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Destruction in Okayama saw four title matches and two title changes. Destruction now moves on to Kobe with two more title matches and a very good looking card. Destruction in Kobe is live on NJPW World on Sunday September 27th at 16:00 JST (3AM Eastern/8AM UK)
Yohei Komatsu & Sho Tanaka vs Jay White & David Finlay
The opener could well be the show stealer. Young lion matches are always a highlight of NJPW cards. Now we have all four together in one match. If this is given time they will be able to go all out and show just how bright the future of New Japan could be. I’m really looking forward to this one.
Yuji Nagata, Jushin Thunder Liger & Tiger Mask IV vs Manabu Nakanishi, Captain New Japan & Juice Robinson
Juice Robinson was on ring boy duty in Okayama, so don’t expect him to be picking up any wins. Tiger Mask IV is the new NWA Jr heavyweight champion and he wants to defend the gold against Liger. We may see some tension between the two here, other than that it will be your standard New Japan veterans tag match.
Togi Makabe, Tomoaki Honma, Ryusuke Taguchi & Mascara Dorada vs Tomohiro Ishii, YOSHI-HASHI, Rocky Romero & Beretta
Ishii & Makabe are on yet another collision course for the NEVER title. I really wanted to see things head in a different direction since we’ve had this feud since January. This should be a really fun match. RPG Vice have been great lately & YOSHI-HASHI is always fun, but this will be all about Makabe vs Ishii.
Hiroyoshi Tenzan, Satoshi Kojima & Matt Sydal vs Karl Anderson, Doc Gallows & Kenny Omega
Anderson & Gallows successfully defended the IWGP tag titles against Kojima and Tenzan in Okayama, while Omega became the new IWGP Jr champion after a lot of help from Gallows & Anderson. Matt Sydal is set as the next challenger for the Jr title (presumably at King of Pro Wrestling), so I would like to see him get the win here.
Katsuyori Shibata vs Tetsuya Naito
This feud has been the best thing in NJPW since the last few days of the G1. Shibata beat Naito early in the G1 and ever since then they have been at each others throats. Shibata tried his best to murder Mr “Los Ingobernables” in every tag meeting they had, while Naito has done everything he can to antagonise him with his flippant attitude. Shibata has come across as an absolute killer and Naito has been a phenomenon since his heel turn, with some incredible character work. This will be an intense, hard hitting brawl and probably a whole lot of fun. This will most likely be the match of the night. I can see Naito winning and going on to challenge Tanahashi for the Wrestle Kingdom title shot, as he has a win over Tanahashi in the G1.
Kazuchika Okada, Kazushi Sakuraba & Toru Yano vs AJ Styles, Tama Tonga & Cody Hall
This again is a preview of Okada vs Styles at King of Pro Wrestling. We have had some fun performances from Sakuraba lately, so hopefully we will get something good from here again. Other than that, this will be your usual fun tag with more nice sequences between Styles & Okada.
IWGP Jr Tag Team Championship: ReDRagon (Bobby Fish & Kyle O’Reilly) vs Time Splitters (KUSHIDA & Alex Shelley)
KUSHIDA is no longer the Jr champion and had his push completely derailed. The Time Splitters are back together after Alex Shelley being on the shelf with numerous injuries. ReDRagon only won the titles on G1 Climax final day, so I really hope they don’t drop them already. It could end up being a bad week for KUSHIDA if that’s the case. However, this match will be awesome. They had some of the best tag matches of the year last year in both NJPW & ROH and this should be no different. It’s good to see these titles defended in a straight up tag match as opposed to a multi man blur.
Wrestle Kingdom IWGP Heavyweight Championship Opportunity: Hiroshi Tanahashi vs Bad Luck Fale
Tanahashi is the 2015 G1 Climax winner and as is tradition he will defend his title opportunity from now until January 4th. His first challenger is one of the men that beat him in the G1 Climax. Bad Luck Fale scored a huge win over the Ace of New Japan after a fantastic match and one of the best of his career. This should be another good match between the two with Tanahashi as usual bringing the best out in his opponent. Tanahashi will get his win back.
IWGP Intercontinental Championship: Hirooki Goto vs Shinsuke Nakamura
I have to admit, I groaned when I seen that this match had been announced. Nakamura has been the IWGP Intercontinental champion almost exclusively since he first won it in 2012, only losing it for a few months here and there. When he dropped it to Goto and lost their rematch everyone thought we would see Nakamura finally move on to bigger things and win the G1, while getting his win back over Goto in the G1. Well Nakamura didn’t win the G1 and it is a very real possibility that he will take the IC title back, infact I’d be shocked if it didn’t happen. As always the match itself between them will be excellent as their matches have gotten better as they have went on throughout the year. I’d like to think that we might get Nakamura vs Styles at Wrestle Kingdom, but Nakamura doesn’t need the IC title for that to happen.
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