Kevin’s NJPW Destruction in Kobe Review

NJPW Destruction in Kobe
September 24th, 2017 | Kobe World Hall in Kobe, Hyogo | Attendance: 5,482

After the G1 Climax, NJPW tends to chill for the remainder of the year. The Destruction shows, like this one, are typically solid but unspectacular, before things kick up a notch at King of Pro Wrestling. Then there’s the usual “B level” Power Struggle and the completely skippable World Tag League. The Destruction in Kobe show did provide us with an excellent match last year, so there’s hope here, especially with Juice Robinson and Kenny Omega having a rematch from their really fun G1 Climax outing.

Hirai Kawato and Hiroyoshi Tenzan vs. Monster Rage (Katsuya Kitamura and Tomoyuki Oka)
If Kitamura and Oka are going to be a regular tag team, just give them the IWGP Titles now. Then let them run through the division. I don’t care if they’re young lions. Kawato went right after his larger opponents, because he’s awesome and insane. When Tenzan came in, he reminded everyone who the dad is around these parts, bringing Mongolian chops and such. Surprisingly, it was Tenzan who kind of took a heat segment. After a big blown spot, Kawato came in with a big missile dropkick. Tenzan followed with Kokeshi (SHOUTOUT TO HONMA) and won via Anaconda Vice on Oka in 5:42. Not the best work from these guys, but fine. I know they’re capable of better. It just seemed to be lacking. I also with Monster Rage won. [**]

El Desperado, Taichi, TAKA Michinoku, Takashi Iizuka and Yoshinobu Kanemaru vs. IWGP Jr. Heavyweight Tag Team Champions Funky Future, Jushin Thunder Liger, Tiger Mask IV and Togi Makabe
Togi, Tiger and Liger are honorary Taguchi Japan members today. We were treated to the Suzuki-Gun attack before the bell, setting up a brawl around the ring. Though the Taguchi Japan guys turned things around, they were thwarted by usual Suzuki-Gun antics. Taichi used his trusty ring bell hammer on Taguchi, including putting it in his trunks and basically shoving it up his ass. Ricochet got the hot tag and continued to be a blast and ball of energy. Makabe was tagged in shortly after, moving at a snail’s pace. It might’ve been his normal undercard level of not giving a shit, but looked slower after Ricochet’s awesomeness. Taguchi cut off an iron finger attack with ass based offense and Ricochet took out most of Suzuki-Gun with a dive. Makabe got the win with the King Kong Knee Drop at 7:17. Fine tag, highlighted by Ricochet. Everyone else was kind of just there. Suzuki-Gnu antics are beyond stale at this point, making their matches a drag at times. [**]

Bad Luck Fale and Chase Owens vs. Hirooki Goto and YOSHI-HASHI
When Kazuchika Okada beat Goto with several Rainmakers at New Beginning in 2016, he really ended Goto’s run as a top level guy. Goto and Fale worked some stuff early, with Owens getting involved to help ground Goto. Owens focused on the knee. It led to HASHI getting the tag, but still needing Goto to come in and save him. Goto clotheslined Fale to the outside, leaving HASHI alone with Owens. HASHI countered the Package Piledriver and went into a flurry that ended with Karma for the win in 5:41. Talk about lifeless. It meant so little, even Fale wrestled with a shirt on. Only Owens brought his working boots, which certainly wasn’t enough. [*½]

Baretta vs. Yujiro Takahashi
Since graduating to heavyweight, Baretta’s been verbally run down by Yujiro. He’s also lost to him in several tags. This started with a bit of a brawl, before Yujiro took control. He wore down Baretta on the mat. However, it was the same problem most Yujiro singles matches have. His heat segments are dull and heatless. Nobody seemed to care and it hurt the reaction for Baretta’s eventual comeback. Yujiro also used his pimp cane as a weapon and still couldn’t put Baretta down after multiple fisherman busters and even Miami Shine. Baretta delivered a piledriver and Yujiro kicked out. After a strike exchange, Baretta nailed the Dudebuster to finally win after 13:21. Whoever thought this should go thirteen minutes should have his head checked. It wasn’t technically a bad match, but it went way too long. I like Baretta and though I enjoy Yujiro’s character, his singles matches tend to be lame because his offense and heat segments are so bland. Sure, Baretta got his first heavyweight singles win, but it did nothing for him. He got dominated and then rallied to win. It didn’t help me buy him as a heavyweight (a division that’s WAY too crowded already) at all. [*¾]

IWGP Tag Team Championship: War Machine [c] vs. The Guerillas of Destiny vs. The Killer Elite Squad
This show was not off to a good start, and seeing this match for the third time in two weeks didn’t pump my excitement level. To try and change things up, this was given tornado tag rules. War Machine started in the crowd and dared their opponents to brawl with them there. The challengers obliged, which was dumb, because I’d have just stayed in the ring and tried to steal a quick win. It took a few minutes before things got to the ring, but the mass brawling continued. Archer did the Old School rope walk, but into a dive onto everyone outside. He was then taken out by a lame looking Guerrilla Warfare on the stage. Back in the ring, GOD came close to winning on several occasions, which has been the theme for them in the first two matches. Hanson cut off Guerrilla Warfare, leading to Fallout, but Archer returned to break up the pin. Hanson was thrown through a table, leaving Rowe alone with KES. He got hit with a bunch of offense, ending with the Killer Bomb to give us new champs at 13:33. Finally, something pretty good on the show. It was their best match together, with the wild brawling being the best route to take as it is a strong suit for all three units. The chaos allowed things to constantly move and provide us with entertainment. The story of the Guerrillas coming so close continued, as well. [***]

David Finlay and Kota Ibushi vs. IWGP Intercontinental Champion Hiroshi Tanahashi and Michael Elgin
The second half of this show sounds much better on paper. This was here to build towards Ibushi/Tanahashi, which most likely goes down at Power Struggle in November. They opened with some solid back and forth, being careful not to give too much away. Finlay went at it with Elgin, using his speed to combat Elgin’s strength. Elgin wrecked him with some chops. They both made the tag to give us what we really wanted, which was more Ibushi/Tanahashi. Ibushi went for the knee that knocked Tanahashi out during the G1, but Elgin interrupted and Tanahashi managed to hit slingblade. That led to a fun exchange between Ibushi and Elgin. That’s a match I’d like to see. The finish came after Elgin press slammed Tanahashi to the outside onto Kota. Left alone with Finlay, Elgin killed him with a lariat and series of powerbombs for the 1-2-3 at 12:01. Solid match. This was better than Elgin looked at any point during the Suzuki-Gun feud. Everyone had good chemistry, with Ibushi’s interactions with both opponents being high quality. Finlay was a nice little addition too. [***]

BUSHI, SANADA and Tetsuya Naito vs. Rocky Romero, Tomohiro Ishii and Toru Yano
Ishii wanted Naito ahead of their KOPW match. Naito teased it, but tagged BUSHI instead. Ishii still went after him and no sold some attacks to get there. After that, we got the continuation of the mini rivalry between SANADA and Yano. Yano was up to his usual antics and it all led to him getting put in the Paradise Lock. Some things never change. BUSHI and Rocky had some good back and forth, reminding me of their high quality BOTSJ match in 2016. Rocky made the big diving tag to Ishii, who just no sold some Naito forearms. Ishii ran wild on him for a bit. LIDJ cut him off and continued their focus on his taped knee, but Ishii continued to fight back. Yano and Rocky saved Ishii from some LIDJ tandem offense. Ishii destroyed Naito with a lariat, while Rocky took out SANADA with a dive. Ishii then planted BUSHI with a brainbuster to score the win in 11:56. I seriously believe it’s impossible for a bad LIDJ/CHAOS match. LIDJ just clicks with everyone. They’d probably get good stuff out of Suzuki-Gun. These guys have great chemistry, moving at a quick pace and delivering loads of action. Romero is a fun addition, we got the odd, but entertaining SANADA/Yano stuff and Ishii/Naito continued to be great. [***¼]

NEVER Openweight Six Man Tag Team Champion EVIL and Hiromu Takahashi vs. IWGP Heavyweight Champion Kazuchika Okada and Will Ospreay
Okada and Ospreay are probably my two least favorite CHAOS members not named Jado. I’ not denying that they’re good, because they are, but I’m just not a fan. EVIL and Hiromu are great and I love them. Okada came in with his neck and shoulders taped, showing the damage from his recent battles with EVIL. After they went at it for a bit, the juniors got tagged and worked at their absurd pace. Both are gunning for a Jr. Heavyweight Title shot, despite Ospreay doing nothing of note to earn one. EVIL threw Okada into the crowd, allowing LIDJ to isolate Ospreay. Okada managed to drag himself back to the apron, get the hot tag and get some offense going. There was a great spot where Okada attempted his cross body, only for EVIL to just launch a chair at him. I love EVIL. Ospreay and Hiromu became the legal men again, with both picking up near falls. Things broke down and Okada took out EVIL with a Rainmaker, while Ospreay nailed Hiromu with the Oscutter to win in 12:39. Another quality outing in the CHAOS vs. LIDJ rivalry. They set such a high bar that this wasn’t one of their better matches, despite being good. Ospreay and Hiromu worked well at a frantic pace, while Okada and EVIL got more build and for once, Okada came out on top. [***¼]

IWGP United States Heavyweight Championship: Kenny Omega [c] vs. Juice Robinson
Juice scored a huge upset over Omega in the G1 in a great match (****). Omega is coming off knee surgery less than three weeks ago. He’s a wild man. Juice said he wanted to wrestle the title from Omega, deciding not to go after the bad leg. He would stop his offense to switch to avoid the leg. Omega used the leg at times, but favored it often. After nailing the Terminator tope, he couldn’t instantly capitalize because he stopped to check the leg. Things truly got going when Omega countered Pulp Friction and hit his first V-Trigger. Omega got V-Trigger happy (what’s new?), with Juice finding openings for a victory roll, which was how he won in the G1. Finally, Juice escaped the One Winged Angel and chop blocked Kenny. Juice looked to the crowd, feeling kind of bad for it, but knowing he had to do it. From there, Juice went to work on that knee, including various submissions. He busted out the ring post figure four, which I’ve always loved. Ever the babyface, even as he turned the tide, you could see the torment in Juice. Kenny finally got an opening and hit a sick suplex off the apron. Inside, Juice took a bunch of V-Triggers before catching one to start a rally. There was an awesome near fall after Juice hit a Kojima style lariat. An even better one came when Kenny kicked out of Pulp Friction, becoming the first person to do so. Juice wanted a super Pulp Friction, but Kenny slipped free and hit a super One Winged Angel to retain in 32:55. The best thing on the show, though I’m not sure if I liked it more than their G1 match. I don’t think it needed to go over thirty minutes, as they could’ve told a similar story in less time. Still, the story they told was very good, with Juice trying to be the good guy, but his desire to win the title taking over. He was so torn on going after the knee, which fit him perfectly. When his best shot didn’t work, he tried something new and Omega countered to best him. One thing the length accomplished was showing that Juice was tough and that Kenny wasn’t at 100%. [****]

Post-match, YOSHI-HASHI arrived to challenge Kenny Omega next. Omega called him “Gedo’s little bitch” and said he’ll give him his first good match of the year. This is wildly uninteresting. Their G1 26 match was great, but their follow up at Destruction last year did nothing for me. Add in how lackluster Tacos has been this year and you’ve got a match that doesn’t interest me at all. I’m glad it’s not another Omega/Elgin match, but there were better options.

6.0

The final score: review Average

The 411

The first half of this show is among the worst in NJPW this year. Nothing is good and even the people I looked forward to seeing didn’t deliver. The Tag Title match was as good as it could’ve been and the tag after was fun, while building Tanahashi/Ibushi well. The two CHAOS vs. LIDJ tags were good fun and the main event was high quality wrestling. Watch the second half, ignore the first four matches.