Dominion in Osaka-jo Hall (2021): WrestleFile Historical Verdict

Bullet Club's EVIL, Taiji Ishimori, El Phantasmo, Chase Owens and Yujiro Takahashi defeated Hiroshi Tanahashi and the CHAOS team of Tomohiro Ishii, Hirooki Goto, YOSHI-HASHI and SHO in 11:50. Ishimori scored the pin on SHO following Bloody Cross, rather than EVIL pinning Tanahashi. The postmatch Bullet Club attack helped establish its aggressive role on a compact five-match card. This was a ten-man opener without a championship at stake, not the vacant IWGP World Heavyweight Championship decision later contested by Shingo Takagi and Kazuchika Okada. The C+ mark reflects adequate faction action and the decisive junior-heavyweight pin while recognizing that the payoff was mostly setup for future issues, not the reason Dominion 2021 is best remembered.

Los Ingobernables de Japón's Tetsuya Naito, SANADA and BUSHI beat Suzuki-gun's Taichi, Zack Sabre Jr. and DOUKI in 11:31, with SANADA pinning Sabre after the Aussie Suplex. That finish is important because it was not Naito pinning Taichi or a submission scored by BUSHI. The meeting fed into an IWGP tag-team issue involving Dangerous Tekkers and the Naito-SANADA partnership without awarding the tag belts on this night. It followed the Bullet Club ten-man and led into El Desperado's junior heavyweight title defense, forming the card's last faction-style undercard match. The C+ grade recognizes a well-defined team victory and the hint of an upcoming tag rivalry, but the headline consequence still belonged to the subsequent singles contests.

El Desperado retained the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Championship against YOH in 23:40, finishing the title defense with Pinche Loco for the pin. YOH's challenge was a singles title match, not an IWGP junior tag defense involving his Roppongi 3K partner SHO. After the bout, Taiji Ishimori challenged Desperado, while Ishimori and El Phantasmo also raised the junior tag division's future. The B score is grounded in a substantial championship contest and the clear winner rather than a fictitious title transfer. Desperado entered as champion and left still holding the junior singles belt; the main event's vacant IWGP World Heavyweight Championship was a different belt, decided between Takagi and Okada after two more matches.

Kota Ibushi defeated Jeff Cobb in 14:54 with Kamigoye at Dominion 2021, rebounding from losing the IWGP World Heavyweight Championship earlier that spring. Cobb's alliance with United Empire gave this meeting a specific faction context, and Great-O-Khan accompanied him. Neither wrestler gained the vacant world championship through this match; that decision came afterward when Shingo Takagi faced Kazuchika Okada. Ibushi's victory supplied a relatively concise, hard-hitting penultimate singles feature on a show unusually short for the Dominion series. The B- evaluation acknowledges the credible matchup and decisive result without claiming it was a tournament final, world title defense or a victory by Cobb. Its value is in the direct finish and in where Ibushi stood during the new championship's unsettled first months.

Shingo Takagi defeated Kazuchika Okada in 36:06 with Last of the Dragon to win the vacant IWGP World Heavyweight Championship at Dominion on June 7, 2021. Will Ospreay had vacated the title following an injury, creating the vacancy that made this main event a new champion's coronation rather than an ordinary defense. Takagi became the third holder of the IWGP World Heavyweight Championship following its creation earlier in 2021. The main event was clearly the card's longest match, distinct from Desperado retaining the separate junior title against YOH. The B+ grade reflects the long bout and major title-history consequence. The event retained its Dominion 6.6 branding despite moving its actual date to June 7, so the title and calendar date should not be confused.

Takagi then called out Kota Ibushi, who had beaten Jeff Cobb earlier on this very card, creating a direct next-challenger connection. The title had previously been held by Ibushi and then Will Ospreay, so Takagi's coronation brought a new face to a championship still in its first few months. The five-match show was also shorter than many Dominion cards because it took place during Japan's pandemic-era attendance restrictions. These connected details give the victory context without overstating the significance of the opening faction tags.