Csonka’s NJPW Destruction in Beppu 2018 Preview

WELCOME back to column time with Larry! Today, I am going to discuss and preview the NJPW Destruction in Beppu 2018 event. This is the second of the three main Destruction shows for 2018, and will be headlined by Tetsuya Naito vs. Minoru Suzuki & NEVER Champion Hirooki Goto vs. Taichi. Today, I will give my predictions, and break down the show match by match. Feel free to make your picks in the comment section. Thanks for reading! It’s wrestling, we love it and will disagree. The only rules are to “have a take, be respectful, and don’t be a dick.” Thanks for reading.

Hiroyoshi Tenzan, Satoshi Kojima, and Yota Tsuji vs. Yuji Nagata, Manabu Nakanishi, and Yuya Uemura: This should be the usual solid to good opener with the vets and lions kicking things off. This group of vets all work with the lions on the Lion’s Gate shows and Nagata is the supreme Dojo Dad. He’s working with his friends (who know their roles and work well with the lions) and students (who he loves) so this should be a fun mix of aggressive action and playing the hits. With Kojima recently returning, it feels like his team should pick up the win here so that he and Tenzan get some momentum ahead of the WTL. WINNERS: Hiroyoshi Tenzan, Satoshi Kojima, and Yota Tsuji

David Finlay and Ren Narita vs. Toa Henare and Shota Umino: Finlay & Henare and Narita & Umino have been involved in mini-feuds on the under cards, and get to continue that here in this tag match. Finlay & Henare have been great in their undercard matches as of late, bringing a ton of energy and proving that they belong. Narita & Umino are the top young lions, and have been performing far beyond their experience levels. With the talent involved and heir familiarity with each other taken into consideration, this should be good. Finlay’s higher on the card than Henare, which should mean his team picks up the win here. WINNERS: David Finlay and Ren Narita

Ayato Yoshida vs. Takashi Iizuka: Ayato Yoshida Kaientai Dojo, and had worked the Lion’s Gate events. He’s had impressive outings, catching the attention of Yuji Nagata, who is trying to get him into NJPW on a permanent basis, leading to his booking on the destruction tour. He has a ton of potential and I never argue with Dojo Dad Yuji Nagata. Iizuka is a complete waste of space, but he’ll win here in order to give him “some credibility,” as much as an idiot running around and biting people as his only talent can be. WINNER: Takashi Iizuka

Jushin Thunder Liger, Tiger Mask, KUSHIDA, and Ryusuke Taguchi vs. Will Ospreay, Rocky Romero, SHO, and YOH: This is a great and fun lineup of talent here, and if they get some time, this could be really great. But even if it’s short, it should be at the very least good and fun. The KUSHIDA & Ospreay interactions will be a treat for sure, plus SHO will be STRONG BOYING fools. At the Hiroshima event, I have Jushin Thunder Liger, Tiger Mask, and KUSHIDA defeating Rocky Romero, SHO, and YOH. But now we have Osprey in the mix, which makes things more interesting. With Ospreay in the mix, I see the boys from CHAOS taking this one. WINNER: Will Ospreay, Rocky Romero, SHO, and YOH

Beretta and Chuckie T vs. Killer Elite Squad: This is all about some WTL set up here as the Best Friends and Killer Elite Squad are back in the fold just in time to start getting some momentum for that. Best Friends are a great tag team, and Chuckie busts his ass in NJPW matches, and Trent is extra-motivated coming off of his injury time off. Killer Elite Squad can be a mixed bag, they can either be slow and uninteresting or smash mouth tag team that’s a ton of fun. Since they’ve been away for so long. Killer Elite Squad feels like the pick here, but a Best Friends win wouldn’t completely shock me; they face again next Sunday and will likely split the matches. WINNER: Killer Elite Squad

EVIL, SANADA, and BUSHI vs. Zack Sabre Jr., Yoshinobu Kanemaru, and El Desperado: With the leaders of the clans fighting in the main event, the underlings continue the war, and Zack Sabre Jr. is back in the mix. I have found most of the recent LIJ vs. Suzuki-gun tags overly long and not really all that good. The good news here is that this is only a 6-man, ZSJ is back, and there is no Iizuka in the match. To me, these are all positives and I think we’ll get a much better match here. With Zack Sabre Jr. re-entering the mix here, I’d expect Suzuki-gun and specifically him to pick up the win here. WINNERS: Zack Sabre Jr., Yoshinobu Kanemaru, and El Desperado

Hiroshi Tanahashi, Togi Makabe, Tomoaki Honma, and Juice Robinson vs. Kazuchika Okada, Toru Yano, YOSHI-HASHI, and Jay White: Once again, this is here as part of the build for Okada vs. Tanahashi on the 23rd, which is for Tanahashi’s title shot at WrestleKingdom. They have had some tremendously fun interactions on this tour, and I think we’ll get more of that here. The wildcard is the reintroduction of Jay White into the mix, who I feel will have a part in the match on the 23rd as his goal of taking over CHAOS isn’t yet done (and that was on display in Hiroshima). With the talent involved, this should be good and could provide some interesting angle elements involving White, who I feel picks up/steals the win from Okada here. WINNERS: Kazuchika Okada, Toru Yano, YOSHI-HASHI and Jay White

NEVER Openweight Title Match: Champion Hirooki Goto vs. Taichi: NJPW’s mindset and booking of Taichi are frustrating and quite frankly stupid. They move him to heavyweight, he actually has two great matches against Naito & Tanahashi, and then they freeze him out of the G1, completely stifling his growth. And then after setting up several more qualified and interesting challengers to Goto, just toss him back into the NEVER title mix with no real rhyme or reason. I’m not opposed to new guys in the mix, but outside of those two great matches, he’s largely been the shits ever since. Especially on this Destruction tour, his work has been cliché heel shit and bordering on lazy. He may be good in this match; hell he and Goto may even have a great match, but putting a work rate style championship on Taichi, following his recent performances makes absolutely no sense when you can put it on an Ishii or more importantly, an Ibushi to really open up that division. And since it makes no sense and they feel damned and determined to push Taichi… WINNER: Fucking Taichi

Tetsuya Naito vs. Minoru Suzuki: Back at the NJPW Wrestling Hi No Kuni event, Tetsuya Naito defeated Minoru Suzuki to win the IWGP IC title in a fascinating match that some loved and some labeled as the worst NJPW main event in years (completely false). But I can see why some felt it was disappointing. Both men are coming off of a disappointing G1, coming up short in their goal to win, and the winner here will look to climb back into title contention. In the eyes of many, they will be working to redeem themselves in this match. Both men are in a position where they need to win, and they certainly have the talent to deliver a great match. It really feels like this match will be used to heat Naito back up, possibly for a rematch with Jericho for the IC Title, which would make sense. I’m interested to see how this all shakes out because knowing NJPW, I can’t rule out a Suzuki win, but it feels like Naito SHOULD win. WINNER: Tetsuya Naito

“Byyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyye Felicia!”