Wrestle Dynasty results and notes: Zack Sabre Jr. retains, another belt for Moné, Omega in stunning return with Gabe Kidd

January 5, 2025 Neal Flanagan NEWS, Show Reports
Image Courtesy: NJPW

Match results

  • International Women’s Cup Final: Momo Watanabe def. Athena, Willow Nightingale & Persephone
  • ROH World Tag Team Championships: The Sons of Texas (Dustin Rhodes & Sammy Guevara) (c) def. House of Torture (SHO & Yoshinobu Kanemaru)
  • Lucha Gauntlet Match: Taiji Ishimori def. El Desperado, Hechicero, Kosei Fujita, Soberano Jr, Master Wato, Mascara Dorada & Titan
  • Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. Katsuyori Shibata — Time Limit Draw
  • NJPW STRONG Women’s Championship / RevPro British Women’s Championship: Mercedes Mone (c) def. Mina Shirakawa (c)
  • David Finlay def. Brody King
  • Shota Umino def. Claudio Castagnoli
  • NEVER Openweight Championship / AEW International Championship: Konosuke Takeshita (c) def. Tomohiro Ishii
  • IWGP Tag Team Championships (Vacant): The Young Bucks (Matthew Jackson & Nicholas Jackson) def. Los Ingobernables de Japon (Hiromu Takahashi & Tetsuya Naito) and United Empire (Great-O-Khan & Jeff Cobb)
  • IWGP Global Heavyweight Championship: Yota Tsuji (c) def. Jack Perry
  • Kenny Omega def. Gabe Kidd
  • IWGP World Heavyweight Championship: Zack Sabre Jr. (c) def. Ricochet

** Walker Stewart and Chris Charlton were on English-language commentary, later joined by Rocky Romero.

** In the two pre-show matches, Momo Watanabe won the International Women’s Cup Final, and Dustin Rhodes & Sammy Guevara retained their ROH World Tag Team Titles against SHO & Yoshinobu Kanemaru.

** The first match on the main card was the Lucha Gauntlet match. Taiji Ishimori won the high-action encounter by dubious means.

** Next was the time-limited match between Hiroshi Tanahashi and Katsuyori Shibata. This ended as a draw when the five minutes expired during a chop battle between the two. They shook hands and embraced after the bell.

** Mercedes Moné’s dominant streak continued with victory over Mina Shirakawa to add the RevPro Women’s Title to her collection.

** David Finlay and Brody King had an excellent and very physical match that spilled outside the ring. Finlay managed to hit the Overkill for the clean win.

** The Claudio Castagnoli vs. Shota Umino match began with Castagnoli attacking Umino while he was making his entrance. The heel tactics would continue with the Swiss attacking his opponent repeatedly at ringside. Despite Castagnoli dominating the match, Umino managed to weather the storm and hit the Death Rider for the win.

** Konosuke Takeshita continued his dominant run of late, retaining both the NEVER Openweight and AEW International Titles against Tomohiro Ishii. It was a highly physical and competitive match.

** AEW’s Young Bucks won a tornado rules three-way match to lift the IWGP Tag Team Titles for the second time.

** Yota Tsuji got revenge on Jack Perry for a tag team loss at NJPW Strong Style Evolved. He hit the Gene Blaster to retain the IWGP Global Heavyweight Title.

** Next up was the undoubted show-stealer in Kenny Omega vs. Gabe Kidd. Omega looked tremendous in a brutal 30-plus-minute encounter that featured chair shots, table spots, blood, and more.

** The main event saw an excellent match between IWGP World Heavyweight Champion Zack Sabre Jr. and challenger Ricochet, who leaned into his new unhinged heel persona with a pre-match attack.

The match was excellent but suffered from its placement after the Omega/Kidd encounter and little realistic expectation of a title change. ZSJ finally won by submission.

** Sabre took to the mic after the main event. He stated that NJPW was the best professional wrestling company “on this round Earth”. 

About Neal Flanagan 1122 Articles
Based in Northern Ireland, Neal Flanagan is a former newspaper journalist and copy editor. In addition to reporting for POST Wrestling, he co-hosts The Wellness Policy podcast with Wai Ting and Jordan Goodman.
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