wrestling / TV Reports
Kevin’s NJPW Destruction in Kagoshima Review
Image Credit: AXS TV/NJPW
Loading...NJPW Destruction in Kagoshima
September 16th, 2019 | Kagoshima Arena in Nagayoshi- Kagoshima | Attendance: 4,004
After a weak first Destruction event, can NJPW turn the tide 24 hours later? Let’s find out.
Young Lions Cup: Clark Connors [6] vs. Yuya Uemura [0]
I’ve seen more of Uemura than Connors but the latter has been pretty impressive so far. He also has two wins in the tournament while Uemura is winless. Their records made this feel like a mismatch but most of these guys are on a level playing field. That was the case here, as we saw a match that pretty even. Connors had a slight advantage throughout but it wasn’t anything crazy. Uemura had to rally late and hit a sweet suplex. He put on the Young Lion Crab and pulled Connors to the middle of the ring to win via submission in 9:31. That was really good. Tons of energy, good action, and a crowd way into the upset idea. [***¼]
Young Lions Cup: Michael Richards [2] vs. Ren Narita [6]
A win for Narita puts him tied for first with Shota Umino and Karl Fredericks. Considering his strong run in the BOSJ (even though he went winless), Narita is clearly near the top of the Young Lions pile. It showed here. This was about as close to a squash as you’ll find in this tournament. Richards only got in a bit of offense and fell to Narita’s signature suplex in 7:18. Fine enough but skippable. [**¼]
Alex Coughlin, Karl Fredericks, Manabu Nakanishi & Toa Henare vs. Ryusuke Taguchi, Shota Umino, Yota Tsuji & Yuji Nagata
Young Lions, New Japan Dads, and Henare/Taguchi. Pretty much exactly what they ran yesterday. See what I mean about New Japan and their predictability? I don’t have much to say about this because it’s the same old, same old. Taguchi did ass attacks, the Dads were fun, and the Lions had energy. The highlight were Tsuji attacking Coughlin with a ton of fire and the interactions between Umino and Fredericks ahead of their final Young Lions Cup tournament match. Narita is the one guy saving that tournament from coming down to just the final match again. Like most of Gedo’s round robin stuff. Anyway, Henare won with the Toa Bottom on Tsuji in 9:48. Is Henare ever going to do anything of note? [**½]
Bad Luck Fale, Chase Owens & The Guerrillas of Destiny vs. Roppongi 3K, Tomohiro Ishii & YOSHI-HASHI
After another lame title defense, the Guerrillas of Destiny are facing those challengers again but with others involved. Thank goodness this had SHO, YOH, and Tomohiro Ishii. They were the saviors here. Everyone else can piss off and never come back to New Japan. Okay, maybe Chase Owens can hang around to do jobs in these matches. Surprisingly, it wans’t him or YOSHI-HASHI who ate the pin here. Instead, we saw YOH cradle Loa to score a surprise win in 6:51. Hey, New Japan can still surprise me! The most surprising bit will be in RPG 3K can drag GOD to a good match. They kept this short, so it didn’t totally suck. [**¼]
I am pressed for time so I’m kind of going to fly through the middle of this show with quick reviews before focusing more on the two important matches.
DOUKI, Minoru Suzuki, Yoshinobu Kanemaru & Zack Sabre Jr. vs. Great Bash Heel, Hiroshi Tanahashi & Jushin Thunder Liger
You know what the whole reason to watch this match was. Liger vs. Suzuki. And they stole the show. Whenever they were in there, this was a blast. I dug their dueling chairs exchange outside. That ended up leading to the finish, as Suzuki attacked Liger with a chair for the DQ in 9:22. I actually like that finish. It furthers Liger/Suzuki and not every match needs to end cleanly. A mostly enjoyable outing. [***]
BUSHI, SANADA and Shingo Takagi vs. Hirooki Goto, Kazuchika Okada and Rocky Romero
No need to go into detail here. This isn’t the first time New Japan ran this match on the tour and it was more of the same. I’m not saying that like it’s a bad thing because these are six guys who are good wrestlers. Romero and BUSHI have met in a ton of these kinds of tags and know their roles. Goto and Takagi went to war and I’m pumped for their singles match. Okada and SANADA are no strangers to each other. I fully expect their upcoming title match to be like the rest (***¼-***¾ range). The finish came when BUSHI fell to the Rainmaker in 10:08. Short, to the point, and highly enjoyable. [***¼]
EVIL and Tetsuya Naito vs. Jay White and Yujiro Takahashi
Though I appreciate the fake friends angle Jay White and Tetsuya Naito are going with, I can’t be excited about their match. Their exchanges in these tags have lacked and their G1 outing was a heavy disappointment. As much as I love Naito, it feels more and more like Gedo missed the boat on him (he did but it gets more evident with each outing). His body doesn’t seem to be holding up from all of the damage and he’s taking it easy. This year was easily his worst G1 run in years. Anyway, the match was a lot of them doing halfway interesting stuff and EVIL kicking Takahashi’s ass. Everything is EVIL finished him off in 11:50. It was a match. [**½]
Okay, now onto the two matches on the card that matter.
IWGP Jr. Heavyweight Tag Team Championship: El Phantasmo and Taiji Ishimori [c] vs. The Birds of Prey
I only reviewed it for my Patreon, but Royal Quest saw this match run as a non-title affair. The Birds of Prey won a fun match that I praised for packing a lot of action into 10 minutes (***½). I came in to this concerned that they’d make the mistake of trying to go too long. I often roast NJPW for their booking but I want to commend the one they’re telling here. I may not care for Willy or ELP, but the Eagles saga involving them has been well handled. Throw in the talented Ishimori and you’ve got a rare Jr. Tag Title match that has me intrigued.
With that out of the way, it’s time to focus on the match. I liked how a lot of the early goings were focused on trying to showcase these teams being evenly matched. They’d do blow for blow and neither could get a true upper hand. Eagles as the face in peril made sense because I think he’s a superior seller to Will and the G1 sometimes heavyweight boy has a hot tag sequence that the crowd love. When this broken down and moved away from being your traditional tag, they gave us bigger spots and more moments that played into their past. I liked the tease of the finish that worked in Royal Quest though it came off a bit awkwardly since it was difficult to pull off. The one on one stuff between ELP and Eagles was a nice addition to their rivalry and ELP nearly winning by cheating was a nice touch. Eagles took the fall after getting hit with Bloody Cross and CR2 in 23:10. I appreciate that they didn’t try to go too long. This was entertaining, featured a lot of action, and told the story it needed to. If Willy was a straight tag wrestler, I’d like him a lot more. His annoying stuff was toned down and he could focus on what he does well. [****]
G1 Climax Briefcase: Kota Ibushi [c] vs. KENTA
I really liked their G1 match (****). Somebody truly needs to get into Gedo’s ear and inform him that not every main event has to be longer than 25 minutes. This one clocked in at 26:23 and was honestly about 15 minutes too long. Anyone who watched Royal Quest saw how banged up KENTA looked after his concussion. This showed that he wasn’t really ready to be back in the ring. There were good ideas in here. KENTA attacking before the bell and forcing Ibushi to fight from behind was a great move because of Ibushi’s hometown crowd. But they dragged on segments for way too long. I didn’t even mind some of the interference but it hit a level of overkill late. I didn’t need the Guerrillas (I never do), YOSHI-HASHI, and Ishii. Ibushi survived it all, got two on Kamigoye, countered the GTS, and won with a second Kamigoye. Way too long and overbooked. Nowhere near as good as their G1 battle. [**]
EVIL appeared and challenged Ibushi. He beat him during the G1 so it makes sense.
