winning the Global title from Finley. I got nothing against either of these guys, but this entire match felt forgettable. A lot of what we saw was what you'd normally see from either of them in their matches. Not a lot of risks, not a lot of big spots, just a simple match with some heel bits thrown in. The most interesting part was watching the striking trade-off, along with the low blow after the near hit on the referee. The outcome for this one was also never in doubt, but they made all the effort to make sure the crowd enjoyed it. I just wish there was something here to separate it from the other matches.

Singles Match – Kenny Omega vs. Gabe Kidd

The grudge match that started with Omega's surprise return, followed by a him messing up Kidd's name in an interview. The simplest thing to set off a current wrestler from returning name, and you got a match. Kidd came out with a ball of fire and a ton of support, but it was clear from the entrances that Omega had the crowd in the palm of his hand to get cheered and be booed in a heartbeat. This was no standard match; they went to the outside within five minutes and were already tearing up tables and guard rails. They even pulled off the classic Bret Hart/Dynamite Kid suplex to the outside perfectly. The tale of this one was Kidd going after Omega's ribs after coming back from Diverticulitis, testing whether or not Omega was fully healed. Kidd was about to piledriver Omega on the apron, but he flipped Kidd over, who hit his legs on the ropes and took a scary fall to the floor.

The highlight that got the crowd on their feet and really booing Omega was when he powerbombs Kidd to the outside through a table, getting busted open in the process. Omega followed it up with a forward diving senton. Omega sold the hip getting back up, which Kidd responded to with chair shots to his body while bleeding from the head. Kidd followed it up with a suplex onto a half-folded table and then giving a salute back to his training at the LA Dojo. Omega was bleeding at this point; the War Dogs at ringside loaded up the ring with chairs while Kidd bit into Omega's head, but it backfired when Omega gave him an Iron Claw Slam into the pile, followed by Kidd super-plexing Omega into the pile. Omega did his Terminator Dive as Red Shoes Umoni showed up to replace the referee, who had been wiped out, followed by  V-Trigger in the corner and a top-rope Snapdragon suplex for a close two.

Kidd mounted a comeback, which included some callbacks to classic NJPW wrestlers, a couple of different piledrivers, and a close call with Omega getting his foot on the ropes.  Kidd was feeding off the crowd at this point, as they were the loudest they had been all night. The two traded off hits before Omega hit a pair of V-Triggers. At this point, we knew the end was near, as Kidd flipped off Omega on his knees, which he turned into a Kamigoye, followed by the One-Winged Angel for the win. That was a hell of a match that got the two an ovation from the crowd. Hiroshi Tanahashi was in tears at ringside on commentary because, to him, he knew what he witnessed when it came to professional wrestling.

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

Well, the bar has been set as we entered the final match of the night. With ZSJ retaining the IWGP title, this became a championship match and a chance for Ricochet to capture the top prize. ZSJ came out with his new "Young Punks Grow Old" theme with the rest of TMDK in tow. Ricochet jumped ZSJ early before he had a chance to get in the ring, performing a number of high high-flying hits to gain an advantage. ZSJ responded with some of his classics, including wrenching the next between his feet. People may not remember because it has been several years, but the first part of this was a highlight reel of previous matches they had in NJPW and other promotions, as they know what works with each other and how to get the best match. Which they needed to do as a follow-up to what we just got from Kidd and Omega.

The middle of this match saw the two becoming heavy strikers, with Ricochet relying more on his fists and elbows while ZSJ focused on his kicks. Both men side suplexed themselves around to the outside, which led to a close count-out. Ricochet jawing at ZSJ, "You gonna stand up, motherfucker?" while flipping him off led to a slapping contest with more jawing, which turned to elbows and European uppercuts. ZSJ started going to his submission and joint manipulation game, which came with a Zack Driver from the top rope. After hitting a number of quick moves, Ricochet went for and missed a 630 Splash, then got hit with a PK for a close two count. ZSJ tied him up in submissions until he cried out in pain that he gave up, bringing a surprise verbal submission to the end of this match. This was a hell of a match, but I feel like if you gave them another five minutes, it could have been even better.

Wrestle Dynasty 2025 definitely delivered some great matches, but overall, they played it safe. There was only one title change on the entire card with Mercedes Mone, and only one surprise with the Young Bucks coming out with gold. With two exceptions, you could predict almost every outcome of the night. But hey, that's the same experience we had with Forbidden Door 2024. A lot of cool matches, but not much change. In comparison to Wrestle Kingdom 19, I felt they were pretty much even. Neither show was so amazing that it outdid itself, but neither was a bad show either. I think NJPW did a great job of booking the weekend and giving people some matches they wanted to see and experiences they wouldn't have gotten in many other places. We'll see how they follow all of this up with New Year's Dash tomorrow at the Ota City General Gymnasium.

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