Wrestling Dontaku in Fukuoka Dome 2000: WrestleFile Historical Verdict

Young Lion Cup 2000 - Final Kenzo Suzuki defeats Shinya Makabe opened the May 5, 2000 Fukuoka Dome card with a 15:08 tournament decision. Kenzo Suzuki defeated Shinya Makabe to win the Young Lion Cup, creating an actual tournament winner on a show where the closing heavyweight and tag championships would be retained by their existing holders. The review's B- and 7.0 grade recognizes the final's consequence without placing it above the IWGP Heavyweight Championship main event. Suzuki and Makabe represented a development-stage contest within a larger show featuring Masahiro Chono against Tatsumi Fujinami and the Power Warrior versus Great Muta title match. The distinction is chronological: the opening bout settled a cup, not a heavyweight title.

"New Japan vs. T2000" | Shiro Koshinaka, Junji Hirata & Tadao Yasuda defeat TEAM2000 (Hiro Saito, Tatsutoshi Goto & Michiyoshi Ohara) was the 10:19 New Japan-versus-TEAM2000 factional tag contest on the May 2000 Fukuoka Dome bill. Shiro Koshinaka, Junji Hirata and Tadao Yasuda defeated Hiro Saito, Tatsutoshi Goto and Michiyoshi Ohara. The C+ and 6.5 review reflects a functional supporting contest whose importance is the recorded six-man faction rivalry rather than a title defense. It followed Kenzo Suzuki's Young Lion Cup final victory and came before a separate junior-division eight-man match. Those placements show two different roster stories on the same card: a faction contest among established participants and a showcase of junior wrestlers. Neither should be mistaken for the IWGP tag championship match held near the finale.

"New Wave J - SPECIAL 8" | Koji Kanemoto, Shinjiro Otani, Kendo Kashin & Tatsuhito Takaiwa defeat Jushin Thunder Liger, Minoru Tanaka & Crazy MAX (CIMA & Sumo Dandy Fuji 2000) was a 14:26 junior-division eight-man tag distinct from the card's Young Lion Cup final and two IWGP title bouts. Koji Kanemoto, Shinjiro Otani, Kendo Kashin and Tatsuhito Takaiwa defeated a team featuring Jushin Thunder Liger, Minoru Tanaka, CIMA and Sumo Dandy Fuji 2000. Its 'New Wave J - SPECIAL 8' billing captured a broad gathering of junior wrestlers, including participants associated with Crazy MAX. The C+ and 6.8 marks in this review place the contest among the supporting attractions despite its star power within the division. The result favored Kanemoto's quartet; the match did not change the junior heavyweight singles championship or decide the Young Lion Cup.

"T2000 Shoot!" | Hiroyoshi Tenzan defeats Takashi Iizuka was a 13:34 singles match billed 'T2000 Shoot!' on the May 5, 2000 Fukuoka Dome event. Hiroyoshi Tenzan defeated Takashi Iizuka, giving the middle portion of the show a decided faction-related encounter after its earlier New Japan-versus-TEAM2000 six-man tag. The review assigns C+ and 6.8, while higher marks belong to the Young Lion Cup final and the final IWGP championship defenses. This Tenzan-Iizuka meeting did not award a championship or decide the cup. Its relevance is the result and its role in an event that balanced TEAM2000 programs against independent tournament and title stakes. A reader following Tenzan's 2000 story should distinguish this singles victory from the unrelated Chono-Fujinami bout later on the card.

"CRUSH and BREAK" | Yutaka Yoshie defeats Satoshi Kojima was a 15:08 singles meeting whose 'CRUSH and BREAK' billing separated it from the surrounding TEAM2000 and championship programs. Yutaka Yoshie defeated Satoshi Kojima on the May 5, 2000 Fukuoka Dome card. The result added another clear winner to the middle of the evening before Masahiro Chono beat Tatsumi Fujinami and two IWGP titles were defended. With C+ and 6.8 in this review, Yoshie versus Kojima isn't presented as the card's critical high point, yet it has a distinct participant pairing and outcome. It was neither a Young Lion Cup final nor a title change; those stories belonged to other matches on the same eight-bout show.

"Epilogue of Dragon 1st" | Masahiro Chono defeats Tatsumi Fujinami was a 6:03 singles contest between Masahiro Chono and Tatsumi Fujinami. Chono won on the May 5, 2000 Fukuoka Dome card, which listed this bout as 'Epilogue of Dragon 1st.' The short recorded duration and C+ and 6.6 review marks distinguish the result from the longer tournament opener and the championship matches that followed. Fujinami's name gave the card another established New Japan figure, but this was not one of the two IWGP title defenses. Chono's win preceded G-EGGS retaining the tag championship and Kensuke Sasaki, wrestling as Power Warrior, keeping the heavyweight title against the Great Muta. The sequence explains the bout's placement without inventing a belt change.

IWGP Tag Team Championship G-EGGS (Manabu Nakanishi & Yuji Nagata) (c) defeat Naoya Ogawa & Kazunari Murakami to retain the titles was a 9:26 championship defense by Manabu Nakanishi and Yuji Nagata, collectively G-EGGS, against Naoya Ogawa and Kazunari Murakami. The champions won and retained the IWGP Tag Team belts at Fukuoka Dome on May 5, 2000, immediately before Power Warrior's successful IWGP Heavyweight title defense against the Great Muta. The B- and 7.2 assessment recognizes a consequential tag match without claiming that either title changed hands. This was one of two championship contests in the last two slots, both ending with existing titleholders victorious. It is distinct from the opening Young Lion Cup final, where Kenzo Suzuki did gain a tournament honor. The tag title lineage stayed with G-EGGS.

The closing championship contest at Wrestling Dontaku in the Fukuoka Dome put IWGP Heavyweight Champion Kensuke Sasaki, billed in his Power Warrior persona, against The Great Muta. Sasaki retained the belt with a victory over Muta, giving the May 5, 2000 show a clear championship result in its final match. Both wrestlers carried different visual identities and substantial histories within New Japan, but the sporting stakes were straightforward: Muta challenged and Sasaki kept the title. The encounter followed an IWGP Tag Team title defense by Manabu Nakanishi and Yuji Nagata, making consecutive championship matches a central feature of the closing card. The result is a successful singles title defense, not another round of the Young Lion Cup held earlier that evening.

The B grade and 7.8 score reflect a high-profile heavyweight title defense with a confirmed winner but no new champion. Sasaki had won the vacant or newly available heavyweight championship earlier in 2000 and was defending it against an established rival who had held the belt himself. Muta brought his unusual ring character to a traditional IWGP title setting, a contrast that differentiated this main event from the card’s earlier faction matches. The record does not support inventing a disqualification or title vacancy after the bell. The Fukuoka Dome setting and final position give the contest major-event importance, while the actual result reinforces Sasaki’s champion status rather than changing the title lineage.