Csonka’s NJPW Road to Destruction Review 9.07.17

Csonka’s NJPW Road to Destruction 9.07.17

OFFICIAL RESULTS
– Shota Umino vs. Tetsuhiro Yagi went to a draw @ 10:00 [***]
– Yuji Nagata & Katsuya Kitamura defeated Manabu Nakanishi & Tomoyuki Oka @ 8:41 via pin [**½]
– Suzuki-gun defeated Togi Makabe, Ryusuke Taguchi, David Finlay, Ricochet & Hirai Kawato @ 8:37 via pin [**]
– Bad Luck Fale, Chase Owens, & Yujiro Takahashi defeated Hirooki Goto, YOSHI-HASHI, & Beretta@ 9:06 via pin [**½]
– Juice Robinson & War Machine defeated Tama Tonga, Tanga Loa & Leo Tonga @ 7:50 via pin [***]
– Minoru Suzuki, Takashi Iizuka & El Desperado defeated Michael Elgin, Hiroshi Tanahashi & KUSHIDA @ 14:41 via DQ [*½]
– LIJ defeated CHAOS @ 22:37 via pin [***¾]

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– Follow all of my reviews at this link.

– My Mae Young Classic coverage below…

* Episode 1
* Episode 2
* Episode 3
* Episode 4
* Csonka’s Early Mae Young Classic Takes
* Episode 5
* Episode 6
* Episode 7
* Episode 8
* Csonka: 9 Mae Young Classic Competitors WWE Should Sign

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Shota Umino vs. Tetsuhiro Yagi: We’re doing the usual Road to formula, opening with the young lions. Umino in starting to grow his hair out a bit and has put on more mass since the last time I saw him. They work a clean and basic opening stretch, Yagi had early control until Umino took things to the mat. Umino hit the first big move of the match, a shoulder block, scoring a near fall and popping the crowd. He then worked a heel hook, and grounded things as he started to target the knee. Umino then transitions to a camel clutch, and then lays the boots to Yagi. They trade strikes, and Yagi then takes Umino down with a dropkick. Yagi puts a run of offense together, locking in the crab, but Umino makes the ropes. He then hits the dropkick and follows with corner charges and a big running elbow, covering for 2. They then trade pinning combos, until Umino hits a spinebuster and locks on the crab. Yagi fights but the time expires. Shota Umino vs. Tetsuhiro Yagi went to a draw @ 10:00 [***] This was a good opening match, with clean work that built throughout and an invested crowd. Yagi is improving and has some nice fire to his babyface comebacks, but Umino really comes across as the more complete performer at this time; he’s also showing a bit of a mean streak. It’s really ridiculous the amount of young talent they are developing.

Yuji Nagata & Katsuya Kitamura vs. Manabu Nakanishi & Tomoyuki Oka: It’s fathers take your kid to work day, with the New Japan dads working with the lions. Someone took the last beer, because the dads are all fired up and brawling at the bell. Kitamura & Oka tag in, run into each other like a pair of rams and Kitamura then hits the big spear. Nagata tags in, knocks Nakanishi to the floor and that allows he and Kitamuura to take the heat on Oka, isolating him in their corner. Nagata is in full dick mode here, knocking Nakanishi to the floor again and absolutely giving no fucks about it. Oka fires up and cuts off Kitamura with the spinebuster. He tags in Nakanishi, Nagata in and tries to stop him but Nakanishi hits corner clotheslines. He turns his attention to Kitamura, slamming him and hitting the knee drop for 2. They trade chops, but Kitamura hits a suplex to cut off Nakanishi and tags in Nagata. Nagata kicks the shit out of Nakanishi, Nakanishi fires up and they trade slaps and strikes. Nagata is down; Nakanishi does his little dance and hits the lariat for 2. The torture rack follows, but Nagata escapes and hits the XPLODER. Oka tags in, hits a belly to belly on Nagata but Kitamura makes the save. Nagata hits the XPLODER and locks in the crossface, it breaks down as Kitamura takes Nakanishi to the floor; Nagata finishes Oka with the backdrop driver. Yuji Nagata & Katsuya Kitamura defeated Manabu Nakanishi & Tomoyuki Oka @ 8:41 via pin [**½] This was a solid outing, the Kitamura vs. Oka rivalry is fun, and Nagata being a dick to Nakanishi will never get old.

Togi Makabe, Ryusuke Taguchi, David Finlay, Ricochet & Hirai Kawato vs. Lance Archer, Davey Boy Smith Jr, Taichi, Yoshinobu Kanemaru & TAKA Michinoku: This is our first match with storyline implications, as this is here to set up the upcoming Ricochet & Taguchi vs. Taichi & Kanemaru junior tag title match. You will never believe this guys, but Suzuki-gun attacked the babyfaces before the bell, leading to a big brawl. Coach Taguchi called the plays, they made the come back, which featured corner attacks and men slammed into Taguchi’s ass. Smith & Archer then took control of things, Taichi used the bell hammer while Tiger Hatori stood there looking like an idiot. He tried to shove the hammer up Taguchi’s ass, but Taguchi made the comeback, tagging in Makabe. Makabe ran wild, working over KES and tagging in Finlay for some help. Makabe then hit the lariat on Archer for 2, but then got cut off with a shoulder block. Hot tag to Ricochet, he runs wild on Kanemaru & Taichi and tags in Kawato, Kawato is fired up, hitting the missile dropkick and the crowd loves him. Team Taguchi hits rapid-fire corner attacks, Kawato then gets a sunset flip on Kanemaru for 2. He locks in the crab but Taichi cuts him off. We get a ref bump, Kanemaru and Taichi use the whiskey bottle as a weapon and use it to blind someone with whiskey mist as well. Kanemaru hits deep impact to put Kawato away. Suzuki-gun defeated Togi Makabe, Ryusuke Taguchi, David Finlay, Ricochet & Hirai Kawato @ 8:37 via pin [**] Once again, the usual Suzuki-gun shenanigans take away from what was in it’s way to being a good match. Taichi & Kanemaru picking up the pin here was the right call, but this is an instance where the bullshit was used just to use it instead of saving it so that it means more down the line. There was no need to waste it here and to pin young Kawato of all people.

– Post match, Suzuki-gum beat down Taguchi & Ricochet.

Hirooki Goto, YOSHI-HASHI, & Beretta vs. Bad Luck Fale, Chase Owens, & Yujiro Takahashi: Someone should kill that think on HASHI’s head, it looks diseased. Owens and HASHI work back and forth to begin, but Fale had enough of that bullshit and attacked HASHI, taking him to the floor and beating him down. HASHI beats the count back in, but Owens cuts off the tag attempt. Bullet Club starts to work quick tags, Fake sends Beretta & Goto the floor and gets a near fall on HASHI. Fale misses a charge, HASHI hits a code breaker and Goto gets the hot tag. He takes out Yujiro and Owens, and then starts attacking Fale. Fake cuts him off, hits a corner splash but Goto escapes the grenade; the big lariat follows. Tag to Beretta, he runs wild and works over Yujiro and Owens, sending them to the floor and the suicide dive follows. Back in and Beretta and Yujiro battle. HASHI in and he and Owens work back and forth, until Goto hits Owens with ushigoroshi. It breaks down, Beretta takes Fale to the floor and hits the tornado DDT on Yujiro. The running knee strike connects for 2. Yujiro counters out of the dude buster, and hits pimp juice for the win. Bad Luck Fale, Chase Owens, & Yujiro Takahashi defeated Hirooki Goto, YOSHI-HASHI, & Beretta@ 9:06 via pin [**½] This was a perfectly solid tag match, but it lacked in drama (there was no angle other than it’s CHAOS vs. Bullet Club) and energy. Also, Yujiro pinning Beretta didn’t feel right, especially since Beretta is a new heavyweight. I mean, what’s worse than losing to Yujiro? Having Yujiro talk shit on you after he beats you.

https://twitter.com/MrLARIATO/status/905744009754271744
Juice Robinson & War Machine vs. Tama Tonga, Tanga Loa & Leo Tonga: This was supposed to serve as build to Omega vs. Robinson, but Omega is out with a meniscus tear; the third son of Haku (Leo Tonga) gets the promotion to take his place. Leo trained at the Team 3D Academy before heading to the New Japan Dojo. This still helps set up the IWGP tag title match between War Machine, KES, and GOD (Tama Tonga & Tanga Loa). Leo is legit like 6’7, and you can tell when he’s next to Fale. He’s lean, and almost a basketball player’s physique. Juice is a good brother, following protocol and painting up with War Machine. War Machine & The Guerrillas brawl at the bell. War Machine takes early control, working double teams and Hanson hitting clotheslines until Leo cuts him off. That allows the Guerrillas to take control, hitting a series of rapid-fire offense on Hanson before working him over in their corner. Hanson finally makes the tag, and Rowe is in and running wild, laying in strikes and head butts. Leo cuts him off, and Juice tags in and works the jabs on the big man. Leo hits the backdrop, corner splash and then a big suplex after he and his brothers beat on Juice. War Machine makes the save, as Rowe about kills Leo with running knees. Juice and War Machine work him over, Juice takes out Tonga but Leo looks for a chokeslam. Juice counters with the big right, hits pulp friction and puts the rookie away. Juice Robinson & War Machine defeated Tama Tonga, Tanga Loa & Leo Tonga @ 7:50 via pin [***] This was good, they kept it simple, kept the action moving and it was fun. Leo’s involvement was smartly kept at a minimum, but he did well for what was asked of him here. He obviously needs work, but did well stepping into the situation with such little experience.

Michael Elgin, Hiroshi Tanahashi & KUSHIDA vs. Minoru Suzuki, Takashi Iizuka & El Desperado: This is here to add to the set up for Elgin vs. Suzuki & Desperado vs. KUSHIDA; unfortunately no Zack Sabre Jr to make it a perfect set up, we get Iizuka instead. Taichi, TAKA & Kanemaru are ringside with Suzuki-gun. Tanahashi’s movie hair makes him look like a 40-year old Japanese mom. You will never believe this guys, but Suzuki-gun attacked the babyfaces before the bell, leading to a big brawl. Once we got done with that, we got some Desperado vs. KUSHIDA. But that didn’t last long as Suzuki pulled Elgin to the floor and beat the shit out of him with an umbrella. Desperado then got an umbrella and beat on KUSHIDA. Back in the ring, Suzuki worked a knee bar on KUSHIDA, and then locked in one on Elgin while the rest of the Suzuki-gun squad worked over KUSHIDA. Iizuka bites KUSHIDA’s knee as this thing has slowed to a crawl. Desperado misses a charge, but Iizuka takes out Tanahashi. KUSHIDA has no one to tag, so he has to fight off Iizuka and gets the tag to Tanahashi. He runs wild, working over Iizuka, and hitting the senton for a near fall. Sling blade follows, Elgin takes out Desperado but as Tanahashi heads up top Kanemaru gets involved, allowing Iizuka to cut off Tanahashi. Elgin now works over Suzuki, hits the slam and slingshot splash, covering for 2. Suzuki plays dead, and then fires up and attacks Elgin with strikes. Elgin fires up, they trade big time strikes and Elgin then hits the enziguri. Corner clotheslines follow, Elgin then does the deal but Suzuki-gun pulls out the ref. They have chairs now, working over the faces but Elgin starts to no sell the chair shots and takes out everyone Big Mike is large and in charge. The ref gets shoved down by Elgin, he uses the chair on Suzuki and we get a rare NJPW DQ. Minoru Suzuki, Takashi Iizuka & El Desperado defeated Michael Elgin, Hiroshi Tanahashi & KUSHIDA @ 14:41 via DQ [*½] More typical Suzuki-gun bullshit, it’s not entertaining, and means even less when you’ve already watched it once tonight. I am beyond over all of the Suzuki-gun stiff and have been for a long time. This did nothing to excite me for either title match, in fact it made me dread them.

– Suzuki talks a bunch of shit to Elgin, and Elgin tells him he can have any match he wants on Sunday. They are teasing another lumberjack match in order to make all of the bullshit they do legal. Fuck off with that.

Elimination Match: Kazuchika Okada, Tomohiro Ishii, Toru Yano, Rocky Romero & Will Ospreay vs. Tetsuya Naito, EVIL, SANADA, BUSHI & Himoru Takahashi: Eliminations are pin, submission or over the top. Daryl is not here; this concerns me. Naito and Ishii in to begin, but Naito quickly tags out to Takahashi. Ospreay also tags in. They have been heavily teasing this as the next feud for both, which I am 100% cool with. They work a really fun and fast paced back and forth before going face to face. BUSHI now tags in, as does Romero. Romero immediately does his hybrid Spanish/Japanese shit talking, leading to CHAOS working over BUSHI. Romero sends BUSHI to the floor, but LIJ cuts off Romero and that leads to the big floor brawl. Count it down until BUSHI chokes out someone with his shirt. Back in the ring and Takahashi works over Romero, leading to rapid-fire LIJ attacks. Romero hits a desperation enziguri and tags in Okada. He works over EVIL, hitting the DDT and running uppercut. EVIL fires back and hits a side slam. The big lariat follows, but Okada escapes darkness falls and hits a flapjack. Ishii & Naito tag in as the rest brawl on the floor. Ishii lights up Naito with chops and strikes in the corner. Naito fights off the Saito suplex and hits a neck breaker and dropkick. The draping neck breaker follows, and it breaks down. Naito takes Ishii up top, but Ishii slides out and hits a lariat. Takahashi makes the save, but Ospreay flies in with a dropkick. Romero hits a suicide dive, as Ishii continues to work over Naito and they work up top. Naito gets sent to the apron, pulls Ishii over with him and thy battle on the apron. Naito hits the neck breaker and both fall to the floor for eliminations. SANADA ties up Yano in the paradise lock. They now play with the turnbuckle pad, Yano fake that he got hit with a low blow and then low blows SANADA & BUSHI and pins SANADA. BUSHI mists him, chokes him out with the shirt and eliminates him over the top. Osprey flies in and takes out BUSHI, hits the Spanish fly and that gets 2. The cyclone kick and Oscutter eliminates BUSHI. Takahashi bask in, Ospreay hits the trapped superkick for 2. Takahashi counters the Oscutter and hits Ospreay with the sunset bomb to the floor, eliminating him. Okada in and he works over Takahashi, EVIL back in and Okada cuts him off and kills Takahashi with the rainmaker for the elimination. EVIL fights off the rainmaker, and hits a German. Okada to the apron, heads up top but EVIL cuts that off. He knocks Okada to the apron, EVIL follows and Okada looks for the tombstone but EVIL escapes and knocks Okada o the floor for the elimination. Romero is left for CHAOS, EVIL low bridges him but Romero hits a missile dropkick and follows with forever clotheslines. EVIL hits the superkick, but Romero gets a backslide for 2. EVIL counters sliced bread, hits darkness falls for a good near fall. The STO finishes it because everything is EVIL. LIJ defeated CHAOS @ 22:37 via pin [***¾] This was set up for EVIL vs. Okada & Naito vs. Ishii at October’s King of Pro Wrestling, as well as Takahashi vs. Ospreay, which should determine the next challenger for the junior title. This was your typical LIJ vs. CHAOS multi-man tag, which means it was very fun and very good, and easily the best thing on the show.

– EVIL gets to cut the show closing promo.

– End scene.

– Thanks for reading.

“Byyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyye Felicia!”

6.0

The final score: review Average

The 411

This was a solid, but very average show. If short on time, the main event is the only thing you have to see.