DESTRUCTION in KOBE, one of 2 major events on New Japan’s current tour, went down earlier today in its traditional place on the calendar.
Today’s event was held at Kobe World Hall in Kobe and can be watched on demand on New Japan World. This event aired in Japan as part of WORLD PRO WRESTLING LIVE 2023 on TV Asahi.
The announced paid attendance was 4212, a full house/near sellout.
Match 1: Drilla Moloney & Clark Connors beat Kevin Knight & Tiger Mask. Moloney pinned TM 4 after Full Clip.
Match 2: TAKA Michinoku, DOUKI & SANADA beat Dick Togo, Yujiro Takahashi & EVIL. TAKA pinned Togo after Michinoku Driver 2. Wait, when was the last time TAKA won a match in New Japan, let alone be responsible for the win?
Match 3: Jado, El Phantasmo, Hikuleo, Tanga Loa & Tama Tonga beat Gedo, Gabriel Kidd, Alex Coughlin, Chase Owens & David Finlay. Tonga pinned Gedo after Gun Stun.
Match 4: Yoh & Lio Rush beat BUSHI & Hiromu Takahashi. Rush pinned BUSHI after Final Hour.
Match 5: Bad Dude Tito & Zack Sabre Jr. beat Tomohiro Ishii & Kazuchika Okada. Sabre pinned Ishii with European Clutch.
Match 6: In a Seconds Handcuffed Match, where House Of Torture members were handcuffed to Just 5 Guys members at ringside, Sho beat KOPW 2023 Chaampion Taichi to win the title. Yoshinobu Kanemaru interference. He seemingly turned on Just 5 Guys to help Sho win. So maybe they will now be Just 4 Guys.
Match 7: IWGP Heavyweight Tag Team Champions YOSHI-HASHI & Hirooki Goto beat Shane Haste & Mikey Nicholls to retain the titles. YOSHI-HASHI pinned NIcholls. V2 for the champs.
Match 8: Shingo Takagi beat Great-O-Khan.
Match 9: Tetsuya Naito beat Jeff Cobb. As a result, Naito retained his spot in the 1/4 Tokyo Dome main event.
Main Event: IWGP US Heavyweight Champion Will Ospreay beat Yota Tsuji to retain the title. V1 for Ospreay. Next up: Sabre. This could happen at Royal Quest 3 in England. It should be noted that Ospreay has rebranded the title as the IWGP UK Heavyweight Championship although it does not seem to be recognized as such by New Japan. (UPDATE: It’s now official for Royal Quest 3 on 10/14)
The next event is tomorrow at Nagoya Congress Center in Nagoya. There will be no live or on demand broadcast. Also a heads-up for the second DESTRUCTION event in October at Ryogoku Kokugikan in Tokyo-at this time New Japan lists the event as only being broadcast live on ABEMA. So it may not be available on New Japan World outside of Japan, but we’ll see what happens.
