Nexess 2004: WrestleFile Historical Verdict

American Dragon, Último Dragón and Koji Kanemoto defeated Tiger Mask, Heat and Naomichi Marufuji in 18:40 to open Nexess 2004 at Tokyo Dome. The junior six-person meeting carries WrestleFile's B- / 7.1, a stronger score than several later K-1 crossover contests. This result belongs to the winning Dragon-Dragon-Kanemoto trio, not the Tiger Mask-Heat-Marufuji side. No IWGP Junior Heavyweight title changed hands in this opener; it was a six-man result, not a championship defense. The pairing is worth preserving because the event then shifted toward Makai Club competition and cross-style matches before the two separate IWGP title defenses near the end.

The Makai Club group of Giant Majin, Super Strong Majin and New Strong Majin beat Hiroyoshi Tenzan, Osamu Nishimura and Shinya Makabe in 7:07. This second contest at May 3, 2004 Nexess was billed under the New Japan versus Makai World Class heading and received WrestleFile's C / 6.3. The unusual three masked Majin identities are all distinct participants; collapsing them into a single performer or omitting a teammate would be a participant error. This was not the IWGP Tag Team Championship match: the actual defending champions Suzuki and Takayama retained against Chono and Murakami later on the same Tokyo Dome program.

Jushin Thunder Liger defeated Katsuhiko Nakajima in 7:27 in the junior-themed third match of Nexess 2004. The event billed the bout as a leader-versus-supernova confrontation, and the source result places Liger on the winning side. WrestleFile's C / 6.3 assigns this contest a lower viewing priority than the 18:40 junior six-man opener. No championship is attached to this result, and it should not be confused with Liger's GHC junior title defense on the earlier March King of Sports event. Nexess was a May Tokyo Dome card led by Bob Sapp's separate IWGP Heavyweight defense, with its own cross-style attractions.

Josh Barnett beat Ken Shamrock by disqualification in 13:13 in a match billed as a grudge contest at Nexess 2004. Barnett is the recorded winner, but a DQ is not a pinfall, submission or documented knockout; the source does not establish a more specific cause of disqualification. WrestleFile graded it C+ / 6.8, between the short junior singles bouts and the stronger title defenses. Both competitors were presented as a distinct matchup, separate from the three New Japan-versus-K-1 bouts later on the program. The disqualification is the key outcome to preserve in the participant record rather than converting the verdict into an ordinary wrestling finish.

Dolgorsuren Sumyaabazar and Dolgorsuren Serjbudee, identified as Blue Wolf, defeated Genichiro Tenryu and Meng in 8:32 at Nexess 2004. The event's fifth bout featured a two-person team from the Dolgorsuren family facing the Tenryu-Meng pairing. WrestleFile gave it C+ / 6.5, a historical-supporting grade rather than the headline attraction. The recorded winning duo and opposing team are important to the exact match-side graph; Blue Wolf is the identifying ring name for Serjbudee in this source, not an unlisted third teammate. No title change is documented in this tag result; the evening's heavyweight championship remained with Bob Sapp after the final.

Yuji Nagata and Kendo Kashin defeated Kensuke Sasaki and Manabu Nakanishi in 14:58 in the bout labeled Burning Hatred. WrestleFile's C+ / 6.8 reflects a middle-card tag result involving familiar New Japan heavyweights, not the result of a singles IWGP title defense. Sasaki had lost the IWGP Heavyweight Championship to Bob Sapp at King of Sports in March, and he did not regain that championship from Nagata or Kashin through this May tag match. The Nexess title holder was Sapp, who later defeated Nakamura to retain. These separately dated events and the source-verified Nagata-Kashin winning side prevent a misleading championship chronology.

Minoru Suzuki and Yoshihiro Takayama defended the IWGP Tag Team Championship against Masahiro Chono and Kazunari Murakami in 15:50 and retained their titles. The champions were Suzuki and Takayama; Chono and Murakami entered as challengers. WrestleFile's B- / 7.1 places this seventh match among the more valuable conventional wrestling bouts on a show that then moved through K-1 crossover fights. The title result is a retention, not a transfer to Chono and Murakami. Bob Sapp separately defended the IWGP Heavyweight singles championship against Shinsuke Nakamura in the final, leaving both headline IWGP titles with their incumbents.

Yutaka Yoshie defeated Jan Nortje in 3:31 in a New Japan-versus-K-1 different-style fight at Nexess on May 3, 2004. The short duration and WrestleFile's C / 6.3 distinguish this crossover pairing from the 15:50 traditional IWGP Tag Team Championship defense immediately before it. Yoshie represented the New Japan side and Nortje the K-1 side. The saved result names a winner but does not identify a pinfall, knockout or other exact finish, so attributing one would invent evidence. This match began the consecutive crossover section leading toward Tanahashi-O'Haire and Musashi-Shibata, all separate from Bob Sapp's title defense.

Hiroshi Tanahashi defeated Sean O'Haire in 7:39 in the ninth match of Nexess 2004, part of its New Japan-versus-K-1 sequence. The source identifies Tanahashi as the New Japan participant and O'Haire as the K-1-linked opponent, with WrestleFile's C+ / 6.6 saved score. This wasn't a U-30 title defense or an IWGP championship victory: Tanahashi's U-30 cage retention against Kazunari Murakami took place at the earlier King of Sports card. Nexess instead used this non-title crossover singles contest between Yoshie-Nortje and Musashi-Shibata. The confirmed result is Tanahashi's win, without an invented finishing move or rule-specific outcome.

Musashi defeated Katsuyori Shibata by knockout in Round 2 of their New Japan-versus-K-1 different-style fight at Tokyo Dome. This tenth Nexess contest was not an ordinary wrestling pin or submission; the source explicitly names the KO and second round. WrestleFile rated the encounter C+ / 6.6, an assessment separate from the factual finish. It came immediately before champion Bob Sapp retained the IWGP Heavyweight Championship against Shinsuke Nakamura, whose result was not part of this knockout. The difference between the specialized fighting format, its round-based stoppage and the wrestling championship defense is central to accurate 2004 event records.

Bob Sapp defeated Shinsuke Nakamura in 12:31 to retain the IWGP Heavyweight Championship in the closing match of Nexess on May 3, 2004. Sapp entered the Tokyo Dome as the reigning champion after winning the same belt against Kensuke Sasaki at the March King of Sports show. WrestleFile's B / 7.8 is the strongest individual match score of this eleven-bout card, but it does not imply a fresh title switch. The penultimate Musashi-Katsuyori Shibata bout had ended in a second-round knockout under a different-style format; Sapp-Nakamura was a separate championship match. The reigning heavyweight singles and Suzuki-Takayama tag champions both left Nexess with their IWGP titles intact.