Tag: destruction in hiroshima

NJPW Destruction in Hiroshima live results: Omega vs. Ishii

Posted on by Ethan Renner

A rematch of one of the most memorable bouts of the year takes place this morning in Hiroshima.

The first of three Destruction events will take place this morning as Kenny Omega will defend the IWGP Heavyweight Championship against Tomohiro Ishii. The two had a tremendous match during the G1, with Ishii scoring the win. He looks to continue his momentum by winning the IWGP title for the first time.

This morning’s undercard will feature a number of tag team matches hyping future bouts for the other two events. There will also be a NEVER Openweight Six-Man Tag Team title match as new champions Guerillas of Destiny & Taiji Ishimori will defend their titles against Ryusuke Taguchi, David Finlay & Juice Robinson. There will also be a singles match with Bad Luck Fale taking on Toa Henare.

Action begins at 5:00 a.m. Eastern time on New Japan World. There will be English commentary.

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JUSHIN LIGER, TIGER MASK, & KUSHIDA DEFEATED ROPPONGI 3K (7:15)

Not bad, but this didn’t have enough time to get out of second gear. 

Liger and YOH kicked things off. Liger hit a tackle, but YOH kipped up and hit a dropkick. Liger sent YOH to the floor, and hit a baseball slide. Liger hit a backbreaker and used a surfboard, but Romero broke it up. 

3K triple-teamed Liger, before he was finally able to make a tag to KUSHIDA. KUSHIDA slapped an armbar on SHO, but SHO escaped. He went for a deadlift german, but KUSHIDA transitioned to a hoverboard lock. SHO escaped. 

Tiger got a tag and hit a series of mid kicks on Romero and SHO, but Roppongi used triple knee strikes. Tiger hit a tiger driver on Romero for a nearfall, then followed with a tiger suplex for the pin. 

BAD LUCK FALE DEFEATED TOA HENARE (2:47)

Henare got a little more offense than in their last encounter, which was pretty much a squash match. 

Henare jumped Fale before the bell, and hammered away with forearms, dropping him to a knee. Henare ducked a pair of lariats, and hit a top rope shoulder tackle for a nearfall. Henare hit the ropes for a diving chop, and earned another two count. 

Fale hit an avalanche, and went for the bad luck fall, but Henare slid out. Fale hit a lariat, then hit the grenade, and got the quick pin. 

KILLER ELITE SQUAD DEFEATED MICHAEL ELGIN & AYATO YOSHIDA (8:53)

This was okay. Smith and Archer are a great team, and Yoshida is going to be a superstar. 

Smith and Archer had new gear. Smith tried to jump Yoshida, but Elgin made the save. Yoshida hit a nice running knee in the corner. Archer and Elgin brawled to the outside, while Smith worked over Yoshida in the ring. 

Archer got a tag, and hit a series of back elbows in the corner. Smith tagged in and used a delayed vertical suplex. He made a cover, but Elgin broke up the pinfall. Smith and Archer used a cool double team move for a nearfall. 

Archer went for a chokeslam, but Yoshida slipped to a guillotine. Archer popped out, but ran right into a dropkick, allowing Yoshida to tag Elgin. Elgin hit a middle rope dropkick, and peppered Archer with forearms. Elgin hit a release german, and a falcon arrow for a nearfall on Archer. 

Elgin teased an Elgin bomb, but Archer hit a boss man slam, forcing a tag to Yoshida. Archer tagged Smith, and Yoshida hit him with a series of penalty kicks. Smith used a running powerslam for a two count, then hit Elgin with another. 

Yoshida used a schoolboy for a nearfall, but then ate a killer bomb, and Killer Elite got the win. 

BERETTA, CHUCKIE T & WILL OSPREAY DEFEATED KOTA IBUSHI, YUJIRO TAKAHASHI & CHASE OWENS (9:50)

A good match. Ibushi and Ospreay did plenty, but they are saving their best stuff for down the road. 

Taylor and Beretta worked over Takahashi, then tagged Ospreay. Ospreay jumped off Taylor’s back and hit a corkscrew moonsault on Yujiro. The CHAOS team used a series of quick tags, and Yujiro was able to make a comeback. The Bullet Club team isolated Taylor in their corner, and used quick tags of their own, while working him over. 

Ospreay and Ibushi got tags, and Ospreay hit a standing shooting star for a nearfall. These two are going to tear the house down when they have their singles match here. They traded a series of moves and teases, saving their big stuff for that future meeting. 

Beretta and Owens got tags. Beretta took the Ray Stevens corner, but flipped out into a lariat. The match broke down, and everyone hit a series of big moves. Ospreay hit a Sasuke special on Ibushi and Yujiro. In the ring, Taylor and Beretta hit a tag team dudebuster on Owens, and pinned him. 

TAMA TONGA, TANGA LOA & TAIJI ISHIMORI DEFEATED JUICE ROBINSON, DAVID FINLAY & RYUSUKE TAGUCHI TO RETAIN THE NEVER OPENWEIGHT 6-MAN TAG TEAM CHAMPIONSHIP (11:27)

Both teams did what they do very well, but this was a bit of a style clash. 

Taguchi and Ishimori started off. Taguchi had his working boots on, and they had a nice opening sequence. Juice and Loa got tags, and Juice hit his series of jabs. Juice hit a cannonball. 

Taguchi put on a rugby helmet, and Finlay used him as a battering ram. Tonga jumped in and cut them off, and the OGs took over. Loa slammed Juice on the floor, and the Firing Squad triple-teamed him. 

Tonga hit a stinger splash, but Juice was able to tag Taguchi. Taguchi hit a series of hip attacks on all  of the OGs, and the Taguchi Japan team hit the clothesline train spot on Loa. The OGs broke up a pinfall, and side-stepped Juice and Taguchi planchas. 

Tonga ripped off Taguchi’s helmet, and hit the gun stun. Finlay hit Tonga with a stunner. Finlay went for another stunner on Loa, but Loa caught him, and hit apeshit for the pin. 

HIROOKI GOTO, TORU YANO & GEDO DEFEATED TAICHI, TAKASHI IIZUKA & YOSHINOBU KANEMARU (7:43)

This was more of a prolonged angle than a match. 

Taichi jumped Goto and choked him with the mic stand before the bell rang. The CHAOS team briefly recovered, but Suzuki-gun quickly turned it into a brawl that spilled all over the arena. Back in the ring, Suzuki-gun worked over Gedo. Taichi grabbed Goto’s title belt and teased using it as a weapon, but tossed it on the floor instead. 

They removed Iizuka’s muzzle, and he bit everyone. He used a rope from his tights to choke Gedo, but Gedo got hold of the rope, and used it on Iizuka. Goto and Taichi got tags. Goto ran wild on Taichi, hitting a Saito suplex. He went for an ushigoroshi, but Taichi escaped, and hit a step-up enziguri, leading to a double down. Goto was bleeding from the forehead. 

Suzuki-gun worked over Goto. Taichi did the pants spot. Goto made his own comeback, and hit an ushigoroshi on Kanemaru. He made a cover, but Taichi broke up the pin with the mic stand. He tossed the referee to the floor, and continued attacking Goto for the DQ. 

Taichi hit a last ride and got a visual pinfall on Goto after the bell, and posed with the NEVER title. 

TETSUYA NAITO, SANADA, EVIL & BUSHI DEFEATED MINORU SUZUKI, ZACK SABRE JR., TAKA MICHINOKU & EL DESPERADO (12:12)

This was a fine little brawl, but the match was secondary to the angle that set up Naito and Suzuki’s match on Monday. 

Suzuki-gun jumped LIJ before the bell, but LIJ survived the attack, and took control of the match. Naito sent Suzuki chest-first into the security fence. In the ring, Naito and BUSHI worked over Desperado. BUSHI hit a middle rope dropkick. 

Suzuki cut BUSHI off with a kick from the apron, and grabbed Naito. They brawled to the entrance way, and Suzuki hit a running penalty kick on Naito on the ramp. Suzuki used a chair on Naito, then sat on the chair and posed. 

Back inside, TAKA and Sabre worked over BUSHI. Naito ran in for the save, but Suzuki got a hold of him. He teased using the Gotch on Naito on the apron, but after a reversal, Suzuki used a hangman’s choke, and Naito dropped to the floor. 

BUSHI tagged EVIL, and EVIL ran wild on Sabre and Desperado. Sabre came back and hit a pk, then used a wristlock on EVIL. EVIL recovered and hit a corner lariat, but Sabre applied an octopus allowing his team to go four-on-one on EVIL. 

TAKA got a nearfall, then applied an STF, but Naito broke it up. Suzuki jumped in and used a rear naked on Naito, and they spilled to the floor. The other LIJ members went three-on-two against TAKA and Desperado. BUSHI hit a codebreaker and a suicide dive, taking out Sabre and Desperado. 

EVIL and SANADA hit the magic killer on TAKA for the pin, but Suzuki continued to attack Naito on the floor.

The Young Lions were finally able to wrestle Suzuki away, but Naito was out on the floor. They brought out a back board, but Naito refused the stretcher job, and stumbled off with BUSHI’s help. 

TOMOAKI HONMA, TOGI MAKABE & HIROSHI TANAHASHI DEFEATED KAZUCHIKA OKADA, SWITCHBLADE JAY WHITE & YOSHI-HASHI (12:15)

Again, this was a match where the focus was more on furthering storylines than having a blow away bout. 

Okada and Tanahashi wanted to start off against each other, but White tagged himself in. Tana hit a second rope crossbody, then tagged Honma. Honma hit some chops and a slam on White, but missed a kokeshi, allowing White to take over. Okada asked for a tag, but White tagged YOSHI-HASHI, as they continue to tease dissension in CHAOS. 

YH hit some chops, then tagged Okada. Okada hit a slingshot senton, then tagged White,who blistered Honma with chops. Honma hit a lunging headbutt, and tagged Makabe. Makabe hit a corner lariat, but White slid out of the corner and tagged Okada. 

Okada took Makabe’s ten punches in the corner, and Makabe hit a lariat for a nearfall. Okada recovered and hit a back elbow and a DDT for a nearfall. He went for a tombstone, but Makabe escaped and hit a lariat, before tagging Tana. 

Tana hit twist and shout and a slingblade for a two count. Tana went up top for a high fly flow, but Okada dropkicked him. Tana hit the ropes, but ran right into another dropkick. YH tagged in and hit a headhunter for two. White tried to get him to use a chair, but he refused. 

Tana made a comeback, and Honma hit a kokeshi on YH. Tana went up top, but White shoved him off. Okada went for a kick on Tana, but Tana ducked, and Okada accidentally kicked YH. Tana rolled up YH for the pin. 

YH got mad at Okada after the match, and left on his own, leaving White and Okada to argue in the ring. 

KENNY OMEGA DEFEATED TOMOHIRO ISHII TO RETAIN THE IWGP HEAVYWEIGHT CHAMPIONSHIP (30:56)

A great match. This was not worked at the level or the pace of their G1 match, probably because they went about ten minutes longer. The last ten minutes were crazy, though, and this was an excellent world title match main event. 

They started off with an intense staredown, followed by a lockup. Omega hit a pair of shoulder tackles, but Ishii didn’t move. Omega raked the eyes and went for a third, but Ishii hit one of his own, dropping Omega. Ishii blocked a v-trigger, and escaped a low dropkick, and Omega sold frustration. 

They traded palm strikes to the chest, and Omega planted Ishii with a DDT. Omega hit a neckbreaker, got a nearfall, then worked a chinlock. Omega’s focus was clearly on targeting Ishii’s neck. Omega hit the ropes, but Ishii hit him with a powerslam. 

Omega went for you can’t escape, but Ishii rolled out of the way of the moonsault attempt. Omega hit a snap rana, and Ishii rolled to the floor. Omega hit a beautiful terminator dive. Back inside, he hit a kotaro krusher. Omega hit a big boot, but Ishii popped up and sent Omega to the floor with a clothesline over the top. 

They brawled on the floor, all around ringside. Omega cleared off an announce table, but Ishii hit a snap vertical suplex. Omega recovered and placed Ishii on the table, behind the security fence. Omega went back to the ring, and hit a springboard foot stomp from the top rope, over the fence, through the table. Ishii beat the count back inside at 18. 

Omega hit a neckbreaker over the knee, but Ishii side-stepped a v-trigger, and hit a Saito suplex. Ishii hit a series of chops to the throat in the corner, then hit Omega with a pounce. Ishii hit a powerbomb and made a jackknife cover, but Omega kicked out. 

Ishii missed with a sliding lariat, and Omega went to the top rope. Ishii initially cut him off, but then ate a series of kicks. Ishii hit a headbutt, then a superplex, picking up a two count. Omega side-stepped a lariat, and they traded germans. 

Omega stood up out of another german, and hit a v-trigger. Omega hit a series of forearms, then a snap dragon suplex. He hit a v-trigger, then a brainbuster for a two count. Omega hit a pair of v-triggers. He went for a third, and after Ishii first collapsed, he hit it. Omega hit a fourth to the back, and put Ishii on the top rope. 

Ishii headbutted out of a top rope dragon attempt, then a top rope jay driller attempt, but Omega hit another v-trigger. Ishii countered with a reverse rana off the top. Ishii hit a headbutt to the chest, and made a belt motion around his waist.

Ishii hit a v-trigger, then a lariat, and picked up a nearfall. Ishii teased a brainbuster, but Omega escaped and hit a lariat. Omega hit a standing reverse rana, and they did a double down. 

They exchanged slaps and short forearms. Omega hit a snap dragon, and a v-trigger. He covered, but Ishii kicked out at two. Omega teased a one-winged angel, but instead went with a german. Omega hit a v-trigger, but Ishii hit a lariat out of nowhere. He followed with a sliding lariat for a two count. 

Omega hit a v-trigger, but Ishii no-sold and hit a pair of lariats. Omega hit a tombstone, and picked up a nearfall. Omega pulled down his knee pad and hit a v-trigger, spilling over the top to the floor. He jumped back inside and hit another, but only got a one count. 

Omega hit another v-trigger, then hit a jay driller for a two count. He hit another v-trigger in the ropes, then hit the one-winged angel for the pin. 

NJPW Destruction in Hiroshima results: Tanahashi vs. Zack Sabre Jr.

Posted on by Bryan Rose

The second Destruction show took place earlier tonight in Hiroshima. After the last show failed to impress, this one doesn’t need to do a lot to beat it. Three titles are up for grab tonight, with Hiroshi Tanahashi headlining against Zack Sabre Jr. for the Intercontinental title. Here are the results:

Kevin Kelly is in Hiroshima for tonight’s English broadcast. Don Callis doesn’t seem to be around; Kelly said he was back in Canada with Kenny Omega.

Hirooki Goto, YOSHI-HASHI & Jado defeated Hiroyoshi Tenzan, Jushin Thunder Liger & Tiger Mask 

Good, basic bout that picked up a bit toward the end. YOSHI-HASHI and Tiger Mask had a pretty fun exchange, Tiger Mask even managed to land the Tiger Driver for a near fall. YOSHI-HASHI followed with the butterfly lock for the submission win.

Juice Robinson & David Finlay defeated Bad Luck Fale & Leo Tonga

This was fine, but nothing special. Still pretty obvious that Tonga is green but at least is protected well in what he can and can’t do. Both Robinson and Finlay escaped from a double chokeslam attempt by Tonga. Finlay landed the stunner and Robinson got the pin with the pulp friction.

Roppongi Vice defeated Yujiro Takahashi & Chase Owens

This was also solid, but not much either. For this being their final match, the crowd wasn’t very into it. Heels got the advantage early, but were cut off. Baretta pinned Owens after a strong zero/dropkick combination. 

Yujiro took the mic after the match and asked Baretta to rejoin the junior heavyweight division. But he also provided him with another alternative: face him in a singles match. Baretta seemed to accept, meaning they’ll face one another somewhere down the line.

Kota Ibushi, Michael Elgin & Togi Makabe defeated Minoru Suzuki, Takashi Iizuka & Taka Michinoku

Suzuki and Ibushi brawled early. Both he and Makabe managed to take on Suzuki. Iizuka choked Ibushi as Suzuki-gun regained offense. Iizuka choked Ibushi with a rope then went for the iron fingers but Elgin laid him out. Ibushi came back, hit a standing moonsault then scored the victory with the kamigoye. 

IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Champions Ricochet & Ryusuke Taguchi defeated Taichi & Yoshinobu Kanemaru to retain their titles

This was a fantastic match, easily the best match on this tour so far. Ricochet continually shines as a fantastic athlete and Taguchi has really found his niche and knows what his role is in these kind of big matches. Taichi and Kanemaru were fine for the most part as well, though their offense early was the usual Suzuki-gun fare. 

Heels worked on Taguchi early after a double team effort by he and Ricochet failed, and he ended up being cornered by both heels. He eventually got the hot tag to Ricochet, who made a great comeback. 

Using his whiskey, Kanemaru took out Ricochet as Taichi rolled up Ricochet with the Gedo clutch for a near fall. Kanemaru worked on Taguchi, hitting the deep impact DDT, but Taguchi kicked out, I think a first since Kanemaru came to New Japan. Taguchi countered with an ankle lock.

Taichi came in and used his microphone stand to break it up. He made Taguchi drink the whiskey. They hit double superkicks, then lay out Taguchi with a powerbomb/moonsault combination…but he still kicked out! They take him to the top rope, but Taguchi comes back and hits a hip attack on Taichi, then Ricochet comes back and lays out Kanemaru with a super rana.

Ricochet took out Taichi with a super suicide dive onto the ramp as Taguchi laid in the ankle lock. Kanemaru tried to get to the ropes, but Ricochet hit a springboard 450 splash, then took out Taichi with another dive. Kanemaru submitted not too long after.

Rocky Romero (who was doing commentary) came into the ring after the match. Tonight, the next generation of Roppongi Vice is born. Taguchi is not the only coach in the game. He is bringing in a team bigger and faster than them. Roppongi 3K are coming for them. 

Ricochet says he doesn’t know who Roppongi 3K are, but bring them on because at the end of the day, Taguchi Japan will be IWGP Jr. tag team champions…forever. 

I don’t know who Roppongi 3K are either, but if I had to guess we will probably be seeing them at the Super Junior Tag tournament that is usually held in October. Sho and Yo, maybe?

IWGP Tag Team Champions War Machine defeated Killer Elite Squad and Guerillas of Destiny to retain their titles

This was good, probably a bit better than their match at the first Destruction card. If you like a match with a bunch of moves, this is your match.

Lots of brawling in and around the ring to start. Archer and Smith dominated, working over Hanson. Tama Tonga then came in and continued to work on him. Hanson hit a springboard elbow on Tonga and made a tag to Rowe. 

Guerillas of Destiny took over and worked over Rowe, even hitting the Guerrilla Warfare. Tonga went to cover, but Smith was the legal man so the referee wouldn’t count. Everyone came in to attack, and when the dust settled it was KES trying to lay out Rowe, but the Guerillas interfered. Archer took them out with a dive as War Machine back back and laid out Smith with the Fallout for the win.

Tetsuya Naito, EVIL, Hiromu Takahashi & BUSHI defeated Kazuchika Okada, Tomohiro Ishii, Will Ospreay & Gedo

Ospreay and Takahashi started things off and looked great. Naito and Ishii worked well against one another as well. We then got Okada and EVIL. Okada went for the rainmaker but EVIL escaped. He went for the STO but Okada countered with the dropkick. 

BUSHI and Gedo came in next, then everyone else followed. EVIL did end up laying out Okada with the STO as BUSHI laid out Gedo with the MX for the win. Pretty good match overall.

Naito took out Ishii on the ramp after the match, hitting a running dropkick on his bad leg. That’ll probably be the story of their match next month. EVIL followed suit, laying out Okada on top of some chairs with the Darkness Falls. Naito put Ishii in a figure four, then got up and celebrated with the rest of LIJ.

IWGP Junior Heavyweight Champion KUSHIDA defeated El Desperado to retain his title

This was good, not great. Desperado is pretty good but this didn’t live up to other Junior heavyweight titles. Not bad at all, just a notch below other title matches this year. Cool finish, though.

After some mat wrestling, Desperado gained the advantage and took out his guitar to use, since that is his new gimmick now. He also had a whip and continually struck KUSHIDA with it. The ref somehow did not notice this.

The assault continued as Desperado laid in the stretch muffler, then modified it by grabbing KUSHIDA’s arm. KUSHIDA rallied back and went for the Back to the Future but pushed him into the referee, took off his mask, and threw it at KUSHIDA. The referee threatened to end the match, but didn’t, instead handing Desperado’s mask back to him. In all the confusion, Desperado low blowed KUSHIDA and went for a cover, but another kickout.

Desperado hit the guitarra de angel but KUSHIDA kicked out, then blocked Desperado, rolls through and goes for Back to the Future but Desperado blocked it. KUSHIDA runs into a chair Desperado had earlier set up in the match. He went one of this moves off the top rope, but KUSHIDA launches to the floor with the hoverboard lock. Desperado hung in until KUSHIDA grabbed him, lifted him up and dropped him with the Back to the Future for the win.

Will Ospreay came out after the match. He say that he  is being defined as a man who can’t beat KUSHIDA. He wants to be defined up as someone who gets right back up after being beaten. He wants to change the junior heavyweight division and New Japan Pro Wrestling. Ospreay challenges KUSHIDA at King of Pro Wrestling for the title. 

But hold on! Hiromu Takahashi comes in…then promptly gets knocked right out with a punch by Will Ospreay. Oops. The other two leave as Takahashi throws a fit in the ring. 

IWGP Intercontinental Champion Hiroshi Tanahashi defeated Zack Sabre Jr. to retain his title

This was awesome. Sabre is so excellent at his style and that made this title match feel different than the others we’ve seen on other big cards. New Japan has been embracing a fast paced, all out type of match that can be pretty tremendous, but also can easily fall into patterns that are easy to figure out. This wasn’t the case here — Sabre made Tanahashi work his style for the bulk of this match, and made it something completely unique, different and cool. 

Sabre spent the early part of the match maintaining control of Tanahashi’s arms, working them over and even using them to chokes Tanahashi. He eventually caught him by stepping over his arms and sending him out of the ring, flustered.

Sabre responds by taking down Tanahashi and working on his injured bicep, using his hand as a plaything as he twisted it around. Locking in the injured arm with his feet, he uses his hands to torque and pull on his legs. 

Tanahashi managed to get up and start planting Sabre with elbows. He went for a elbow drop, but Sabre caught him with a arm scissors. Tanahashi escaped and backed Sabre to a corner but Sabre attacked him with kicks to the bicep.

After exchanging some near falls, along with some great back and forth, Sabre struck Tanahashi with another kick to the bicep, then struck it with some palm strikes. Sabre locked him in with a gogoplata, but Tanahashi shifted his feet and managed to transition into the cloverleaf. Sabre countered by grabbing his feet until Tanahashi made it to the ropes.

Tanahashi tried for the slingblade, but Sabre caught him with the octopus hold. Tanahashi managed to escape as Ospreay made it to the outside. Tanahashi went to the top rope and hit the high fly flow, then followed with another.

He went for a third, but Minoru Suzuki came in pushed him out of the ring. He collided into the referee (who was distracted by Taka Michinoku), then went for a sleeper on Tanahashi. He released him as Sabre hit a penalty kick, then covered Tanahashi….but he kicked out. Elgin then came in and beat up Suzuki, sending him to the back.

Sabre gained the advantage after all the hubbub and started to pick apart Tanahashi’s bandages, but Tanahashi escaped. Sabre continued with a guillotine, but Tanahashi escaped that and hit three twist and shouts, then finally hit the slingblade. He then followed with the high fly flow and scored the win.

After the match, Tanahashi called out another person who beat him during the G1…Kota Ibushi. He came to the ring as the two had a staredown, then nodded and after hearing what Tanahashi had to say, left. Kawato handed him his infamous air guitar, then played to the crowd as the show ended.

Final thoughts —

After a disappointing first show, the second Destruction show turned out to be pretty great, exceeding it pretty much in every way. The first few matches were just kind of there, as was the crowd, but things picked up after the Junior tag team title matches and the rest of the card delivered, including the key title matches and the main event.

It also did a fantastic job in setting up key matches for King of Pro Wrestling, which sounds like a stacked card all things considering. Hopefully the final card will deliver just as much as this one did.

NJPW Destruction in Hiroshima results: Kenny Omega defends his title shot

Posted on by Bryan Rose

Thursday morning marked the second big NJPW show this month, Destruction in Hiroshima. It’s a bit more in-depth than the show in Kobe, with YOSHI-HASHI seeking to take Kenny Omega’s IWGP title shot, Adam Cole defending the ROH World Championship against Will Ospreay, Kazuchika Okada facing Bad Luck Fale in a G1 rematch, and The Briscoes defending their IWGP heavyweight tag titles against The Young Bucks.

One of the announcers said that Shibata is off the rest of the tour due to injuries. Also, due to travel delays, Matt Sydal is not on this card either.

Ricochet, Hiroyoshi Tenzan and Satoshi Kojima defeated Yoshitatsu, Captain New Japan and Togi Makabe

Okay opener. Mostly just a continuation of the story between Captain New Japan and Yoshitatsu where CNJ constantly loses and Yoshitatsu is growing tired of it. Yoshitatsu now has more reason to be upset as CNJ again cost his team the match, this time eating a lariat from Kojima.

reDragon, David Finlay and Ryusuke Taguchi defeated Tiger Mask, Tomoaki Honma, Yuji Nagata & Manabu Nakanishi

For some reason Nagata’s music is dubbed again even though as recently as last week it wasn’t. Nakanishi totally missed a plancha on O’Reilly that looked embarrassing, he landed on the floor hard. Beyond that spot, perfectly okay tag match ending when reDragon pinned Tiger Mask after Chasing the Dragon.

Guerillas of Destiny defeated Roppongi Vice

Started off with Baretta doing a huge dive, wiping out both Tonga and Loa. It’s easy to see why doing the mixed tag divisions would make a whole lot of sense as even though the Guerillas of Destiny are bigger it’s not by much.

The two teams worked well with one another, though by far RPG Vice came off as more over in general. Tonga went for a gun stun at one point but Romero blocked it with a roll-up. Tonga got a second one and pinned him with the Guerilla Warfare (assisted double arm DDT).

Hirooki Goto & Tomohiro Ishii defeated Chase Owens & Yujiro Takahashi

Solid match. Yujiro brought out two women in bunny masks whose outfits left very, very little to the imagination. Owens actually hit the package piledriver on Goto for a near fall. Ishii helped him get things back together, with Goto hitting the ushigoroshi and Ishii hitting the sliding D lariat. Goto followed with the GTR and pinned Owens for the win.

Juice Robinson, Hiroshi Tanahashi, KUSHIDA & Michael Elgin defeated BUSHI, EVIL, SANADA & Tetsuya Naito

Pretty good match towards the end. No sign of the mysterious Ingobernable that’s been lurking about LIJ matches as of late. They took out Elgin in an angle early on in the match by having LIJ jump him, laying him out on the stage, and hitting him with a steel chair on the leg they’ve been targeting during this entire tour. Staff took him to the back as the match continued.

After a while, Elgin came back and made a hot tag, beating up Naito. This gained momentum as time went on, with a great exchange between EVIL and Elgin that kept going until Elgin got the win with the sit-out powerbomb.

Naito tried to jump Elgin immediately after the bell rang but he stood his ground, powerbombing Naito. KUSHIDA and BUSHI went at it as well, with KUSHIDA making it very clear that he wants another shot at the title down the line.

The Briscoes defeated The Young Bucks to retain the IWGP Heavyweight Tag Team Championship

Good, solid match. Not out of this world, but a lot better than other recent heavyweight tag team title bouts. Briscoes were wearing bizarre trunks that I guess kind of looked like camouflage grass or something. It was really weird, but kind of fit them at the same time.

It was mostly a good back and forth match to start — Bucks would get some momentum, but Briscoes would cut them off, and so on. Matt floated over a Doomsday Device and the Bucks hit some superkicks. Briscoes came back following a failed Meltzer Driver attempt, with Jay laying out Matt with the Jay Driller. Briscoes laid out Matt with a space mountain/cutter combo from the top rope but he still kicked out. Briscoes then hit the Doomsday Device and got the pin.

Guerrillas of Destiny came out and laid out the Briscoes with the belts after the match. Tonga cut a promo saying this belongs to GoD. This is our territory. Japan belongs to Bullet Club, and GoD wants a rematch. This isn’t a feud I’d continue.

Adam Cole defeated Will Ospreay to retain the ROH World Championship

This was good, but the crowd was pretty much dead for it. Probably would have come off as a great match if they were into it.

Nice back and forth to start. Ospreay hit the big Sasuke Special to the floor. Cole tried to gain momentum but Ospreay cut him off and hit a standing corkscrew. Cole hit a backbreaker to get back in the match. Ospreay countered a suplex into a stunner in a pretty cool transition spot. Ospreay hit the corkscrew punch and tried the cutter but Cole countered.

Big back and forth which resulted in Cole hitting a running knee. Cole charged to the corner but Ospreay superkicked him. Ospreay went to springboard again but Cole countered, hit a Canadian Destroyer from the middle rope, then pinned Ospreay with the Last Shot (a suplex into the knee) for the win.

Kazuchika Okada defeated Bad Luck Fale

Good match. Fale is really limited, but Okada has had good to great matches with Fale before and this one was no different. They played their roles perfectly, with Fale being the big monster who was super tough to beat while Okada fought against the odds to win.

Okada tried to bodyslam Fale early on the outside but Fale countered and bodyslammed him instead. They brawled on the outside, with Fale choking Okada with his foot on the guardrail. Yujiro then appeared and and started to freely interfere.

Fale gained control of the match while Okada started favoring his arm. He hit a back body drop. Okada tried to pick up Fale, but couldn’t until Fale missed a charge and recoiled back to Okada. Fale made a comeback and tried for the Bad Luck Fall but Okada escaped and hit the dropkick.

Okada tried for the Rainmaker, but Fale came back with the lariat and the Grenade but Okada kicked out right at 2.9. Fale went for something on the top rope but Okada slammed him back to the floor. Yujiro interfered but Okada cut him off and tried for the the Rainmaker, but it didn’t connect all the way.

Fale grabbed him for a Grenade but Okada countered and tried another lariat, but it didn’t connect with the giant Fale. Okada escaped the Bad Luck Fall again and hit a dropkick. The tombstone followed, then the Rainmaker, and that finally clinched it for Okada.

Kenny Omega defeated YOSHI-HASHI to retain his spot in the WrestleKingdom 11 IWGP title match

Omega and YH made it out to the floor early where Omega took out the mats. He teased piledriving YH on the exposed floor but YH countered with a back body drop. This is where the Young Bucks came in and interfered, spraying hairspray in YH’s eyes. YH wound up on the barricade where Omega landed a moonsault, sending them both into the audience.

Omega worked him over until YH managed to cut him off with a neckbreaker, but Omega came back and tried to use a trash can. Of course, The Young Bucks conveniently distracted the ref and shoved him to the floor, and assisted Omega in spike piledriving YH through the trash can.

With YH down, Omega tried to go for the One Winged Angel but YH countered with a DDT. He started to make a comeback, hitting the double knees on a seated Omega for a near fall. He locked in the butterfly lock, but Omega escaped. Omega missed a moonsault that allowed YH to hit a tombstone and a knee strike to the head for another near fall.

YH tried for the swanton bomb but Omega got the knees up. Omega hit a German suplex but YH immediately got up as the crowd popped. Some hard slaps were exchanged as the crowd got into it. Omega walked right into a YH lariat. YH went to the top rope but Omega met him there. YH countered with a powerbomb into a cover but didn’t get the win.

YH hit the swanton but Omega still kicked out. They exchanged some really good back and forth until Omega caught him in the reverse rana. Omega hit the knee to the temple, then hit the One Winged Angel for the win

Hirooki Goto came out and challenged Omega after the match. There’s intrigue to that, since an Okada/Goto main event would be interesting, but Goto lost clean in the finals. Why would Omega accept the challenge? What would he have to prove?

Omega cut a promo after the match, saying that he admires YH’s heart but he still did the J-double-oh-B. He called Goto “Goto Hell.” He wants to stand here and challenge him when he beat him at the G1? He asked the fans if they wanted the match. They cheered, which caused him to say “Goto Hell” again. He said he’d think about it.

Final Thoughts:

This was better than the Tokyo show in terms of name value and match quality. Nothing here was absolute must see, though the main event was the best match out of either show so far.

Some booking directions going later into the Fall seem pretty flat, in all honesty. There’s no reason for Goto to challenge Omega and just when you thought the tag titles were going in another direction, everything returns to normal immediately. Kind of lame, but it might all make sense in the end given Gedo’s booking.