NJPW Destruction in Kobe 2016
NJPW Destruction in Kobe 2016 (9/25/2016)- Kobe, Japan
TIGER MASK IV, RYSUSUKE TAGUCHI, & HENARE vs. CHAOS (Will Ospreay & Roppongi Vice)- 6/10
Really fun, fast opener.
BULLET CLUB (Yujiro Takahashi & Chase Owens) vs. HUNTER CLUB (Captain New Japan & Yoshitatsu)- no rating, SHOCKING segment.
Earlier this month, Yoshitatsu, unhappy with the Captain’s poor record, set up a Twitter poll of fans to see if he should keep teaming with the Captain. Apparently the fans wanted him to find a better, less jobbery partner in his feud against Bullet Club… so the Captain attacked Yoshitatsu from behind… and then CAPTAIN NEW JAPAN JOINED THE BULLET CLUB!
TERUAKI KANEMITSU & HIROYOSHI TENZAN vs. TOGI MAKABE & TOMOAKI HONMA- 5/10
reDRagon vs. YUJI NAGATA & MANABU NAKANISHI- 5.25/10
Too much Nakanishi, and nowhere near enough of what I tuned in for, which was reDRagon rolling around on the mat with Yuji freakin’ Nagata.
TRIOS MATCH FOR THE VACANT NEVER OPENWEIGHT SIX MAN TAG TEAM TITLES: Ricochet, Satoshi Kojima, & David Finlay Jr. vs. Bullet Club (Adam Cole & the Young Bucks)- 6.25/10
The titles are now vacant because Sydal had trouble getting into the country and had to miss this tour. The match was disappointing. It would have been a lot better if they had spent all of the time they spent on comedy on wrestling instead. It was a great moment for your Mr. Finlay, but between Cole, the Bucks, Ricochet, and Kojima, (and Finlay, too, as he is quite good) and this being a title match, I was expecting a lot more. Yeah, I know it’s the NEVER six-man titles, but what’s the point of splitting on big show into three if you’re not going to make use of that to elevate underutilized championships?
THE BRISOCES, TOMOHIRO ISHII, & HIROOKI GOTO vs. BULLET CLUB (Kenny Omega, Bad Luck Fale, & the Guerrillas of Destiny)- 7.75/10
Fun match.
HIROSHI TANAHASHI, JUICE ROBINSON, & KUSHIDA vs. LOS INGOBERNABLES DE JAPON (EVIL, BUSHI, & Sanada)- 7.75/10
This way exceeded expectations. Great showings from everyone, with Robinson standing out the most because he didn’t seem like the â€"one of these things is not like the other†guy at all.
NAOMICHI MARUFUJI, DAISUKE HARADA, ATSUSHI KOTOGE, & TORU YANO vs. JADO & CHAOS (Gedo, Kazuchika Okada, & YOSHI-HASHI)- 7/10
Lots of teasing of Okada vs. Marufuji, which will headline King of Pro Wrestling in October.
IWGP INTERCONTINENTAL TITLE MATCH: Michael Elgin(c) vs. Tetsuya Naito- 8.5/10
They told their stories well, both in the work on Elgin’s knee and in the other little stories about Elgin trying to hit various moves but Naito always countering them until Elgin finally managed to hit it, which made the move feel huge. I can see some people being turned off by the run-in, but I enjoy a good run-in every once in a while, so long as it is sufficiently removed from the finish as to not make it feel like bullsh*t (obviously if it is an important storyline moment then doing it at the finish is fine, but it also runs the risk of annoying people via too many f*ck finishes, and Los Ingobernables run in often enough that this certainly would have fallen into that category).
A fun show from New Japan, with a main event well worth going out of your way to see.
TIGER MASK IV, RYSUSUKE TAGUCHI, & HENARE vs. CHAOS (Will Ospreay & Roppongi Vice)- 6/10
Really fun, fast opener.
BULLET CLUB (Yujiro Takahashi & Chase Owens) vs. HUNTER CLUB (Captain New Japan & Yoshitatsu)- no rating, SHOCKING segment.
Earlier this month, Yoshitatsu, unhappy with the Captain’s poor record, set up a Twitter poll of fans to see if he should keep teaming with the Captain. Apparently the fans wanted him to find a better, less jobbery partner in his feud against Bullet Club… so the Captain attacked Yoshitatsu from behind… and then CAPTAIN NEW JAPAN JOINED THE BULLET CLUB!
TERUAKI KANEMITSU & HIROYOSHI TENZAN vs. TOGI MAKABE & TOMOAKI HONMA- 5/10
reDRagon vs. YUJI NAGATA & MANABU NAKANISHI- 5.25/10
Too much Nakanishi, and nowhere near enough of what I tuned in for, which was reDRagon rolling around on the mat with Yuji freakin’ Nagata.
TRIOS MATCH FOR THE VACANT NEVER OPENWEIGHT SIX MAN TAG TEAM TITLES: Ricochet, Satoshi Kojima, & David Finlay Jr. vs. Bullet Club (Adam Cole & the Young Bucks)- 6.25/10
The titles are now vacant because Sydal had trouble getting into the country and had to miss this tour. The match was disappointing. It would have been a lot better if they had spent all of the time they spent on comedy on wrestling instead. It was a great moment for your Mr. Finlay, but between Cole, the Bucks, Ricochet, and Kojima, (and Finlay, too, as he is quite good) and this being a title match, I was expecting a lot more. Yeah, I know it’s the NEVER six-man titles, but what’s the point of splitting on big show into three if you’re not going to make use of that to elevate underutilized championships?
THE BRISOCES, TOMOHIRO ISHII, & HIROOKI GOTO vs. BULLET CLUB (Kenny Omega, Bad Luck Fale, & the Guerrillas of Destiny)- 7.75/10
Fun match.
HIROSHI TANAHASHI, JUICE ROBINSON, & KUSHIDA vs. LOS INGOBERNABLES DE JAPON (EVIL, BUSHI, & Sanada)- 7.75/10
This way exceeded expectations. Great showings from everyone, with Robinson standing out the most because he didn’t seem like the â€"one of these things is not like the other†guy at all.
NAOMICHI MARUFUJI, DAISUKE HARADA, ATSUSHI KOTOGE, & TORU YANO vs. JADO & CHAOS (Gedo, Kazuchika Okada, & YOSHI-HASHI)- 7/10
Lots of teasing of Okada vs. Marufuji, which will headline King of Pro Wrestling in October.
IWGP INTERCONTINENTAL TITLE MATCH: Michael Elgin(c) vs. Tetsuya Naito- 8.5/10
They told their stories well, both in the work on Elgin’s knee and in the other little stories about Elgin trying to hit various moves but Naito always countering them until Elgin finally managed to hit it, which made the move feel huge. I can see some people being turned off by the run-in, but I enjoy a good run-in every once in a while, so long as it is sufficiently removed from the finish as to not make it feel like bullsh*t (obviously if it is an important storyline moment then doing it at the finish is fine, but it also runs the risk of annoying people via too many f*ck finishes, and Los Ingobernables run in often enough that this certainly would have fallen into that category).
A fun show from New Japan, with a main event well worth going out of your way to see.