New Japan Pro-Wrestling Dark Age Part 4: Inoki's Authoritarian Power Play! The Chaotic Osaka Dome

November 13, 2004 Toukon Festival Osaka Dome
Manabu Nakanishi & Shinsuke Nakamura
vs
Kazuyuki Fujita & Kendo Kashin

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This is a tag team match in the Dome main event with a strong mixed martial arts flavor.

Fujita kicks Nakamura in the face without mercy.

After the match, Antonio Inoki is furious.
"I told you earlier! Don't hold back!"

What exactly happened at the Osaka Dome?

*The following contains spoilers for the match.

Background to the match

Originally, the main event of this tournament was scheduled to be a fan-voted match between
Hiroshi Tanahashi and Shinsuke Nakamura.
I say "was" in the past tense.

Just before the event, due to Antonio Inoki's authoritarian power play,

the main event was changed to this match.

It was two days before, really last minute.

Nakamura's frustration grew over the fact that the fans had been betrayed.

In the midst of the dark age, it was clear that ticket sales were struggling.

Inoki must have felt that the "Tanahashi vs. Nakamura" card was "weak."

Match Commentary

I think Nakamura fought with the mindset that what was decided was decided, and he had to accept it.

I feel that when Nakanishi and Kashin get involved, the "intensity" drops a bit.

If anything, I think it would have been better to have Fujita vs. Nakamura.

Fujita's match style is a mix of the MMA style of that time.
It's different from Inoki's matches. Perhaps it's the pacing.

Although the footage is cut, after the match, Inoki punishes Nakamura with a punch.

Overall Review

I think Inoki was simply seeking impact.

It is also a fact that he was frustrated by the dominance of PRIDE and K-1 in the public eye.

What could be done for pro-wrestling to win?

Inoki was always fighting against the fans in every era.

His opponent in this era was

the fans who only followed the results through text on the internet.

What could be done to show them the greatness of pro-wrestling?

What could be done to draw them into the matches?

Wouldn't they be surprised if the card was changed suddenly?

I'm sure that's what Inoki was thinking.

That is just my own personal interpretation of Inoki's state of mind.
At the time, I couldn't understand what he was trying to do at all.

And if I were to imagine Nakamura's state of mind as well,

"I even entered mixed martial arts because you told me to."

"I listened to everything you said."

"Why are you getting in the way of New Japan Pro-Wrestling?"

I may have let my own feelings come through a bit too much.

What did Inoki mean by his post-match mic comment, "Don't hold back"?
That is

a story for another time, when a Nakamura who doesn't hold back emerges years later.

In the sense that this match has become something people want to talk about after so much time has passed,

perhaps we are still in the palm of Inoki's hand.