With the G1 a distant memory, New Japan’s turning their attention to the Destruction tour – with warm-ups and three PPVs in the next three weeks.
Although the tour started on Tuesday in Aichi, our first taste of live action came today from Korakuen Hall featuring an elimination match and the usual array of undercard tags. This is the first of three shows in four days, with another Road to… show from Korakuen on Saturday, ahead of Destruction in Hiroshima on Sunday.
Tetsuhiro Yagi vs. Shota Umino
Deja vu? Last time these met in a singles match at Korakuen Hall, they wrestled to a time limit draw as Umino seemed to be being singled out as the runt of the current Young Lions litter. Their last four matches, in fact, were all time limit draws on the Kizuna Road tour… so there’s that.
Yagi looked to be gaining the upper hand with a hammerlock, but Umino escaped and eventually trapped Yagi in a leg grapevine, before rolling him into a single leg crab. That’s easily broken in the ropes, so Umino switches to a camel clutch… and someone’s been watching his Iron Sheik!
Again, Yagi makes it to the ropes, so Shota needs to watch Sheiky-baby a little closer, and they switch into just laying into each other with chops. A dropkick from Yagi sent Shota flying, but his basic comeback saw a hiptoss get him a near-fall before going for the Boston crab – which gets broken before it could be properly applied. At the second attempt, Yagi rolls over Umino, but again we get a rope break before a dropkick to the gut gives Umino fresh hope.
The clock continues to tick down, but Umino looked for the win with a spinebuster and a Boston crab, only for Yagi to hold on through the pain as time ran out! Yet again, Shota Umino can’t put away a fellow young lion, and I’m liking this route they’re going. Neither man came out particularly badly, but it’s nice to have guys at the same level without trading wins. **¼
Manabu Nakanishi & Tomoyuki Oka vs. Yuji Nagata & Katsuya Kitamura
It’s been a while since we’ve had a Lions’ Gate show, or indeed, anything non-G1 related, so this is a nice change to see the New Japan Dads and their dojo kids.
We start with the dads laying into each other, with Nakanishi getting an early two count from a big splash, before tags bring in the Monster Rage pairing of Oka and Kitamura. You know the drill – big lads’ moves barely budge each other until Kitamura lands a spear which signals the isolation of Oka.
Nagata and Kitamura are really making it nasty as they kick Nakanishi off the apron to prompt him to inadvertently tie up the ref, so they can keep working over Oka. It’s very much “wash, rinse, repeat” stuff, but it’s successfully draining Oka. A spinebuster gets Oka back in it as Nakanishi takes shots… only for Nagata to double-team. Badly.
Kitamura tries to initiate a chop battle with Nakanishi, but the veteran wins that one easily, before a suplex lets Kitamura bring Nagata back in to kick away on his fellow dad. Stomps and strikes from Yuji just enrage Nakanishi, who slaps back HARD, then lariats Nagata for a near-fall. An Exploder from Nagata gets some breathing room as Oka tags in to take him back down, before an overhead belly-to-belly nearly gets the Young Lion the win.
Nakanishi gets rid of Kitamura after he broke up the cover, leaving Nagata free to throw another Exploder to Oka and then the Nagata Lock II crossface. A head chop from Nakanishi breaks that up, but after Kitamura returned to get rid of the other veteran, Nagata’s able to hit a Backdrop Hold to pin Oka. Fun stuff – but the match continued as Nakanishi tried to throw some more forearms at Nagata after the bell before taking his “son” to the back. **¾
Suzuki-gun (Killer Elite Squad (Lance Archer & Davey Boy Smith Jr.), Yoshinobu Kanemaru, Taichi & TAKA Michinoku) vs. Togi Makabe, David Finlay, Ryusuke Taguchi, Ricochet & Hirai Kawato
Taichi acts like a dick, kicking away the ring steps as the Taguchi Japan trio of Taguchi, Ricochet and Finlay try to enter the ring, and of course, we have a jump start!
It’s the usual bedlam to begin with, but it ends with TAKA being isolated for some four-on-one assaults, bumping up to five when Ricochet hits the ring. Hey, they even get he “throw TAKA into Taguchi’s ass” spot, before Davey Boy Smith Jr. stuffs it with a double axehandle.
The Bulldog dumps Kawato with a spinebuster slam before a Hart Attack from Archer leaves Taguchi laying. Poor Taguchi gets flattened by a corner charge from Archer, whose cocky foot-on-chest pin nearly gets the win, but Taguchi’s recovery just sees him throw a hip attack and land on the bell hammer… because Taichi is a dick.
Finally a hip attack took out Taichi as we got Makabe against Archer for a spell… with a spot of fire from Finlay in the form of running European uppercuts. Archer shrugs off some mounted punches and a lariat to kick out of a cover, before flattening Makabe with a pounce. Kanemaru and Ricochet come next, with some run-ins from TAKA, but the Battle of Los Angeles winner’s able to overcome two-on-one… and take out Taichi with a springboard uppercut.
Unfortunately Kawato wants in… but he at least took out Kanemaru with a springboard missile dropkick before nearly getting the win with a sunset flip. He tries again with a Boston crab, but Taichi kicks him to break it up. After Ricochet and Taguchi were sprayed with whiskey, the end came when Kawato took a Taichi powerbomb and a Kanemaru Deep Impact DDT for the win. A fun multi-man – nothing that stands out particularly, but not as offensive as Suzuki-gun matches could be. ***
After the match, Taguchi returned to the ring, but it was a dumb idea as he and Ricochet were easily beaten down.
Bullet Club (Bad Luck Fale, Yujiro Takahashi & Chase Owens) vs. Hirooki Goto, YOSHI-HASHI & Beretta
Yeah, Bad Luck Fale’s always chasing ring announcers… and he’s now sporting a new skull tattoo, if he wasn’t scary enough already. This was one of Beretta’s first matches as a heavyweight (he’ll have a Roppongi Vice farewell match later in the tour), but it was YOSHI-HASHI who started off, and it seems that he finally fixed his disintegrating gear from the G1!
Owens grounds YOSHI-HASHI early, but after some hair pulling YOSHI-HASHI slapped him into the ropes… only to wander into a clothesline from Fale. Tsk, that’s careless. Of course, the Underboss takes him outside as those guard rails came into play, with Fale Brookes’ing YOSHI-HASHI into the crowd.
Back in the ring, Owens and YOSHI-HASHI trade shots before Yujiro tagged in and dropped a leg for a near-fall. It got worse for YOSHI-HASHI as Fale then gets the tag, slamming and sitting on YOSHI-HASHI who manages to get in a Codebreaker in the corner before bringing in Goto.
Some lariats from Goto rock Fale, but the big guy shrugs them off and goes for a Grenade… which is shoved away and met with a discus lariat. More tags take us to Beretta and Chase, with the former Trent hitting a slam and a tope con hilo to the outside, before Yujiro bites his way free of a tornado DDT attempt.
Yujiro tried for Pimp Juice, but YOSHI-HASHI broke it up as we hit a Parade of Moves, ending with a Fisherman’s buster getting Yujiro a near-fall on Beretta. That snapping tornado DDT finally happens, as a Shining Wizard gets Beretta a two-count of his own, before Yujiro reverses out of a Dudebuster and hits Pimp Juice for the win. Well, it’s always nice to see Yujiro picking up Ws on these otherwise meaningless undercard tags, but it’s not going to be easy for Beretta in the big lads’ division. ***
Interval time!
The switchblade promo video plays – is it still Jay White?
Bullet Club (Guerrillas of Destiny (Tama Tonga & Tanga Loa) & Leo Tonga) vs. War Machine (Hanson & Raymond Rowe) & Juice Robinson
This was the first time we got to see Leo Tonga… another of Haku’s sons, as he was filling in for the injured Kenny Omega. Yeah, on paper it’s a downgrade, but this guy has the height to stand-out.
Ahead of the tag title three-ways, we had the Guerrillas take on War Machine at the start, but the Guerrillas ended up getting flattened by side slams, before Hanson got in his daily cardio. Corner to corner lariats it is then! Except Leo Tonga came in and hit an effortless delayed slam! Yep, Haku’s youngest is strong.
That puts the Guerrillas in charge, with a string of neckbreakers putting Hanson down for a two-count, before Leo returned to charge Hanson into the corner. Of course, the Guerrillas threatened to spend too much time messing around, and that lets Hanson back into it as he wipes out Tama with a Whoopee cushion splash before Rowe goes to work on all of Haku’s kids.
A big knee lift wipes out Tama, before Leo clotheslined Rowe, and so we get tags to Juice and Leo for the first time. Dusty punches rock Leo, who replies with a back body drop and a leaping clothesline into the corner, before finally landing a vertical suplex for a near-fall. Leo gets crushed moments later as Hanson hits a Bronco Buster to him in the corner, before topes from War Machine looked to leave Juice open for Pulp Friction…
But Tama comes in to tease a Gun Stun as Leo looks to capitalise with a chokeslam… only for Juice to get the Pulp Friction off in the end for the win. Decent enough stuff, and whilst Leo’s raw and clearly has got some rough edges, that kid’s got something. Whether it’s “yet another member of the Bullet Club” or as something else, we’ll see. ***
Suzuki-gun (Minoru Suzuki, Takashi Iizuka & El Desperado) vs. Michael Elgin, Hiroshi Tanahashi & KUSHIDA
This is building up to the Suzuki/Elgin and KUSHIDA/Desperado matches later in the tour… whilst Takashi Iizuka (and his funky oven glove) gets Tanahashi (and his new hair, which si still hard to take in) because Zack Sabre Jr’s not on this tour.
Yup, there’s a jump start, settling down to Mike and Minoru on the outside, whilst KUSHIDA’s left to fight off Iizuka and Desperado. Erm, Hiroshi? Where are you?!
Eventually things calm down as KUSHIDA takes out Desperado with a cartwheel dropkick, before teasing work on the arm – which Tanahashi holds in place for a dropkick. Suzuki takes Big Mike into the crowd and goes all Marty Scurll on him, choking Elgin with umbrellas (!), whilst Desperado and KUSHIDA almost went to the back as they fought it out. It’s the usual wacky Suzuki-gun brawl, except with cameras that could track them!
Someone let Suzuki get a chair, so Mike and a Young Lion got wiped out, before Suzuki heads back to the ring to trap KUSHIDA in a heel hook against the edge of the apron. Still, that’s not enough to end things as Desperado only gets a two count after the hold’s released, as Suzuki tags in and tries to force a submission with a Kimura. That doesn’t work either, so he just gets a heel hook on Elgin for the hell of it.
Now we see Iizuka biting away on KUSHIDA’s knee as this became an unbridled mess of a match. The knee work continues somewhat, with plenty more biting as our referee showed how useless he was in the face of attempted cannibalism, whilst Suzuki and Elgin again trade blows in the background.
KUSHIDA gets free and slowly drags his way towards a tag… but Nibbler Iizuka knocked Tanahashi off the apron, and so there’s nobody to tag. Finally Tanahashi comes in and gets off a Dragon screw before slamming Iizuka ahead of the flip senton for a near-fall. Tanahashi tries to fly again, but Kanemaru grabs him until Iizuka can throw him down, before we end up (legitimately) with Elgin and Suzuki again. An elbow and a bodyslam from Mike set up Suzuki for a slingshot splash… which he followed up with another scoop slam for a near-fall.
Suzuki makes a comeback… but his PK is blocked and met with a vicious forearm instead, then an enziguiri as Suzuki’s taken into the corner for a big lariat. The ref’s almost used as a human shield, but Elgin puts on the brakes… and hits a Falcon arrow for a near-fall as the ref’s pulled to the outside. Cue chairshots, but Big Mike fights up and no sells them, before kicking the chairs away.
Big Mike has chairshots for all in Suzuki-gun, it seems! But then he shoves down the ref so he can hit Suzuki with it… and after a summer of count-outs in the G1, we finally have a DQ in New Japan! Well, it was a fitting end to a match that meandered all over the place and never really got going. File that under “one Suzuki-gun brawl too many”. **
The post-match promo sees Suzuki mock Elgin by saying “are we this good that you have to cheat to beat us”? He then challenges Elgin to a lumberjack match I think… and so Sunday, in Hiroshima, our main event is a lumberjack match for the NEVER title. I’m sure they’ll squeeze in “lumberjack death match” to spice it up a smidge.
Elimination Match: Los Ingobernables de Japon (Tetsuya Naito, EVIL, BUSHI, SANADA & Hiromu Takahashi) vs. Kazuchika Okada, Tomohiro Ishii, Toru Yano, Will Ospreay & Rocky Romero
This is effectively a standard tag match, but with pinfalls, submissions and over-the-top/battle royal eliminations. Daryl’s still not back from the UK, so Hiromu was all by himself. I’m hoping that WhatCulture lot haven’t cat-napped anyone… aaaand Naito’s got a LIJ briefcase for winning the G1. Which he teases wrecking immediately like he did with the old Intercontinental title belt. Okada’s got a spring in his step, and for those counting, this is the first time we’ve seen Ospreay on a Japanese card since he came up short in the Best of Super Junior finals three months ago.
Massive chants for Naito open the match off, and for a change he starts off against Ishii, before nonchalantly walking away to tag in Hiromu… who spent last night trolling an insomniac Will “Cat” Ospreay. Look on Twitter folks! We almost have an elimination or two as Ospreay was thrown to the outside for a Sunset bomb, but he avoids it and launches into a flurry of attacks on Hiromu… who rolled to the outside, almost to tease an over-the-top dive to get Will to eliminate himself.
Tags get us to BUSHI and Romero, before the CHAOS team rush the ring to clear the apron to spark some brawls on the floor. Rocky hooks himself in the ropes to tease BUSHI to dive at him – and eventually to the floor – but in the end everyone ends up outside for the obligatory multi-man brawl around ringside.
Back inside, Rocky finds himself isolated by the Ingobernables, before finally hitting a reverse enziguiri to free himself and tag in Okada. EVIL’s attempt to restrain Okada earn him some back elbows, then a DDT and a diving uppercut as the champ’s neck has at least recovered since the G1. EVIL teases throwing out Okada, but we’re nowhere near that yet as he instead has to clothesline the champ, who can’t get off Darkness Falls before taking a flapjack instead. Tags get us to Naito and Ishii, with the latter hitting a scoop slam, then a long Violence Party of forearms and chops in the corner to leave the G1 winner out on his feet.
Naito sneaks in a pair of over-the-knee neckbreakers as we sailed past the 10 minute mark with no eliminations. A spit from Naito earns him a wild lariat from Ishii, before Rocky Romero dove through the ropes with a tope as Naito finally teased an elimination, pulling Ishii onto the apron to escape a superplex, before a neckbreaker onto the apron got rid of the Stone Pitbull… and himself too, by the look of it.
Meanwhile… Toru Yano’s removing turnbuckle pads and getting caught in Paradise Locks. Once freed, Yano pins SANADA with a low blow and a roll-up, before BUSHI mists him and throws him out over the top rope. A handspring double overhead kick from Ospreay gets him in the game, before a ripcord Spanish Fly nearly gets him a pin on BUSHI.
The Revolution kick from Ospreay leads to the Oscutter, and that’s BUSHI gone! Hiromu tries to sneak attack, but that just gets him a Cheeky Nando’s kick for a near-fall, only for Takahashi to block an OsCutter and go for a Time Bomb. Ospreay slips over the top rope and onto the apron, before impressively diving through the middle rope for a Sunset Bomb, making sure that only Ospreay took the elimination!
Okada went straight for Hiromu, dropping him with a neckbreaker slam, before EVIL and Takahashi ate dropkicks. A Rainmaker eliminates Hiromu, and we’re down to the final three! Okada teases a tombstone off the apron, but EVIL saved himself and tries to clothesline him to the floor, before eventually succeeding with a discus forearm!
EVIL thinks he’s won, but Rocky’s still alive… and he slides in with a schoolboy to nearly get the win, as we get the usual attempts to haul the other over the top. EVIL ducks as Romero sends himself onto the apron, then returns with a springboard dropkick and some Forever lariats. Rocky almost gets the win with a countered suplex into a backslide, before Sliced Bread’s stuffed… and turned into the Darkness Falls sit-out spinebuster for another near-fall. One EVIL STO later, and EVIL is your last man standing in this eliminator. A fun multi-man match to end the show – and whilst I don’t want overkill, it’s nice to see a change of pace in these matches! ***½
It’s harsh, but this was a bit of a disappointing show. Nothing really stood out until the main event, and whilst the Suzuki-gun trios match was trash, at least it built up to something for Sunday. Unless you’re a completionist, or really want to see Leo Tonga’s debut-of-sorts, skip this one…