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Kevin’s NJPW Destruction in Kobe Review

September 23, 2018 | Posted by Kevin Pantoja
NJPW JAY WHITE GEDO CHAOS
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Kevin’s NJPW Destruction in Kobe Review  

NJPW Destruction in Kobe
September 23rd, 2018 | Kobe World Hall in Kobe, Hyogo | Attendance: 6,454

I totally thought this was on yesterday instead of today. Whoops. Destruction is coming to an end after three shows. It says something about the hierarchy around NJPW that Tanahashi vs. Okada gets the main event of all three shows, while the IWGP Champion closed out night one only. Night one was solid and night two was trash. Let’s see how NJPW ends this tour.

Yota Tsuji vs. Yuya Uemura
Talk about evenly matched. There have been 14 singles matches between them and each one has ended in a time limit draw. It’s an interesting story to tell with the Young Lions. The opposite of when Jay White used to dominate David Finlay. These two came out with a sense of urgency. It felt like they were well aware of their history and were dying to put a win in their record book. As they got close to the time limit, you could feel the already intense level pick up. Tsuji nearly had it with the Young Lion Crab, but time expired at 10:00. Another spirited sprint from these guys! [***]

Ren Narita and Shota Umino vs. Roppongi 3K w/ Rocky Romero
We go from a Young Lion war to two of them teaming up. Against former Young Lions at that. Due to that, this kind of felt like Narita and Umino were facing off against what they could one day become. Commentary hyped Umino as being many people’s pick for the top Young Lion of this current crop. I miss Kawato. The almost mirror image stuff worked, giving Umino and Narita some near falls the fans managed to bite on. I love when these guys who never win get the fans to buy into an upset. In a finish I appreciated, YOH got the win with the Falcon Arrow at 8:46. HE DID THE DEAL! Solid little tag to get RPG3K a win and allow their opponents to showcase their stuff. [**¾]

By the way, commentary kept mentioning that RPG3K was gunning for a Jr. Tag Title shot. I have a pretty great memory and I had to look up who the champions were. That division is a mess.

Non-Title Match: IWGP Jr. Heavyweight Tag Team Champions El Desperado and Yoshinobu Kanemaru vs. Jushin Thunder Liger and Tiger Mask IV
Oh, these are the champions. They jumped the veterans before the bell. I dig Desperado, but this should’ve been a title match and Gedo should have the balls to put the titles on Liger and company. Anyway, Desperado vs. Liger was fun, but Kanemaru against Tiger Mask was rough. Tiger did roll up Kanemaru for the upset at 6:50 and it looks like there will indeed be a title match soon. Put the damn title on Liger. This was fine and kept short. [**½]

Ayato Yoshida, Ryusuke Taguchi, Togi Makabe and Tomoaki Honma vs. Manabu Nakanishi, TenKoji, and Yuji Nagata
I love having all the New Japan Dads back. I’m surprised this is on so late in the card, as there’s not much meaning behind it. Despite that, mostly everyone brought their working boots. The Dads were fun as always, Honma looks so happy to be back in the ring, Taguchi was his wacky self, and Yoshida is bringing energy to everything he does. Nagata beat Yoshida with the Backdrop Driver at 9:56. Fun little match with nothing on the line. [**¾]

Rocky Romero joined commentary here.

The Best Friends vs. The Killer Elite Squad
Man, if NJPW ran a weekly show like WWE, they’d run just as many rematches, if not more. We literally just had this match on the last Destruction card. I like Smith wearing more Union Jack stuff. It’s like, they’re in Suzuki-Gun, but not really. They barely team with them anymore. Though the Best Friends got the jump on KES, the bigger team took control and wore them down. Though they dominated, the Best Friends showed a lot of heart and snuck out a win when Beretta used a crucifix at 12:41. 50/50 BOOKING BABY! Beretta winning that way makes sense, but adds to the idea that he feels out of place as a heavyweight. Fine match, but nothing more. [**½]

David Finlay, IWGP United States Heavyweight Champion Juice Robinson, and Toa Henare vs. Jay White, Will Ospreay, and YOSHI-HASHI
On most nights, this would be a solid tag, yet one that holds little importance. However, there’s a lot going on thanks to Jay White. He remains the most interesting NJPW character in 2018. He has history with both Juice and Finlay, while also playing the role of chaos causer within CHAOS. Due to YOSHI-HASHI playing a surprising role in the build to Tanahashi vs. Okada, he got a lot of time to showcase himself here. Meanwhile, Juice’s team was a lot of fun. It felt like a Taguchi Japan unit. Ospreay was able to match up with them in terms of quickness, so he was welcome here. They should keep Ospreay on White’s side of things within CHAOS. He’s already super unlikable, so might as heel run with it. Jay came in and had a miscue with HASHI, but put down Henare with the Blade Runner at 9:05. Fun match that was brightened up by White’s continued character work. He brings something special to the table in this company. [***¼]

EVIL, SANADA, and Tetsuya Naito vs. Minoru Suzuki, TAKA Michinoku, and Zack Sabre Jr.
Suzuki was out for revenge on Naito for beating him in a bad main event the other day, while EVIL and Sabre looked to continue their new beef. Apparently, with Hiromu on the shelf, Naito has hinted at a new member for LIDJ. Suzuki-Gun attacked before the bell because that’s really all they know. That led to the traditional brawl we’ve come to know from these units. Fights outside of the ring and underhanded tactics. You know the drill by now. The highlight was again the battle between Sabre and EVIL. It’s a fun clash of styles. TAKA took the loss after getting hit with Everything is EVIL in 11:20. Solid. [***]

IWGP Jr. Heavyweight Championship Tournament Semi-Finals: BUSHI vs. KUSHIDA
This is one ROUGH looking tournament. It’s short but I’m not interested at all. BUSHI/KUSHIDA is a safe bet for a good match. I’ve seen them at New Beginning 2016 (****), Destruction 2016 (***½), Power Struggle 2016 (***), BOTSJ 16 (***½), BOTSJ 17 (***¾), and Kizuna Road 17 (***½). WE REMATCH ON SUNDAY NIGHTS MAGGLE! BUSHI came out looking awesome. This match almost felt like an Okada special. It started way slow and not much of what happened seemed to matter. KUSHIDA felt like he was going through the motions. BUSHI picked things up by taking to the skies and ramping up the pace. There was a fantastic spot where KUSHIDA caught his tope into an armbar. It’s one of the best spots I’ve ever seen him do. We got some late drama, especially when BUSHI spit his mist. However, as usual, NJPW plays it safe and puts KUSHIDA in the finals against either Scurll or Ospreay with Back to the Future at 16:41. Not on the level of their best work, but I’ve seen them have worse matches. A slow start hurt this, though the final third was thrilling. [***½]

G1 Climax Briefcase: Hiroshi Tanahashi [c] vs. Kazuchika Okada
Everyone has spoken about this rivalry at length. I’ve felt all their matches were ****+ except for WK 10 (their worst) and this year’s G1 Climax draw. However, I usually dig their normal venue matches (KOPW 13, Invasion Attack 13, G1 23, Dominion 2012) over the stuff they save for the Tokyo Dome. A lot of this match felt like the Okada we got during his title reign. He seemed hell bent on once again proving that he could outclass Tanahashi rather than simply defeat him. He defiantly fired up when hit and when Tanahashi seemingly injured knee, Okada targeted it. That put the already pro-Tanahashi crowd even more in the corner of the ace. Their exchanges down the stretch were what you’d expect from these two. Crisp, with strong storytelling aspects sprinkled in. I loved the way Tanahashi beat the superplex with a High Fly Flow before adding more to win at 35:43. I have one major gripe with this match that brings it down. Tanahashi wrestled an illogical style. You haven’t beaten Okada in ages, so why keep going with the same strategy. That’s one reason why their KOPW 2013 match will always be their best. Tanahashi was the desperate challenger and altered his game because Okada had his number. I needed more of something like that this time around. Still, this was great and had a lot of drama late. It was one of those rare matches between them where the winner wasn’t obvious, so you bought into a lot of stuff. Their familiarity led to plenty of great moments and a great match, but they’ve certainly had better. [****]

Post-match, Jay White attacked Tanahashi. He was the only man to beat Tana during the G1. He also beat up Okada, Young Lions, and even went after Rocky Romero on commentary. Hilariously, YOSHI-HASHI attempted to make the save and fell right on his face. Literally. It was amazing and perfectly fitting of who he is. Gedo showed up and turned on Okada, siding with White. The moment would’ve been cool, except Gedo delivered one of the worst and most awkward chair shots in wrestling history. White hit Okada with the Blade Runner and Gedo made the official challenge for White to Tana’s briefcase. They also promised a new era. I dug this, other than Gedo’s chair shot, and Okada/White and Tana/Omega sound fresh for the Dome. I’m assuming they also rematch Jericho/Naito.

7.0
The final score: review Good
The 411
A better than usual Destruction show. The entire undercard was solid at best, which is a nice change of pace from when we get garbage there. The final two matches, while completely unoriginal, delivered about as well as I hoped they would. Plus, things are shaping up for an interesting Tokyo Dome show.
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