August 22nd, 2004
From the Tokyo Dome in Tokyo, Japan
Attendance: 56,008
Announce Team: "The Professor" Mike Tenay and Bret "The Hitman" Hart 
El Generico vs. Jushin Liger (©) for the Unified Junior Heavyweight ChampionshipThis was exactly what I expected it to be, which was essentially a quick, fast-paced way to open things up. Generico looked very good in there, but Liger looked great and demonstrated that he is still a world-class wrestler. The story told here was that Generico managed to hang with Liger and even got a couple of near-falls, but eventually the veteran wore him out and hit the Liger Bomb to finally put him away.
Liger helped Generico to his feet and shook his hand after the match, but the moment of sportsmanship was spoiled by an attack from Brian Kendrick, who laid them both out and posed with the belts that make up the Unified Junior Heavyweight title.
Matt Hardy, AJ Styles, Kevin Steen and Paul London vs. SalvationThe biggest thing we pushed here was the battle between the Hardys, though we made sure to keep that as less of an actual climactic fight and more of a tease, with Jeff usually tagging out before long. As for the overall match, Salvation proved that with or without The Unnatural they can still work together well. While his teammates held the rest of the faces out, Enigma put the finishing touches on London, and stared at Matt out on the floor as he got the pin.
The Unnatural ran into Salvation on his way to the ring for his match, but they ignored him completely. Just a short segment to keep that tease going.
Rey Mysterio Jr. vs. Chris Jericho vs. The Unnatural vs. King Corino in a World title #1 contender’s matchWhile this match clocked in at under fifteen minutes, I was admittedly a bit surprised that the talent and popularity of the four guys involved didn’t result in something better than this. None of them looked particularly off, but there was just something missing.
All four guys got their time to shine, and there were no alliances here as everyone broke up any pins or submissions in this one fall match. Rey used his aerial lucha libre stuff, Jericho racked up a near fall with the Lionsault and may have forced a submission on Corino with the Liontamer if Rey hadn’t springboarded in to break it up, and Corino looked for his opportunities to sneak in. But The Unnatural, fuelled by his desire to prove his worth to Salvation, worked an even more aggressive and borderline crazed style. He battered the other two aside and hit Unnatural Selection on Rey to win and become the new #1 contender.
Bryan Danielson vs. Ken Shamrock (©) for the World Television ChampionshipThis match was called in the ring, and with a brilliant young mind like Danielson there I had every confidence in it. This match was everything I’d hoped it would be when I put it together. Danielson and Shamrock exchanged technical moves and counters, blending classic scientific wrestling with some MMA flavor and producing the first truly great match of the night. They came up with a really nifty finish, as Danielson rolled out of Shamrock’s ankle lock and turned it into his own signature Cattle Mutilation finisher. Ken refused to tap out, but Bryan used his hold to roll him onto his back, get the pin and win the title! This was the final date in Shamrock’s brief stint with us on loan from Zero-One, and I think it worked out well for all involved.
Blue Crush vs. The Dangerous Alliance (©) for the World Tag Team ChampionshipShane might’ve been upset about having to eat a pin the first time around, but it was all to set up this rematch at the PPV in Japan, where Kojima and Nagata are obviously capable of drawing a much bigger crowd response than back in the US. It was a good decision I have to say, because they put together a fantastic match even better than the TV title bout that preceded it.
Douglas was the weak link here, but still was passable enough in a great match. Kojima and Nagata got the crowd behind them here despite being a heel team in New Japan, but after O’Haire saved Douglas from being defeated by a Kojima lariat, he secured a successful title defense with the Cyclone. Much like Shamrock, this is the end of Blue Crush in WCW for now.
The entire Dangerous Alliance posed victoriously after the successful title defense and redemption for Douglas and O’Haire after the shocking upset in the Crockett Cup.
Goldberg came to the ring for his open challenge, and it was answered by…
Goldberg vs. Lex LugerMany of the fans were expecting something bigger here; I saw Austin’s name mentioned online by fans who know he’s the top guy in New Japan now. Needless to say, Lex didn’t exactly fit that bill, but he’s been brought back for a reason. I didn’t expect greatness here, and just told them to tell a basic story of power vs. power. It wasn’t much of a surprise to me that this wound up being the worst match of the night, particularly with the lack of selling on display. Goldberg obviously won in the end, blocking a Torture Rack attempt and hitting the Jackhammer for the pin.
Sting greeted his old friend Luger backstage after the match, but his attention was soon diverted by Los Guerreros, who yelled at him in Spanish and blamed him for, in their view, costing them the Crockett Cup Semifinal match against Tanahashi and Nakamura on Nitro. Lex looked lost and unsure of what to do in this segment, but Eddie really carried it and sold his anger well.
CM Punk was shown warming up for his main event match as Lance Storm watched on in street clothes.
TAKA vs. Steven Regal (©) for the United States Heavyweight ChampionshipI think this was viewed as kind of a filler title defense by many, but anyone who was sleeping on this made a mistake, because the actual match quality was tremendous. TAKA looked very good as the high flying babyface who got the fans behind him, and Regal was even better as a slimy heel who kept trying to slow the pace of the match down and interrupt his opponent’s aerial tactics. In the end, Regal grounded TAKA and put him away with the Regal Stretch.
Koji Kanemoto vs. CM Punk (©) for the World Heavyweight ChampionshipI threw a curve here with the match placement, as this went on here while the Crockett Cup got the main event position. My primary reason for doing this was I had my doubts about whether either of these guys could hold together the match psychology. I think I was right to believe so, as there were some moments where it felt like Kanemoto looked a bit too sympathetic considering he’s the heel. But in the end, it didn’t mean a thing. Even with the minor psychology issues, these are two of the absolute best in the world today and proved it with a legit strong match of the year candidate.
They blended technical wrestling, strikes and the occasional high spot together wonderfully, and the fans in the Tokyo Dome clapped and stomped their feet excitedly, and counted along with all of the near-falls. They roared as Punk survived a tiger suplex and applauded as the challenger endured a Second City Stretch and made it to the ropes. Finally, around the 22 minute mark Punk busted out the Pepsi Plunge to put Kanemoto away in a thrilling instant classic.
Crockett Cup Finals: Shinsuke Nakamura and Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. The Jung DragonsThese four had massive expectations to meet after Punk and Kanemoto tore the Tokyo Dome down. Did they match the excellence we’d just seen? Not quite. But there wasn’t any reason to complain, because what we did get was fantastic too even if it wasn’t quite at the level of Punk vs. Kanemoto (or the Dragons against True Heroes last Monday, or the Heroes against Three Wise Men the week before. Basically anything Punk has done in the last few weeks.)
The interesting thing here was that the fans seemed to support both teams, despite the Dragons being heels. They’ve really been building a following over the last year or so, and it showed here. The fans supported Nakamura and possible future ace of NJPW Tanahashi, but they couldn’t really bring themselves to root against the Dragons as they fought back.
Both teams work extremely well together in reality, but in kayfabe the Dragons have years of experience while Nakamura and Tanahashi basically joined up specifically for this tournament, and we pushed that story here. The Dragons showed superior teamwork, and were there with fluid tags and nice double team moves. Everything built up to the Dragons finally getting that big win they’ve been striving towards for so long, as they nailed Nakamura with the Objection and Yang held Tanahashi off so Hayashi could get the pin and win the Crockett Cup at around the 25 minute point.
After their massive victory, Stacy Keibler and the Dragons celebrated with the Crockett Cup trophy presented to them by Dusty Rhodes. It was a good way to cap off the night and give the Dragons a moment of triumph after years of coming up just short, but the moment had a bit of a black cloud on it as Hayashi was holding his neck noticeably, and it went well beyond selling. I’d noticed it from the moment he landed roughly on a Tanahashi dragon suplex near-fall, but he’d at least made it through. The only question was what would happen after the match was over and the doctors got to look him over.
