{"id":13405,"date":"2019-09-23T14:31:53","date_gmt":"2019-09-23T13:31:53","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/prowrestlingjournal.com\/?p=13405"},"modified":"2019-09-23T14:32:01","modified_gmt":"2019-09-23T13:32:01","slug":"njpw-destruction-in-kobe-2019-results-and-review","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/prowrestlingjournal.com\/index.php\/2019\/09\/23\/njpw-destruction-in-kobe-2019-results-and-review\/","title":{"rendered":"NJPW: Destruction in Kobe 2019 Results and Review"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The final show of this year’s Destruction tour. There is so much that went on so let’s get straight into the action!<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

Date: 9\/22\/2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n

From: Kobe World Hall<\/p>\n\n\n\n

English commentators: Kevin Kelly, Gino Gambino,\nChris Charlton<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Match #1 – 6 Man Tag Team:<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Nagata,\nTsuji, Uemura def. Nakanishi, Coughlin, Richards<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

To open the show we got once again a six man tag\nwith two veterans leading each side teamed up with young lions who participated\nin this year’s Young Lion Cup tournament. Honestly this was just a typical\nmulti men match, although did a decent job being the opening act. Yota Tsuji\nmakes Alex Coughlin tap with the Boston Crab at the 10 minute and 5 second\nmark.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Match #2 – Young Lion Cup:<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Clark\nConnors def. Ren Narita<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Second to the last match of the 2019 Young Lion Cup\nthis time featuring New Japan Dojo vs. LA Dojo. Connors was already eliminated\nby this point, if Narita won and Karl Fredericks got a victory on the next\nmatch then he would’ve been the overall champion but alas things did not work\nin his favor. Him and Connors had a good match, I see these two as potential\nrivals in the future for the IWGP Jr. Heavyweight Championship once they are\ndone with their transitions. Narita fought well but it wasn’t enough to put\nConnors down as he also won by tapping him out with a Boston Crab at 7 minutes\nand 25 seconds.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Match #3 – Young Lion Cup Final:<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Karl Fredericks def. Shota Umino<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

With the loss of Ren Narita in the previous match,\nit all went down between the two top favorites to win from their respective\ndojos: Shota Umino and Karl Fredericks. Admittedly I haven’t seen every single\nyoung lion cup match (the stand alone ones shown during the road to shows) but\nin my opinion, this is the best match out of the entire tournament. Honestly, I\nwas surprised with the result, I know Fredericks is a favorite for some\nincluding yours truly, but I thought this tournament was set in stone for Shota\nUmino who clearly has “Future Ace” written all over him. But that did\nnot happen, Fredericks made him tap out with a single leg Boston Crab at 7\nminutes and 17 seconds, making him the first gaijin to win the Young Lions Cup\nin history! I guess it really is not just the fans who see a lot of potential\nin Fredericks but New Japan themselves. The crowd were surprised too as they\nbarely reacted when Shooter tapped but it won’t be the last time their favorite\nwould lose to a foreigner in this night.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Match #4 – 6 Man Tag Team:<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Fale,\nYujiro, & Chase def. Makabe, Honma, & Henare<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Once again, just your typical multi men tag. Not a\nlot of story to go on here, but knowing how proud of some BC members are with\ntheir heritage, I’m surprised they haven’t tried recruiting Toa Henare yet. I\nknow Bullet Club is filled with lots of members already but Henare is in dire\nneed of some attitude change with his character other than being the\n“stereotypical native gimmick” if he wants to get far. Chase hits him\nwith the Package Piledriver, which he always delivers well, at the 8 minute and\n22 second mark.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Match #5 – 8 Man Tag Team:<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Suzuki, ZSJ, Kanemaru, & DOUKI def. Liger, Tanahashi, Tiger, & Rocky by DQ<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Next up, this wasn’t really a match as it was more\nof a segment. By this point you all know what happened now, as Minoru Suzuki is\ndoing his usual entrance, out of nowhere Jushin “Thunder” Liger who\nhe has been nonstop assaulting for months blindsided him and a brawl ensued.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As they got in the ring, Suzuki attempted on\nunmasking Liger again but he got low blowed and it was the 11x Jr. Heavyweight\nChampion who unmasked himself revealing his alter ego Kishin Liger! This is\nabout as anime as you can get, if Liger gets pushed to his limits, he summons\nKishin Liger a basically more ruthless and merciless version of himself that\nhas only appeared three times before this. Think of it like as The Great Muta,\nbeing the alter ego of Keiji Mutoh, but in my opinion with how sparingly Kishin\nis, he is even more mystical. Speaking of, Suzuki gets misted in the face and\nwas close onto getting his head spiked in with a blade too! For the first time\nwe saw Minoru Suzuki tremble in fear, it’s usually him who makes other feel\nthat way but not this time. Liger was so out of his ordinary self that he even\nattacked Tanahashi and the referee as he was making his way to the back gunning\nfor Suzuki’s head.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Not a hyperbole, this was one of the greatest\nmoments of the entire year for professional wrestling! Now, here I am hoping for\na Kishin Liger match one last time…<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Match #6 – 10 Man Tag Team:<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

CHAOS\ndef. Bullet Club<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

An age old rivalry between two heated factions.\nCHAOS was represented by Ospreay, Ishii, YOSHI-HASHI, and Roppongi 3K while BC\nhad KENTA, GoD, Ishimori, and Phantasmo. All champions for the latter. Just\nanother typical multi men tag, the only thing of note is that RP3K got the\nsurprise victory over GoD again, this time with YOH getting a roll up win on\nTanga Loa at the 9 minute and 40 second mark. As if it isn’t obvious now, we’re\ndefinitely getting a GoD vs. RP3K for the IWGP Heavyweight Tag-Team Championships\nperhaps at King of Pro Wrestling! I’m totally in support of some more variety\nfor the tag divisions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Match #7 – 6 Man Tag Team:<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

SANADA,\nEVIL, & BUSHI def. Okada, Ibushi, & Eagles<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Not much went down, just to hype up the eventual\nmatches of Okada vs. SANADA, and Ibushi vs. EVIL. It was a good match for what\nit was but nothing out of the ordinary took place. SANADA makes Robbie Eagles\ntapped with the Skull End at the 13 minute and 50 second mark. Afterwards\nIbushi and EVIL went on to exchange forearms while Okada missed all of his\nattempts at a dropkick towards SANADA. Spicing things up for their matches.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Match #8 – Special Singles Match:<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Hirooki Goto def. Shingo Takagi<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

For the semi main event, the re-match between Shingo\nand Goto took place. As expected from these two, they pretty much beat the\nliving hell out of one another with hard hitting strikes but they also mixed in\nsome technical wrestling there too. But with all that being said, I preferred\ntheir G1 match just a tad better. The result surprised me but it made sense for\nGoto to get his win back plus with what happened later tonight, although I\nwould have liked it better if it was Shingo instead. Nevertheless, a win for\nthe Fearless Warrior is a victory I’d always welcome. A GTR at the 20 minute\nand 27 second mark puts The Dragon down.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Match #9 – IWGP Intercontinental Championship:<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Jay White def. Tetsuya Naito<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Other than that multi men tag, it was not a lucky\nday for LIJ members in high profile matches. First off before I inevitably get\ninto my rant, I thought the match was worked flawlessly. A lot of high tension\ndrama between these two and it was expected as they’ve had that ever since the\nbuild to this. Thought it was one of Switchblade’s best matches as well in\nrecent memory. Lots of counter wrestling and all that stuff. A Bladerunner at\nthe 21 minute and 7 second mark, Bullet Club gets another champion among their\nranks, this time its leader. He is now the second man to hold the IWGP\nHeavyweight, Intercontinental, and United States Championships, the first being\nKenny Omega.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Now onto my rant as a big LIJ fan. Honestly, I’m\ndisappointed. If that is what I’m supposed to feel in this story then good job,\nbut I hate that Naito has been what feels like a downward spiral recently. He\nhasn’t had a decent feud since Chris Jericho, and even then we all know that\nwon’t last long term with Y2J’s other commitments. His 4th run with the IWGP\nIntercontinental Championship has been lackluster and now it ends on a sour\nnote for many. What I fear is, while Naito is still arguably the most popular\nwrestler in the roster, and without a doubt the no. 1 merch seller, once\nsomeone continually loses, I’d fear they would become the second coming of\nsomeone like a Dolph Ziggler. If we want to get into it from a Puroresu stand\npoint, someone in Reddit pointed out that we could see a Jun Akiyama situation\nif New Japan isn’t careful. Akiyama is a revered legend and one of the best\never, but with constant losses at the big stage, fans ultimately lost faith in\nhim and his booking as a wrestler changed entirely. A closer example would be\nHirooki Goto as well. I know this is all just thinking way too ahead but while\nNaito can still go, New Japan should capitalize on what they got right now.\nLooking back, while they were some good things that happened afterwards, they\nshould’ve put the belt on Naito at Wrestle Kingdom 12. This is only through\nhindsight though but seeing him finally have a legit run with the belt would be\ngreat. I am a fan and what kind of fan would I be if I don’t want my favorite\nwrestler win right? I know Jay White will be a good champion, arguably the best\nheel in all of wrestling today, but the question is, where does Tetsuya Naito\ntruly go from here?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The final show of this year’s Destruction tour. There is so much that went on so let’s get straight into the action!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":35,"featured_media":13407,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_bbp_topic_count":0,"_bbp_reply_count":0,"_bbp_total_topic_count":0,"_bbp_total_reply_count":0,"_bbp_voice_count":0,"_bbp_anonymous_reply_count":0,"_bbp_forum_subforum_count":0,"tdm_status":"","tdm_grid_status":"","_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[2,204,37,22],"tags":[84],"class_list":["post-13405","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-featured","category-njpw","category-njpw-reviews","category-reviews","tag-jushin-liger"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p9jnWd-3ud","jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/prowrestlingjournal.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/09\/5_9-13.jpg?fit=600%2C400&ssl=1","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/prowrestlingjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13405","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/prowrestlingjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/prowrestlingjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/prowrestlingjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/35"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/prowrestlingjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=13405"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/prowrestlingjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13405\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":13408,"href":"https:\/\/prowrestlingjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13405\/revisions\/13408"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/prowrestlingjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/13407"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/prowrestlingjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=13405"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/prowrestlingjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=13405"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/prowrestlingjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=13405"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}