Wrestle Dynasty 2025: Kenny Omega and Gabe Kidd Turn the Tokyo Dome Crossover into a Classic

Momo Watanabe (Stardom) (with Thekla) defeated Willow Nightingale (AEW), Persephone (CMLL), and Athena (ROH) by pinfall. The match is framed as Four-way match for the International Women’s Cup final; Winner receives a women's championship match from the participating promotion of their choosing. and runs 11:13. As a pre-show match, it has to create momentum before the pay-per-view proper while still feeling worthwhile on its own. The match is strong rather than transcendent: its structure is convincing and its flaws never take over. The result does not rely on a championship change for its importance. At 7.2 out of 10, the rating reflects how the match works inside Wrestle Dynasty 2025 as a complete show rather than treating historical importance and immediate match quality as the same thing.

The Sons of Texas (Dustin Rhodes and Sammy Guevara) (c) defeated House of Torture (Sho and Yoshinobu Kanemaru) by pinfall. The match is framed as Tag team match for the ROH World Tag Team Championship and runs 9:27. As a pre-show match, it has to create momentum before the pay-per-view proper while still feeling worthwhile on its own. The match is solid and useful, but it lacks the urgency or escalation needed to reach the top tier. The result does not rely on a championship change for its importance. At 6.4 out of 10, the rating reflects how the match works inside Wrestle Dynasty 2025 as a complete show rather than treating historical importance and immediate match quality as the same thing.

Taiji Ishimori won the eight-person Lucha Gauntlet by securing the final fall with a Gedo Clutch, surviving a field drawn from New Japan and Mexico's CMLL. El Desperado, Hechicero, Kosei Fujita, Soberano Jr., Master Wato, Máscara Dorada and Titán all contributed to a contest that operated under gauntlet rules rather than an ordinary eight-man tag format. The unusual mix of submission specialists, masked aerial wrestlers and NJPW juniors set it apart from the surrounding singles matches. Ishimori's victory advanced his individual standing, but there was no championship transfer or new tournament title implied by the pinfall. Its rating credits the changing opponents and quick bursts of offense without recasting this gauntlet as a team bout.

Hiroshi Tanahashi and Katsuyori Shibata fought to a five-minute time-limit draw in a special grappling-rules exhibition, rather than either wrestler gaining a pinfall or submission victory. Their history as NJPW contemporaries gave the restricted-duration contest a personal dimension at the Tokyo Dome. It also marked a rare physical pairing after Shibata's long recovery from serious head injury, and the crowd reacted to the meeting even without a conventional winner. The strict clock is inseparable from the result: the match was scheduled for exactly five minutes and expired with both wrestlers still in the contest. No championship was at stake, and a short, rule-bound exhibition should be judged differently from a full-length title defense.

Mercedes Moné pinned Mina Shirakawa with the Moné Maker in the winner-takes-all women's championship match, leaving the Tokyo Dome with both the NJPW STRONG Women's Championship she entered holding and Shirakawa's RevPro Undisputed British Women's Championship. Shirakawa's striking and counter-wrestling kept the result in question, but Moné found the deciding finishing move in the final exchange. This was an actual second championship acquisition, not simply a successful defense of the STRONG title. The cross-promotional stakes were clearer than a standard exhibition: the loser surrendered her belt while the winner carried both. The higher evaluation acknowledges a meaningful title result alongside the work required to reach the final pin.

David Finlay pinned Brody King after Overkill in a non-title singles contest arranged after Finlay issued an open challenge. King arrived from AEW's House of Black and brought a size and striking advantage that forced the Bullet Club War Dogs leader into a physical fight rather than a routine appearance. Finlay answered King's heavy offense with his own counters, eventually securing the legal fall with his established finisher. Gedo accompanied Finlay but was not a separate match participant, and the result did not transfer a championship. The interest came from seeing an NJPW faction leader tested against an unexpected AEW heavyweight on a co-promoted Tokyo Dome card.

Shota Umino pinned Claudio Castagnoli after the Death Rider to secure an NJPW victory in a singles fight against the Blackpool Combat Club representative. Castagnoli's uppercuts and strength gave Umino a difficult stylistic test, while Umino's own comeback centered on surviving power offense and finding an opening for the final DDT-style finisher. The result was achieved by a three-count rather than a submission, title defense or ringside intervention. For Umino, working against an established AEW power wrestler immediately after Wrestle Kingdom gave the contest a clear development purpose. His decisive finish supplied a specific ending instead of merely treating the result as another crossover showcase.

Konosuke Takeshita pinned Tomohiro Ishii after Raging Fire to retain both his AEW International Championship and his newly won NEVER Openweight Championship. Ishii tried to grind down the champion with repeated strikes and refused to give way to Takeshita's power offense, turning the match into a battle of attrition rather than a short defensive assignment. The decisive finishing move gave Takeshita a three-count in the Tokyo Dome while Don Callis accompanied him in his corner. Both titles were defended at the same time; Ishii did not win either belt, and the result was not a separate championship unification tournament. The stiff encounter reinforced Takeshita's cross-promotional role at the start of his dual reign.

The Young Bucks captured the vacant IWGP Tag Team Championship by winning a tornado three-way against United Empire's Great-O-Khan and Jeff Cobb and the Los Ingobernables de Japón pairing of Tetsuya Naito and Hiromu Takahashi. The Jackson brothers' closing TK Driver provided the deciding fall amid offense from three teams that could all stay involved under the tornado stipulation. Because the belts were vacant, this was a crowning of new champions rather than a defense by the Bucks or a title change from the previous IWGP holders. It also brought two AEW veterans back into a major New Japan title picture. The multi-team dynamics and a definitive winning combination carried more consequence than an ordinary non-title exhibition.

Yota Tsuji pinned Jack Perry with the Gene Blaster to retain the IWGP Global Heavyweight Championship in a direct singles defense against the AEW visitor. Perry attempted to keep the champion from establishing his power game and had periods of offense, but Tsuji recovered and landed his familiar spear-style finisher for the deciding cover. The bout was separate from Perry's other AEW championship stories: he was the challenger to an NJPW title and did not win it. Tsuji had become champion at Wrestle Kingdom the previous day, making this a rapid first test of his reign. The straightforward finishing pin kept the championship with New Japan while extending its cross-promotional exposure.

Kenny Omega pinned Gabe Kidd with the One-Winged Angel after a punishing thirty-minute-plus struggle that marked Omega's return to the ring following a lengthy absence caused by diverticulitis. Kidd attacked with the urgency of a wrestler intent on spoiling that comeback and forced Omega to absorb hard strikes and heavy offense before turning the encounter around. The result carried weight beyond an ordinary non-title meeting: Omega's ability to withstand Kidd's intensity was a demonstration that he could still compete at a high level at the Tokyo Dome. Clark Connors and Drilla Moloney accompanied Kidd but were not credited as legal competitors. Omega's finishing move and three-count decided the match, not an outside ruling.

Zack Sabre Jr. made Ricochet submit to Clarky Cat to retain the IWGP World Heavyweight Championship in the Tokyo Dome main event. The contrasting styles gave the defense its central conflict: Ricochet used aerial acceleration and explosive counters, while Sabre searched for limb control and opportunities to turn a brief opening into a match-ending hold. Sabre eventually caught the challenger and tightened the submission until Ricochet conceded. TMDK partners supported the champion from ringside but did not become legal opponents, and this was an IWGP title retention rather than a match for an AEW championship. The decisive submission completed a demanding two-night stretch for Sabre after Wrestle Kingdom and confirmed his continued place atop New Japan.