Destruction in Beppu
Date: 9/15/2019
From: Beppu B-con Plaza
Match #1 – Young Lion Cup Match:
Karl Fredericks def. Yota Tsuji
The 12th Annual Young Lion Cup continues with Karl Fredericks defeating Yota Tsuji. Fredericks is now on top of the board along with Shota Umino with this victory. A pretty good hard hitting action from both men, Tsuji continues to improve as a performer but clearly New Japan also sees Fredericks as a big potential future top gaijin. Fredericks makes Tsuji taps with a half elevated Boston Crab at the 7 minute and 32 second mark.
Match #2 – Young Lion Cup Match:
Shota Umino def. Alex Coughlin
One of the things I’ve grown to like throughout this whole tour is Alex Coughlin and his chops. They ain’t no ordinary chops either, they are Kenta Kobashi level kind of deadly chops! As expected him and Shota had a strike fest and it turned out to be one of my favorite matches of the entire tournament so far. Coughlin is a good wrestler, especially for someone who just made their pro debut the previous year. Shota is of course the fan favorite to win this whole thing so it only makes sense for him to take the W in this one. Umino wins with a Fisherman’s Buster Suplex at the 8 minute and 14 second mark.
Match #3 – 8 Man Tag Team Match:
Nagata, Taguchi, Narita, & Uemura def. Nakanishi, Henare, Connors, & Richards
This is just another one of those 8 men tags that provide as a preview for the upcoming Young Lions Cup matches. This time, a little taste for Uemura vs. Connors and Narita vs. Richards. Now instead of TenCozy being the veterans of each corners, they’ve got Nakanishi and Nagata. Along with Taguchi, former YL Cup winner himself, and the recently graduated Toa Henare.
Not much went on here other than the usual, we’ll talk more about the aforementioned Young Lions in their match later. For now, Nakanishi’s team takes the L with Fale Dojo’s Michael Richards tapped to Taguchi’s Ankle Lock at the 11 minute and 18 second mark.
Match #4 – 6 Man Tag Team Match:
Jushin Liger, SHO, & YOH def. Suzuki, Kanemaru, & DOUKI
This 6 man tag serves to add more fuel to the already heated rivalry between legends: Minoru Suzuki and Jushin “Thunder” Liger, the latter whom will be having his retirement match at Wrestle Kingdom next year. Anyways, in other news DOUKI is back as well and is now a full pledged Suzuki-Gun member after replacing an injured El Desperado in the BOSJ Tournament earlier this year. SHO & YOH got the win here, htting DOUKI with their 3K Tag Finisher. After the match, Suzuki continued to attack Liger with the latter challenging him to an impromptu match right there and then, but The King refused for now.
Match #5 – 10 Man Tag Team Match:
KENTA, Fale, Yujiro, Ishimori, & Phantasmo def. Ibushi, Makabe, Honma, Ospreay, & Eagles
For this next match we got the Bullet Club crew taking on the interesting dynamic team of Kota Ibushi along with members of both GBH and CHAOS. This only serves as a preview for the Ibushi vs. KENTA and Ishimori & ELP vs. Opsreay & Eagles matches the next night. This is KENTA’s first match back since his infamous bout against Ishii in Royal Quest where he captured the NEVER Openweight Championship whilst also suffering a concussion. Fortunately, he looked good in this match and seemed like he never lost a step. He got the win for his team by hitting Tomoaki Honma with the most awkward Go To Sleep ever but it’s understandable knowing the case of poor old Kokeshi.
Match #6 – 6 Man Tag Team Match:
SANADA, Shingo, & BUSHI def. Okada, Goto, & Rocky
Not much to talk about here. Previews for Okada vs. SANADA in KOPW for another bout at the IWGP Heavyweight Championship, then at the latter part of the Destruction tour we’re going to have a special singles match with Shingo and Goto. Rocky and BUSHI have also a long standing rivalry so they are there to provide support for their stable mates. Didn’t take long, just a standard multi men tag like we’ve always seen. SANADA taps out Rocky with the Skull End at the 10 minute and 40 second mark.
Match #7 – Tag Team Match:
Naito & EVIL def. Switchblade & Chase
Last of the previews for this night, this time for Destruction at Kobe with the main event being Tetsuya Naito vs. Jay White for the IWGP Intercontinental Championship. EVIL and Chase Owens served as their tag-team partners for their respective stable leaders. Again, nothing really noteworthy at least for me. It was a standard tag match and dare I say better than the following match. Naito hits Chase with the Destino at exactly the 11:11 mark.
Match #8 – IWGP Tag-Team Championships:
Guerrillas of Destiny def. Ishii & YOSHI-HASHI
Semi Main Event of the night we got the Guerrillas of Destiny, Tama Tonga and Tanga Loa defeating the team of Tomohiro Ishii and YOSHI-HASHI representing CHAOS. This is their 6th defense of their 5th reign and have been successful. It all started at the G1 Finals when KENTA betrayed Ishii and YOSHI-HASHI at a 6 man tag in favor of Bullet Club and then at Royal Quest, GoD interfered at Ishii’s expense of the NEVER Openweight title with KENTA earning the victory. As for this match itself however, I thought it was a mess. GoD vs. Briscoes at ROH were better matches, I also can’t believe I am not praising an Ishii match but here we are, even though he is the best part of the entire bout, he has seen better matches. I’m also just not a fan of this CHAOS duo in general, I would’ve preferred Ishii and Yano but you know what New Japan why not give us what we really want? Ishii and Goto for World Tag League please! Just to freshen up the heavyweight tag-team division a bit wouldn’t it?
Anyway like I said, this was worked in a sloppy manner. YOSHI-HASHI forgot how to sell the Gun Stun properly, Tanga Loa forgetting how to sell entirely and couldn’t get a Road Warrior pop to save his life for it. GoD retains, this time with KENTA giving back the favor by distracting YOSHI-HASHI and Tama getting the schoolboy pin at the 21 minute and 35 seconds. What a trainwreck.
Match #9 – RevPro British Heavyweight Championship:
Zack Sabre Jr. def. Hiroshi Tanahashi
For the main event at Beppu we got another ZSJ vs. Tanahashi match for the RevPro British Heavyweight Title. The previous match was a disappointment but that exactly won’t be the case every time these two meet each other in the ring. This is a re-match at their Royal Quest match where Tanahashi defeated ZSJ for the belt but a mere 15 days later, would lose it right back for the Windy Man’s fourth reign with the belt. This make Tanahashi the shortest reigning British Heavyweight Champion, with Ishii at 86 days at second place.
As expected, we got another wonderful technical affair. Even though the result was kinda obvious, there were moments where you would think Tana might actually win it and have a strong run with the belt, but alas that wasn’t the case. But that’s how great workers should make you feel and they’ve accomplished that well. Hopefully though this would be the last time for now we will see them each other in the ring for a singles bout, while they are always good, I think having too much of it would kill the heat, at least for me. Zack wins with the Ground Cobra Twist at the 26 minute and 43 second mark.
