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Furious Flashbacks: New Japan Destruction in Okayama

November 20, 2014 | Posted by Arnold Furious
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Furious Flashbacks: New Japan Destruction in Okayama  

NJPW Destruction in Okayama

 

23rd September 2014.

 

We’re in Okayama, Japan. This PPV aired two days after Destruction in Kobe and if you were only going to buy one of those shows it would be the stacked Kobe one. I don’t know if that’s a conscious decision from New Japan to make one of their ‘double’ PPV’s stronger than the other but nobody seemed interested in this Okayama show. It’s a much smaller crowd too, generating less than half the audience of Kobe. Albeit mainly because it’s a smaller venue.

 

Ryusuke Taguchi, BUSHI & Captain New Japan vs. Jushin Liger, Tiger Mask & Maximo

 

Maximo is seriously camp here and is sporting a pink Roman tunic. Captain New Japan is a bit put off by the fruitiness as he’s some sort of WWII era super solider, as I understand it, and they didn’t play by those rules back in the 40s. New super-energised Taguchi finds himself undone by Tiger Mask and perhaps retaining that belt will be harder than acquiring it. This match actually makes me sad as it’s the first one I’ve seen where Liger is showing his age. He is 49 and it had to happen sooner or later but seeing Liger fall over attempting a spot just doesn’t seem right. Maximo’s homosexual act doesn’t wash with me either because he’s nowhere near as good at it as Yosuke Santa Maria from Dragon Gate’s Millennials stable. Maximo’s offence is lame and he’s just a joke. Where Santa Maria works is that he’s a genuine threat…and also camper than a VW van. Here Maximo falls to BUSHI in double quick time and that’s the end of that. Nowhere near as good as the opening match in Kobe. A worrying occurrence.

 

Final Rating: *1/4

 

Forever Hooligans vs. The Young Bucks

 

To prove that tag divisions tend to get stale everywhere New Japan’s junior tag guys have been working each other solid for about 3 years. Forever Hooligans do have a pleasing amount of comedy but they don’t have a lot beyond that. Romero’s insistence at winding up moves for too long gets a few laughs before the Bucks take over. Koslov brings more variety to the contest. It’s not just Cossack dancing, he can trade too. Romero seems to be on autopilot. Hooligans are a fun team but I prefer seeing them in small doses. Which is why NJPW tend to stick them in 4-team and threeway matches. They bring levity to spotty matches. When it’s just them goofing around vs. Bucks’ high spots it’s less entertaining. Don’t get me wrong, this is still a solid tag team contest and it’s an entertaining watch, it just falls a little short of a truly great tag team contest. Mainly because of the total lack of tags. That bugs me. Romero survives one near because Koslov shoves the non-pinning Buck onto the pinning Buck to break the fall. That was cute. More Bang for Your Buck finishes regardless and the Bucks put themselves in line for a title shot. Solid match but not essential viewing.

 

Final Rating: ***

 

Kazushi Sakuraba, Toru Yano & Gedo vs. Suzuki-gun (Minoru Suzuki, Takashi Iizuka & TAKA Michinoku)

 

Yano & Gedo represent CHAOS, which is where crazy bearded old fool Iizuka came from before defecting to Suzuki’s side. Luckily this isn’t about any of that nonsense. This is about Suzuki & Sakuraba. They’re about ready to fuck each other up and Suzuki goes for Sakuraba’s throat before the bell. They rock some awesome counters with Sakuraba after a kimura and both guys anxious to impose their will upon the other. This section of the match is pretty good. Everything else? A total pass. Iizuka does a lot of choking. TAKA and Gedo try for a cruiserweight contest and Yano cheats, but in a funny way. What irritates me is that Yano, Iizuka and Tiger Hattori lift the same beard spot from Kobe. As if people wouldn’t notice them doing the same spot. The finish is similar too with Yano ducking the Iron Glove, going low but this time pinning TAKA as he stumbles into the ring. The only real interest is seeing Sakuraba and Suzuki try to break each others limbs with submission holds and that goes on long after the match has finished. Looks like they’ll be saving that singles match for the Dome show.

 

Final Rating: *

 

Great Bash Heel (Togi Makabe & Tomoaki Honma) vs. Hirooki Goto & Katsuyori Shibata

 

After his defeat to Tanahashi, it’s back to his disappointing tag team for Shibata. Goto got beaten by Makabe two days ago but Shibata is not in the mood for back to back losses. Even if Honma is hungry for big wins after being blanked during G1. Goto & Togi resume hostilities and elbow it out until both look exhausted. That’s when Togi knocks Goto cold with a lariat. These are manly men. Speaking of which Shibata and Honma are no slouches in that department. There’s a lot of testosterone out there. Maximo would faint if he was in this match. New Japan have become very good at teasing upsets and one of their favourites is Honma, especially against Shibata. I can’t remember how many times I’ve been suckered in by the prospect of Kokeshi landing on Shibata’s noggin only for him to roll out of the way. Why must you tease me so? It’s not only Kokeshi (although it is, three times) but also a particularly violent looking Greetings from Asbury Park. Shibata must not like that as he immediately fires up only to horrifically blow the GTS (as in totally missing the knee by a mile). The angry Shibata boots Honma to make up for it and finishes with the PK. Finish aside this was tremendous stuff. Unfortunately blowing the finish is a major no-no. Meanwhile Goto tries to bury the hatchet with Makabe by offering a handshake, which Togi accepts. Shibata even hauls Honma up to his feet…and throws him out of the ring. Shibata is a prize asshole. One of the finest in the business.

 

Final Rating: **3/4

 

IWGP Junior Heavyweight Championship:

Timesplitters (c) vs. Suzuki-gun (El Desperado & Taichi)

 

KUSHIDA looks the worst for wear after his junior singles title loss to Taguchi. This allows Suzuki-gun to single him out. Keep in mind they also worked over Alex Shelley’s shoulder two days ago. El Desperado even got disqualified to do so. All with this bout in mind. I really don’t like Taichi and watching him work heat is like watching paint dry. If you’re going to be a heel, then you’d better be prepared to take an almighty ass-kicking to get everyone else over. Taichi doesn’t want to do that. He wants to be cool and cheat…in front of the ref. Shelley gets his arm worked over for ages, and to his credit makes sure to sell the shit out of it, but it really feels like heat. I’m waiting and waiting for the hot tag. That’s all. KUSHI eventually gets in there and shows no signs of that bad leg from two days ago. He must be a quick healer. Or he has the same mutant healing factor power as Wolverine (and Deadpool). Meanwhile Shelley can’t help but join in the no-selling and moments after an exhausting tag out he’s hitting a dive to the floor. What’s up with that, Alex? Suzuki-gun then work heat on KUSHIDA too, as if one heat sequence wasn’t bad enough, and Taichi keeps cutting off the comebacks. Taichi gets caught in the kimura and taps like a bitch but TAKA distracts the ref to prolong the misery. As per usual the match has completely broken down and all tagging has ceased. Timesplitters finally get some offence going and Taichi falls to a powerbomb/shiranui combo. 15 minutes was a long way to go for that finish. Taichi’s 3 month break wasn’t long enough.

 

Post Match: The Young Bucks come down to grab the junior tag straps, thus laying claim to a shot only for Forever Hooligans to do the same thing. But they lost earlier! KUSHI says “you’re already dead” and Shelley translates into Japanese. Cute.

 

Final Rating: *3/4

 

CHAOS (Shinsuke Nakamura & Tomohiro Ishii) vs. Bullet Club (Bad Luck Fale & Tama Tonga)

 

Bullet Club’s music has really grown on me. I used to hate it. After finally capping off the Nakamura-Fale feud New Japan immediately revisit it here, merely to showcase how badass Ishii is. His first course of action is standing eye to eye (well, eye to nipples) with Fale and elbowing the piss out of him. Much like during their G1 match Fale runs through Ishii with size but that doesn’t detract from Ishii’s gutsy performance. Unfortunately there’s a decision to run heat, after the overabundance of heat in the last match and Fale & Tama are at least as boring as Desperado & Taichi. Possibly more so. Luckily Ishii knows how to throw in hope spots to keep things interesting and Fale isn’t stupid enough to cut him off like Taichi did in the last match. It helps they have a ring general in Nakamura on the apron who won’t take that shit either. It’s not a good match or anything but it could have been terrible and it isn’t. The CHAOS guys are both top performers and know how to structure a bout. They’re quite happy to give Tama and Fale their moments to shine and Nakamura in particular bumps all over the place for Tonga, even if he does sandbag him once. Ishii holds Tama in place for the Boma Ye and that would finish if Fale didn’t make a save. Ishii takes Fale out and another BOMAAAA YEEEE finishes Tama. This was perfectly ok. A bit of a mismatch, and Tama was basically there to count lights, but a passable contest.

 

Final Rating: **1/2

 

NWA World Tag Championship:

TenKoji (c) vs. Manabu Nakanishi & Yuji Nagata

 

These guys all put a load of effort into their throwaway midcard bout in Kobe so I have a good feeling about this. Not sure the NWA tag titles have much prestige these days though. After being dumped by WCW, the WWF and TNA they’re a relic in North America. Luckily Japanese promotions tend to have a lot of respect for the history and the lineage of titles, which explains why so many dated belts are knocking around. Indeed it’s a surprise it has taken the NWA this long to do this angle. They rather quietly aborted Kojima’s run with the NWA title but these belts seem disposable enough for New Japan to play with them. Nagata & Nakanishi are both ‘veterans’ (a polite way of calling them “old”). Nagata is in far better condition and has been a champion for half the year in NOAH. This is reflected in the action stakes where Nagata takes it to his opponents. Nakanishi is slower and more deliberate but still hooks Kojima in the Stretch Muffler as the challengers work over his leg. This means it’s Tenzan who gets the hot tag and cleans house. He’s not quite as energetic and entertaining in that role as Kojima and he’s still a bit tired from G1 where he burned himself out. Nakanishi looks rejuvenated and hasn’t looked this fresh in ages. I suspect taking the G1 time off has given him a chance to recharge those old batteries. It’s really pleasing to see four veterans going out there and trying hard, it sets a good example to the Young Lions. The match even gets an old school length of time to tell it’s story; a meaty 15 minutes. When Nagata starts beating the shit out of Kojima it becomes a genuinely great contest but then Koji hits a lariat out of nowhere for the win, which is a bit odd. Especially considering how much Nagata had unloaded on him. However it’s probably no surprise as Nagata keeps taking weird jobs in New Japan. If Kojima was still NWA champion they could have taken all the best parts of this and turned it into a terrific singles match.

 

Final Rating: ***1/4

 

NEVER Openweight Championship:

Yujiro Takahashi (c) vs. YOSHI-HASHI

 

I don’t see what YOSHI-HASHI has done to earn a title shot, seeing as he’s been a jobber all year long. Not that Yujro had much of a win/loss record to write home about before winning the belt. One thing New Japan do better than the WWE is to make wins and losses mean something so this is a bit weird. It almost feels like NJPW has deliberately devalued the NEVER belt. Yujiro hasn’t even defended the belt after winning it three months ago. The storyline they go for is Yujiro bullying YOSHI-HASHI, presumably because he’s the only guy on the roster Takahashi can bully. YOSHI-HASHI can make a beating off anybody look good though, which is probably why he never wins. Yujiro works capably in this match, never once looking as if he’s going to break YOSHI-HASHI’s neck with a horribly mis-timed botch (even hitting the Bucklebomb clean). He makes a point of eating a load of bumps on the comeback too. I still don’t think much of him as a worker but at least the errors are less noticeable in his game during this one. He does have irritating habits, staring at the referee and putting his hand in place to push YOSHI-HASHI up on a near fall for example. I’m never going to buy the near fall if your kick-out is that palpable. Compare this to Shibata and his last gasp kick-outs. Now that’s a star. Yujiro has to cheat to get back in charge and YOSHI-HASHI gets to kick out of a few power moves down the stretch. It’s merely prolonging the inevitable though as YOSHI-HASHI hasn’t won a singles match in 2 years. Miami Shine finishes the poor bastard off and Yujiro retains. The teases didn’t quite work for me because of how Yujiro behaves on pinfalls and they’d probably have been better off teasing a submission. YOSHI-HASHI has a good act as a plucky underdog but Yujiro wasn’t playing the game here. I’m not sure he really *gets* the work. Tomohiro Ishii strolls down to check on his team-mate in CHAOS so Yujiro starts waving the NEVER belt in his face. Big fucking mistake, Takahashi! The next PPV has Yujiro losing…I mean wrestling against Ishii for the NEVER title.

 

Final Rating: **1/2

 

Hiroshi Tanahashi & Tetsuya Naito vs. Bullet Club (AJ Styles & Doc Gallows)

 

This is partially to hype Tanahashi’s title shot at AJ and partially to demonstrate that he’s still a million times more over than Naito. “Get out of the ring, Tanahashi…poser” – AJ demands Naito start. This is a subtle ploy to get the crowd to not heel on Naito. To be fair his reactions have switched back to babyface of late, perhaps reflected in his demotion back into the midcard. The focus of the match is AJ basically ducking Tanahashi. It’s the only way to build to the King of Pro Wrestling title match as there are no shows in between. Another of New Japan’s 3 week ‘let’s give everyone a holiday so they don’t get burned out’ breaks that the WWE should probably institute. It’s telling that Naito takes heat and that the formula surrounds him being beaten up before Tana makes the save. Gallows struggles to live up to the occasion perhaps showing why the WWE cut their losses with him. He’s more effective than Bad Luck Fale in the monster heel role but lacks the move set to dominate matches. In tags they can cover for that and do here, leaving AJ to carry the work load. He probably considers it a challenge anyway. Tana gets a bit cheeky and goes to lift the Styles Clash, which Doc breaks up with a big boot. It shows Tanahashi’s playful side and AJ retorts by having Gallows set stuff up for him. The planning in AJ matches is usually excellent. Naito and Gallows aren’t just passengers and I like how Naito can’t do the legsweep in the corner because Doc’s legs are too big. Naito gets to finish with the Stardust Press, although Doc moves into position for it and Naito misses most of it anyway. Not an ideal finish. The match was mainly here to build to AJ vs. Tana and it did that without giving much away. They had a stellar match at the G1 finals, which I liked more than most, so the groundwork has already been done.

 

Final Rating: ***

 

IWGP Heavyweight Championship #1 Contenders match:

Kazuchika Okada vs. Karl Anderson

 

This is a bit like ROH’s old #1 contender’s trophy where you could become top contender but then defend that honour until you had your title shot. Okada has a title shot at the Tokyo Dome show but that’s months away so he’s putting that title shot on the line to get Anderson in the ring. Why is this important to Okada? Because Anderson beat Okada during G1 and ruined his perfect record in the process. His only other loss was to Naito and if he makes it past Anderson, he’ll be giving Naito the same opportunity. He wants to go into the Dome show with absolutely no doubt in his mind that he’s the very best. Anderson is familiar with Okada’s move set, which allows him to work in some clever stuff. There’s some countering and it’s all done at a decent pace. Anderson’s tenure in Japan allows him to have an understanding with most of the roster that a lot of imports don’t have. This being Bullet Club they can’t keep it 1 on 1 and Yujiro runs down to give Okada a kicking on the floor. If there’s a ‘least popular’ fan award in Japanese wrestling, Yujiro would win it easily. Anderson works an arm for an arm match where Okada takes his arm so he mirrors it. The big difference being that Anderson works over Okada’s Rainmaker arm. It doesn’t prevent Okada from nailing his Too Awesome Dropkick though. Okada looks confident and should win comfortably, which is where Yujiro comes into play, along with the arm. Okada learned from AJ too and hits a dive over the rail. This sets up a string of his usual spots, including Heavy Rain, until the arm prevents him jacking Anderson up for the Tombstone. I’m a bit perplexed about him using the right arm on the Savage Elbow though. At least switch arms.

 

RAINMAKER POSE!

 

Anderson counters that into a Gun Stun ON THE ARM. Good stuff. Would have been better if Okada hadn’t just used that arm in an offensive move but that’s modern wrestling for you. Anderson reminds him of the injury with several chair shots to the damaged appendage. BERNARD DRIVER ON THE CHAIR! Is Okada’s Dome shot going? Well, no, obviously. He kicks out but there was at least a moment of drama there. Gun Stun is blocked into a Tombstone but Okada can’t take advantage because of his arm. This bizarrely leads into an elbow duel with Okada using his bad arm. I seriously don’t understand wrestling nowadays. They go from there to a great counters sequence, including Okada front flipping over the Gun Stun in a remarkable spot. When he can’t position Anderson for the Rainmaker he opts for a German suplex, which suitably softens Anderson for the RAINMAKER. This would have been a really good match…if they’d got any kind of consistency on the selling. I understand him being able to hit the Rainmaker because it’s just a lariat. It’s all impact and once it’s done it’s done. But all the striking beforehand just seemed stupid to me. The work done around the dumb moments was fine and this delivered for the most part.

 

Final Rating: ***3/4

 

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You can also follow me on Twitter @ArnoldFurious

5.5
The final score: review Not So Good
The 411
It’s a bit of a dog compared to Kobe. But then Kobe’s card was considerably better before the first bell rang. Before this show started nothing really jumped out as a show-stealer and that was reflected in the action. Okada’s main event victory over Anderson was the best match on the card and the only match featuring one of NJPW’s top guys in singles action. In fact the only other singles match was Yujiro vs. YOSHI-HASHI, two real low rung guys going head to head. If you didn’t already realise it, you can probably skip over this show and not miss much. For an Indy this would be a decent card but for New Japan it’s very underwhelming, especially after the brilliant series of shows they’ve been producing in the second half of the year.
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