NJPW Star Yoshi-Hashi's Injury Was Edited Out Of Destruction In Kobe

One of New Japan Pro Wrestling Destruction in Kobe’s most memorable moments was Switchblade Jay White’s post-match attack on Hiroshi Tanahashi and Kazuchika Okada, with, shockingly, the help of Gedo. One Chaos member who did try to stop the beatdown, though, was Yoshi-Hashi, who had become a surprisingly prominent figure in this chapter of the Okada vs. Tanahashi rivalry as well as the Chaos In Chaos storyline.

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Yoshi-Hashi went full Titus O’Neill and tripped on his way to the ring. But unlike Titus, who was ultimately fine after the embarrassing incident in Saudi Arabia, Yoshi-Hashi popped up and entered the ring bleeding profusely from the head.

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According to fans at the show, Yoshi-Hashi was able to walk out of the arena by his own power, though he was offered a stretcher, and was taken to a nearby medical facility for evaluation. NJPW confirmed this with an announcement the next day that read (with translation via Google Translate), “YOSHI – HASHI who was injured during the Kobe World Memorial Hall Competition… currently treating the left shoulder and head injured site at the hospital. The future situation will be announced as soon as it is discovered. We are very sorry for everyone at the fans due to worry.” Their English-language website published an announcement several hours later saying that the Head Hunter was “hospitalized after suffering a head and a left shoulder injury due to the assault by Jay White after the main event.”

Oddly, Yoshi-Hashi’s trip has been edited out of the version of Destruction In Kobe you can watch on NJPW World (and the highlight clip of the betrayal on the company’s YouTube channel.) Considering you can still see the moment Hiromu Takahashi severely injured his neck at the G1 Special in San Francisco with the same clarity as on the original TV broadcast, this censorship could be due to the embarrassing nature of Yoshi-Hashi’s injury rather than its severity. Whatever the reason, the manner in which NJPW did this is both strange and obvious to anyone that watched the show live.

Here’s the moment Yoshi-Hashi starts running to the ring:

And here’s right as he was starting to trip:

And then the video switches to an extreme closeup of Jay White. You can see audience members reacting to Yoshi-Hashi’s fall, but not the moment itself, which you could clearly see in the original broadcast.