It was a big night for Suzuki-gun as Taichi had a crack at the NEVER Openweight title… while Minoru Suzuki faced Tetsuya Naito in the main event.
We’re in the B-Con Plaza in the city of Beppu – a city that New Japan typically visits only once a year – for a Destruction card that, to be frank, was fairly lightweight on paper. Kevin Kelly and Marc Warzecha remain on commentary…
Yuji Nagata, Manabu Nakanishi & Yuya Uemura vs. Satoshi Kojima, Hiroyoshi Tenzan & Yota Tsuji
They split up the Third Generation and gave them a kid each for what was Kojima’s “big show” return after injury.
We start with Tenzan and Nakanishi going into the ropes ahead of some Mongolian chops and a rake to the eye, but Nakanishi recovers with a shoulder charge before he cleared the apron. There’s a clothesline for Tenzan, then Kojima, while Tsuji wisely waited on the apron rather than take one of those as well. Uemura tags in, as does Tsuji, with the two Young Lions laying into each other like they’ve done many times since graduating from the dojo. Tsuji scores an initial takedown with a shoulder block for a near-fall, before he dragged Uemura across for Tenzan to have a go, throwing some headbutts and more Mongolian chops. A spinning heel kick cracks Uemura in the mouth, but Nakanishi breaks the count at one, only for Kojima to come in and help double-team Uemura.
Nakanishi wanders in again and gets into it with the referee, albeit in a stoic manner, as Kojima continued to wear down Uemura, following into the corner with Machine Gun chops. A whip and a leaping forearm into the corner are next, before Kojima scored with a top rope elbow for a two-count as Nagata broke up the cover. Oh, and stomped his partner out of frustration…
Uemura eventually hit back with a dropkick, then made the tag out to Nagata, who went into Kojima with a big boot in the corner, only for some elbows to stop an Exploder. Nagata’s faked-out low dropkick surprises Kojima, who’s then pulled into the Shirome armbar, but Tenzan quickly breaks it up. An attempt at the TenCozy Driver’s stopped, as Nagata ends up eating a Cozy Cutter, before Tsuji pleaded to tag in… and after some baseball slides to clear the apron, he went after Nagata with a leaping forearm into the corner. Tsuji keeps up with a dropkick before a Boston crab had Nagata in trouble. Of course, Nagata gets free and hits back with some knees and an Exploder, before the Nagata Lock crossface forces Tsuji to tap. A rather perfunctory opener, and a bit of a surprise as I had Kojima’s team as winning, but this was exactly as you’d expect for this match. **¾
Toa Henare & Shota Umino vs. David Finlay & Ren Narita
We’ve another set of Young Lions here, but we’re still at the bottom of the pecking order as it’s “Young Lions and barely a step higher” on the card here.
Finlay’s actually gotten a new t-shirt to celebrate being the C-block champion, but it’s the Young Lions who start as Narita and Umino scrambled on the mat. Narita looks for a wristlock, and manages to keep ahead with a back elbow to Umino before bringing in Finlay for some double-teaming, which came with another elbow… and a slam as Narita’s thrown onto Umino for a near-fall. Finlay brings Narita back in to stomp on Umino in the corner, but Shota’s back with a missile dropkick as Umino came up with a bloodied nose from those earlier stomps. Henare resists being knocked off the apron as Umino manages to get the tag out, with Henare quickly landing a leaping shoulder tackle ahead of a hanging suplex.
A quick burst of the Haka later, and Henare’s connecting with a falling chop, then a Samoan drop for a two-count. Umino returns as he throws another missile dropkick to Finlay, then rolls him into a Boston crab. Finlay escapes and launches in with uppercuts, before running into another dropkick as Umino tries to follow up with a German suplex, only for Finlay to escape and finish him off with a Stunner. A solid match, but a “nothing to see here” special. **¾
Takashi Iizuka vs. Ayato Yoshida
Although technically not a Young Lion, Kaientai Dojo’s Yoshida has been lumped in with them on this tour… and that threatens to make this match a little obvious. It’s Iizuka’s first singles match in New Japan in over eighteen months, since last year’s New Beginning card in Sapporo.
Iizuka’s already going under the ring for a chair, and it’s used from the off as Iizuka met hi in the aisle. There’s hair-pulling from Iizuka, who’s instantly frustrated that he can’t bite, and he ends up shaking Kevin Kelly in a bid to force him to remove the muzzle. Somewhere in the melee it comes off, and we’re into the biting as Yoshida’s foot became a hors d’oeuvre. Yoshida’s arm is next to get some teeth marks, but Yoshida finally hits back with a clothesline as he began to mount a comeback, dropkicking Iizuka into the corner. A pair of PKs put him down for a two-count, but Iizuka catches the next PK and looked to cut him off… eventually nailing an atomic drop before going for some more shortcuts. There’s a bit of rope that used to choke Yoshida briefly, before it’s time for the funky oven glove… and yes, the iron fingers forces the DQ. The hell, Yoshida wins?! That’s about the only notable part here – a main roster win for not-really-a-Young-Lion. Moving on… *½
Will Ospreay, Rocky Romero & Roppongi 3K (SHO & YOH) vs. Jushin Thunder Liger, Tiger Mask, KUSHIDA & Ryusuke Taguchi
Right, onto something of higher quality here – even if there is no Kota Ibushi involved here.
Taguchi’s still got his rugby headgear, while Beppu clearly isn’t a “jacket town” for KUSHIDA. Everyone plays keepaway with the referee before the bell, and we start with Liger and SHO trading shoulder tackles. SHO ducks a Shotei, then leaps over Liger as he ended up darting into a dropkick as I try desperately to alliterate. Liger manages to hit back with a tiltawhirl backbreaker, before a Romero special’s broken up by Rocky as the ring fills up. It calms down as SHO suplexes Taguchi, before tagging in YOH who mocks Taguchi with hip attacks… which Taguchi responds by landing a hip attack of his own before SHO gets cornered for the Taguchi Train of charging attacks.
SHO stops a charge into Taguchi’s rear end with… a finger up the rear before Romero guided the troops to mock the Taguchi Train, which end with Forever Lariats, which kept Ospreay frustrated as he looked to underline it all. It led to arguments within the CHAOS team, who quickly hug it out before they resumed putting the boots to Taguchi.
Taguchi tries to hit back with a hip attack, and eventually manages to connect as he swats away a handspring from Ospreay, who then had to deal with KUSHIDA’s myriad of armdrags. The referee nearly takes one, before Ospreay took over with an over the top rope 619 and a springboard forearm for a near-fall. KUSHIDA’s hauled up for a Storm Breaker, but he escaped and lands an overhead kick instead, only to run into an Ospreay enziguiri.
Tiger Mask comes in and busts out some rear spin kicks as the ring filled up once again to spark a Parade of Moves. Rocky Romero’s back body drop is flipped out of as Tiger Mask nearly puts him away with a Tiger Driver, before a tombstone piledriver gets the win. Enjoyable fare, but it’s rather curious that the fall didn’t involve anyone in the upcoming junior heavyweight title tournament… ***
Killer Elite Squad (Lance Archer & Davey Boy Smith Jr.) vs. Best Friends (Chuckie T & Beretta)
Hello, World Tag League reminder!
The KES jumped Chuckie and Beretta though, as the match effectively started on the outside, with the Best Friends getting tossed into the guard rails. Back in the ring, Smith keeps up the pressure, driving an elbow into Beretta in the corner, before getting caught with a flying sunset flip for a near-fall as the World of Sport star was on the back foot.
A pounce from Archer wipes out Beretta before he could tag out, with Lance taking Chuckie T over the guard rails and into the crowd for good measure. In the ring, Smith slammed Beretta, but quickly misses a knee into the corner as he’s forced to counter a tornado DDT and turn Beretta out with a Northern Lights suplex for a near-fall. Smith claims to win with a chinlock, but the ref’s not falling for it, and Archer comes in with a slam for a near-fall – and a spot of ref bullying. Beretta remained isolated as the KES ran through him… at least until he was able to catch Smith with a half-nelson suplex out of nowhere. A tag to Chuckie T follows, and of course Chuckie clears the apron before he launches into Smith with a missile dropkick. He misses a moonsault off the top rope and gets caught with some rolling Germans from Smith, getting a near-fall after the hattrick.
Chuckie tries to get a tag back out to Beretta, and succeeds as Archer came in… and that leads to some double-teaming as a Gob Stopper shining wizard almost puts Archer away. Nevermind, Smith deadlifted Beretta from the cover into a German suplex, but Beretta landed a DDT as the Best Friends looked to edge ahead… a tope con giro wipes out Smith, but Beretta’s tope’s caught and turned into a chokeslam on the apron by Archer. Back in the ring, Archer nearly gets pinned by a wheelbarrow roll-up, before a Black Hole Slam nearly put away Beretta… but Chuckie makes the save, only to get pulled off the apron as he was about to tag back in.
Beretta’s left on his lonesome as he’s forced to push away from a Killer Bomb, but he falls to it at the second attempt as the KES picked up the win. They’re picking up steam – and it’s not for nothing. Expect them to be featured fairly prominent in what’s left of the year… ***½
Suzuki-gun (Zack Sabre Jr., Yoshinobu Kanemaru & El Desperado) vs. Los Ingobernables de Japon (EVIL, SANADA & BUSHI)
After Saturday’s show in Hiroshima, Zack Sabre Jr. took to New Japan’s backstage promos to deride Halloween, and call EVIL something that came “from a pound shop” (or think “Dollar Tree Demon” for readers in the States).
We start with SANADA getting double-teamed, but he’s quickly dropkicking through Kanemaru and Desperado, before tying up the whiskey-loving Kanemaru in a Paradise lock. A low dropkick frees him for a near-fall, but interference from Sabre and Desperado turns it right back around, as all three members of LIJ were taken outside, with SANADA remaining the sole target. SANADA finally gets free as he out-grappled Sabre before bringing in BUSHI… but it looked to be a familiar story, as BUSHI had to hit an overhead kick in the ropes before a missile dropkick took down both of the junior tag champions. A spinebuster from Desperado puts BUSHI down as the match remained even, taking us to EVIL and Sabre for a spell, as Zack looked for a full nelson.
EVIL powers out and manages to work his way into a release Fisherman buster on Sabre for a near-fall. Zack’s back with some strikes of his own, eventually trapping EVIL in an Octopus hold, forcing EVIL to stagger into the ropes as he bit the top rope for freedom. Moments after, the rest of LIJ return to charge at Sabre in the corner, as an EVIL lariat gets a near-fall, before Everything is EVIL is countered into a float-over backslide for the out-of-nowhere win! As a match, this was fine – but lacking something as it never really got into any kind of groove. Zack racks up a win over Halloween, and you’ve got to think this is building to something more substantial down the road… ***¼
Kazuchika Okada, Toru Yano, YOSHI-HASHI & Jay White vs. Hiroshi Tanahashi, Juice Robinson, Togi Makabe & Tomoaki Honma
Kobe on Sunday sees Okada have his shot at Hiroshi Tanahashi’s G1 briefcase… but right now there’s bigger fish to fry as CHAOS seemed to have some internal strife.
Tanahashi and Okada looked to start again, but this time Jay White doesn’t ruin things as they go in with a tie-up, with Okada taking things into the ropes. There’s no clean break as Okada went dirty, but Tanahashi tries to switch around, only for Okada to go back to a headlock before he knocked down Tanahashi with a shoulder. Now Jay White gets a blind tag, derailing Okada’s plans, and the Switchblade quickly gets squished with a springboard crossbody out of the corner.
Honma’s tagged in as he looked to work on White, knocking him with a forearm for a count of one, before a slam led to a missed Kokeshi. Of course it did. That was the cue for CHAOS to flood the ring, with Okada and Tanahashi brawling on the outside… with Okada offering up Tanahashi for White, who just refused. Interesting… Meanwhile, Toru Yano’s removed a turnbuckle pad, because of course he has, and he tags in to whip Honma into the exposed corner. YOSHI-HASHI’s brought in to hold Honma for a big boot as Okada found someone who would play ball. There’s another missed Kokeshi as Honma whiffs on Yano before getting it at the third attempt, as Makabe gets the tag in to clear house. Yano takes the mounted punches in the corner, before a Northern Lights suplex drew a near-fall.
Tags eventually take us back to Okada and Tanahashi, with the latter scoring with a Dragon screw before being forced to duck a Rainmaker attempt. Okada does connect with a neckbreaker slam, then a shotgun dropkick… but Tanahashi palm strikes back into it, only to get met with an Okada dropkick in return. We’ve another Rainmaker attempt, but Tanahashi counters with a neckbreaker, then a Slingblade as the ring fills to break up the cover. The ring clears as Tanahashi heads up for a High Fly Flow… but Okada rolls away and tags in YOSHI-HASHI, who chops through Tanahashi. A forearm takes YOSHI down, before Juice Robinson tags in and lights up YOSHI with punches and chops into the corner. Juice keeps up the pressure with a cannonball, flattening YOSHI before a flying crossbody off the top draws a two-count.
YOSHI returns with a Western lariat for a two-count, as we again have a full ring, which clears once more as YOSHI-HASHI countered out of Pulp Friction. An errant forearm from Jay White takes YOSHI-HASHI out though, and after a left-handed punch, Juice finishes off YOSHI with Pulp Friction. Another decent, but unspectacular match. For me, the Okada/Tanahashi build hasn’t really felt special, and the diversion of the Okada/White stuff has been more intriguing. ***¼
NEVER Openweight Championship: Taichi vs. Hirooki Goto (c)
Taichi’s finally gotten his one-on-one title shot, having previously been involved in a three way during Michael Elgin’s brief flirtation with the title. Results-wise, it’s not been a glittering run as a heavyweight thus far for Taichi, but in New Japan if you ask… you largely get things like title shots.
Both men take their time before the match starts, and it’s Taichi who’s just biding his time in the corner, waiting for Goto to make the first move. Taichi powders outside, trying to rile up Goto, and we’re firmly into Larry Zbyszko territory here with the stalling. Although Larry Z never threw his manager into the ring for a distraction…
It did lead to an attack from behind as everyone was focused on Miho Abe, before Goto was thrown outside as Yoshinobu Kanemaru at ringside attacked him behind the ref’s back. An Irish whip’s reversed as Kanemaru’s thrown into the railings, but a chair from Taichi breaks that up as the pair began to wander into the crowd. Taichi uses a chair as the crowd remained rather silent for it all, with Taichi almost winning the match (and the title) by count-out.
Back in the ring, Taichi stands on Goto’s head, before he took a step back to survey his handiwork. An eye rake followed a Goto tried to fight back… there’s more distractions for the referee as Goto takes a chairshot before Taichi attempted a powerbomb on the ramp… and gets suplexed there for his efforts. Kanemaru tries to get involved, but meets a similar fate, before Goto and Taichi returned to the ring, with Taichi taking a spinning heel kick and a Saito suplex for a near-fall. Taichi wriggles out of an ushigoroshi, so he and Goto trade kicks and elbows, with the pace gradually increasing. An enziguiri from Taichi finally knocks down Goto, as does an Axe bomber, before a buzzsaw kick drew a near-fall. Off come the trousers, as Taichi perhaps sensed a victory, but another thrust kick is caught, only for Taichi to counter back into a backdrop suplex and another enziguiri for a near-fall.
Goto tries to fight back, landing a modified version of the Angle slam, before a rear naked choke drained Taichi ahead of a GTR attempt… but Taichi grabs the referee as Yoshinobu Kanemaru comes in to attack Goto. The ref’s down as Kanemaru’s thrown to the outside, before El Desperado came out to help… and I’ve got to think Takashi Iizuka’s still wandering around. Despy’s clotheslines to the outside, just in time for SHO & YOH to make a save. Goto ducks a mic stand shot, lands an ushigoroshi, then a Shouten Kai… but there’s still no ref! Undeterred, Goto slices through Taichi with a kick to the chest, then drills him with a headbutt before a reverse GTR drew a near-fall as the referee finally returned. Iizuka appears, but gets knocked away as Taichi tried to capitalise with a low blow and a Gedo clutch… but to no avail as Goto kicked out at two.
Iizuka’s still around at ringside with his funky oven glove, but he’s just staggering around as Taichi lands a superkick, then a Last Ride powerbomb for another two-count. An air raid crash is next, and Taichi gets the win – and the title. Yeah… this did NOT work with me at all. I get the whole “deliberate, methodical, cheating” motif of Suzuki-gun, but this match dragged from the first bell to the last, and felt devoid of any kind of emotion. Goto didn’t even seem annoyed by the catalogue of interference, which just made it all irritating rather than heat-inducing. **½
Minoru Suzuki vs. Tetsuya Naito
Today was Respect for the Aged Day in Japan, a public holiday. Something tells me Naito isn’t going to be playing ball…
We’ve a jump start as Naito foolishly left himself open for Suzuki, and we’re taken outside, with Naito getting thrown into the barriers. Naito turns it around as he stands on Suzuki’s head in the barriers, before doing a Jay White and shoving Suzuki right into the English commentary table as the pair ambled around ringside. There’s another swing as Suzuki was returned to the ring, but he just boots Naito off the apron as the pair wandered into the crowd… and more specifically Kevin Kelly’s cursed commentary desk, before heading into the crowd.
There’s a Brookes’ing for Naito, who gets choked by one of those chairs, before Suzuki tore apart some of the guard rails and took it to ringside for… reasons that I’m assure will become apparent soon. Naito’s rolled back into the ring, but not too far as Suzuki grabs an arm and leans back with an armbar off the side of the apron, before he went after Yuya Uemura, flipping him over the guard rail as Suzuki just stalked around ringside. Poor Yota Tsuji just gets booted in the chest, which produced a satisfying/horrifying groan from him, before Suzuki resumed his focus on Suzuki.
A Kimura sees Suzuki stretch Naito’s arm, as does a Fujiwara armbar, but Naito manages to get a foot to the rope… which stops the stretching but doesn’t do much to stop Suzuki. Naito tries to return fire with an Irish whip, an inverted atomic drop and a neckbreaker… but Naito’s offence just drew a wicked smile from Suzuki, who elbowed his way back in as Naito got cracked in the corner.
Naito’s thrown back outside, then reintroduced to the guard railings by the English commentary desk, which gets off lightly as Suzuki folds up the timekeeper’s table and throws it at Naito’s head. Hey, it even left a mark, but Suzuki’s going to make sure it’s completely obliterated, as he sets it up… but Naito fights back, only to get drained with a front facelock. Naito’s put on the table, but Suzuki’s stopped as he tried to throw a chair… with referee Red Shoes Unno clutching onto the chair for grim death to stop Suzuki. It just delayed him though as he traps Naito in the ropes with a rear naked choke, hanging him a la Hirooki Goto, before a Gotch style piledriver attempt through the table’s avoided as Naito hits a neckbreaker off the apron and through the table. Thankfully it gave, as Suzuki remained with a zombie-like look as his eyes remained fixed and staring ahead. Suzuki gets back to his feet and barely beats the count-out, but Naito stays on top of him, landing Gloria for a near-fall.
Suzuki tries to charge back, but Naito just meets him with an elbow… before Suzuki finally took him to the ground with a leg grapevine. Naito gets to the ropes, but Suzuki stays on the knee, only to get met with a low dropkick as Naito gave him a taste of his own medicine. A tornado DDT follows, before Destino’s blocked with Suzuki rolling Naito through into a heel hook, then a knee bar, as Naito was dragged away from the ropes. Suzuki lets go and reapplies the knee bar as Naito tried to make it to the ropes, before switching it into a Lion Tamer-ish single-leg crab as Naito was grabbing onto the referee as Suzuki switched from hold to hold. They sailed past the 25 minute mark as a deathlock kept Naito down, before a Figure Four followed as Suzuki seemed to be content to just let Naito pass out with the pain.
A sudden burst of strength gets Naito to the ropes, but Suzuki just catches him with a rear naked choke, then turns him into the Gotch piledriver, but somehow Naito is able to wriggle free. There’s a slap from Suzuki before Naito dug deep to land a Destino… but he can’t even roll over to make a cover. Instead, Suzuki gets to his knees as the pair trade elbows on their way back to a vertical base, with Naito edging ahead as he scored with an enziguiri before he looked to ape Suzuki with a Gotch piledriver that looked more like a Gotch-style powerbomb for a near-fall.
Showing little signs of the leg work that Suzuki’d done earlier, Naito’s able to get back up and land a Destino… and that’s all folks. While this had a little more emotion and urgency than the Taichi match, this felt very methodical – and not even a cursory ice pack on the knee won’t help me get over “Naito spent a good ten minutes in leg locks but was able to move around A-OK afterwards.” This could have been so much more, but badly under-delivered. ***¼
Destruction in Beppu, on paper, was a weaker card than Hiroshima… and it met those expectations. Goto vs. Taichi was a match that had some promise going by their interactions on the Road shows, but what was delivered was a turgid mess that pretty much was devoid of any kind of emotion. Avoid that. It’s beating a dead horse, but spreading out a pay-per-view card across three events doesn’t work from an artistic perspective, as it invariably leads to shows that (at worst) have an undercard that drags. This was definitely a show either for completists, or to cherry pick from, before we all reset our sights and expectations for Kobe on Sunday.