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NJPW Destruction in Kobe, September 25th:
There were some small changes to the undercard due to Matt Sydal again missing this show due to "travel complications". David Finlay would take his place in the NEVER Six Man title match.
Ryusuke Taguchi, Tiger Mask IV & Henare defeated Rocky Romero, Beretta & Will Ospreay
This was a pretty fun opener. Henare was worked over by the CHAOS team until Tiger got the tag. There was lots of fun stuff between the juniors. Ospreay took a backseat in this match. Taguchi was the focus of the match. He used lots of hip attacks and has now stolen the Nagata Lock, complete with eye rolling. The finds saw Taguchi make Romero submit to an ankle lock. They seem to be hinting at an RPG Vice split, and with Romero taking two losses in a row, something is up.
Yujiro Takahashi & Chase Owens defeated Yoshitatsu & Captain New Japan
Tatsu took the mic and talked about the vote to kick Captain out of Hunter Club, so Captain ATTACKED Tatsu and joined Bullet Club! Yes, really. Captain, Yujiro & Owens beat down Tatsu with Yujiro pinning him. After the match Captain laid a Bullet Club flag over Tatsu. Well, at least it's something new for Captain, but it isn't going to set the world on fire.
Tomoaki Honma & Togi Makabe defeated Teruaki Kanemitsu & Hiroyoshi Tenzan
This was all about Kanemitsu in the biggest match of his young career to date. He has gained weight and had a beating put on him by Makabe & Honma until Tenzan got into the match. Kanemitsu was tagged back in and out on a hell of a fiery display taking it to both guys. He hit a really nice dropkick and applied a Boston Crab. Kanemitsu survived a crab from Honma, which showed his fighting spirit. Honma hit a running Kokeshi and locked on another crab to score the submission win. This was great stuff from Kanemitsu.
Kyle O'Reilly & Bobby Fish defeated Manabu Nakanishi & Yuji Nagata
This was a really good match and a huge stature enhancing win for ReDRagon as their heavyweight push continues. Any interactions between Nagata & ReDRagon were great. Those guys are made to wrestle each other. Nakanishi tried to climb to the top rope at one stage and slipped off twice. It was quite the spectacle watching him get his footing before he delivered a huge cross body on O'Reilly. ReDRagon used double team on Nakanishi. Nakanishi & O'Reilly did some great stuff at the end. Nakanishi hit a huge gutbuster. Nakanishi tried to power out of a triangle choke, but after some Fish assistance, O'Reilly turned it into an armbar to force Nakanishi to submit. This made O'Reilly look like a badass. NJPW have been doing a fantastic job with the ReDRagon push.
NEVER Openweight Six Man Tag Team Championship
Ricochet, David Finlay & Satoshi Kojima defeated Adam Cole & The Young Bucks
This was extremely newsworthy. Kojima, Ricochet & the absent Matt Sydal were stripped of the titles and this match would crown new champions. This was an awesome, crazy, fun spot fest of a match. This felt like Kojima had been thrown into the middle of Reseda, California for PWG. There was far too much action to recap. Cole & The Bucks took their PWG team and did all their usual crazy antics, on the large stage of NJPW. There were a million superkicks, Ricochet was spectacular and Finlay moved up a level. The finish saw Kojima take out Cole & Matt with a double lariat. This allowed Finlay to hit a Finlay Roll on Nick, followed by a shooting star press from Ricochet. Kojima, Ricochet and Finlay are your new Six Man Tag champions. This was a graduation for Finlay as he won his first title in NJPW. After the match Finlay took the mic and said that The Bucks have something that he and Ricochet want, meaning the Jr tag titles. So Finlay has effectively replaced Sydal. So we'll have to wait and see what the future holds for Matt Sydal in NJPW. There seems to be more to that story than him just missing a flight. This was a huge deserved moment for Finlay.
Tama Tonga, Tanga Loa, Kenny Omega & Bad Luck Fale defeated The Briscoes, Hirooki Goto & Tomohiro Ishii
This was a good tag match designed to further feuds heading towards King of Pro Wrestling. Goto went after Omega as he looks to challenge Omega for the Tokyo Dome briefcase. Fale looked like a monster here. The Briscoes & GOD just love to beat the hell out of each other. There was so much intensity between them when they were in the ring. They were the story of the last part of the match. There was a sequence of big moves from everyone which left Tonga to hit a Gun Stun on Mark. GOD then hit Guerrilla Warfare to score a win over one half of the IWGP tag champions. GOD vs The Briscoes will likely happen at King of Pro Wrestling on October 10th.
EVIL, SANADA & BUSHI defeated Juice Robinson, KUSHIDA & Hiroshi Tanahashi
This was a hell of a six man tag. BUSHI was triple teamed for a while before LIJ took control of KUSHIDA. Tanahashi and SANADA went back and forth. At one stage Team Tanahashi had LIJ locked in three submission holds at the same time, which looked great. Robinson had another great showing when he was in the match. He and SANADA had very good chemistry together. There was a tonne of action towards the end of this and some really nice false finishes. Robinson was able to escape Skull End and put up a fight before EVIL took him down with a lariat. Robinson kicked out of a TKO before SANADA finished him with Skull End. After the match KUSHIDA looked disappointed as he looked on at BUSHI holding up the Jr heavyweight title. This match is worth watching.
YOSHI-HASHI, Kazuchika Okada, Gedo & Jado defeated Daisuke Harada, Atsushi Kotoge, Toru Yano & Naomichi Marufuji
This saw CHAOS clash with NOAH, but also CHAOS clash with CHAOS as Yano teamed with his GHC tag championship partner. Yano didn't hold back and used all his usual cheating and trickery. He whipped Gedo into an exposed buckle. Jado & Gedo will soon challenge Kotoge & Harada for the GHC Jr tag titles, so that was previewed. Harada looked great here. He is very quick and uses lots of unique knee strikes. He'd be great in the NJPW Jr division. Marufuji got the better of Okada in this one as he hit him with kicks and knee strikes. The finish saw YOSHI pin Harada with Made in Japan. After the match Marufuji got in the face of Okada. They also hinted at YOSHI & Okada challenging Yano & Marufuji for the GHC tag titles.
IWGP Intercontinental Championship
Tetsuya Naito defeated Michael Elgin
What an amazing main event this was. The story going in was the knee injury of Elgin, which was inflicted by Naito. Elgin spent a huge portion of the match avoiding Naito any time he went after the knee. Elgin would hit power moves every time Naito went for it. He hit a nasty looking wheelbarrow suplex, a gorilla press into a powerslam and a falcon arrow. Naito eventually got to the knee, locking on an inverted figure four. Elgin's power still cut off Naito. He caught him coming off the top, drilling him with a powerbomb. There was a great near fall when Naito hit a Frankensteiner from the top and a reverse rana. Elgin dropped Naito on the apron with a Death Valley Driver and a deadlift super falcon arrow for another near fall. Naito used his leg submission, but Elgin survived.
The referee was knocked down. This brought out the other three members of LIJ, followed by Tanahashi & KUSHIDA. This ended with Elgin powerbombing BUSHI out of the ring onto SANADA & EVIL. Naito took advantage by hitting Destino, but amazingly Elgin kicked out! Elgin countered a second attempt into a side slam and hit two amazingly stiff lariats for a near fall. Naito countered an Elgin Bomb and hit Destinto twice to keep Elgin down and become the new IWGP Intercontinental champion. After the match Naito of course tossed the title into the air.
This was an outstanding main event. The interference added to the drama of the match. Elgin looked like a beast in defeat. He fought through everything, survived a gang assault and it took three of Naito's finishers to beat him. This was one of the best matches of his career. Naito as usual looked like a star and the IC title will have its importance raised while it’s attached to Naito.
This was a great show. There were lots of really fun tag matches, good storyline advancement and a must see main event with a big title change. It is available now at NJPWWorld.com.
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