Yeah, did you cringe a little at that name too? It’s a dodgy one, but if you look past the name, what you got in content was the best NJPW show since the G1 finals. The second of 3 Destruction shows, (the write up of the previous one can be found here, the third and final show is this Sunday) NJPW are firmly on the road to WrestleKingdom. Here are your key talking points coming out of the show! Kenny Omega retained his WK11 contract over the first man to beat him in the G1, YOSHI-HASHI. Firstly, YOSHI-HASHI’s new hairstyle is bad. Theres a current trend in footballers like this, with everyone from Messi to Stoke City winger Marco Arnautovic sporting bleached hair, and it seems to have hit the NJPW locker room. Bad hair aside, this match was pretty great and deserving of its main event spot. The two pulled out an impressive performance, surpassing their G1 tournament match by leaps and bounds. This match also saw the return of Elite Shenanigans as the Young bucks looked to interfere whenever they could on behalf of Omega. The two traded big moves and got the (mostly quiet) crowd to fever pitch before Omega hit the big knee and the One Winged Angel for the win. After the match, Hirooki Goto got into the ring and seemingly laid out the challenge to Omega for a G1 Final rematch. Omega got on the mic and said that YH had heart but still did the J-Double O-B, and that Goto poking his finger at him after the match was “typical NJ booking”, he finished by asking the crowd if they wanted to see the match, before responding with “Goto hell”. The ride continues. In one of the surprises that shouldn’t have been a surprise, Kazuchika Okada defeated Bad Luck Fale in a “Special Challenge” match. Fale had a victory over Okada in the G1, and here had to beat him one more time to get an IWGP title shot at the NJPW show in New Zealand later in the fall. Okada has a knack for getting great matches out of the BLF, and this was no exception. Fale hit most of his big moves only for Okada to kick out; eventually Okada used two lariats, a tombstone, and finally the Rainmaker to finish off Fale. Adam Cole successfully defended the ROH Championship he recently won from Jay Lethal in a fun contest with Will Ospreay. Ospreay controlled the early going until his showboating got the best of him and Cole took over. The match featured lots of taunting from ADAM COLE BAY BAY, as well as most of the impressive repertoire of Ospreay. Cole eventually got the better of his willing opponent with a Canadian Destroyer followed by the Last Shot. The result wasn’t a surprise, same for the crowd response to the match. The issue with the ROH guys who appear for NJPW is the crowd has little reason to care for them over established NJPW guys unless they watch the ROH product, which it seems a large contingent don’t. The ROH competitors are just thrown straight into the action will little introduction, which is what seems to have hurt the Briscoe’s in the long run too, the difference here is Adam Cole has the benefit of a great opponent on his first night who can help him showcase his ability, something which the Briscoe Brothers have struggled with, until tonight that is. When the Young Bucks laid out the challenge to the Briscoe’s, it got fans excited as they might finally see the unification of the two tag divisions. Both divisions have their issues, the Heavyweight division lacks true star power and the matches can be a little sluggish, whereas the Junior division always has great matches, there are no fresh match ups, and most teams already have multiple title reigns. This tour has seen NJPW have junior and heavyweight teams match up against each other, leading fans to believe that the unification might actually happen. The match was much better than other IWGP Heavyweight tag title matches over the past 9 months, however the lack of crowd response for the Briscoes does hurt them a little. The Briscoe’s pretty much worked as the heels, controlling the match and getting the heat before the hot tag that lead to both teams busting out their greatest hits. It looked all set for the Young Bucks to win the titles until the Briscoe’s over powered them and finally put Matt Jackson down with a Doomsday device. Whether this was NJPW trying to properly establish the Briscoe’s, or it was the old mentality of Heavyweights > Junior’s, it was still a good match. After the match, the GoD came out and attacked the Briscoe’s before laying out the challenge. I don’t speak Japanese, but I’m pretty sure the crowd was saying “not this again, I was really starting to like Tama Tonga”. Some other notes on the show Takahashi continues to go full Godfather, seriously the dance moves these girls were doing made me think of the awkward “pie eating contest” at Bad Blood 2003 and how while I was watching it I thought “at least we don’t have this anymore” (that reference will make sense on Sundays podcast) Captain Fookin New Japan lost again. Kyle O’Reilly got the win for his team and told the camera that Shibata needed to stop running, pretty sure hes not running with a thoracic spine injury, but im not going to question KOR as it looks like he is going full Hulk. FULL RESULTS (1) Togi Makabe, Yoshitatsu, Captain New Japan & Teruaki Kanemitsu vs. Hiroyoshi Tenzan, Satoshi Kojima, Ricochet & Matt Sydal ◆Winner: Kojima (8:20) following a Lariat on Captain. (2) Yuji Nagata, Manabu Nakanishi, Tomoaki Honma & Tiger Mask IV vs. Kyle O’Reilly, Bobby Fish, Ryusuke Taguchi & David Finlay ◆Winner: O’Reilly () following the Chasing The Dragon on Tiger. (3) Rocky Romero & Barreta vs. Tama Tonga & Tanga Loa ◆Winner: Tonga (8:35) following the Guerrilla Warfare on Romero. (4) Hirooki Goto & Tomohiro Ishii vs. Yujiro Takahashi & Chase Owens ◆Winner: Goto (8:39) following the GTR on Owens. (5) Michael Elgin, Hiroshi Tanahashi, Juice Robinson & KUSHIDA vs. Tetsuya Naito, SANADA, EVIL & BUSHI ◆Winner: Elgin (12:38) with the Elgin Bomb on EVIL. ~ Elgin claims some much saught after revenge over L.I.J. before the title defense on 9/25. (6) IWGP Tag Championship Match: [71st Champions] Jay & Mark Briscoe vs. [Challengers] Matt & Nick Jackson ◆Winner: Jay (15:02) following the Doomsday Device on Matt. ~ 2nd successful title defense. ~ Tonga and Loa assaulted the Briscoes after the match as they made it known that they aim to become champions once again. (7) ROH Sanctioned World Championship Match: [Champion] Adam Cole vs. [Challenger] Will Ospreay ◆Winner: Cole (12:17) following the Last Shot. ~ Cole retains. (8) Special Single Match: Kazuchika Okada vs. Bad Luck Fale ◆Winner: Okada (17:03) following the Rainmaker. (9) Tokyo Dome IWGP Heavyweight Challenge Rights Match: [G1 26 Winner / Right’s Holder] Kenny Omega vs. [Challenger] YOSHI-HASHI ◆Winner: Omega (24:44) with the Katayoku no Tenshi. ~ Goto appeared in the ring as he aims to challenge Omega for his challenge rights. We will be back on Sunday with all the happenings from Destruction in Kobe (less awkward name), as well as the latest Royal Grumble Podcast!
all images ©NJPW
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