NJPW Destruction in Beppu Review, 17/9/18

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By Tokyo Wrestling Fan @twf87

The Destruction tour made its way to Kyushu for the second show in Beppu, featuring a main event of Minoru Suzuki against Tetsuya Naito, and a NEVER Openweight Championship match between Hirooki Goto and Taichi.  Just over 2,000 fans came to the B-Con Plaza to watch this show.

Satoshi Kojima, Hiroyoshi Tenzan, and Yota Tsuji vs. Yuji Nagata, Manabu Nakanishi, and Yuya Uemura – Satoshi Kojima recently returned from a bicep injury that kept him out of the G1 Climax, and the crowd in Beppu welcomed him back in the opening match of tonight’s show, which also featured the two Youngest Lions in Tsuji and Uemura.  They hadn’t been featured really during the G1, but Tsuji looked great recently with more muscle mass and a beard.  This was a fine opener – Nakanishi and Tenzan are pretty slow these days, but Tsuji and Uemura were fired up, and the crowd enjoyed Kojima’s spots – that finished with Nagata forcing Tsuji to tap out to the Nagata Lock.

Winners: Yuji Nagata, Manabu Nakanishi, and Yuya Uemura, 9:08

Toa Henare and Shota Umino vs. David Finlay and Ren Narita – From the Youngest Lions to the two most experienced Young Lions still with New Japan in Umino and Narita.  This was another fun undercard tag match, and Henare and Finlay look good when they’re allowed to have matches like this.  Both of them suffer from the same problem of not going on excursion, although Henare’s future definitely seems brighter than Finlay’s right now.  Finlay picked up a win for his team with a Prima Nocta on Umino, whose nose got busted open during the match leaving him with a face full of blood.

Winners: David Finlay and Ren Narita, 6:38

Takashi Iizuka vs. Ayato Yoshida – I’m glad that they’re giving Yoshida a singles match, but if there was anyone I wish it wasn’t against, it would be Iizuka.  The highlight of this match was Iizuka attacking Kevin Kelly on commentary and forcing him to take off the muzzle that he was wearing.  Obviously that led to some biting spots, and finally a DQ finish when Iizuka hit Yoshida with the Iron Claw.  Yoshida has a lot of potential, but keep him away from Iizuka.

Winner: Ayato Yoshida, 4:30

Will Ospreay and Roppongi 3K (SHO, YOH, and Rocky Romero) vs. Ryusuke Taguchi, KUSHIDA, Tiger Mask, and Jyushin Thunder Liger – Taguchi led out a team of junior legends, once again wearing a scrum cap, which I guess is his new gimmick now that the Rugby World Cup is coming to Japan next year.  KUSHIDA and Ospreay are both in the upcoming tournament to crown a new Junior Heavyweight champion, and they looked great in this match.  I think BUSHI will win the tournament, but another match between KUSHIDA and Ospreay would be a good substitute.  This match came down to Tiger Mask and Rocky, who kicked out of a Tiger Driver but finally took the pin after a Tombstone.

Winners: Ryusuke Taguchi, KUSHIDA, Tiger Mask, and Jyushin Thunder Liger, 10:00

Killer Elite Squad (Lance Archer and Davey Boy Smith Jr.) vs. Best Friends (Chuckie T. and Beretta) – Two returning tag teams took each other on in this match ahead of the World Tag League, which presumably they will both be entering.  KES had the upper hand at the start of this match due to their power, but Best Friends were able to get back into the match with their speed and high-flying moves.  I enjoyed this tag match, it was a good preview of what these two teams bring to the division.  DBS Jr. may be a bit of an odd individual in real life, but he’s a very good technical wrestler.  Archer hit Beretta with a brutal looking chokeslam onto the apron, and finally a Killer Bomb on Beretta led to a KES victory.

Winners: Killer Elite Squad, 10:34

Zack Sabre Jr., El Desperado, and Yoshinobu Kanemaru vs. EVIL, SANADA, and BUSHI – As the leaders of Los Ingobernables de Japon and Suzuki-gun faced each other in the main event, their factions met in a six-man tag match.  I enjoyed this match more than the match in Hiroshima – the six-man tag format was less crowded than the eight-man, and there was less of a focus on brawling on the outside.  SANADA took the brunt of the Suzuki-gun attack initially, but he was able to tag in BUSHI, who showed off his moves ahead of the Junior Heavyweight tournament.  EVIL and ZSJ had an enjoyable back-and-forth before Sabre pulled out the win with a quick roll-up that caught EVIL off guard.

Winners: Zack Sabre Jr., El Desperado, and Yoshinobu Kanemaru, 8:31

Kazuchika Okada, Toru Yano, Jay White, and YOSHI-HASHI vs. Hiroshi Tanahashi, Great Bash Heel (Togi Makabe and Tomoaki Honma) and Juice Robinson – This match was part of the set up for the Wrestle Kingdom contract match between Tanahashi and Okada in Kobe.  In Hiroshima Tanahashi beat YOSHI-HASHI with a quick roll-up after some mis-communication with Okada, and the tensions in CHAOS were on full display in this match.  Honma continued his comeback tour, and the crowd popped for his Kokeshi headbutt again.  Juice also had a good showing in this match, after a bit of a lacklustre G1, and he picked up the win for his team with a Pulp Friction on YOSHI-HASHI.  This was another good match building up the tension between Tanahashi and Okada, who is clearly struggling to deal with internal faction problems in the lead-up to their match.

Winners: Hiroshi Tanahashi, Great Bash Heel, and Juice Robinson, 13:01

NEVER Openweight Championship Match

Taichi vs. Hirooki Goto (c) – Taichi was controversially left out of the G1 Climax this year, but he managed to goad Goto into giving him a NEVER title shot on this show.  Taichi was accompanied by Miho Abe and Kanemaru, and did his usual over-the-top entrance – between him and Goto there were two very epic entrances in this match.  Taichi started the match with some shenanigans, refusing to stay in the ring and face Goto.  Goto responded by sitting down in the Shibata cross-legged pose, but eventually he was lured to the outside where Kanemaru attacked him and led to a close count-out.  Once Goto and Taichi got back into the ring together they put together some good wrestling, and exchanged a series of vicious kicks.  Goto hit a perfect Shouten Kai that would have resulted in a three count, except that the referee had been knocked down by Taichi.  There were plenty of shenanigans throughout this match, as El Desperado and Iizuka attempted to interfere on Taichi’s behalf.  Roppongi 3K came out to run off Desperado and Kanemaru, but Iizuka was able to distract the referee enough to allow Taichi to low-blow Goto for a near fall with the Gedo Clutch.  Finally Taichi won with a Black Mephisto, after Goto kicked out of a Last Ride powerbomb.  This match was definitely over-booked, but at least it ended with Taichi winning relatively decisively.  It could have done with less interference, but Taichi could be an interesting NEVER champion going forward.  Post-match Miho Abe looked more excited than Taichi about the win.

Winner: Taichi, 20:54

Minoru Suzuki vs. Tetsuya Naito – Both Suzuki and Naito have been rather directionless since Dominion, with neither of them really making a mark in the G1, although Naito was in contention until the last day.  This match seemed to have been made to give them both something to do, and didn’t have any obvious stakes to it.  Their previous match at Wrestling Hi no Kuni for the Intercontinental Championship was not great, and while this match was better, I found it largely underwhelming.  The first half of the match was very slow, and mostly consisted of Suzuki slowly beating up Naito outside the ring.  Finally, Suzuki got a table and tried to Gotch-style piledrive Naito from the apron through it, which was reversed by Naito into a neckbreaker through the table.  Suzuki looked like he nearly died after going through the table, and only just beat the twenty count back into the ring.  That led to some faster-paced action, until Suzuki gained the upper hand again and proceeded to trap Naito in a series of knee bars and other leg-based submissions for far too long.  It really slowed down the match, and ultimately made Suzuki look weak since Naito was able to survive in his submissions without tapping out.  Naito finally got the win with a Destino after a Gotch-style powerbomb.  Both men looked like they’d been through a war in this match, I just wish it had been more exciting.  For whatever reason Naito and Suzuki don’t seem to have much chemistry and this match really dragged for long periods.  Post-match Naito cut a promo promising to return to Beppu when Hiromu Takahashi was back to full health.

Winner: Tetsuya Naito, 32:08

 

Final Thoughts 

Destruction in Beppu was a step-up from the Hiroshima show, although the main event once again underwhelmed.  In no small part this was helped by the crowd for this show who were much louder than in Hiroshima.  The undercard of this show was better, and the NEVER title match was enjoyable despite being overbooked (I’m a Taichi mark so I can’t get too annoyed with the result).  Naito’s victory over Suzuki was presumably good for his direction, although what the result of this match means is anyone’s guess, but the match itself was not great.  Having seen the two go at it twice this year in pretty similar matches it just seems like they lack any sort of chemistry.  I think Naito needed the win more than Suzuki, but they really need to sort out his future, as right now he doesn’t have any obvious matches going into Wrestle Kingdom.  I can’t imagine Naito not being in a prominent position on the card come January, but I’m not seeing an obvious answer coming off the Destruction tour.

The final Destruction event in Kobe promises to be the best show of all, especially given the Tanahashi vs. Okada match.  Either Tanahashi beats Okada, which seemed very unlikely after his decisive loss at Wrestling Dontaku, or he loses the Wrestle Kingdom contract for the first time ever since they started putting it on the line after the G1.  Either outcome would be shocking, although in the form they are both in I could see Tanahashi overcoming Okada.  BUSHI vs. KUSHIDA in the first match of the Junior Heavyweight tournament should also be a good match.  I expect BUSHI to win as a nod to his injured comrade Hiromu, but either way the match should be good.  Once the Kobe show has finished the card for Fighting Spirit Unleashed in Long Beach at the end of the month should become a lot clearer.

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