NJPW Road to Destruction 2014: Day 1
NJPW Road to Destruction 2014: Day 1 (9/5/2014)- Tokyo, Japan
ALEX SHELLEY & SHO TANAKA vs. SUZUKI-GUN (El Desperado & Taichi)- 5.25/10
Taichi is an awesome heel, and Tanaka was a great babyface. They really made me want to see him win. I think it might be time for a promotion above the ranks of the young boys.
JUSHIN â€"THUNDER†LIGER & TIGER MASK IV vs. BUSHI & MAXIMO- no rating. Great comedy match
The two older Japanese men being afraid of the homosexual crossdresser is one of those things that you know that you’re really not supposed to laugh at in today’s society, but you just can’t help it. The finish did a brilliant job of both being funny and playing into this, while actually making you feel better about the whole thing.
SATOSHI KOJIMA, HIROYOSHI TENZAN, & YOHEI KOMATSU vs. YUJI NAGATA, MANABU NAKANISHI, & CAPTAIN NEW JAPAN- 5.75/10
CAPTAIN NEW JAPAN FINALLY GOT A WIN! It came over a young boy, and Nagata and Nakanishi did the damage first with a wacky combination tag team move (flying chop/enzugiri) first, but so what. Captain New Japan got the pin!
TORU YANO & FOREVER HOOLIGANS vs. SUZUKI-GUN (Minoru Suzuki, Takashi Iizuka, & TAKA Michinoku) (w/El Deserado & Taichi)- 3.5/10
The Hooligans have come up with a different spot where they almost get into a fight but wind up hugging it out. When Yano and Iizuka weren’t in the ring, the match was dull but inoffensive. When they were in the ring, it stunk.
KOTA IBUSHI & HIROOKI GOTO vs. GREAT BASH HEEL (Togi Makabe & Tomoaki Honma)- 7/10
Good storytelling with GBH working over Kota’s head coming off of his concussion, and then some great nearfalls at the end. Makabe and Goto went after each other after the match.
HIROSHI TANAHASHI & KUSHIDA vs. TETSUYA NAITO & RYUSUKE TAGUCHI- 8/10
Awesome match. KUSHIDA will definitely be a huge star for New Japan in the coming years.
TEN MAN TAG TEAM ELIMINATION MATCH: The Bullet Club (Yujiro Takahashi, Doc Gallows, Tama Tonga, Bad Luck Fale, & Karl â€"Machine Gun†Anderson) vs. CHAOS (Kazuchika Okaza, Shinsuke Nakamura, Tomohiro Ishii, YOSHI-HASHI, & Gedo)-7.5/10
In this match you could be eliminated through normal means, or by going over the top rope to the floor, like in a battle royale. This was quite the genius bit of booking because it not only allowed them to protect the heel champions and their top babyfaces like Okada, Nakamura, and Ishii, but by having only one champion actually get pinned, it made that pinfall feel very important.
There was great action, and it set up numerous title matches over the course of the two Destruction PPVs very well.
A very, very, good show from New Japan. The undercard is pretty much skippable, though aside from the Suzuki-Gun vs. Hooligans & Yano match it wasn’t bad, and the top of the card was great.
ALEX SHELLEY & SHO TANAKA vs. SUZUKI-GUN (El Desperado & Taichi)- 5.25/10
Taichi is an awesome heel, and Tanaka was a great babyface. They really made me want to see him win. I think it might be time for a promotion above the ranks of the young boys.
JUSHIN â€"THUNDER†LIGER & TIGER MASK IV vs. BUSHI & MAXIMO- no rating. Great comedy match
The two older Japanese men being afraid of the homosexual crossdresser is one of those things that you know that you’re really not supposed to laugh at in today’s society, but you just can’t help it. The finish did a brilliant job of both being funny and playing into this, while actually making you feel better about the whole thing.
SATOSHI KOJIMA, HIROYOSHI TENZAN, & YOHEI KOMATSU vs. YUJI NAGATA, MANABU NAKANISHI, & CAPTAIN NEW JAPAN- 5.75/10
CAPTAIN NEW JAPAN FINALLY GOT A WIN! It came over a young boy, and Nagata and Nakanishi did the damage first with a wacky combination tag team move (flying chop/enzugiri) first, but so what. Captain New Japan got the pin!
TORU YANO & FOREVER HOOLIGANS vs. SUZUKI-GUN (Minoru Suzuki, Takashi Iizuka, & TAKA Michinoku) (w/El Deserado & Taichi)- 3.5/10
The Hooligans have come up with a different spot where they almost get into a fight but wind up hugging it out. When Yano and Iizuka weren’t in the ring, the match was dull but inoffensive. When they were in the ring, it stunk.
KOTA IBUSHI & HIROOKI GOTO vs. GREAT BASH HEEL (Togi Makabe & Tomoaki Honma)- 7/10
Good storytelling with GBH working over Kota’s head coming off of his concussion, and then some great nearfalls at the end. Makabe and Goto went after each other after the match.
HIROSHI TANAHASHI & KUSHIDA vs. TETSUYA NAITO & RYUSUKE TAGUCHI- 8/10
Awesome match. KUSHIDA will definitely be a huge star for New Japan in the coming years.
TEN MAN TAG TEAM ELIMINATION MATCH: The Bullet Club (Yujiro Takahashi, Doc Gallows, Tama Tonga, Bad Luck Fale, & Karl â€"Machine Gun†Anderson) vs. CHAOS (Kazuchika Okaza, Shinsuke Nakamura, Tomohiro Ishii, YOSHI-HASHI, & Gedo)-7.5/10
In this match you could be eliminated through normal means, or by going over the top rope to the floor, like in a battle royale. This was quite the genius bit of booking because it not only allowed them to protect the heel champions and their top babyfaces like Okada, Nakamura, and Ishii, but by having only one champion actually get pinned, it made that pinfall feel very important.
There was great action, and it set up numerous title matches over the course of the two Destruction PPVs very well.
A very, very, good show from New Japan. The undercard is pretty much skippable, though aside from the Suzuki-Gun vs. Hooligans & Yano match it wasn’t bad, and the top of the card was great.