After the G1 Climax 33 tournament, NJPW after a few weeks of downtime will ramp back up with its “DESTRUCTION” Tour. The Tour will feature several high profile Road to DESTRUCTION shows which are smaller scale shows but still important stops on the tours schedule. The 2 major shows on the tour are the “DESTRUCTION in KOBE” & the “DESTRUCTION in RYOGOKU”. Below you will find the major matches announced for the tour.
Road to DESTRUCTION – September 8:
- NJPW World TV Championship: Boltin Oleg vs. Zack Sabre Jr. (C)
- Tetsuya Naito, Shingo Tagaki, Hirmou Takahashi & Yota Tsuji (LIJ) vs. Jeff Cobb, Great-O-Khan, HENARE & new member Callum Newman (UNITED EMPIRE)
- Taichi & SANADA (JUST 5 GUYS) vs. EVIL and SHO (HOUSE OF TORTURE)
Road to DESTRUCTION – September 9:
- NEVER Openweight 6 Man Tag Team Championship match: Tiger Mask, Hiroyoshi Tenzan & Togi Makabe vs. Hiroshi Tanahashi, Kazuchika Okada & Tomohiro Ishii (C)
-5 on 5 Elimination match: BUSHI, Hiromu Takahashi, Yota Tsuji, Shingo Takagi & Tetsuya Naito (LIJ) vs. Will Ospreay,. Jeff Cobb, Great-O-Khan, HENARE and Callum Newman (UNITED EMPIRE)
From September 10 throughout the tour till “DESTRUCTION in Ryogoku” October 9:
- Best of Seven Series: Ren Narita, Minoru Suzuki & El Desperado (STRONG STYLE) vs. Shota Umino, Yuji Nagata & Master Wato
The matches in the Series are set for: September 10 Chiba, September 17 in Fukuoka, September 25 in Nagoya, September 30 in Korakuen, October 1, 7 and finally Destruction in Ryogoku October 9
“DESTRUCTION in KOBE” – September 24:
- IWGP United States (United Kingdom) Championship match: Yota Tsuji vs. Will Ospreay (C)
- Testuya Naito vs. Jeff Cobb (Just a singels match right now but that could change)
- Shingo Tagaki vs. Great-O-Khan
- IWGP Heavyweight Tag Team Championship match: Shane Haste & Mikey Nicholls (TMDK) vs. YOSHI-HASHI & Hirooki Goto (Bishamon) (C)
- KOPW 2023 Provisional Championship Match: SHO vs. Taichi (C)
“DESTRUCTION in RYOGOKU” – October 9
- IWGP World Heavyweight Championship match: EVIL vs. SANADA (C)
- NEVER Openweight Championship match: Tama Tonga vs. David Finlay (C)
- NJPW STRONG Openweight Tag Team Champion match: El Phantasmo & Hikuleo (G.O.D) vs. Alex Coughlin & Gabe Kidd (BULLET CLUB War Dogs) (C)
- IWGP Jr. Heavyweight Championship 3 way match: Mike Bailey vs. Lio Rush vs. Hirmou Takahashi (C)
- IWGP Jr. Heavyweight Tag Team Championship match KUSHIDA & Kevin Knight (Jet Setters) vs. Clark Connors and Drilla Moloney (BULLET CLUB War Dogs) (C)
- Singles match: Tanga Loa vs. Chase Owens
As you can see based on the matches above, the “DESTRUCTION” Tour is based on a lot of clashes between factions and sub groups. The main factions seems to anchor the 2 big shows in Kobe and Ryogoku with the “DESTRUCTION in KOBE” being very much a Los Ingobernables de Japon vs. United Empire focused night. Where as “DESTRUCTION in RYOGOKU” looks to be a Guerilla of Destiny vs. BULLET CLUB affair.
Author: Rohit Singh Karir