Destruction in Kagoshima
Date: 9/16/2019
From: Kagoshima Arena
Match #1 – Young Lion Cup Match:
Yuya Uemura def. Clark Connors
To officially kick things off at Kagoshima we got a junior heavyweight young lion cup match with Yuya Uemura of the New Japan Dojo against Clark Connors of the LA Dojo. Uemura entered this match with not a single win in the tour so far, Connors has his fair share but is far from the lead. Anyways, this was a good match as expected from both men. A few years from now, when both men would have their own characters/gimmicks, I think we could see a future BOSJ main event in our hands! As for now, Uemura finally scored his first victory of the tournament at the 9 minute and 31 second mark with a Boston Crab. He may be mathematically eliminated now, but this was still a big moment for him!
Match #2 – Young Lion Cup Match:
Ren Narita def. Michael Richards
Alright I’ll be frank from the get go, I wasn’t a fan of this match probably because I’m not that big of a fan of Michael Richards. He is the most generic looking wrestler ever and I know he is still a young lion and that’s kinda the purpose of that but he doesn’t have any redeeming qualities that makes him stand out. Hopefully he does find it in the future along with a decent moveset. Narita did well but we all know that now especially after his performance at this year’s BOSJ. A quick match at the 7 minute and 18 second mark ending with a Narita Special #4.
Match #3 – 10 Man Tag Team Match:
Nakanishi, Henare, Fredericks, & Coughlin def. Nagata, Taguchi, Umino, & Tsuji
Similar to the match earlier on, only rotating the Young Lions involved. Henare gets the win for his team, hitting Tsuji with the TOA Bottom. Yep that’s what it’s called.
Match #4 – 8 Man Tag Team Match:
Ishii, YOSHI-HASHI, & Roppongi 3K def. GoD, Fale, & Chase
Another BC vs. CHAOS match up. Fresh from the tag-team title match from the previous night between GoD and Ishii & YOSHI-HASHI. Just your standard multi men tag, the only intriguing part was that YOH got the surprise win over Tama Tonga at the 6 minute mark with an Inside Cradle pin! Could we see Roppongi 3K challenge for the Heavyweight Tag Titles later on? After all we’ve already seen what these two teams are capable in the ring with the opening of the G1 in Dallas. Should be interesting if this goes anywhere.
Match #5 – 8 Man Tag Team Match:
Liger, Tanahashi, Honma, & Makabe def. Suzuki, ZSJ, Kanemaru, & DOUKI
To get the match out of the way, it all ended with a disqualification after Suzuki hits the ref with a chair then continued to attack Liger at the 9 minute and 22 second mark. It did not end there however, as Suzuki unmasked Liger in front of the crowd in his final match at Kagoshima. The image of Minoru Suzuki hanging Jushin “Thunder” Liger’s mask in his mouth is a terrifying sight, almost like it’s from an anime. The line was crossed and it looks like the greatest junior heavyweight of all time has had enough as we could potentially see the return of Kishin Liger. The man’s alter ego when he is pushed to his limits. Minoru Suzuki could finally see an opponent as vicious as he is in a long time.
Match #6 – 6 Man Tag Team Match:
Okada, Goto, & Rocky def. SANADA, Shingo, & BUSHI
A re-match from last night only this time Okada wins with the Rainmaker over BUSHI at the 10 minute and 8 second mark.
Match #7 – Tag Team Match:
Naito & EVIL def. Switchblade & Yujiro
More antics between Naito and Switchblade for their eventual match, only this time it’s Naito’s former tag-team partner: Yujiro Takahashi on the opposing corner. They were former IWGP Jr. Tag-Team Champions too if some could remember. EVIL wins with EVIL over the Tokyo Pimp.
Match #8 – IWGP Jr. Tag-Team Championships:
El Phantasmo & Taiji Ishimori def. Will Ospreay & Robbie Eagles
Semi Main Event is another tag-team title match only this time it’s for the junior heavyweights division and it was a much better one than their heavyweights counterpart. Admittedly, the match started off somewhat slow but as they began to pick up the pace, all four men just released all their energies and did crazy highflying moves along with a slew of technical and strike exchanges. In my opinion, this was better than their match at Royal Quest and it ended with a CR2 from Phantasmo to Eagles, retaining the belts for the Bullet Club after a fantastic 23 minute match.
My only complaint though is that it kinda sucks to see Taiji Ishimori being relegated to this role. Phantasmo is a great wrestler but I feel Ishimori is an even greater one, it already feels ages when he had his BOSJ Finals match against Hiromu but it was only two years ago. I guess the curse of the Bone Soldier continues to reek it’s ugly head.
Match #9 – Tokyo Dome Main Event Contract:
Kota Ibushi def. KENTA
Last but not the least, main event for Kagoshima is KENTA against the hometown hero Kota Ibushi for the rights of the Tokyo Dome Main Event at Wrestle Kingdom which the Golden Star earned after becoming this year’s G1 Climax Winner. Before we could even begin, KENTA quickly attacked Ibushi as the ring announcement was ongoing. The early half of the match was just KENTA soaking in all of the heel heat in Ibushi’s turf, doing all kinds of dastardly things that earned him massive boo’s from the fans. It wouldn’t take long though before Ibushi would come back to his senses and eventually fight off his foe.
It was a better match than their first one at the opening night of G1, probably because there’s much more story to be told this time and the heel/face dynamic between them works perfectly. Later on GoD would interfere once again but this time, Ibushi is not alone, Ishii and YOSHI-HASHI came to his aid, running off the tag-team champions. Not so long after that, Kota Ibushi retains his rights to the main event after hitting KENTA with a Kamigoye at the 26 minute and 33 second mark.
A great match and the interferences actually added more to the story. Classic good guy vs. bad guy and afterwards EVIL made his challenge official as the next in line for the contract, him scoring a victory over Ibushi during the G1.
