{"id":10170,"date":"2018-09-17T07:08:51","date_gmt":"2018-09-17T07:08:51","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/prowrestlingjournal.com\/?p=10170"},"modified":"2018-09-17T07:10:35","modified_gmt":"2018-09-17T07:10:35","slug":"njpw-destruction-in-hiroshima-review-14-9-18","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/prowrestlingjournal.com\/index.php\/2018\/09\/17\/njpw-destruction-in-hiroshima-review-14-9-18\/","title":{"rendered":"NJPW Destruction in Hiroshima Review, 15\/9\/18"},"content":{"rendered":"

By\u00a0Tokyo Wrestling Fan @twf87<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

New Japan Pro Wrestling returned to our screens this week with the Destruction tour, making stops in Hiroshima, Beppu, and Kobe.\u00a0 First up, the slightly unfortunately named Destruction in Hiroshima show, featuring the NEVER Six Man Titles being defended by Guerrilas of Destiny and Taiji Ishimori against Ryusuke Taguchi, Juice Robinson, and David Finlay.\u00a0 The main event saw Kenny Omega defend his IWGP Heavyweight Championship against Tomohiro Ishii in a rematch from the G1 Climax in front of a crowd of around 3,700 fans.<\/p>\n

Roppongi 3K (SHO, YOH, and Rocky Romero) <\/strong>vs. Jyushin Thunder Liger, Tiger Mask, and KUSHIDA <\/strong>\u2013 This was a decent opening tag match, which featured one of the participants in the upcoming Junior Heavyweight title tournament in KUSHIDA.\u00a0 He hasn\u2019t particularly done much this year, but whenever KUSHIDA is called on he\u2019s always a very good worker.\u00a0 Roppongi 3K showed some impressive moves, but ultimately Liger and Tiger Mask isolated Rocky and a Tiger Driver followed by a Tiger Suplex was enough to put him down for a three count.<\/p>\n

Winners: Jyushin Thunder Liger, Tiger Mask, and KUSHIDA, 7:14<\/strong><\/p>\n

Toa Henare <\/strong>vs. Bad Luck Fale <\/strong>\u2013 Henare had been given some singles matches on the Destruction tour \u2013 on the second night he lost to Beretta \u2013 but this match against Fale was clearly his biggest challenge to date.\u00a0 Henare trained at the Fale Dojo in New Zealand, so this match had added weight behind it.\u00a0 Henare jumped Fale before the bell rang and tried to use his speed to overcome the size disadvantage between him and his opponent.\u00a0 Despite his valiant efforts, Fale soon overcame him \u2013 a near miss Bad Luck Fall transitioned to a Grenade for a Fale victory.\u00a0 It\u2019s great that Henare is getting singles matches, but given that he loses all of them has he really benefitted from graduating from a Young Lion without going on excursion?<\/p>\n

Winner: Bad Luck Fale, 2:46<\/strong>\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

Killer Elite Squad (Lance Archer and Davey Boy Smith Jr.) <\/strong>vs. Ayato Yoshida and Michael Elgin<\/strong> \u2013 KES made their return to NJPW for the first time since Wrestling Dontaku and took on the team of the recent K-DOJO acquisition Ayato Yoshida and Michael Elgin.\u00a0 Yoshida has impressed in his matches on the Lion\u2019s Gate shows, and despite the fact that he\u2019s been taking most of the pins in his matches on this tour he has continued to look good.\u00a0 KES controlled the early part of the match until Elgin was tagged in and was able to fight back.\u00a0 Yoshida scored some near falls with two PKs on Smith, but finally a Killer Bomb put Yoshida down for the three count.\u00a0 A solid win for KES to start building up their momentum again going into the World Tag League.<\/p>\n

Winners: Killer Elite Squad, 8:53<\/strong><\/p>\n

Kota Ibushi, Chase Owens, and Yujiro Takahashi <\/strong>vs. Best Friends (Chuckie T and Beretta) and Will Ospreay <\/strong>\u2013 The Bullet Club Elite took on the CHAOS team of Ospreay and the Best Friends, of whom Beretta had recently returned from a lengthy injury lay-off.\u00a0 This was a fun match between six very good workers, which continued teasing a confrontation between Ospreay and Ibushi.\u00a0 They both looked excellent in the ring, particularly when Ospreay hit one of his trademark dives over the top to take out Ibushi and Yujiro.\u00a0 Beretta got the win for the CHAOS team after he hit a Dudebuster on Owens, assisted from the top rope by Chuckie T.\u00a0 Post-match Ibushi and Ospreay faced down again, while Best Friends look forward to a match against KES later in the tour.<\/p>\n

Winners: Best Friends and Will Ospreay, 9:50<\/strong><\/p>\n

NEVER Openweight Six Man Tag Team Championship Match<\/strong><\/p>\n

Ryusuke Taguchi, Juice Robinson, and David Finlay <\/strong>vs. Guerillas of Destiny (Tama Tonga and Tanga Loa) and Taiji Ishimori (c)<\/strong> \u2013 GOD and Ishimori won the NEVER Six Man Tag Titles at the G1 Climax Final, and this was their first defence against a makeshift Taguchi Japan team.\u00a0 GOD spent most of the G1 Climax pissing people off by interefering in tournament matches, and finally won the Six Man Tag Titles against the Young Bucks and Marty Scurll on the final night.\u00a0 The match\u2019s placement on the card should tell you what sort of level the NEVER Six Man belts are at right now.\u00a0 For some reason Taguchi came out wearing a scrum cap and a rugby shirt, and he used the scrum cap later in the match to protect his head from GOD attacks \u2013 not entirely how scrum caps work but close enough that a lot of the American audience probably wouldn\u2019t know the difference.\u00a0 This was a decent enough match, and Ishimori continued to look very good, he really ought to be back in contention for the Junior Heavyweight title once the tournament is over.\u00a0 Tanga Loa got the win after he hit Finlay with his finisher, Apeshit, to complete their first successful title defence.\u00a0 Nothing that you should go out of your way to see, but a decent match, with the usual Taguchi comedy and a solid win for the Bullet Club OGs.<\/p>\n

Winners: GOD and Taiji Ishimori, 11:27<\/strong><\/p>\n

Hirooki Goto, Gedo, and Toru Yano <\/strong>vs. Taichi, Takashi Iizuka, and Yoshinobu Kanemaru<\/strong> \u2013 This match was part of the build-up to the NEVER Openweight Championship match between Goto and Taichi at Destruction in Beppu on the 17th<\/sup> of September.\u00a0 Taichi jumped Goto before the bell was rung and spent a lot of this match beating him down, trying to damage the champion ahead of their title match.\u00a0 This match was pretty underwhelming, with lots of brawling and shenanigans involving Iizuka and Gedo, but things improved when Goto and Taichi got into the ring.\u00a0 Goto got the upper hand, and managed to hit Kanemaru with a GTR, but Taichi broke up the pin and started hitting Goto with his mic stand, which led to a DQ finish.\u00a0 I\u2019m looking forward to the title match, but this match wasn’t very good.\u00a0 Post-match Taichi hit Goto with a Last Ride powerbomb and stood tall.<\/p>\n

Winners: Hirooki Goto, Gedo, and Toru Yano, 10:42<\/strong><\/p>\n

Minoru Suzuki, TAKA Michinoku, El Desperado, and Zack Sabre Junior<\/strong> vs. Tetsuya Naito, BUSHI, SANADA, and EVIL <\/strong>\u2013 Since the end of the G1 Climax there has been a build towards a match between Suzuki and Naito, who last faced each other at Wrestling Hi no Kuni for the Intercontinental Title, but apparently have unfinished business with each other.\u00a0 Throughout the Destruction tour Los Ingobernables de Japon and Suzuki-gun have been facing each other, and this match wasn\u2019t anything radically different from those matches.\u00a0 I\u2019m not a big fan of the eight-man tag matches that end up devolving into lots of brawling on the outside.\u00a0 The in-ring portion of this match towards the end was decent, and LIJ managed to get the upper hand because Suzuki was fixated on attacking Naito to the point that he ignored everything else that was happening.\u00a0 It was quite funny that the other members of LIJ didn\u2019t try and help Naito as Suzuki beat him up, but maybe they realised that they could get a win while he was distracted.\u00a0 EVIL and SANADA hit a Magic Killer on TAKA for an LIJ victory, while Suzuki kept choking Naito outside the ring.\u00a0 Finally the Young Lions were able to separate them, and a stretcher was brought out, but Naito was able to walk out under his own power.<\/p>\n

Winners: Tetsuya Naito, BUSHI, SANADA, and EVIL, 12:12<\/strong><\/p>\n

\n

No matter who wins… @suzuki_D_minoru<\/a> wins. #njdest<\/a><\/p>\n

\u27a1\ufe0f https:\/\/t.co\/8n90d75Nfk<\/a> pic.twitter.com\/7pp4GxZxeG<\/a><\/p>\n

— TDE Wrestling (@totaldivaseps) September 15, 2018<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n