🦁 NJPW - Destruction 2023

[Convoy]

Coming out of the G1 Climax and an interesting weekend in Philadelphia, New Japan presents the Destruction tour. There will be title matches and special singles bouts, all with Wrestle Kingdom implications. Plus, we'll see Callum Newman debut as United Empire's young lion prospect and Yuji Nagata's annual Blue Justice event, kicking off a special "Best of 7" series between Hontai and Strong Style. Similar to the Dontaku thread from earlier this year, I'll spotlight all the big matches in various dates to be shown on NJPWWORLD.

Friday, September 8th - Tokyo/Korakuen Hall - Road to Destruction

SPOILER: Click to show

SANADA & Taichi vs. EVIL & SHO


NJPW WORLD TV CHAMPIONSHIP: Zack Sabre Jr. (c) vs. Boltin Oleg

Saturday, September 9th - Tokyo/Korakuen Hall - Road to Destruction

SPOILER: Click to show

ELIMINATION MATCH: Los Ingobernables de Japon vs. United Empire


NEVER OPENWEIGHT 6-MAN TAG TEAM CHAMPIONSHIP: Kazuchika Okada, Hiroshi Tanahashi & Tomohiro Ishii vs. Hiroyoshi Tenzan, Togi Makabe & Tiger Mask

Sunday, September 10th - Chiba/Togane Arena - Road to Destruction + Yuji Nagata produce Blue Justice XIII

SPOILER: Click to show

BEST OF 7 SERIES MATCH 1: Yuji Nagata, Shota Umino & Master Wato vs. Strong Style (Minoru Suzuki, Ren Narita & El Desperado)

Sunday, September 17th - Fukuoka/Fukuoka Island City Forum - Road to Destruction

SPOILER: Click to show

BEST OF 7 SERIES MATCH 2: Yuji Nagata, Shota Umino & Master Wato vs. Strong Style (Minoru Suzuki, Ren Narita & El Desperado)

Sunday, September 24th - Hyogo/Kobe World Hall - Destruction in Kobe

SPOILER: Click to show

IWGP US (UK) HEAVYWEIGHT CHAMPIONSHIP: Will Ospreay (c) vs. Yota Tsuji


SPECIAL SINGLES MATCH: Tetsuya Naito vs. Jeff Cobb


SPECIAL SINGLES MATCH: Shingo Takagi vs. Great-O-Khan


IWGP TAG TEAM CHAMPIONSHIP: Bishamon (Hirooki Goto & YOSHI-HASHI) vs. TMDK (Mikey Nicholls & Shane Haste)


KOPW 2023 PROVISIONAL MATCH: Taichi (pc) vs. SHO


Kazuchika Okada & Tomohiro Ishii vs. Zack Sabre Jr. & Bad Dude Tito


Lio Rush & YOH vs. Hiromu Takahashi & BUSHI


Guerrillas of Destiny vs. Bullet Club


Just 5 Guys vs. House of Torture


Tiger Mask & Kevin Knight vs. Bullet Club War Dogs (Clark Connors & Drilla Moloney)

Saturday, September 30th - Tokyo/Korakuen Hall - Road to Destruction

SPOILER: Click to show

Kazuchika Okada & Lio Rush vs. Tetsuya Naito & Hiromu Takahashi


BEST OF 7 SERIES MATCH 4: Yuji Nagata, Shota Umino & Master Wato vs. Strong Style (Minoru Suzuki, Ren Narita & El Desperado)

Sunday, October 1st - Tokyo/Korakuen Hall - Road to Destruction

SPOILER: Click to show

ELIMINATION MATCH: Guerrillas of Destiny & Intergalactic Jet Setters vs. Bullet Club


Kazuchika Okada, Lio Rush & YOH vs. Tetsuya Naito, Hiromu Takahashi & BUSHI


BEST OF 7 SERIES MATCH 5: Yuji Nagata, Shota Umino & Master Wato vs. Strong Style (Minoru Suzuki, Ren Narita & El Desperado)

Monday, October 9th - Tokyo/Ryogoku Kokugikan - Destruction in Ryogoku

SPOILER: Click to show

IWGP WORLD HEAVYWEIGHT CHAMPIONSHIP: SANADA (c) vs. EVIL


IWGP Jr. HEAVYWEIGHT CHAMPIONSHIP: Hiromu Takahashi (c) vs. Lio Rush vs. Mike Bailey


NEVER OPENWEIGHT CHAMPIONSHIP: David Finlay (c) vs. Tama Tonga


STRONG OPENWEIGHT TAG TEAM CHAMPIONSHIP: Bullet Club War Dogs (Alex Coughlin & Gabe Kidd) vs. Guerrillas of Destiny (Hikuleo & El Phantasmo)


BEST OF 7 SERIES FINAL: Yuji Nagata, Shota Umino & Master Wato vs. Strong Style (Minoru Suzuki, Ren Narita & El Desperado)


SPECIAL SINGLES MATCH: Tanga Loa vs. Chase Owens


IWGP Jr. HEAVYWEIGHT TAG TEAM CHAMPIONSHIP: Bullet Club War Dogs (Clark Connors & Drilla Moloney) vs. Intergalactic Jet Setters (KUSHIDA & Kevin Knight)

[chrom]

Sabre is approaching double digits for title defenses.

[chrom]

Hiromu is back in Mexico this week wrestling in CMLL

[Convoy]

They will actually separate WTL and SJTL this year, returning the latter to the Power Struggle tour. It's only seven dates and then the big event itself, so they could be reverting to eight teams as well. Depending on how they stack it, this could be a blast.

[chrom]

Sounds like it'll be elimination instead of round robin like they had been doing.

[chrom]

Hiromu is facing Mistico this Sunday

[Starshine]

Is there any particular reason why they're doing the same Nagata/Umino/Wato v. Suzuki/Narita/Desperado match 5 times?

[chrom]

Aug 23, 2023 19:13:12 GMT -5 Starshine said:

Is there any particular reason why they're doing the same Nagata/Umino/Wato v. Suzuki/Narita/Desperado match 5 times?

It's a grudge feud. Suzuki and Nagata have been rivals for years, Umino and Narita are going to be the next generation of Main Eventers and Desperado/Wato been feuding since Wato returned.

Winning trio gets a title shot for The Never Trios.

[chrom]

Kojima is taking part in All Japan's Royal Road Tournament. He's defeated Rei Saito and Takuya Nomura

[Mozenrath]

Aug 23, 2023 19:23:02 GMT -5 chrom said:

Aug 23, 2023 19:13:12 GMT -5 Starshine said:

Is there any particular reason why they're doing the same Nagata/Umino/Wato v. Suzuki/Narita/Desperado match 5 times?

It's a grudge feud. Suzuki and Nagata have been rivals for years, Umino and Narita are going to be the next generation of Main Eventers and Desperado/Wato been feuding since Wato returned.

Winning trio gets a title shot for The Never Trios.

Makes sense, though I guess I usually think of DOUKI as being Wato's rival. Of course, DOUKI and Despy are buddies, probably even still now post-Suzuki Gun ending.

[chrom]

New Japan has paid tribute to Terry Funk.

[chrom]

Sabre defends The TV Title against Christopher Daniels tonight on ROH

[chrom]

President Ohbari is wanting to have more women's matches at New Japan shows.

[chrom]

Sabre retained The TV Title

[ace]

That Jr title threeway will be great but I wish they’d have done two singles defenses. Give them a main event slot on lesser shows and both matches would tear the house down.  Of course scheduling isn’t exactly easy .

[chrom]

Kushida will make his MLW debut facing Tony Deppen at Fury Road

[chrom]

Hiromu challenges Mistico for The NWA Middleweight Championship on Sunday.

[chrom]

Callum Newman the new UE member is 25 years old and been wrestling since he was 20.

[chrom]

Kenta retained the Defy Title today.

[chrom]

Shibata and El Phantasmo teamed at RevPro's 11th anniversary show today to defeat David Finlay and Gabe Kidd.

Ospreay defeated Shingo Takagi in the Main Event as well.