Csonka’s NJPW Destruction in Kagoshima 2019 Review

Csonka’s NJPW Destruction in Kagoshima 2019 Review

OFFICIAL RESULTS
– Young Lion’s Cup Match: Yuya Uemura defeated Clark Connors @ 9:25 via submission [***¼]
– Young Lion’s Cup Match: Ren Narita defeated Michael Richards @ 7:23 via pin [**¾]
– Manabu Nakanishi, Toa Henare, Karl Fredericks, & Alex Coughlin defeated Yuji Nagata, Ryusuke Taguchi, Shooter Umino, & Yota Tsuji @ 9:50 via pin [**¾]
– Big Tom Ishii, YOSHI-HASHI, Yoh, & Sho defeated Tama Tonga, Tanga Loa, Bad Luck Fale, & Chase Owens @ 7:10 via pin [**½]
– Hiroshi Tanahashi, Togi Makabe, Tomoaki Honma, & Jushin Thunder Liger defeated Zack Sabre Jr., Minoru Suzuki, Kanemaru, & DOUKI @ 10:25 via DQ [***]
– Kazuchika Okada, Hirooki Goto, & Rocky Romero defeated SANADA, Shingo Takagi, & BUSHI @ 9:55 via pin [***¼]
– Tetsuya Naito & EVIL defeated Jay White & Yujiro Takahashi @ 12:05 via pin [**¾]
– IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Title Match: Champions El Phantasmo & Taiji Ishimori defeated Will Ospreay & Robbie Eagles @ 23:10 via pin [****]
– WK 14 Title Shot Rights Match: Kota Ibushi defeated KENTA @ 26:20 via pin [*]

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Young Lion Cup Match: Yuya Uemura vs. Clark Connors: They lock up and Conners grounds the action, they scramble and Connors attacks the legs. He works into an STF variation, but Uemura counters out into a head scissors. Connors escapes, and they work into a standoff. Lock up and Uemura works a side headlock, but Connors takes him to the ropes and follows with chops. Uemura quickly grounds him and Connors fights to his feet and to the ropes. Uemura follows with chops, trips up Connors and gets cut off with knee strikes. He follows with chops, they trade and Connors follows with uppercuts. Uemura hits a slam for 2. The hip toss connects and Uemura grounds the action. He follows with strikes but Connors cuts him off with a beautiful dropkick and the crab follows. Uemura fights, powers up and crawls and makes the ropes. Connors lays the boots to him and slaps Uemura around. Uemura fires back, rocks Connors and they trade as Connors now lays in a flurry and they go crazy fists until Uemura takes him down. Uemura gets the deep arm drag, the overhead suplex and crab follows. Connors fights, crawls, but Uemura sits down deep and Connors fights again but fades and tapes. Yuya Uemura defeated Clark Connors @ 9:25 via submission [***¼] Good intense battle here with Uemura finally getting on the board.

Young Lion Cup Match: Ren Narita vs. Michael Richards: Narita grounds things to begin as Richards makes the ropes. Narita grounds things again, but Richards counters and starts attacking the arm. He looks for an arm bar, but Narita counters and Richards makes the ropes. Narita takes him back down, and then follows with a shoulder tackle and grounds Richards again. Richards fights to his feet, but Narita counters back and takes control. Richards fights to his feet and Narita drags him back down. Richards follows with body shots and a belly to back suplex. He follows with corner clotheslines, a back elbow and the suplex for 2. Narita fights off the crab at first, so Richards transitions to a half crab. Narita makes the ropes. Richards lays in strikes, but Narita fights him off and Richards follows with a clothesline for 2. Richards lays in strikes, they trade and Narita follows with a dropkick. The Narita special suplex finishes it. Ren Narita defeated Michael Richards @ 7:23 via pin [**¾] This was pretty good and a largely dominating win for Narita here.

Yuji Nagata, Ryusuke Taguchi, Shooter Umino, & Yota Tsuji vs. Manabu Nakanishi, Toa Henare, Karl Fredericks, & Alex Coughlin: Yota and Coughlin begin with Yota running wild at the bell. He follows with strikes until Coughlin cuts him off with chops. Umino & Karl tag in and Umino follows with a shoulder tackle, but Karl hits a cross body and then lays the boots to him. Karl hits the dropkick and Team Nakanishi clears the ring and they isolate Umino. Henare tags in and follows with chops. The delayed suplex follows and Taguchi makes the save. Coughlin tags back in and grounds Umino. He follows with a slam for 2. Nakanishi tags in and lays the boots to Umino. Umino fires back, but Nakanishi cuts him off with chops as Karl tags back in and hits a slam. He misses an elbow drop, follows with uppercuts and Umino cuts him off with a dropkick and tags in Taguchi. He runs wild with ass attacks on everyone. Nagata tags in and lays in kicks on Nakanishi, but Nakanishi cuts of the XPLODER so they trade strikes. Nakanishi follows with a clothesline, does his little dance and hits a clothesline for 2. The rack follows, but Nagata escapes and hits the XPLODER. The arm bar follows, it breaks down and Yota tags in. He follows with strikes on Henare, they trade shoulder tackles until Yota dropkicks Henare and the slam follows. He locks on the crab, but Coughlin makes the save with chops. Yota firs up and hits him with a spear. He trades with Henare, but Henare follows with a flurry and a head butt. Rampage follows and the cover gets 2. It breaks down again, and the Toa bottom finishes Yota. Manabu Nakanishi, Toa Henare, Karl Fredericks, & Alex Coughlin defeated Yuji Nagata, Ryusuke Taguchi, Shooter Umino, & Yota Tsuji @ 9:50 via pin [**¾] This was pretty good with everyone playing their roles well.

Big Tom Ishii, YOSHI-HASHI, Yoh, & Sho vs. Tama Tonga, Tanga Loa, Bad Luck Fale, & Chase Owens: Jado is at ringside. CHAOS attacks and here we go. Ishii is out for revenge, focusing on the tag champions as Fale cuts off 3K. Bullet Club takes control on the floor, as HASHI gets posted. Back in and Owens isolates Sho, lays the bots to him and follow with strikes. Fale tags in and the Tongan massage parlor follows. Tonga tags in and hits a dropkick and corner splash as the cover gets 2. Loa tags in and hits a senton atomico. Ishii in and attacks, but Loa dropkicks him to the floor. Sho battles back, hits a dropkick and tags in HASHI. HASHI runs wild with shoulder tackles and chops. The spin kick and draping dropkick connects for 2. Tonga cheap shots HASHI and Ishii returns as it breaks down and he and HASHI run wild. They double team Loa and Fale cuts them off until 3K attacks and double dropkicks him to the floor. Owens cuts off Yoh but runs into double knees Tonga hits the Tongan twist, but Sho saves Yoh and Yoh cradles Loa for the win. Big Tom Ishii, YOSHI-HASHI, Yoh, & Sho defeated Tama Tonga, Tanga Loa, Bad Luck Fale, & Chase Owens @ 7:10 via pin [**½] This was solid with a surprising 3K win over the heavyweight tag team champions.

– GOD kicks the shit out of Yoh post match and stands tall.

Hiroshi Tanahashi, Togi Makabe, Tomoaki Honma, & Jushin Thunder Liger vs. Zack Sabre Jr., Minoru Suzuki, Kanemaru, & DOUKI: In a shocking turn of events. Suzuki-gun attacks before the bell. Suzuki works over Liger a Honma misses a kokeshi on Kanemaru. Honma follows with a slam and this time hits the kokeshi. Tanahashi tags in, Sabre joins him and Tanahashi follows with strikes, the high cross and uppercuts until Sabre cuts that off as Suzuki attacks. He then takes Liger back to the floor and works him over in the crowd. Back in and Sabre works over Tanahashi, and then tags in Kanemaru. He lays the boots to Tanahashi, Suzuki tags in and attacks until Liger makes the save. They brawl to the floor and Suzuki whips him to the barricade. Tanahashi battles back, but Suzuki cuts him off wit knee strikes as DOUKI takes the ref. DOUKI hits a pipe shot on Tanahashi, chokes him out as Suzuki takes the ref. Sabre in and lays in body shots on Tanahashi, but Tanahashi counters back with the dragon screw. Makabe tags in and runs wild with strikes. DOUKI & Kanemaru make the save, but Makabe lays them out with lariats and follows with one on Suzuki. Liger tags in and lays into Suzuki with shoteis, chops, and they trade as Suzuki gets pissed off. Liger fades, but fires up one last time but Suzuki gets the sleeper, DOUKI tags in and Liger cuts him off with the back breaker, The faces rush the ring, isolate DOUKI and work him over in the corner. Shotei by Liger and the cover gets 2. Liger hits another shotei but Suzuki attacks and tries to rip off the mask but Liger fires back and Suzuki attacks with chair shots on Liger for the DQ. Hiroshi Tanahashi, Togi Makabe, Tomoaki Honma, & Jushin Thunder Liger defeated Zack Sabre Jr., Minoru Suzuki, Kanemaru, & DOUKI @ 10:25 via DQ [***] Good match with tons of great stuff from Liger & Suzuki.

– Post match, Suzuki unmasks Liger as the lions cover him up. Liger gets the mic and says Suzuki has crossed the line and vows to get his revenge.

Kazuchika Okada, Hirooki Goto, & Rocky Romero vs. SANADA, Shingo Takagi, & BUSHI: Shingo & Goto get right to it, hosing around and Goto finally takes him down. Shingo battles back but Goto hits a suplex and Romero joins in for double teams. Romero follows with strikes, but BUSHI is in and he gets cut off allowing Shingo & SANADA to cut off Romero. BUSHI tags in and chokes out Romero with his shirt. The neck breaker follows for 2. SANADA tags in and the paradise lock follows. SANADA frees him with the dropkick, Shingo tags in and locks on a cravat, takes out Goto and BUSHI joins in to choke out Romero SANADA back in and follows with strikes. Romero battles back, hits a RANA, rewind kick and tags in his best friend Okada. Okada runs wild with clotheslines and back elbows. The flapjack follows, and Okada covers for 2. SANADA fights off the tombstone, they work into counters and start teasing finishes until SANADA hits a Saito suplex. BUSHI tags in and hits the missile dropkick, DDT and covers for 2. Okada counters back, but LIJ cuts off Okada with triple teams. Shingo & Goto brawl to the floor, Okada avoids MX and it breaks down and as Shingo an Goto trade until Goto hits a lariat but Okada then tombstones SANADA. Dropkick on BUSHI, and the top rope elbow drop follows. The rainmaker finishes BUSHI. Kazuchika Okada, Hirooki Goto, & Rocky Romero defeated SANADA, Shingo Takagi, & BUSHI @ 9:55 via pin [***¼] Like all tour long, this was a good match; I am so pumped for Goto vs. Shingo II.

Tetsuya Naito & EVIL vs. Jay White & Yujiro Takahashi: Gedo is at ringside. Bullet Club tries to attack but LIJ cuts them off as Yujiro & EVIL brawl to the floor. Naito works over White, and grounds him following an arm drag. EVIL tags in and follows with clubbing strikes and chops. He follows with a shoulder tackle, but White makes the ropes. Naito back in and continues to ground White. Combination cabrone is stopped by Gedo, allowing White to attack and work him over on the floor. Everyone brawls on the floor, with Naito getting tossed into the chairs. Naito barely beats the count and White lays the boots to him and Yujiro tags in and follows with strikes and elbow drops for 2. He dumps Naito, White works him over on the floor, and back in, Yujiro covers for 2. White tags back in and grounds the action. White follows with chops, but Naito battles back, hits a RANA but White cuts off the tag. Naito cuts him off with a neck breaker, and tags in EVIL. EVIL runs wild until Gedo trips him up and then takes down Yujiro and levels Gedo, back breaker on White and he follows with the broncobuster for 2. White fights off the fisherman’s suplex and lays in chops, and follows with a DDT. Yujiro tags in and follows with the basement dropkick and suplex for 2. EVIL fights back with strikes and White is in and cuts him off. The blade buster follows for 2 as Naito makes the save. EVIL fights off pimp juice but eats a superkick and Yujiro covers for 2. Naito cuts off Yujiro, it breaks down and White is dumped as LIJ double teams Yujiro and the EVIL clothesline gets 2. Everything is evil finishes it. Tetsuya Naito & EVIL defeated Jay White & Yujiro Takahashi @ 12:05 via pin [**¾] This was pretty good, but a bit flat.

– White low blows Naito post match.

IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Champions El Phantasmo & Taiji Ishimori vs. Will Ospreay & Robbie Eagles: Ishimori & Will begin, but Will wants Phantasmo instead. He tags in and Bullet Club attacks, knocking Eagles to the floor. The challengers quickly rebound and follow with planchas. Back in and Will works over Phantasmo with strikes, quick tags follow and Phantasmo tags in Ishimori. Will back in and more quick tags and double teams follow. They knock Phantasmo to the floor and continue to double team Ishimori for 2. Eagles follows with chops, but Ishimori battles back and hits the seated senton as Phantasmo takes out Will. Phantasmo follows with back rakes, chops and a suplex for 2. Ishimori tags in and hits a double stomp for 1. He grounds Eagles, and double teams follow for 2. Phantasmo gets a cradle for 2. He keeps things grounded, Eagles battles back but Phantasmo sets him in the tree of WHOA and the nut stomp follows as he dumps Will. Phantasmo chokes out Eagles, and grounds things again. Eagles fights, but Phantasmo keeps him down. Eagles hits a jawbreaker and follows with a running elbow. Hot tag to Will, he runs wild, hits a 619 and a tornado DDT. Back handspring kick on Ishimori, Cheeky nandos on Phantasmo and cradles him for 2. Phantasmo battles back with knee strikes, they work into cool counters and Phantasmo slaps Will. He follows with chops, the ropewalk into a RANA and tags in Ishimori. Sliding German by Ishimori and that gets 2. The double team code breaker and BME follows as Eagles makes the save. He’s dumped and Will battles back, eagles joins in for double teams and the shooting star press follows for 2 as Eagles hits a dive. Hook kick by Will, storm breaker is countered Ishimori levels him with a lariat. Phantasmo in and the champions work double teams, but Eagles flies in with a RAN on Ishimori who was on Will’s shoulders. The Birds of Prey follow with topes, and back in Will hits the flying forearm for 2. Eagles tags in and double teams on Ishimori follows, they set for the double Spanish fly, Phantasmo makes the save, but the challengers hit a doomsday sliced bread for 2 as Phantasmo makes the save. Phantasmo gets dumped, and Eagles is caught with a poison RANA by Ishimori and both men are down. Eagles and Ishimori trade strikes center ring, Will takes out Ishimori and Eagles then attacks the knee. Backing, and Eagles missile dropkicks the knee and the Ron Miller special follows. Ishimori fights so Eagles holds him down as Will hits the springboard 450, he tales out Phantasmo as the Ron Miller special follows. Octopus hold by Will on Phantasmo but Phantasmo slams him onto Eagles to break the submission. Phantasmo follows with kicks on Eagles, eagle fires up and lays in chops. he lays the boots to him and misses the running knees, Phantasmo hits the high cross, lionsault and suicide dive onto Will. Phantasmo then moonsaults over the barricade taking, out Will. Back in and the Phantasmo splash eats knees. Eagles follows with a flurry of kicks, and the sliced bread into a DDT follows for 2. Eagles up top and the 450 to the knee connects. The Ron Miller is countered, belt shot by Ishimori and Phantasmo cradles Eagles for 2. the Argentine cutter gets 2 as Will makes the save. Oscutter is countered and the champions follow with double teams. They double superkick Eagles and bloody cross and CR2 finish Eagles. Champions El Phantasmo & Taiji Ishimori defeated Will Ospreay & Robbie Eagles @ 23:10 via pin [****] It took a bit to get going, but this was great, played off of the established feuds well and featured some great teases of a title change and some spectacular moves. I could have done with out the overbooked stuff at the end, but this was easily the best thing on the show.

Kota Ibushi vs. KENTA (Ibushi’s right to challenge for the IWGP Heavyweight Championship at WrestleKingdom 14 is on the line): KENTA charges and attacks Ibushi before the bell and then hits him with the briefcase. He then destroys the briefcase and claims it is his now. The doctor checks on Ibushi, and he wants to fight. The bell rings and KENTA hits the busaiku knee for 2. He dumps Ibushi and whips him to the barricades a few times. Ibushi beats the count back in and KENTA takes him back to the floor and hits a DDT. KENTA looks for a countout, but Ibushi beats the count again. KENTA follows with a draping DDT and covers for 2. KENTA lays the boots to Ibushi, chokes him out in the corner, and follows with kicks until Ibushi fires up but is instantly cut off with kicks, and the back elbow follows for 2. He grounds the action, Ibushi fires back but is slammed right back down. Knee drops follow and KENTA stalls and celebrates. Ibushi finally hits a desperation dropkick, and then a powerslam and moonsault for 2. Ibushi follows with a plancha. Back in and KENTA cuts him off with knee strikes and kicks. Ibushi fires back with kicks, they trade and work into a double down. RANA by Ibushi and KENTA rolls to the floor as Ibushi looks for the golden triangle, gets cut off and KENTA posts the knee. He continues to attack the knee on the floor, and then attacks with chair shots. He dumps him knee first onto the announce table. Back in and KENTA keep attacking the knee. The dragon screw and heel hook follows. Ibushi fights and makes the ropes. KENTA continues to assault the knee with kicks, another dragon screw and back to he heel hook. Ibushi fires up and makes the ropes. KENTA follows with more kicks, but Ibushi fires back and lays in strikes. The Shibata dropkick connects but KENTA locks on another heel hook until Ibushi makes the ropes. KENTA follows with strikes, the Shibata dropkick and heads up top. The double stomp follows for 2. KENTA looks for go to sleep, but Ibushi fights until KENTA hits a dragon screw and figure four. KENTA traps him center ring, but Ibushi fights and rolls to make the ropes. KENTA hits a running knee strike, but Ibushi battles back with a lariat. The powerbomb follows for 2. Ibushi now sets and bom a ye is stopped ad KENTA hugs the ref. GOD attacks but Ibushi fights them off. Boma ye gets 2 as GOD pulls out the ref. The magic killer follows. They look for the superbomb, but Ishii & HASHI make the save. Ibushi & KENTA trade strikes, Ibushi is rocked and the PK connects for 2. KENTA hits kamigoye for 2. Go to sleep is countered as Ibushi hits a jumping knee strike and kamigoye for 2. Kamigoye again finishes it. Kota Ibushi defeated KENTA @ 26:20 via pin [*] This was trash as they went with a sports entertainment booking to the extreme here. They tried to create sympathy in Ibushi’s hometown with the pre-match attack and run-ins, which just felt flat. Worst of all, it felt as it this was booked this way to heavily protect KENTA who I don’t think was fully recovered from Royal Quest. The striking exchanges were mild, and KENTA took maybe three legit bumps. He took 95% of the match, and it went long simply because it was the main event and they felt they needed this to go long instead of rebooking things and doing the EVIL match here instead. Otherwise I can’t explain the booking, because the match was nowhere close to good, it didn’t play to their strengths at all and felt like it lasted for an hour. I never got into this on any level and I didn’t even think that the hometown crowd was really into it minus a few moments. But seriously, if this was booked to protect KENTA due to health issues and him not being ready for this, they really have to reevaluate things. No more of this please.

– EVIL appears and he’s next up to challenge Ibushi since he beat Ibushi in the G1.

YOUNG LION’S CUP STANDINGS
Karl Fredericks (4-1), 8pts.
Shooter Umino (4-1), 8pts.
Ren Narita (4-1), 8pts.
Clack Connors (3-2), 6pts.
Alex Coughlin (2-3), 4pts.
Michael Richards (1-4), 2pts.
Yota Tsuji (1-4), 2pts.
Yuya Uemura (1-4), 2pts.

The 411 on Wrestling Podcast returns to the 411 Podcasting Network for episode 51. On the show, the good brother, Jeremy Lambert, joins 411’s Larry Csonka as the guys will deliver a full breakdown of WWE Clash of Champions 2019, ponder if it’s time to pull the plug on Kofi’s title run, look at more fallout of the Anthem/AXS TV deal, and then take a look at Wednesday’s NXT show, which is the start of the two-hour era. The show is approximately 81-minutes long.

* Intro
* WWE Clash of Champions Review: 4:45
* More Anthem/Impact/AXS Fallout: 48.15
* WWE King of The Ring Finals Predictions, NXT to Two Hours Debut Preview: 1:02:55

You can subscribe and listen to the 411 on Wrestling Podcast via the above player on Transistor, or on the following platforms:

* iTunes
* Spotify
* Stitcher
* Google Play

– End Scene.

– Thanks for reading.

6.0

The final score: review Average

The 411

The undercard was all solid to good, continuing feuds and builds to the big upcoming matches, while the co-min event was great. The main event was extremely weird and poor by any standards, especially NJPW standards. Overall, the NJPW Destruction in Kagoshima 2019 event was average at best.