Claudio Castagnoli Nearly Missed NJPW Dominion Due To Travel Issues

It was a close call on Sunday as New Japan Pro-Wrestling announced that one of their performers was experiencing major flight delays heading into their Dominion event. In a statement posted to their website, NJPW revealed that Claudio Castagnoli, who was set to make his NJPW debut, had been battling travel issues on his way to Dominion in Osaka, Japan. As a result, the promotion decided to alter the show's match order.

Castagnoli was originally slated to compete in the seventh match on the card as he, Jon Moxley, and Shota Umino challenged Kazuchika Okada, Tomohiro Ishii, and Hiroshi Tanahashi for the NEVER Openweight Six-Man Tag Team Championships. With Castagnoli facing delays, though, NJPW moved them to the eighth spot in the semi-main event. Despite some fear that he might miss the show entirely, Castagnoli landed just in time to make his debut appearance.

With the match now given the green light, Castagnoli opened the contest with a lock-up against Tanahashi. Both teams then battled back and forth, but in the end, the reigning champions gained the upper hand. The closing moment saw Okada nail Umino with a Rainmaker to secure the pinfall victory and retain the NEVER Openweight Six-Man Tag Team Championships.

After the match concluded, Okada turned his attention to Bryan Danielson, who challenged him to a match via a video package. Okada, of course, accepted the challenge, proclaiming that the "forbidden door" would be open, indicating that the two might be in line for a spot on the AEW x NJPW Forbidden Door 2 card later this month.