By Chris Vetter, ProWrestling.net Contributor (@chrisvetter73)
NJPW “Road to Destruction”
October 7, 2023 in Miyagi, Japan at Yume Messe Miyagi
Streamed on New Japan World
This show had Japanese-only commentary. Noteworthy is that Lio Rush has a fever and was pulled off several shows, replaced by Ryusuki Taguchi. Hopefully Lio is healthy for the main event of Monday’s supershow when he faces Mike Bailey and Hiromu Takahashi in a three-way.
This is a gym and has to be among the smallest venues that NJPW uses, with all seating on the floor. Attendance is perhaps 800-1,000. That said, if it’s not considered a sellout, it’s pretty close to it.
1. Boltin Oleg defeated Yuto Nakashima at 4:50. I always compare the massive Boltin to Lars Sullivan in size, and Yuto also is thicker than average; both of these guys could be major players in five years. Oleg hit a forward Finlay Roll for the pin! I never considered that a finisher, but quite frankly, it’s shocking to see a Young Lion win with anything other than a Boston Crab. Passable.
2. “United Empire” Callum Newman and Great-O-Khan and Henare defeated Yoshi-Hashi and Toru Yano and Oskar Leube at 7:01. The UE attacked to open the match. Henare beat up Yano with a corner pad. Yoshi-Hashi worked over Callum. O-Khan tagged in at 4:30 and battled Leube with Oskar hitting a bodyslam for a nearfall. O-Khan hit a straight punch to the jaw for the pin. Second straight match I didn’t see the finish coming.
3. “Strong Style” Minoru Suzuki, El Desperado, and Ren Narita defeated Yuji Nagata, Master Wato, and Shota Umino at 11:01. This is match No. 6 in the “best of seven” series, and we are tied at 2-2-1 (it would not be surprised if we have a draw, double DQ, etc. today.) Shota and Ren opened. They traded reversals and Ren applied a mid-ring Cobra Twist. Suddenly all six were brawling on the floor. Once they got back in the ring, SS worked over Shota in their corner.
Wato finally entered at 6:00 and battled Desperado, with Wato hitting a springboard flying forearm for a nearfall. Desperado hit a back suplex and a spinebuster. Minoru and Yuji tagged in at 8:00 and traded punches. Yuji hit a butterfly suplex and he applied a crossface. Suzuki applied a sleeper. Suzuki nailed the Gotch-style piledriver for the pin! Wow, again I didn’t see that coming. So, Strong Style enters the final match of the series up 3-2-1.
* Tanga Loa and El Phantasmo walked to the ring for a tag match. Five members of the Bullet Club walked to the ring — I’m not sure who is supposed to be in the match. However, all five jumped into the ring and beat down Loa and ELP, until Kushida, Jado and Tama Tonga ran down and chased them off. They all brawled, all over this massive room. Jado and Gedo brawled briefly in the ring and we have a referee, but I never heard a bell, but we’re officially underway after about three minutes of brawling on the floor. (I reset stopwatch as the match begins.)
4. Tama Tonga, Tanga Loa, Kushida, Jado, and El Phantasmo defeated “The Bullet Club” David Finlay, Chase Owens, Gedo, Clark Connors, and Dan Moloney at 10:58. The Bullet Club took turns working over Jado, with Moloney applying a Camel Clutch. Kushida made the hot tag at 5:00 and he tried to tie up Connors’ left arm. Phantasmo hit a Lionsault. Connors hit a powerslam on Kushida. Chase tagged in at 7:00, but Kushida hit a handspring-back-elbow on Kushida for a nearfall. Loa entered and hit a series of punches on Chase. Tama and Finlay tagged in and traded punches, and this is what the crowd was waiting for.
Tama hit a Stinger Splash and a series of punches in the corner. Finlay nailed a backbreaker over his knee for a nearfall at 10:30. Gedo tagged in and went for a superkick, but Tama blocked it. Tama immediately hit a Gun Stun on Gedo for the pin. They all kept brawling on the floor, with Finlay and Tama trading more blows. Finlay got his shillelagh and knocked Tama out with it. Again, if you include the pre-match brawl on the floor, this totals about 14 minutes.
5. “House of Torture” EVIL, Yoshinobu Kanemaru, Sho, and Yujiro Takahashi defeated “Just ‘5’ Guys” Sanada, Douki, Taka Michinoku, and Taichi at 12:26. Again, Taichi has vowed to unveil a new member of their faction on Monday so they’ll be back to “Just 5 Guys.” The HoT attacked at the bell. Taka and Sho battled in the ring, and the heels worked over Taka. Sanada finally got in at 7:00 and he hit a dropkick on Sho. EVIL hit a fisherman’s suplex on Sanada. Sanada placed EVIL’s feet on the ropes and hit a swinging neckbreaker at 9:30. Douki entered and battled Kanemaru. Douki hit a top-rope doublestomp on Kanemaru’s stomach for a nearfall, then he applied the ‘Douki Chokey’ Triangle Choke.
Yujiro and Sho hit a team suplex on Douki for a nearfall. Taichi hit a double clothesline. All the faces hit planchas to the floor on the heels. Douki hit the Daybreak slingshot senton on Kanemaru for a nearfall. Sho distracted the ref, allowing Togo to choke Douki, and Kanemaru to hit Douki with his bottle of liquor. Kanemaru then hit a brainbuster to pin Douki. The HoT took out the rest of Just 5 Guys, with EVIL putting one foot on EVIL’s chest while hoisting the NJPW title above his head. EVIL once again left with Sanada’s title belt.
* The next match match is a Survivor Series-style elimination match, but as always in NJPW, wrestlers can be eliminated by being thrown over the top rope to the floor. A reminder that Lio Rush is off the show and replaced by Ryusuke Taguchi. In GOOD news, Yoh is back! He was out with a fever earlier in the week and missed a couple shows.
6. “Chaos” Kazuchika Okada, Ryusuke Taguchi, Hiroshi Tanahashi, Yoh, and Tomohiro Ishii defeated “Los Ingobernobles de Japon” Tetsuya Naito, Yota Tsuji, Bushi, Hiromu Takahashi, and Shingo Takagi in an elimination match at 23:57. Yota and Okada opened. Bushi and Taguchi entered at 2:30. LIJ took turns beating up Taguchi. Taguchi hit Speedball style kicks on Hiromu! (This clearly had to be acknowledging that Mike Bailey is coming on Monday, right???) Yoh entered and hit a dropkick on Hiromu for a nearfall at 8:00. Hiromu hit a Falcon Arrow and they were both down. Shingo and Ishii tagged in and traded shoulder tackles, then forearm shots.
Tanahashi entered and hit a Dragonscrew Legwhip on Naito. Okada hit a neckbreaker over his knee on Shingo. Shingo and Ishii fought on the ring apron. Ishii hit a leaping headbutt, and they both rolled to the floor and were eliminated at 12:31. So, it’s four-on-four. Tanahashi hit a second-rope summersault senton. Tanahashi and Tsuji fought on the apron. Tanahashi tried to ‘skin the cat’ back in, but Tsuji pushed Hiroshi to the floor at 15:41. Tsuji battled Okada. Tsuji got tossed at 17:00. Bushi accidentally pushed Naito to the floor at 18:18, and Taguchi accidentally bumped Okada to the floor at 18:22. Taguchi hit some quick offense in the ring on Bushi and Hiromu. Taguchi hit his buttbump and sent Bushi flying to the floor at 20:21, leaving just Taguchi and Yoh vs. Hiromu.
Yoh and Taguchi hit some team offense on Hiromu. Hiromu rolled up Taguchi for a pin at 22:12. Yoh got a rollup for a nearfall. Hiromu hit a Time Bomb for a believable nearfall; I thought that was it. Yoh got an O’Connor Roll. Yoh nailed a Poison Rana and a Superkick and he was fired up. Yoh nailed the double-arm DDT to score the clean pin on Hiromu! Once again, a finish I didn’t see coming. Interesting to see Hiromu get pinned yet again,, heading into his title match on Monday. Yoh spoke on the mic and taunted Hiromu. Because it’s in Japanese, I have no idea what he’s saying. Is he adding himself to the three-way on Monday? Or is he saying ‘I’m next’ if Hiromu retains on Monday?
Final Thoughts: Once again, the quality of the matches is so-so… this show is more about setting the final pieces in place for the big show on Monday.
The show on Monday features Sanada vs. EVIL in a lumberjack match, Mike Bailey vs. Lio Rush vs. Hiromu Takahashi in a three-way, Tama Tonga vs. David Finlay, and the final match of the best-of-seven series. Plus, we’ll find out the newest member of Sanada’s faction. (I have no idea who it will be, but I’ll go with Boltin Oleg as my pick, as he’s just so massive, I think he could be the beast of their squad.)
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