Previously on NJPW: oh my gosh there were five whole Best/Worsts of the G1 and that was only like the first half of the tournament
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And now, the best and worst of Destruction in Hiroshima (according to someone I asked who works for New Japan, not an offensive name to the Japanese audience) from September 15, 2018, with looks back at the Road to Destruction and some stuff we didn’t cover from G1 Climax 28.
Best: Ace Is Back
Here’s the biggest thing I didn’t cover (beyond the results post) from the G1: Hiroshi Tanahashi freaking won it!
Tanahashi started the tournament with the kayfabe question of whether his body would hold up, with his 41 years of age and bad knee, hanging over his head. By the time he requested Okada as his first challenger for the Tokyo Dome main event contract, the story question had become if he could make a “complete comeback.” And the dude is pulling it off! He wrestled smarter rather than harder (but also pretty hard) during the G1, let the audience soak in his moments of both vulnerability and strength, and expertly put in that pure babyface crowd work after every victory too, transforming fans’ Ace towels into relics as he exited every arena. I know it’s not a hot take to say Hiroshi Tanahashi is great pro wrestler, but… he is!
The G1 Climax 28 final didn’t have a rivalry or storyline involved; it was two of this company’s white-hot, longtime super-babyfaces, Tanahashi and Kota Ibushi, just working to beat each other. Each generated even more fan love by having the other half of their most beloved relationship in their corner, Kenny Omega for Ibushi, and Katsuyori Shibata for the Ace.
https://twitter.com/totaldivaseps/status/1028559349369790464?lang=en
So Tanahashi was clearly winning, because Shibata wouldn’t have flown all the way from Los Angeles to Tokyo and made everyone feel all the feelings to second the guy finishing second in the G1! Also, Tanahashi has his movie coming out! And Ibushi’s a freelancer!
Even though it was pretty clear what the outcome of this match would be, it was awesome. These dudes looked so skilled, so evenly matched, and like they were STRUGGLING so hard against each other. They both got in a ton of offense, and the more hits each took the harder it looked for them to hit the next big move, and it felt like they were doing it in order to WIN rather than to show off how athletic or Good At Wrestling they were.
After the win, Shibata carried Tanahashi around on his shoulders and they hugged and it was great. Ibushi wouldn’t hug the Ace or shake his hand and just left the ring looking devastated, looking like he was crying. Tanahashi also sounded very emotional as he declared, “I survived G1.” You could see the power of Tanahashi as a performer in that post-match speech to the audience, the way he can still pull off concluding with “I love you!” and have everyone in the arena cheer and be into it. Hunky Kid’s Movie Dad Tanahashi, with the 2018 he’s had, is far from the Super Cena-type he was a few years ago. I think this is the most invested I’ve ever been in him as a character.
The first guy who could block out what the Japanese commentary team refers to as the sun rising again, is, appropriately, the Rainmaker. Kenny’s the top champion and Naito’s neck-and-neck with Tanahashi in terms of popularity, but it’s still forever-rivals Kazuchika Okada and Hiroshi Tanahashi battling it out for the top spot in New Japan Pro Wrestling.
Okada was the last wrestler who could stop Tanahashi from winning the A Block, and ends up Tanahashi’s first choice, like ripping off a band aid that wants to short-arm lariat you to death, of obstacle on his long road to the Tokyo Dome. They drew again in the G1 in a match that was far from a shocker (Tanahashi hasn’t beaten Okada since 2015, it took Height Of His Powers Okada about 45 minutes to beat the Ace at Dontaku, and I feel like they kind of projected the time-limit draw ending (a problem with draw matches like the pacing of the falls in a lot of two out of three falls matches, I think)), but was a very skillful and fun to watch.
Okada very much continued to have a huge identity crisis for the entirety of the G1., though he got closest to his old self against Tanahashi. After their preview tag, he announced that Budukan had a No Balloons Allowed rule and asked “What am I without my ballons? What else is left?” and then left a LONG PAUSE because HE REALLY DIDN’T KNOW. After the draw he couldn’t even talk to the press. The state of not having the IWGP Heavyweight Championship he defended for over 700 days plus the possible future of a Wrestle Kingdom without Kazuchika Okada in an IWGP Heavyweight Championship match, unlike the past SIX, and without Kazuchika Okada in the main event, unlike all of those except for the one where he and Naito got fan-voted to semi-main, was too much for Kazuchika Okada to bear, and too much for him to achieve his goal of finishing the summer with a smile.
On the Destruction tour, Okada has another chance to get his career (and mental/emotional health, which we now know is entirely dependent on the state of his career) back on track. This tour is usually New Japan’s weakest of the year with the seeming inevitability of the champ and G1 winner retaining until the Tokyo Dome, plus bigger and better matchups being saved for King of Pro Wrestling and Power Struggle later in the fall. The 2018 Destruction tour didn’t break this mold, but it did have its moments, and a lot of those were connected to the Okada-Tanahashi storyline. These two and their tag partners brought it to every single preview match like pros and generated great heat when in the ring together.
One of the most fun, weird wrinkles in this rivalry and also the Chaos Civil War was the truly shocking level of involvement of Yoshi-Hashi. After Tanahashi unsurprisingly beat the Head Hunter in the G1, he asked if he’s really been giving his all since he came back from excursion (WRESTLE KINGDOM 6!!!) and if not, he should let Tanahashi teach him (along with Page in his new fantasy babyface stable that I would love to see actually really happen.)
Yoshi-Hashi went on to close his struggle-filled G1 by beating Hangman Page in a solid match and declaring “I have to reach higher than this… I have to find something new.” And then, despite this, the Hash did not instantly jump into Tana’s arms when he suggested Okada put him on the line against the briefcase! Yoshi-Hashi, go with this good and beautiful man who wants to save you from your sad life as Chaos pin-eater and embodiment of various anxiety disorders! Shinsuke isn’t coming back for you!
The other, much edgier, much wetter-hair-having wrinkle here has been New Japan’s top knife pervert. Jay White cheated throughout the G1, was terrible to his tag team partners almost to a fault, demanded a chair repeatedly backstage and then, when he got it, DID NOT SIT IN THE CHAIR. His most significant and exciting matches were at the beginning of the tournament and he was a contender to win A Block until the heroic Evil defeated him in a frequently rule-bending Goth GF Battle.
The show before the G1 Final, we got a rare Can They Coexist? tag match (besides Naito and Sanada earlier in the tournament and also the C Block guys, but they all have it together too much for that to really be a question) when White, Yoh, and Sho, aka Team Numb/Encore, took on Marty and the Bucks. Folks, it turned out they could not coexist! Jay got extremely upset when Yoh accidentally hit him and very intentionally did not break up the pin after the Cease and Desist to Sho and instead just LEFT THE ARENA LIKE A DUMB BABY.
Tensions within Chaos continued on the Destruction tour, and how the faction would evolve with White having beaten Okada and with Gedo no longer Okada’s manager. But at Destruction in Hiroshima it was not at all up in the air that Jay White is a huge tool, breaking up the extremely hot impending Tanahashi vs. Okada clash by tagging himself in, later tagging in Okada when he clearly wasn’t ready, and then getting SUPER MAD when Okada missed a kick to the Ace and hit Yoshi-Hashi, allowing Tanahashi to roll up his desired future ward for the win. White straight-up berated Okada in the ring as Yoshi-Hashi left, and said backstage that Okada shouldn’t be leader of Chaos anymore. So we leave Hiroshima with Chaos a pretty entertaining mess with several different plausible futures, and some additional, murkier stakes for the contract match in Kobe in addition to those already extremely high main ones.
Best: New Japan Next Generation
Oftentimes when an older, slightly faded star starts to shine brighter again in a wrestling company, it’s frustrating as a fan for a few reasons. It feels like it’s at the expense of the younger talent, catering to more casual fans rather than the most dedicated, and/or putting older wrestlers who can’t work as well as they used to in the highest profile positions on the card and causing shows to end with a whimper. To me, the Tanahashi arc this year does not feel like that because of the stuff I just talked about in the previous section and the fact that one of the subtly cool things about NJPW is their dedication to growing their own talent. And the results from the latest Young Lion progress report are looking good!
First, we have a new kid on the block in the form of Ayato Yoshida, who debuted on main roster NJPW programming in the opening six man tag at the G1 Final show. He’s from Taka Michinoku’s Kaientai Dojo and has been on the Lion’s Gate shows before. Yoshida is considered on the Young Lion level, but the costume rules don’t apply to him because he’s an independent contractor, according to the NJPW employee I asked about this. (These are the HOT SCOOPS for which I use my industry contacts!) He performs well in multi-man tag matches and in a singles match against Chase Owens on the second televised Road To.
Future ace Shota Umino and my sleeper fave YL Ren Narita worked a few tag matches on the G1 and kept that up on the Road To shows. They look ready to go on excursion ANY SECOND. (I feel like Umino’s going to go to RevPro to wrestle Oka – er, The Dominator Great O-Kharn – in his weird Mongolian vampire gimmick.)
Newer trainees Yuya Uemura and Yota Tsuji, who grew a beard and now looks less like a goon and more like a goon who was told he would look like a hunk if he grew a beard, continued their bizarrely intense rivalry in tag matches and with another singles draw. Their storyline continues to be weird/kind of hilarious to me, but if/when one of them beats the other I can tell I’m going to absolutely lose my mind.
New Japan’s relative creative freedom for performers also led to some recent dojo grads, the competitors in the imaginary C Block, raising their profiles during the G1. I liked David Finlay a lot more coming out of this tournament than going in, and I respect so much that he wrote himself this charming, fun undercard storyline that resulted in an exceptionally fired up opener at Budokan on the 12th. The thumb trophy rocks. Finlay forever.
His block rival, Toa Henare, is still in post-graduation limbo, but looks like he’ll be taking the next step in his career pretty soon, and it again looks like that step might be Bullet Club.
First, he gives Michael Elgin a BRIEF TONGAN DEATH GRIP (OF FORESHADOWING???) during the C Block final (which I’m 90% sure Elgin didn’t know was more than a regular opening tag match.) His character still seems like a stand up guy and is at his most sympathetic when cutting babyface promos… but his character also seems to be held back by being all heart and little brain in the ring and getting too fired up for his own good.
This definitely felt like an element of his under two minute ultra-squash loss at Budokan to his old mentor, Bad Luck Fale, who, in contrast, looked his most badass with that one-handed pin after the Bad Luck Fall. They faced off again at Destruction in Hiroshima, and though Henare was even more motivated and changed up his strategy, he got completely wrecked again, this time eating a Grenade for the loss. It seemed like this second squash actually may have broken Henare’s spirit because he, backstage, calls himself a loser over and over. I’m still not a fan of the idea of putting a guy who displays so much authentic-feeling heart in a DGAF heel faction, but I also feel like spending more time with/against the OGs could be good for him, especially in terms of evolving his persona.
Worst: Promos To The Void
AND SPEAKING OF the Bullet Club, a huge blow to the Destruction tour’s ability to compel was the lack of stakes for a lot of matches even including some of the wrestlers with upcoming title challenges or defenses. After Destruction in Hiroshima, we’re left with the truly grim prospect that, depending on the results of Fighting Spirit Unleashed, we could end up with the IWGP Heavyweight Champion, Intercontinental Champion, Junior Heavyweight Champion, Heavyweight Tag Team Champions, and United States Champion all unavailable for the Road to Power Struggle because they’re on a Rock ‘N’ Rager At Sea. It’s not like these people aren’t putting in good work when they’re in New Japan, but THEY’RE NEVER THERE and it’s been an increasingly glaring weakness in NJPW programming since, like, Dontaku.
The person whose momentum was most thoroughly killed by a part-timer was Juice Robinson. Juice came out of San Francisco intensely, viscerally loved by the American as well as the Japanese audience and having finally won a singles championship in NJPW. But his broken hand contributed to a string of G1 losses and long list of potential title challengers. By the end of the tournament, my money was on Zack Sabre Jr. for the first in line. They had a really engaging body horror-based match, after which the mean British hipster declared, “There’s no chance that I’m not the next IWGP United States Champion.” After beating Goto, ZSJ said, “I’ll win it in America, won’t that be jolly” and I had visions of the Zack as the greatest anti-American U.S. Champ (or at least challenger to) our world has ever seen.
Then we had Cody push to the front of the line after pinning Juice at Budokan via LENGTHY English-language promo that, in addition to being fully directed at self-proclaimed smarks who are mad at WWE but maybe like NXT and regard vaguely shoot-y references in wrestling as the sickest of burns, was not understood by the majority of the live audience so could not get the appropriate heel promo reactions.
An emotional Juice pretty much eviscerated Cody backstage after this, telling him “Don’t insult me in front of my people. These are not your people. You are never here. You haven’t been here the last four weeks with us 20 that have been going at it every single night for a month… You were doing a TV show.” But then, in a very contrived-feeling, but not entirely out of character development, he lets Cody cut to the front of the line anyway because he’s so mad and insulted and basically triggered by the reminder of his loss to wrestling royalty at WK 11.
Over the Destruction tour, Juice Robinson wrestled every single show either in the NEVER 6-man Championship feud or supporting Tanahashi and cut a version of this promo after every single show, working his butt off to cultivate momentum for this non-feud set to culminate on September 30. Cody took a vacation from wrestling work after All In.
On the other side of the Destruction trios championship feud were the Bullet Club OGs, the faction that was confirmed with the unsurprising addition of Taiji Ishimori to be more about following the group’s original philosophy than prioritizing BC originals and also their relatives. Where Juice’s momentum slammed on the breaks, the OGs (and the Heavyweight Tag Team division) stalled on this tour.
In August, while everyone else struggled mightily to climb the Mount Everest of pro wrestling, the Tongans milled around at the foothills and talked shit and tried to trip people up. Also, Tanga Loa went undefeated in tag matches and got real into often very sexual spoken word poetry, two things I did not expect to happen at all! Earlier in the G1 reviews I talked about how I respected this heel-heat-getting plan, especially with the degree to which some wrestling fans revere the G1 as the be-all end-all of clean finish, singles match wrestling, but holy carp even with that and my relatively high tolerance for shenanigans, similar interference every show got exhausting.
That being said, Tama Tonga, Tanga Loa, and Bad Luck Fale’s character work and promos were consistently strong and while very obnoxious to many people, were likable and, to some degree, aspirational to a lot of others. (They didn’t bring it up on screen, but these dudes sold a heck of a lot of t-shirts as they got booed out of arenas.) Having a great time hanging out with your friends, breaking the rules, and not giving a f*ck is an appealing attitude, especially to people who watch wrestling more for escapism than the search of highest possible match quality. You could tell NJPW was aware of this by the way they filmed the Tongans getting ejected from the building. (The timing of this was also a really nice way to give the Omega vs. Ibushi main event of that show, which had enough story stuff going on by just putting those guys in a ring together, some breathing room.)
Despite all the heel heat generated, the G.o.D. and Ishimori winning the trios titles (back, sort of? Because it was the same faction section that lost them, although a different combo?) from the Super Villains (The Young Bucks and Marty Scurll) felt like justice. This was partly because that team did the exact same kayfabe-breaking title-burying they did after they won these belts, with Nick saying, “Maybe we put them on the line tomorrow” and Matt saying he doesn’t know if they’re allowed to say that in the post-match promo on the 11th. The next day their characters were pressured into putting the belts on the line, so the wrestlers probably weren’t!
After fully heeling against Jay White, Sho, and Yoh on the previous show, we’re supposed to feel super sad for them losing to the Guerrillas and their teacup bodybuilder pal… but the BC Elite, especially Omega and the Bucks, have been functionally just as disrespectful to New Japan in a much more insidious way by calling the Japanese talent lazy and calling L.I.J. and Tanahashi only domestic draws and meaning that as an insult. Also, the Super Villains lost this match and their titles because they FORGOT WHO THE LEGAL MAN WAS. The Ishimori Abs-preciation club just straight-up beat them, and the Bucks and Marty left the arena wearing frowny faces.
The reason I’m getting into this so much here is, skipping ahead slightly, that it’s VERY INTERESTING in retrospect how the presentation of the Bucks and the Elite vs. the OGs changes by the time we get to their tag title match at Fighting Spirit Unleashed. During Omega vs. Tonga, the super special six-man Omega vs. Ibushi preview tag, and the trios championship title change, the Elite are presented as essentially good dudes following the rules while their former faction-mates are much more traditional heels. The BTE guys act as if the Tongans attacking them is uncalled for, but if it turns out people you’ve been hanging out with for YEARS feel like you’re keeping them down politically and considering them less than you, which was implied in all those Elite promos where they said they as a three-man subfaction were more important and better than the rest of Bullet Club, and then you don’t acknowledge this and say you don’t know what their problem is… maybe you deserve what you get! “You’re factually right, but we make more money than you and are more respected by the establishment” is an insanely unsympathetic philosophy to many people, especially, again, for people watching wrestling at least in part to engage with characters and escapist stories. But by the time FSU rolls around, this dynamic shifts from frustrating to kind of fascinating
While the tag champs were on vacation and their challengers part of a different, semi-comedy tag title feud, the NJPW heavyweight tag team division saw the return of one of its mainstay teams, Killer Elite Squad. K.E.S. returned with way better/worse/more insane entrance gear and a new pop punk theme song for some reason and no more of that dumb train in their entrance video. I’m not a huge fan of this team’s wrestling, but oh my gosh did I miss their YELLING in their backstage promos. They were off TV for FIVE MONTHS and they are MAD ABOUT IT and seem VERY MOTIVATED to be the next challengers for the tag titles.
With all this going on the most disappointing absent belt is, for me, the IWGP Intercontinental Championship. This title’s been often the most entertaining in the company, with Shinsuke Nakamura making himself Mr. IC to the point where he challenged Tanahashi for it after winning the 2014 New Japan Cup, recently ungovernable Naito battering the belt, and Suzuki torturing for his treasure earlier this year. Now it’s the white Universal Championship and it bums me out. I bet Jericho won’t even bring it on the boat!
Chris Jericho was still nowhere to be found by Hiroshima, but at least Evil, who still seemed like his first challenger at the time, called him out on it on the Road To, asking, “Did you know that there is a limit on how long you can just hold that Intercontinental title?” (Unfortunately, that limit is six months without a defense, so Y2J could just legally not defend until Wrestle Kingdom, which feels very plausible.)
Best/Worst: Death Wish Genius
Since Goth Dad last showed up, the only person worse off than the IC title has been Tetsuya Naito. As a wrestler and overall performer, he’s still one of the best in the company. He had very good G1 matches, with Goto, Ibushi, and Sanada, which all had different, compelling dynamics. After the latter, Naito invoked Hiromu, vowed the team would be reunited, and did an emotional roll call. L.I.J., thankfully, was actually fine despite the growing pains, our beloved punk family tested but not defeated. But despite being “the most incredible faction, standing atop New Japan right now” in terms of popularity still, they haven’t won anything significant in what feels like a long time.
Naito’s path to winning the G1 (if the Golden Lovers drew) was blocked by Zack Sabre Jr., the guy who also knocked him out of the New Japan Cup. The fact that Naito usually tries not to show any emotion and also is a super beloved hero of the people makes him a great opponent for submission specialist wrestlers, with bonus points if they’re sadists like ZSJ and Suzuki who relish in making people fear and respect them. Naito vs. ZSJ was set up perfectly for the impending heartbreak, with stage mom hype man Taka Michinoku reminding the audience and Naito that he had a chance at the final only if he wins this match, “But you’ll never beat Zack!”
Their match felt very much like one of a rivalry, with Naito starting dangerously with some mat wrestling, but not for too long, and Zack getting suckered into a strike battle, but also not for too long. They land and receive a ton of damage but neither can manage to put the other man away. The finish is somehow both a heartbreaking disappointment and a satisfying payoff. Zack gets two nearfalls off of bridging holds, and Naito looks rattled. He lands a Destino out of an Octopus Hold, but ZSJ COUNTERS THE SECOND INTO THE ZACK DRIVER AND WINS THE MATCH. It sucked so much to watch Naito lose, but goshdangit if seeing Taka Michinoku just run in and tackle-hug ZSJ wasn’t a cool, feel-good moment in its own way.
Sabre Jr. has been killing it since signing with NJPW full time and has totally won me over at this point, and the G1 ended with me eagerly anticipating whatever babyface they’d pit him against next (and hoping for Juice.) Naito, the first or second most popular wrestler in the company (who is also no spring pollo at 36 years old), went straight to a non-title, grudge feud with Minoru Suzuki.
On the Road to Destruction, they beat each other up some more with lots of forearm exchanges and some signature moves. However, the rivalry didn’t reach the crazy, sadistic (sado-masochistic?) heights of Round One in the spring when it seemed like Naito’s leg was at the risk of being ripped off at the knees at every show. My highlights were definitely 1) Suzuki just choking the ring announcer APROPOS OF NOTHING…
…and 2) ADORABLE INGOBERNABLE CHILDREN.
The found family feuding on the Road was repetitive (though fun for the live audiences) but they finally take it to the next level in Hiroshima. In the hometown of Naito’s favorite baseball team, Los Ingos do a whole lengthy themed entrance in which they become CARP DE JAPON, or LOS INGOBERNABLES DE YOUR LOCAL SPORTS TEAM and the crowd gets HYPED. Suzukigun attacks before the bell and takes things outside. The King takes Naito up on the ramp, PKs him, sits on a chair on the ramp, and puts his foot on Naito’s head, using a variation on one of his signature taunts against him.
Things get even crazier when Suzuki goes for the Gotch on the apron, then counters Naito’s neckbreaker attempt counter with a sleeper during which he hangs Naito off the side of the ring apron. Suzuki later tries to choke Naito out on the apron, then the mat. While Evil and Sanada end the match with a Magic Killer to Michinoku, Suzuki keeps trying to armbar Naito and Bushi has to basically feed the guy his owns limbs to pull him off his team captain like he’s fending off an evil octopus. It looks like Naito will have to be stretchered out of the arena, but he throws the stretcher away and walks out on his own power. It’s a really good, heroic exit, and the crowd is extremely into it, and tensions are super high and scary once again between Naito and Suzuki just in time for their singles match in Beppu.
The backstage comments here are notable for a few reasons. First, Evil starts the feud between him and ZSJ in earnest by threatening to THROW ZACK SABRE JR. INTO HELL and the Brit declares he hates Halloween like some kind of MONSTER. Second, Suzuki, after several non-verbal backstage comments in a row, cuts a killer promo that perfectly outlines his character’s whole outlook on professional wrestling. He fights “to prove I’m stronger. I don’t need other reasons” and says he targeted Naito “because he was in my sightline.” Gosh, I love this guy.
Also, The Whole Junior Heavyweight Division Is Rebuilding Right Now
This article is really long already and the Junior Heavyweight division simultaneously seems to have a lot going on and yet almost nothing with the vacant title and the Super Junior Tag League in the near future, so I’ll just outline the main developments over the course of these shows.
- Will Ospreay really wants to wrestle Kota Ibushi and also looks like he’s putting on muscle, so he’s probably moving up to heavyweight
- The Golden Lovers look at Ospreay like they’re the couple in the Chris Flemming Polyamorous song and then Kenny pats Kota on the head like a dog???
NJPW - But Ospreay says he’s also focused on winning the Junior Heavyweight Championship, which he will do “in tribute” for his rival, Hiromu, and he’ll hold it until Hiromu can come back to challenge for it. Aww!
- “BEST FRIENDS FEATURING WILL OSPREAY”
- Bushi hints he’ll get a new partner for tag league since Hiromu’s out of action
- Ishimori is also getting a mysterious new partner for tag league! This is extra good because right now the height disparity in the BCOGs is so severe that one time Bone Soldier stood on a box in order to mean mug with his fellow trios champ amigos
NJPW - In Hiroshima, Kushida, Tiger Mask, and Jushin Thunder Liger defeat Roppongi 3K and it’s very fun and also Tiger Mask wins it after pinning Rocky Romero! It looks like things could be looking up for Tiger Mask, and Rocky is shocked by how much he underestimated the dude. He blames jet lag because, “You know I was Black Tiger IV, right?… You know I’ve beat Tiger Mask many, many times, right?… I haven’t lost to Tiger Mask in years!” (Yoh and Sho clarify that Rocky specifically lost this match and also reveal/claim they never have any idea what he’s saying to them in his rapid English.)
- Kushida is approaching the vacant Junior Heavyweight title with that classic Kushida intensity, saying, “I will go for the IWGP Junior Title once again so that I can remember this year when I die.” (Emphasis mine.)
Best: NEVER In The G1
The most fun, fresh feud on the Destruction tour was, in my opinion, the one between Goto and Taichi for the NEVER Openweight Championship. Goto had an excellent G1 that put him in a much wider variety of match types than he’s been in this whole year. His challenger was, of course, not in the G1 at all. Taichi GLORIOUSLY RETURNED at the G1 Final show and did the FULL SONG during his entrance for a tag match, and then actually beat up Goto pretty badly before reiterating his desire for a title shot.
During the Destruction tour, the men effectively escalated their feud from show to show. Taichi gets a tag match thrown out by straight up trying to murder Goto with his mic stand right in front of Tiger Hattori, then lands a massive powerbomb on him and actually counts his own pin. He does this in Hiroshima too. Meanwhile, Goto gets more serious and aggressive as he gets more and more feud up with Taichi’s nonsense, and shows a lot more personality than usual.
They also have a hilarious contract signing in which Taichi doesn’t come while his theme song plays for SEVERAL MINUTES… and then enters just as Goto is about to leave, looking exceptionally sleazy, calling himself a “lowlife,” and claiming he was busy with what was translated as his “side hustle.” INCREDIBLE.
Taichi has been very much established over the years and also this specific feud as a despicable jerk, the idea of him as a singles champion is very entertaining and seems, at this point, like it would be a good change for that title and for Goto as well.
Mostly Best: Hitting The Wall
Kenny Omega’s first IWPG Heavyweight Championship reign has been pretty weird so far. He won the belt in an epic, started to turn back heel with that promo on all Japanese wrestlers right before his first very much babyface title defense in America, and then beat everyone who made the most storyline sense to beat him in the first part of the G1. The question became who can/will stop this man?
The answer to that question turned out to be Tomohiro Ishii. By their match, the Stone Pitbull was clearly the MVP of the tournament, especially after that crazy, super hard-hitting bout with Ibushi. He was also clearly the hero we needed/deserved to stop the condescending, too-online menace of the IWGP Heavyweight Champion. Omega didn’t take the match as seriously at the beginning and played bongos on his face and slapped him and Ishii looked like he was going to beyond kill him.
The match got more exciting as it got more hard-hitting, with Kenny bleeding from the mouth after the Dr. Wily Bomb and going full video game boss. He hits two spiteful V-Triggers to Ishii and then another, and then, somehow, Ishii starts to stand to his feet. Another V-Trigger, and he somehow runs at Omega! And two more, and Ishii pops up out of a snapdragon! And then a kickout! Ishii is now immune to concussions or so concussed he’s Just Going now, and either way it’s a crazy-exciting Hulk Up and the crowd freaks out!
There’s still a bunch of the match to go after that, including a brutal double stomp from Omega that sends Ishii from the apron to the floor. The sheer length of the match makes it feel more brutal too, and by the end, with the amount of mouth bleeding and realistic-looking blows to the head, I felt relieved for it to be over.
Omega stays in the villain role to which he fully committed over the course of the match in the backstage comments, saying, “You guys love an underdog story, huh? I hope you’re happy.” I am happy, Kenneth, because we finally have a challenger for you!
Ishii’s not usually a big promo guy, but he absolutely kills it on the proverbial mic here. “He was having such a good time, everything was going the way he wanted. However… reality bites. Life is full of ups and downs. You’re going to face a wall one day. You get what I’m saying? It’s me… I’m that wall. Not only today, but always and forever.” Then, now, Tomohiro Ishii.
Ishii, who also beat two other champions in the G1, officially challenges for Omega’s title at Budokan after an extremely dumb tag match. Omega, backstage, says Ishii was the only person to do real injury to him during the tournament, pointing to stitches on his lip, and also that he’s “tubby” and “a piece of lard” and something about “Last chance hotel, buddy, here it is.”
Their two-on-two preview tags on the Road to Destruction are really good, but this feud and this tournament and honestly Kenny as the company’s top champion highlight the problems with the Best Bout Machine persona. I talked about this when I thought Omega vs. Naito was going to be a long term thing too. That nickname and the promos in which Omega talks about Meltzer star ratings and takes it upon himself to his give opponents performance reviews are patronizing and not at all intimidating. They also, in kayfabe, make borderline zero sense. He doesn’t say he wants the rest of the roster to step up and bring him a good fight and/or worthy opponent; he wants them to have Highly Rated Matches with him. This is such a bizarre motivation and goal for him to push on everyone else.
Jesse Ventura summed up the issue with this type of outlook in wrestling succinctly on commentary for Liger vs. Pillman at SuperBrawl II:
Omega’s ridiculous and ridiculously fun G1 match with Yano also highlighted, for me, how much more engaging he was as a character and wrestler as the Cleaner. We get humans used as weapons, turnbuckle pads as both weapons and cushions, and a good and surprising use of supporting characters to lead us to what turns out to be the new greatest point differential loss in G1 history. When he’s faced with the crazy obstacles of the OGs beating the crap out of him moments before the match and also the genius of YTR and also a level of desperation that removes the pressure of him being the company’s top champion, it brings out the manic intensity and creativity that I think is the best context for Omega’s absurdly athletic and varied moveset. It reminded me of what made me seek out his matches in the first place.
Omega is the most openly heelish version of his current character in his title match with Ishii in Hiroshima. He doesn’t play it outright in the first portion of the match, which both sets up his gameplan and contains some very athletic filler. He works Ishii’s neck with a DDT, submissions, and just kicking that (mostly guarded by huge traps) part of his body. The two basically beat each other up, and Omega achieves a truly insane jump from the top rope to hit Ishii with a double stomp while on the commentary table. But it looks like he doesn’t think that will put Ishii away for a countout victory (pretty sure those get lower star ratings anyway) when he gestures for the Pitbull to get back in the ring.
Ishii, still selling those feet with a ton of velocity to his chest, lands a Saito suplex and starts to chop Omega, and the crowd gets extremely behind him. Omega SPITS IN HIS FACE. Ishii dodges a V-Trigger attempt and lands some suplexes, but then Omega does hit one V-Trigger, and then another, and then a brainbuster (using each other’s moves is a theme of their matches) for a kickout, and after the twenty-minute mark the V-Triggers really start flying. I know the spam of this move is something that irritates a portion of wrestling fans, but it really worked for me here. Omega got burned by Ishii’s endurance last time, so what he’s doing makes sense. But even with Ishii’s superhumanly strong head, repeatedly kneeing someone in the face without going for a pin feels very sadistic given how many real MMA fights have ended and will continue to end with a knee-to-face K.O., and also the fact that concussions exist.
But Ishii makes a truly exciting comeback with a rana off the top rope and gets an offensive streak that includes some of Omega’s own moves and/or attempts at them. The match soon seems like a question of who will give out first. Omega sets up the OWA, but goes for a suplex instead – despite all his outward arrogance, I think not really confident he can beat Ishii after the perpetual underdog broke his G1 streak, and needing to really make sure he’s beaten down. The series of cool moves and nearfalls gets the crowd more evenly split between performers, and Omega wins with a very quick One Winged Angel after the thirty minute mark.
New commentator Marc Warzecha points out a “deflated feeling here in the arena” as Ishii won’t let go of the champ’s leg and Omega’s hand is raised to moderate cheers. I definitely felt deflated by the end of the match, similar to how I felt with Omega vs. Goto. There were good moments, but it also seemed like maybe less could have happened, or things could have happened slower at some points, or it all could have happened in a shorter span of time.
After the match, Omega hops on the mic and says he wants Ibushi, “the reason I am the best” and also a person he’s never beaten one-on-one, to be his next challenger. Ibushi replies with same question I was asking in my mind, WHAT ABOUT THEIR PROMISE TO NEVER FIGHT EACH OTHER AGAIN? Omega respects his partner’s wishes and backs off on the challenge… for now! (Kenny Omega Destroying His Relationships With His Emotional Problems Theater will continue in front of our very eyes in Part One Million at Fighting Spirit Unleashed!)
The Omega vs. Ibushi title defense seems very likely to happen, especially since Ibushi 1) isn’t doing anything else besides wrestling Ospreay at some point, and 2) beat Omega in the G1 in a good match, but not one that lived up to the intensity of some of their other matches in the tournament (Ishii and Naito immediately come to mind for both) or of their first one at DDT’s 2012 Peter Pan show, the one that made those characters make that vow in the first place because they’re afraid they’ll kill each other with pro wrestling.
Backstage, Omega cuts his first promo on Tanahashi. He says “I am pro wrestling” and “the only thing wrong with New Japan Pro Wrestling is [Tanahashi’s] old-guard attitude” and at the Tokyo Dome, “we’ll see which ideology is right.” So it’s the ideology of Love And Energy versus Change The World, which seems to mean pushing pro wrestling into a future modeled after Kenny Omega, with the implication of not respecting NJPW’s traditions and heart.
Overall, though they had their moments, I think the Road to Destruction consisted of some pretty weak shows, and Destruction in Hiroshima was New Japan’s weakest big event of the year so far. Please join me in watching this 2016 music video in which Ishii is the love interest to feel better about it, and I’ll see you back here very soon for Beppu, Kobe, and FSU before King of Pro Wrestling.
