NJPW Destruction in Kobe
NJPW Destruction in Kobe (9/21/2014)- Kobe, Japan
CHAOS (Tomohiro Ishii & Forever Hooligans) vs. THE BULLET CLUB (Yujiro Takahashi & the Young Bucks)- 6.5/10
Very good opener.
ALEX SHELLEY, BUSHI, & MAXIMO vs. SUZUKI-GUN (Taichi, El Desperado, & TAKA Michinoku)- no rating. Good segment.
The heels quickly get themselves DQed by assaulting Shelley with a steel chair, softening him up for IWGP Jr. Heavyweight Tag Team Title match in two days in Okayama.
MANABU NAKANISHI, YUJI NAGATA, TIGER MASK IV, & CAPTAIN NEW JAPAN vs. JUSHIN â€"THUNDER†LIGER, SATOSHI KOJIMA, HIROYOSHI TENZAN, & TOMOAKI HONMA- 5.25/10
Honma finally gets the win he didn’t get in the G1, and the place went nuts for it, but doing it in such an unimportant spot feels like a waste.
SUZUKI-GUN (Minoru Suzuki & Takahi Iizuka) vs. KAZUSHI SAKURABA & TORU YANO- 5.5/10
Sakuraba and Suzuki were great, and, thankfully, they were the two who did most of the work. Whenever Yano and Iizuka were in there together, it was just plain unbearable. They did the exact same sh*t they’ve been doing in every single match for the past four months. For some reason, the ref did not DQ Iizuka despite his blatant use of various weapons.
IWGP JR. HEAVYWEIGHT TITLE MATCH: KUSHIDA(c) vs. Ryusuke Taguchi- 8/10
KUSHIDA works the arm, Taguchi works the ankle, and they have an awesome match with some great mat wrestling. After the match, Suzuki-Gun’s junior heavyweights came out and attacked both guys. Alex Shelley tried to make the save, but got beaten down. El Desperado posed with the IWGP Jr. Heavyweight Title.
KOTA IBUSHI & TETSUYA NAITO vs. THE BULLET CLUB (AJ Styles & Tama Tonga)- 6.5/10
IGWP HEAVYWEIGHT TAG TEAM TITLE MATCH: The Bullet Club (Doc Gallows & Karl â€"Machine Gun†Anderson)(c) (w/Yujiro Takahashi) vs. YOSHI-HASHI & Kazuchika Okada (w/Gedo)- 6.25/10
Yujiro screwed the babyfaces when YOSHI-HASHI seemed to have the match won, building up to their NEVER Openweight Title match at Destruction in Okayama.
TOGI MAKABE vs. HIROOKI GOTO- 8/10
If there was ever a match that NEEDED to start with a hard exchange of forearms to chin, it was this one, and that is exactly what they did. The angle going into this grudge match was Makabe trying to get revenge on Goto for breaking his Jaw in a match earlier this summer, and the story they told did a great job of playing into that.
HIROSHI TANAHASHI vs. KATSUYORI SHIBATA- 9.25/10
AMAZING! Awesome storytelling and some awesome counters. Yeah, Tanahashi could have sold his legs better, but that doesn’t take much away from this fantastic match. These guy are just two old rivals who REALLY want to beat each other.
IWGP INTERCONTINENTAL TITLE MATCH: Bad Luck Fale(c) (w/the Young Bucks) vs. Shinsuke Nakamura-7.75/10
Fale worked over Nakamura’s back. Nakamura sold it well. Fale’s Grenade looked pretty bad, though.
Yet another awesome show from New Japan, with a solid undercard and pretty darn fantastic top of the card.
CHAOS (Tomohiro Ishii & Forever Hooligans) vs. THE BULLET CLUB (Yujiro Takahashi & the Young Bucks)- 6.5/10
Very good opener.
ALEX SHELLEY, BUSHI, & MAXIMO vs. SUZUKI-GUN (Taichi, El Desperado, & TAKA Michinoku)- no rating. Good segment.
The heels quickly get themselves DQed by assaulting Shelley with a steel chair, softening him up for IWGP Jr. Heavyweight Tag Team Title match in two days in Okayama.
MANABU NAKANISHI, YUJI NAGATA, TIGER MASK IV, & CAPTAIN NEW JAPAN vs. JUSHIN â€"THUNDER†LIGER, SATOSHI KOJIMA, HIROYOSHI TENZAN, & TOMOAKI HONMA- 5.25/10
Honma finally gets the win he didn’t get in the G1, and the place went nuts for it, but doing it in such an unimportant spot feels like a waste.
SUZUKI-GUN (Minoru Suzuki & Takahi Iizuka) vs. KAZUSHI SAKURABA & TORU YANO- 5.5/10
Sakuraba and Suzuki were great, and, thankfully, they were the two who did most of the work. Whenever Yano and Iizuka were in there together, it was just plain unbearable. They did the exact same sh*t they’ve been doing in every single match for the past four months. For some reason, the ref did not DQ Iizuka despite his blatant use of various weapons.
IWGP JR. HEAVYWEIGHT TITLE MATCH: KUSHIDA(c) vs. Ryusuke Taguchi- 8/10
KUSHIDA works the arm, Taguchi works the ankle, and they have an awesome match with some great mat wrestling. After the match, Suzuki-Gun’s junior heavyweights came out and attacked both guys. Alex Shelley tried to make the save, but got beaten down. El Desperado posed with the IWGP Jr. Heavyweight Title.
KOTA IBUSHI & TETSUYA NAITO vs. THE BULLET CLUB (AJ Styles & Tama Tonga)- 6.5/10
IGWP HEAVYWEIGHT TAG TEAM TITLE MATCH: The Bullet Club (Doc Gallows & Karl â€"Machine Gun†Anderson)(c) (w/Yujiro Takahashi) vs. YOSHI-HASHI & Kazuchika Okada (w/Gedo)- 6.25/10
Yujiro screwed the babyfaces when YOSHI-HASHI seemed to have the match won, building up to their NEVER Openweight Title match at Destruction in Okayama.
TOGI MAKABE vs. HIROOKI GOTO- 8/10
If there was ever a match that NEEDED to start with a hard exchange of forearms to chin, it was this one, and that is exactly what they did. The angle going into this grudge match was Makabe trying to get revenge on Goto for breaking his Jaw in a match earlier this summer, and the story they told did a great job of playing into that.
HIROSHI TANAHASHI vs. KATSUYORI SHIBATA- 9.25/10
AMAZING! Awesome storytelling and some awesome counters. Yeah, Tanahashi could have sold his legs better, but that doesn’t take much away from this fantastic match. These guy are just two old rivals who REALLY want to beat each other.
IWGP INTERCONTINENTAL TITLE MATCH: Bad Luck Fale(c) (w/the Young Bucks) vs. Shinsuke Nakamura-7.75/10
Fale worked over Nakamura’s back. Nakamura sold it well. Fale’s Grenade looked pretty bad, though.
Yet another awesome show from New Japan, with a solid undercard and pretty darn fantastic top of the card.