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New Japan Pro Wrestling “Destuction in Tokyo”
September 12, 2016
Ota Ward Gymnasium
Tokyo, Japan
This is the first of three major shows for New Japan titled “Destruction.” Taking place at the same building where the company debuted in 1972, this show is based around two huge title matches. KUSHIDA is defending his Junior Heavyweight Title against BUSHI, while Katsuyori Shibata defends his NEVER Openweight Title against Bobby Fish.
MATCH ONE: Roppongi Vice (Rocky Romero & Baretta) v. Hanare & David Finlay
Hanare came charging out to the ring with all the vitriol of a young lion. Finlay cooly strutted to the ring with the confidence of a man ready to go on excursion. Plus, Finlay’s new leopard print tights make him look like Deuce Bigelow.
The story of this match was typical of matches involving the Young Lions: they show a lot of fire and a lot of fight, yet no matter how much they fight, their best isn’t good enough for the veterans. Finlay and Romero had some good exchanges in the middle. In the end, it was Hanare falling victim to Baretta and the Dudebuster.
WINNERS: Roppongi Vice
MATCH TWO: Hunter Club (Yoshi-Tatsu & Captain New Japan) v. Yuji Nagata & Manabu Nakanishi
It’s nice to see that both Nagata & Nakanishi are both walking after their performances in the G1…and Nakanishi wasn’t even in it. I’m just always glad he’s walking considering the shape he’s been in the last few years.
They have been doing a storyline in Japan where Yoshi-Tatsu is giving the fans the choice as to whether or not he he keeps the Captain in the Hunter Club. As of last count, the vote says that the Captain goes, so we’ll see what happens. Lately, Tatsu has been less than pleased with his partner.
This match went back and forth a little bit. Hunter Club was actually able to get in a little bit of offense. Not much to it other than the face that Tatsu threw some vicious kicks to Nakanishi’s chest at one point. The crowd was really into the veterans. The finish saw Nakanishi and Nagata hit a really awkward double team move which included Nakanishi hit a chop from the top rope (a place he should NEVER be), followed by a Nagata Exploder suplex on Captain for the win.
WINNERS: Yuji Nagata & Manabu Nakanishi
MATCH THREE: Satoshi Kojima, Hiroyoshi Tenzan & Jushin “Thunder” Liger v. Togi Makabe & Tiger Mask
Speaking of people I’m shocked are still able to walk, Tenzan out after working a ferocious style during the G1 when he was already struggling to move around.
This was a match that allowed all six men to get their stuff in and make the crowd happy. No one was reinventing the wheel in this match and they didn’t need to. All six men are really smart and know when and when not to turn it on, so they were happy hitting their signature spots and working safe.
The finish saw Liger eat the pinfall after a top rope Kokeshi Headbutt from Honma.
WINNERS: Togi Makabe, Tomoaki Honma & Tiger Mask
MATCH FOUR: Bullet Club (Tama Tonga, Tonga Loa & Chase Owens) v. CHAOS (Gedo, Tomohiro Ishii & Hirooki Goto)
Tama out without facepaint, so either he got tired of putting it on or he feels he needs a change. Either way, it’ll be interesting to see if it makes a difference.
Good heat in this match as the crowd is into CHAOS as the defecto babyface stable in the company. Bullet Club did a good job cutting off the ring and getting heat before the hot tag was made to Goto. The match went back and forth at that point, with Loa and Ishii having a great chop exchange at one point.
Good flurry of offense at the end from both sides. Finish saw Ishii pin Loa with the brainbuster.
WINNERS: CHAOS
MATCH FIVE: Juice Robinson v. Kyle O’Reilly
O’Reilly looking like he has put on some muscle, so perhaps that move to heavyweight that was teased a couple of months back is in the works.
This was a match to put O’Reilly on display and let him show off how dangerous he can be with a move up in weight. He was solidly in control for the majority of the match, working over a couple of different bodyparts, showing that he is a real threat and a contender. Not only was he going for submissions, but he was throwing some major league kicks at Juice throughout the match.
Juice did a good job selling and playing the babyface showing a lot of fighting spirit and fire at certain points. He even got in a nice slingshot plancha despite the fact that he was selling just how beat up he was.
Juice made a couple of comebacks, but they were for naught, as O’Reilly finished the match with a rowboat-style arm and leg submission for the win. This was a great display for O’Reilly and Juice’s best New Japan performance to date.
WINNER: Kyle O’Reilly
MATCH SIX: Bullet Club (Kenny Omega, Bad Luck Fale & Yujiro Takahashi) v. CHAOS (Kazuchika Okada, YOSHI-HASHI & Will Ospreay)To cover up his recent lack of of interesting in-ring performances, Yujiro is now out with about 6 different women. If the trajectory of his last three years in the ring are any indication, this still isn’t going to help him at all. Plus, he’s still missing MAO, so no amount of women can make up for that.
Bad Luck Fale continued his trend of going after the ring announcer, but he saw it coming and ran out of the building which was hilarious.
With Okada v. Omega looming in January, this is the first of what will probably be many tag team interactions between the two. Omega also defends his right at the Wrestle Kingdom title shot against YOSHI-HASHI on the next Destruction show, so this is a preview of that. Okada then faces Fale on the same show to try and avenge his G1 loss, so this is a preview of that as well.
Yoshi-Hashi had a fresh blonde dye job. Omega got in the camera and called him a “fat, pudgy looking Dennis the (bleeping) Menace,” which was tremendous. After brawling on the outside, the Bullet Club got the heat on Okada and was taking turns working him over. After a hot tag, it became the Ospreay Show, as he went off with a very impressive high impact and high flying offense. To say he’s over in Japan is an understatement.
Yoshi-Hashi then had his turn getting the heat on him, but it wasn’t as prolonged. The match became a back and forth affair from that point going forward. There were a lot of teases of finishers from everyone. The teases ended when Yoshi-Hashi pinned Takahashi with Karma (pumphandle half-nelson driver).
After the match, Fale and Okada went at it. Fale went for a Bad Luck Drop on the floor, but the Young Lions at ringside saved him.
Yoshi-Hashi then got on the mic and promised to take the contract from that son of a bitch Omega and that he has the pride to do it. Thanks to Chris Charlton (@reasonjp) for the translation.
WINNERS: CHAOS
MATCH SEVEN: Los Ingobernables de Japon (EVIL, SANADA & Tetsuya Naito) v. Michael Elgin, Hiroshi Tanahashi & Ryusuke Taguchi
Taguchi out with a toy baseball bat and mask to mock SANADA. Then he hit a toy ball into the crowd. His baseball stance reminded me a lot of Phil Plantier. If anyone actually remembers who that is, kudos to you. To be fair, it’s more like Jeff Bagwell, I just thought that was too easy a reference.
Elgin with some very impressive power spots early on, followed by all three men hitting the big butt offense (which they call “hip attacks”) on Naito, which the crowd ate up. Soon thereafter, Los Ingobs cut the ring off on Elgin and started working over his knee to take away his power base. After keeping him at bay for a while, he was able to get the tag to Tanahashi. He and Elgin went for their double team move where Elgin reverse Alabama Slams Tana onto their opponent, but SANADA got the knees up. This brought in Taguchi, who did his own wacky tribute to Nagata with the eye-rolling armbar, but Los Ingobs took advantage on him.
Taguchi showed a brief glimmer of hope before SANADA ended up choking him out with the modified Dragon Sleeper.
After the match, Naito went to work on Elgin’s already damaged knee ahead of their title match next week. He had a kneebar locked in deep and for quite some time before finally letting go. Then Naito was talking trash to Liger who was at ringside doing commentary. This also included spitting at him during the middle of the match.
WINNERS: Los Ingobernables de Japon
MATCH EIGHT: NEVER Openweight Championship - Katsuyori Shibata (c) v. Bobby Fish
After successfully defending his ROH World Television Title against Shibata back at ROH TV tapings in August, Fish has earned this title match. Shibata was pulled from house show this week as a precaution due to a spinal injury. While that sounds severe, the story in Japanese media is that Shibata bullied doctors into clearing him for this title defense. My guess is that its kayfabe, and for his health, I hope that’s the case.
Long feeling out process early, with a lot of kicks traded and checked. This also included Shibata teasing the PK, but Fish made sure to get out of the way in a hurry. From there, it became Fish slowly working Shibata over to wear him down. He took his time on offense, making sure everything he did had meaning. He clearly was going to be in more of a heel role in this match, so pair that with Shibata’s injury and his popularity, and it was the smart play as far as match dynamic.
Fish hit a snap suplex with Shibata landing weird on his head, and from there, Fish really went to work on the neck as a way to garner even more sympathy for Shibata on his selling. Fish with some hard kicks, which Shibata fired up and made his comeback during.
After some back and forth, Shibata and Fish traded German suplexes. Shibata then hit the PK but couldn't recover to make the pin. Fish came close to a win with a kneebar, but Shibata got the ropes. A couple of nearfalls followed, but Shibata stayed alive. He then hit a vicious headbutt (where he made himself bleed), a sleeper hold and a violent PK for the win. Shibata is an animal.
After the match, O’Reilly stood in the ring over his fallen partner. He then grabbed the mic and challenged Shibata, so it looks like we have our next title match. What a change in confidence for O’Reilly over the last year.
Shibata then got on the mic and said he didn’t understand what Kyle was saying, but that he’s down for a match.
WINNER: Katsuyori Shibata
MAIN EVENT: IWGP Junior Heavyweight Championship - KUSHIDA (c) v. BUSHI
BUSHI earned this match by beating KUSHIDA in a round-robin match during the Best of the Super Juniors Tournament this year.
This was a very good title match, but nowhere near the level of some of KUSHIDA’s other title matches throughout the year. Whether it was the interference, the lack of crowd heat due to conflicting allegiances, or KUSHIDA not wanting BUSHI to look that great in the win, I can’t put my finger on it. This will go down as a disappointment despite the fact that it was still damn good.
Someone else walked to the ring before BUSHI with the mask and suit, further teasing a new member as they did last week at the Korakuen Hall show. BUSHI came out in a white suit and a mask that was either a shark, or a really evil version of a Spy vs Spy character.
Early pinfall teases in the opening minute or so, with BUSHI getting the better of things and getting a great reaction from the crowd. BUSHI spent a lot of time working KUSHIDA over and trying to garner sympathy for him, and while he was successful, BUSHI is equally as popular in the building. As KUSHIDA was looking to rally, the unnamed masked man at ringside got involved, but eventually, KUSHIDA thwarted him.
Things were going well for the champ until he went for a springboard dropkick and BUSHI pulled the referee Red Shoes in the way. As the ref was down, BUSHI sprayed KUSHIDA with the mist. Then Naito made his way to the ring. He held KUSHIDA up so Bushi could hit the suicide dive through the ropes to the floor. Naito then went in the ring and helped BUSHI beat up KUSHIDA further. This brought out Elgin who took out Naito and Bushi with a sidewalk slam on both at the same time. Elgin then fought Naito to the back all while selling his knee from earlier.
KUSHIDA with a moonsault for a nearfall. They traded some nearfalls after that. KUSHIDA was working over the arm hard for the Hoverboard Lock, which he was very close to getting in, but BUSHI was able to fight it off and get a two count on a small package. Then he fought off another attempt with a Code Red for another nearfall.
The finish saw three separate Codebreakers to finally allow BUSHI to score the pinfall. He hit a regular one, then one from the second rope for a nearfall. Then he went to the top rope and hit one from there for the victory.
After the match, BUSHI took the mic and said that he just won the Junior Title in KUSHIDA’s hometown, proving that hometowns have nothing to do with anything. He then said that he will now show everyone his vision of junior heavyweight wrestling. Thanks again to Chris Charlton (@reasonjp) for the translation.
WINNER and NEW CHAMPION: BUSHI
Overall this was a very good show. I can’t call it a spectacular show just because there was a lot of filler and they are saving other big matches for the two Destruction shows coming up. A star making showcase for O’Reilly, a great title defense for Shibata and a new Junior champ are the major headlines. Those three matches are definitely worth watching. Thanks for reading!
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