The Road to Destruction remains in Korakuen Hall for a show that continued to build… but offered precious little else.
We’re still inside Korakuen Hall… only with Japanese commentary as Kevin Kelly and Rocky Romero remain in England since cloning isn’t a thing yet.
Ren Narita & Yota Tsuji vs. Yuya Uemura & Shota Umino
It’s been a while since I’ve seen Tsuji, but this kid looks like he’s bulked up big time. He and Uemura start us off, with Uemura trying and failing for an early gutwrench.
Both men tag out after that, as Umino instantly works over Narita’s arm, only to get tripped as they brought down the pace of the match, swapping side headlocks before we got a bit of double-teaming with Uemura and Umino putting the boots to poor Narita. Finally there’s a bit of fightback, as Narita gets the tag out to Tsuji, who was more than happy to put the boots to his fellow Young Lion.
Narita’s back to trade forearms and elbows with Uemura, before Uemura threw a nice back body drop. More tags get us back to Umino and Tsuji, with the latter scoring with a dropkick and a Stinger splash. Umino quickly puts on the brakes and gets chopped for his troubles, before responding with a spinebuster that almost got the win. In the end, Tsuji’s rolled over into a Boston crab, and after twice getting dragged back into the ring, Yota finally got to the ropes! FIRE! Undeterred, Umino heads up top and hits a missile dropkick, then goes right back to the Standard Issue Submission, with the Boston crab finally forcing Tsuji to tap. This was nice and basic – and once we got past the rough start, this became your typical Young Lion’s tag. **¾
Ayato Yoshida vs. Chase Owens
Yoshida’s getting a singles match for himself, but don’t let the custom music fool you – he’s very much lumped in with the Young Lions on this tour.
There’s an early trip from Owens, who tried to keep Yoshida on the mat early, but they’re remarkably even in the opening stretches. A shoulder tackle from Chase is replied to with an armdrag as an attempted cross armbreaker from Yoshida ends in the ropes, as the Kaientai Dojo graduate looked to work over Owens’ arm. Smart move, trying to stop that Package Piledriver…
Owens had a similar tactic, going for the leg, so he could keep Yoshida down. There’s a surfboard arm stretch here, then an over-the-knee backbreaker stretch and an abdominal stretch as Chase really slowed things down. Yoshida finally hits back, rolling away from an elbow drop as Owens perhaps slowed it down too much, as he seemed to be caught off guard by running as he ran into a flapjack.
An attempted PK is avoided as Owens leans back, but Yoshida goes right back to the arm, whipping it into the mat before a cross armbreaker has Owens scurrying for the ropes. From there, there’s another backbreaker for Yoshida, then a PK as Owens began to build momentum, before he got caught out of nowhere with a Key lock! A rake to the eyes frees the “Crown Jewel”, who was able to catch Yoshida in the ropes with a knee lift before a sunset flip, a thrust kick and finally, a package piledriver gets the win. Yoshida got a lot more offence than a Young Lion would, but to the same result… some good early steps on the main roster for “young” Yoshida (who’s only two years younger than Chase!) **¾
Bullet Club OG (Bad Luck Fale, Taiji Ishimori & Guerrillas of Destiny (Tama Tonga & Tanga Loa) vs. Togi Makabe, Michael Elgin, Toa Henare & David Finlay
Fale looked distraught at the lack of English commentary to bully, while Henare wore his new t-shirt in lieu of face paint.
We open this tag with Elgin and Loa, but they’re quickly in the ropes from a tie-up, which ends with a swift chop from Elgin. I get buffering as we see Ishimori take out Tanga Loa with his springboard seated senton, which very few seem to be able to take it seems… Finlay gets the tag in and tries to take advantage, but he’s quickly bamboozled by Ishimori’s speed, as that springboard seated senton worked on the second go around. Tama Tonga’s in, but Henare quickly boots him as he tried to pin Finlay with a bodyslam, so in comes Fale to just stand on young David in the ropes.
Eventually Finlay gets free and tags in Makabe, who cleared the apron before slamming the nuisance that was Ishimori. He goes after Fale with those mounted punches, before clattering him with a series of lariats, eventually felling the big man at the third try. The Bullet Club OGs turn it around though as they ganged up on Henare, before Elgin rushed into make a save as we burst into a Parade of Moves, almost ending with a Henare roll-up on Tama.
A Samoan drop gets Henare a litle closer, but he ends up running into a Gun Stun as Tama Tonga picked up the win. This wasn’t too bad, but utterly unremarkable until that finishing stretch. **½
Suzuki-gun (Taichi & Yoshinobu Kanemaru) vs. Hirooki Goto & YOSHI-HASHI
More build for Taichi’s NEVER title shot, and we have another jump start as he chokes out Goto with the mic stand before the bell. For some reason Tiger Hattori started the match as Goto was being choked…
On the outside, YOSHI-HASHI whipped Kanemaru into the guard rails before we returned to the ring as the CHAOS pairing threw Taichi onto his own partner… which angered the Suzuki-gun pairing into taking the match back to the outside for the customary brawl. A chairshot from Taichi sent a seat cover flying into the crowd, as it looked like everyone was focusing on YOSHI-HASHI. An elbow from Taichi puts YOSHI in the ropes, where his face just gets pulled at some more, before he finally got free and scores a Bunker Buster on Kanemaru to end that tedium. Goto comes in with the hot tag, as he goes right for Taichi with a spinning heel kick into the corner, then a back suplex out of it for a near-fall, before they traded off with kicks as an enziguiri got Goto off his feet. Kanemaru’s back to boot YOSHI off the apron before scoring with a DDT to Goto… but he wants Taichi back in to help… and off come the trousers!
Taichi measures up Goto for the buzzsaw kick, which Kanemaru instantly jumps on top of for a near-fall. Kanemaru goes for the whiskey mist, but YOSHI makes the save, as Goto capitalises with an ushigoroshi before Taichi just hits Goto with the mic stand as he was about to GTR Kanemaru to death. Eh. The finish befit the match. It ticked the box as far as “build to the title match”, but the match itself was the living embodiment of tedium for me. **
Post-match, Taichi lays out Goto with the Last Ride powerbomb, before he wandered over and joined Milano Collection AT on Japanese commentary. While still sweaty, shirtless and trouser-less.
Suzuki-gun (Minoru Suzuki, Takashi Iizuka, El Desperado & TAKA Michinoku) vs. Los Ingobernables de Japon (Tetsuya Naito, EVIL, SANADA & BUSHI)
After the casual attempt to throttle the ring announcer, Suzuki looked to pick up where he left off last night, while Naito’s red, white and green baseball jersey continued to set off my colour blindness!
So yeah, something something jumpstart, and we begin around ringside as Suzuki takes Naito into some tables by the stage, while BUSHI’s just thrown like a bowling ball into some chairs. As you’d expect, the aggression is mostly from Suzuki, who throws Naito into the commentary table, before choking him with a chair in front of Taichi, who threatened to lend a hand with a chair of his own. TAKA’s standing around like a spare part as Suzuki turned his sights onto EVIL, choking him with a chair before he again accosted the referee as everyone else put their boots on EVIL’s throat. In the meantime, Naito’s finally dragged himself out of the crowd but he’s not exactly on top form as he watches EVIL having to resist a Key lock as Suzuki tied him up in knots. EVIL gets to the ropes, but has to deal with Iizuka, who’s frustrated that his mask is still on. Not to worry – Desperado takes it off, and now we’ve got some biting from the oldest man in the world who’s teething.
EVIL gets free and brings in SANADA, who’s instantly double-teamed… he recovers and traps TAKA in a Paradise Lock, and quickly frees him as Desperado’s tripped into TAKA. A springboard missile dropkick from SANADA drops Iizuka, before tags take us back to Suzuki and Naito, who trade elbows like there’s no tomorrow. Naito’s back elbows drop Suzuki, as does a neckbreaker, before he’s caught with another Key lock as Suzuki wants to rip off SOMEBODY’S arm here.
A rear naked choke is next as Naito quickly fades, before Suzuki lets go and looks for the Gotch piledriver… only for EVIL to break it up. He’s quickly thrown back outside as Naito found a second wind, taking Suzuki into the corner for the slingshot dropkick, but the Suzuki-gun Shenanigans quickly take over. My feed cuts out once more, and I assume I missed a LIJ comeback as it comes back to see BUSHI dropping TAKA with the MX for the win. Aside from the Naito/Suzuki stuff, this was utterly skippable, but since we’ve got the risk of imminent murder coming between those two, you can’t class this as anything other than “good build.” **¾
Post-match, Naito chokes on Suzuki using a table cloth of all things… there’s a demented smirk on Suzuki, and I think he’s going to kill him, especially as Naito baits him into the ring with the microphone. All Suzuki does is kill the microphone with a chair… oh, and some Young Lions too.
Tomohiro Ishii, Toru Yano & Will Ospreay vs. Bullet Club Elite (Golden☆Lovers (Kenny Omega & Kota Ibushi) & Yujiro Takahashi)
Even with the additions, this will need to go some to not be the best match on the card so far…
We open with Omega and Ishii… but it’s a ploy as Omega circled his foe as Yujiro comes in for the sneak attack. Ishii quickly bulldozes through before taking Kenny into the corner for some chops, and a shoulder charge out of the corner. Ishii tags out to Ospreay, who stops things… because he wants Ibushi. Don’t we all? Those two go at it a million miles an hour like they did yesterday, with Ospreay taking down Kota with a monkey flip, only for Yujiro to return with a low dropkick as the Bullet Club Elite turned it around. We get comedy Yano as the Golden☆Lovers stop him from undoing turnbuckle pads, while Yujiro continued to wear down Ospreay in the ring.
Another flurry between Ibushi and Ospreay follows, with a handspring enziguiri taking down Kota, but Omega’s in to delay Ospreay making the tag out. I say delay, because a Stundog Millionaire gets Ospreay free to bring in Ishii once more, as the IWGP champion and his next challenger go at it again, mixing up chops and boots before Ishii found a way to block the V-Trigger! Ibushi tries to kick away at Ishii, with predictable results, as he was quickly dealt with before a scoop slam had Omega back in the ropes. Omega tags out to Yujiro, who tries to pick away at Ishii with a boot in the ropes, but he’s quickly met with a suplex before Yano comes in and undoes those buckles. Classic Yano follows as we get a Human Centipede of hair pulling, ending with Omega getting charged down after he realised… ISHII DOES NOT HAVE HAIR.
lol, Ishii has no hair to grab! #NJPW #njdest https://t.co/4ULitIni5Z pic.twitter.com/ifbVtNPo0P
— LARIATOOOO!! (@MrLARIATO) September 8, 2018
The tempo again raises as everyone who wasn’t legal heads up outside, leaving Yujiro and Yano in there… and Classic Yano gets the win with a low blow roll-up on Yujiro. Not a classic, but a fun distraction after the dirge that we’ve had on the undercard. ***½
Kazuchika Okada & Beretta vs. Hiroshi Tanahashi & Juice Robinson
Beretta’s back in the main event, tagging with Okada as the build to the latest Okada/Tanahashi (surely a) classic continues.
Juice and Beretta get us going, with the pair looking to trip the other and generally grab hold of a body part. Headlock takedowns become the order of the day before Beretta backed off, and there’s our first tags as Okada and Tanahashi eventually come into play. Tanahashi grips onto Okada with a side headlock, before an attempted wheelbarrow roll-up ended with Okada sitting down for a near-fall.
Juice comes back in to have a shot at Okada, headbutting him into the corner before heading up top… but he ends up getting crotched as Beretta shakes them ropes. He recovers as he tries to skin the cat with Tanahashi, only for dropkicks from Beretta and Okada to put that dream to bed, and all four men end up on the outside. Juice ends up isolated as Okada again looks to go low… prompting Beretta to tell the ref he “probably should” DQ Okada for his bad aim.
Beretta Cactus clotheslines himself and Robinson to the outside, before scoring with a plancha and an old-fashioned stomp to the face as Juice remained in trouble. Tanahashi finally gets the tag in as he clears house – and Okada – only to get taken down as a clothesline from Beretta opened the door. Yep, Okada wants in now, and when he gets the tag, there’s a shotgun dropkick waiting for Tanahashi… and a tombstone attempt too. Tanahashi counters out though and nails the spin-out neckbreaker before he’s forced to duck a Rainmaker as a palm strike puts Okada back to the mat.
Robinson returns and clotheslines Okada, only to get dumped with a flapjack as the CHAOS team again took control. Chops from Beretta are followed up with a tornado DDT attempt… that Juice pushes away as some Dusty punches follow, only for a half-nelson suplex to counter the final blow. Okada adds a neckbreaker slam as a diving knee from Beretta nearly puts away the US champion, who seemed to be struggling to get into any kind of groove as the match wore on. Just as I say that, Juice whips Beretta into the buckles before Tanahashi figured out that he wanted to do the Hart Attack Slingblade, which gets a near-fall when Okada broke up the pin. After taking his time, Juice whiffs on a cannonball as Beretta finally is able to hit his tornado DDT… but that sparks a Parade of Moves that sees Tanahashi take the tombstone! Okada tries the same on Juice, but he ends up taking the Juice Box instead… but we’re still searching for any kind of dominance, as Juice’s bid to go up top sees him take a belly-to-belly superplex from Beretta instead.
The falling powerbomb from Juice keeps things in flux as Okada and Tanahashi continued to brawl on the outside… as did Beretta’s prawn hold reversal from the Pulp Friction. A snap piledriver’s next, but Tanahashi’s in to break up the cover… and after one more flurry, Juice nails Pulp Friction for the win. A solid main event, but a match that I really struggled to get into since there wasn’t any issue between Juice and Beretta. ***½
It’d be unfair to characterise this show as a waste, but there is a LOT on this card you can get away with skipping. After the in-ring quality we saw for a month at a G1, it’s back down to earth with a bump for these Road shows – although luckily for completionists, there’s only one more being streamed before we get to the “main shows” that start next weekend.