Satoshi Kojima made his return to action after eight months out injured – as the Road to Destruction hit Chiba!
It’s the annual Blue Justice special – taking place a little earlier than usual, as a part of the Destruction tour. There’s no English commentary since… you know. We open with Yuji Nagata heading to the ring, since he’s technically promoting this show. Among other things, he’s given a massive bottle of something presumably alcoholic. Insert your joke here!
Yuya Uemura vs. Yota Tsuji
Our two newest Young Lions started out rather tentatively, with Tsuji and Uemura scrambling for a waistlock early on, but it’s Uemura who grabbed on with a headlock, sinking the hold deep.
Counters get countered, as Uemura trips Tsuji into a grounded headlock, but that’s quickly switched as the pair continued to jockey for position. Eventually Uemura stands up… and shoots Tsuji into the ropes, only to get taken down with a shoulder tackle, before retaliating with an armdrag, ending that long headlock sequence. The pair quickly begin to trade elbows, but it’s Uemura who edges ahead as he began to chop through his opponent, before he looked to get the win with a slam and a Boston crab. Tsuji wriggled into the ropes before the Boston crab was even applied though, and he’s quickly the subject of a rebound as Tsuji took him into the corner for a splash.
Some forearms to the lower back keep Uemura rocked, before it was his turn to try and resist the Boston crab… but Tsuji gets him turned over, as only the ropes were able to save Uemura. More back-and-forth chops follow as time was beginning to run out… so Tsuji absolutely blasts through Uemura with a dropkick! He gets a receipt, but the time limit runs out as the pair picked up yet another draw. A technically sound, typical Young Lion’s match as the two newbies continue to struggle for dominance between each other. **¾
Bullet Club OG (Bad Luck Fale, Taiji Ishimori & Guerrillas of Destiny (Tama Tonga & Tanga Loa) vs. Michael Elgin, Ayato Yoshida, Shota Umino & Ren Narita
Can you guess which trio in this match will be getting a pasting?
Yoshida and Tama get us going, but the ring quickly filled up as the three Young Lions were cornered by the NEVER trios champions, while Elgin was floored by Fale on the outside. The youngsters tried to fight back, but Umino and Narita fell to a double noggin knocker before the three of them combined to take Tama down. Order’s quickly restored, with Yoshida getting cornered and crushed with leaping double knees by Ishimori for a near-fall… and his evening isn’t getting much better as Fale came in, slammed him then stood on him. Yoshida remained isolated, with a Stinger splash from Tama sending him to the mat before the other two Young Lions get thrown into the ring for the hell of it.
Elgin’s back to save Yoshida, and it helps too as Yoshida gets the tag in and brings Elgin in to clear house. A springboard double elbow takes out Tama and Tanga, before he counters a handspring into a German suplex on Ishimori. There’s a Falcon arrow for a near-fall on Tama, who responds with a neckbreaker as Ishimori gets the tag and sizes up Elgin for the springboard seated senton… which gets caught and eventually met with a scoop slam. Narita and Umino come in – with only the former actually getting tagged – as the Young Lions tried to double-team Ishimori. It quickly fails as the Bullet Club team flood the ring as a Parade of Moves broke out, ending with a hiptoss knee from Yoshida and a handspring enziguiri from Ishimori. From there, Narita leaps in with some pinning attempts on Ishimori, before he took too long celebrating a near-fall and a slam as he gets tripped into a Yes lock, then a crossface for the quick tap. This one had some brief flashes, but on the whole was unremarkable. **½
Suzuki-gun (Taichi & El Desperado) vs. Hirooki Goto & Gedo
The build to the NEVER title match in Beppu in just over a week continued, with Goto choking on Taichi with the mic stand before the bell, turning the tables after some prior jump starts.
Of course, the match spills to the outside before we return to Taichi having Desperado suplexed onto him. He’s quickly back though, raking Goto’s eyes as they headed outside again and into the guard rails, before Taichi had a little trouble folding a chair that he would go on to put through Goto’s jaw. Back in the ring, Desperado’s taking shots at Gedo, working on the left leg. It worked as the Suzuki-gun pair wore down Gedo, but he’s able to sidestep a charge from Taichi and take him down with a left hand. Goto gets the tag back in, as he quickly drops Taichi with a spinning heel kick into the corner, before a second charge in sees him take a gamengiri as… off come the trousers!
A superkick attempt gets caught though, with Taichi being forced to wriggle out of an ushigoroshi before hitting an enziguiri. Second time’s the charm for Goto though, as the ushigoroshi hits, before Gedo returns… and gets kicked in the gut. An uppercut quickly drops Desperado though, as does a jawbreaker and a superkick, before an attempted Gedo clutch is escaped as Desperado counters back with a spear. Taichi returns with Axe Bomber lariats for Gedo… leaving him open for a buzzsaw kick as Despy sealed the win with Pinche Loco. Perfectly acceptable graps, albeit strangely low-energy at times. ***
Suzuki-gun (Minoru Suzuki, Takashi Iizuka, Yoshinobu Kanemaru & TAKA Michinoku) vs. Los Ingobernables de Japon (Tetsuya Naito, EVIL, SANADA & BUSHI)
You know the score here. Jump start, Naito and Suzuki end up outside in the guard rails.
In the ring, Kanemaru’s isolated by EVIL and SANADA, as he takes a back senton for an early near-fall, before Iizuka catches SANADA in the ropes with a chair… and we’re back outside, with Naito getting dragged into the crowd by Suzuki, where there’s more chairshots and choking waiting for him. SANADA was taken into the crowd too, but he beats the count… only to roll into some stomps as the Suzuki-gun beatdown continued in earnest. He’s thrown outside, as Suzuki held him for a boot by Kanemaru, before there’s a trip into the commentary desk… and now Iizuka wants in. He’s unmasked by Kanemaru, and the world’s oldest teething human’s in for a snack.
Nobody’s safe from Iizuka’s gnashers, not even SANADA’s feet, but thankfully he’s not in for long as Suzuki returns to wear down on SANADA’s leg again. There’s a missile dropkick from SANADA to stem the tide, as he finally gets the tag out to Naito, who needed no asking when it came to going after Suzuki. Problem was, the Suzuki-gun goons were around too… Naito quickly breezed by them though, only for his focus on Suzuki to get stopped abruptly when the slingshot dropkick was caught and turned into a knee bar. A rope break eventually saves Naito, but Suzuki goes for the Gotch piledriver anyway, only for Naito to wriggle out as the pair trade blows once more. A missed flying forearm keeps Naito on the back foot, as he ran into a knee from Suzuki, before tagging in BUSHI… which goes exceedingly well as he’s instantly caught by Suzuki.
Thankfully, SANADA saves his masked team mate from Iizuka’s funky oven glove, as LIJ turned things around, quadruple-teaming TAKA before the MX from BUSHI picked up the win. Standard, entertaining fare between these two teams, with the Suzuki/Naito stuff as ever the highlight. ***¼
Kazuchika Okada & YOSHI-HASHI vs. Hiroshi Tanahashi & Toa Henare
We’ve a measured start as Okada and Tanahashi get us underway, with the pair exchanging shoulder blocks before Tanahashi had to escape a very early Rainmaker attempt en route to a square-off.
Tags brought in YOSHI and Henare, with the latter edging out with shoulder tackles and chops, before Tanahashi had a crack at doing the Haka. It was… an experience. Okada breaks that up as he and Tanahashi ended up outside, with Okada showing a darker side as he rips apart some of the crowd barriers so he could throw Tanahashi into the seating. Back in the ring, Okada squashes Henare with a slingshotted senton, but the New Zealander’s able to make the tag out as Tanahashi rared into life, catching Okada with an elbow drop and a flip senton for a near-fall. Those two continue at it, as a Dragon screw dragged down Okada en route to a Cloverleaf, which YOSHI-HASHI tries to break up… only to take a Dragon screw himself.
There’s counters upon counters as Okada finally caught Tanahashi with a spiking DDT, before a tombstone attempt was escaped. Tanahashi ducks another Rainmaker and eventually counters with a Slingblade, as both men tagged out, allowing Henare to nearly snatch victory with a spear on YOSHI-HASHI. We’ve some double-teaming as Tanahashi comes in to join in the party, holding YOSHI for a flying shoulder that almost won the match. Okada breaks up that pin and gets thrown outside, with Tanahashi keeping him down courtesy of a plancha, while YOSHI-HASHI mounted a comeback in the ring, landing a reverse spin kick before a Bunker Buster was elbowed out of. The Western Lariat followed, but Henare’s able to kick out, before he’s caught in a Butterfly lock for the submission. This was okay, but YOSHI-HASHI looks like a shell of his prior self… I don’t want to go down the “is he motivated?” road, but it does seem that shocker of a G1 run has hit him hard. ***½
Tomohiro Ishii, Toru Yano, Beretta & Will Ospreay vs. Bullet Club Elite (Golden☆Lovers (Kenny Omega & Kota Ibushi), Yujiro Takahashi & Chase Owens)
Omega and Ishii square off in Hiroshima on Saturday, so this’ll be the last build we’ll see (streamed, at least) for that match…
We open with Yujiro and Yano, and Toru’s already in the mood to mess about as he slaps Yujiro in the head before he had to watch his hand get bit. The Golden☆Lovers and Chase stop Yano from removing the turnbuckle pads, which just leads to the comedy of the four of them surrounding him for a brief mugging, before Yano nonchalantly tagged out to Will Ospreay. He’s smart when he wants to be.
Will only wanted Ibushi, which is just teasing us all further. Luckily, Kota obliges and we get a nice pacey exchange between those two, ending with duelling dropkicks, a kip-up, and a faked-out dive as Ibushi cowered at the prospect of a flying Ospreay. He’s back in quickly with a missile dropkick though, before Omega’s tagged in to wear down Ospreay with some boot choking. Owens and Omega exchange frequent tags as they pull the cycle of wishbone leg splitters to Ospreay, while perpetually disappointing Yujiro, who wanted in. Even Kota gets tagged into the party before him, but Yujiro did make his mark… cracking an upside-down Ospreay in the balls with his cane. Meanwhile, as Ospreay’s holding his balls, everyone else is rowing a metaphorical boat, watching on as Ospreay hobbled back in to trade forearms with Ibushi.
It’s bloody ridiculous, and I love it.
We quickly head to Omega and Ishii, with Kenny seemingly landing head-first as he tried to backflip out of an Ishii German suplex, but the pair of them continue to trade off strikes before Omega ran into a slam. Kenny rebounds as he and Owens combined for a double-team Kotaro Krusher, before Omega threatened to uncork some V-Triggers.
Ospreay put the brakes on for those, as the CHAOS team managed to edge ahead, with Beretta landing a Tornado DDT and the Gob Stopper diving knee for a near-fall on Owens. The Elite quartet turn it around, targetting Beretta, who takes an assisted German suplex and a knee strike for a near-fall as the ring filled to break up the count… Beretta almost nicks the win with the Gibson clutch – or Darby Allin’s Last Supper for newer fans – before he was forced to counter a package piledriver into the Dudebuster for the win. A nice finishing stretch to a match that wandered from the sublime to the ridiculous. ***½
Togi Makabe, Tomoaki Honma, Juice Robinson & David Finlay vs. Satoshi Kojima, Hiroyoshi Tenzan, Yuji Nagata & Manabu Nakanishi
Well, I don’t know about you, but this was what I tuned in for. All that bread, sweat and tears. Blood. Blood, sweat and tears, I mean. Kojima’s back after somehow managing to wrestle with no ACL against Rush during the Fantasticamania tour earlier in the year.
Kojima starts and instantly has to fight out of a headlock as Makabe sought the early advantage… and he’s quickly out as Juice Robinson tagged in to try and try and blast his way past Manabu Nakanishi (who was on his first New Japan show since June’s Kizuna Road tour). There’s chops from Nakanishi, who’s then forced to endure some Dusty punches, a dropkick, and a cannonball as Juice eases into the lead.
Juice tried to take Nakanishi up top, but it backfires as he’s shoved down and met with a crossbody as Nak took to the sky… and only drew a near-fall as Finlay broke up the cover. A double Northern Lights suplex put paid to Juice and Finlay, before Nagata tagged in and helped barge through Juice with shoulder tackles, as it seemed Nagata wanted to lock horns with Honma. Those two tee off with elbows before Honma went in search of an audible chop… before he took Nagata down and whiffed on a Kokeshi. Standard. Makabe and Finlay tag back in, before Tenzan appeared to work through Finlay with some Mongolian chops. Kojima joins in too, cracking Finlay with a Mongolian chop as the rest of the veterans had the referee tied up, meaning he barely saw the duelling elbow drops from Kojima and Tenzan.
Finlay manages to stop Kojima with a backdrop suplex, as the returning lover of bread found himself isolated for a little while, with Honma making a point of working over the knee. There’s a suplex out of Makabe for a near-fall, before Kojima caught him out of nowhere with a cutter! Tenzan’s brought back in to clear the ring, much to the delight of the commentary crew, as he catches Makabe with another suplex for a near-fall.
A lariat from Makabe waffles Tenzan for a near-fall as he looked to be building some momentum, but Makabe keeps going back to those lariats and ends up running into a Mountain Bomb. The pace quickens a little as Juice and Nagata tagged in to trade blows, but a stuttering low dropkick catches Juice off guard, before an Exploder out of the corner drew a near-fall. There’s some kicks from Nagata to Juice, who responds with a full nelson slam and a spinebuster… only for Nakanishi to wander in and break up that cover.
Nagata and Nakanishi combine as we get the Shirome armbar and an Argentine backbreaker, but Makabe breaks it up… and gets thrown outside for his troubles, before Kojima begged to get tagged back into the match. He’s obliged, and we get rewarded with the machine gun chops in the corner – oh lord, how I’ve missed those – and the cry of icchau zo, bakayarou! Problem was, the turnaround quickly followed, as a Kokeshi culminated things for a near-fall, before Finlay tried to clothesline the clothesliner. That didn’t work, and after Finlay ran into a TenKoji Cutter, he’s spun around with a Cozy lariat as Kojima marked his return with a win! By the numbers stuff, but Kojima showed relatively little ring rust on his return to action. ***¼
A marked improvement on the prior night’s show, the stop in Chiba felt like a “proper” Road show. Yeah, there wasn’t much on the line-up that leapt off the page, but the duel attraction of Nagata in his home town and the return of Kojima, coupled with a card that was (at worst) solid made this a very easy watch. Now, all we need is to see Nagata down his XXXXL bottle of booze…