Indy Wrestling Express

Here is my review of New Japan Pro Wrestling: Destruction, which took place on Monday (the tenth). Rather than using my usual “The good, the bad and the questionable” format, I’m just going to run down the card and give my thoughts on each match. 

Do you want to watch the show yourself? If so, head over to http://www.youtube.com/mrlariato 

You may have to scroll down the uploads to find them. Anyway, here is my review (and the results): 

1) Schwarz, Weiss, Tiger Mask, KUSHIDA & Killer Rabbit defeated Takashi Iizuka, Jado, Gedo, Tomohiro Ishii & Hideo Saito

This one was fun later on when KUSHIDA and Tiger Mask were on the offence, but the majority of the match saw the unmemorable heels working over the ludicrously attired Rabbit, which didn’t do anything for me. I did enjoy the eternally odd Hideo Saito standing in front of the commentator, staring at him for seemingly the entire match though. 

2) Yujiro Takahashi defeated Tomoaki Honma

I didn’t have time to watch this one.

3) Lance Archer defeated Wataru Inoue 

Or this one.

4) Hirooki Goto & Tama Tonga defeated Shinsuke Nakamura & Ultimo Guerrero 

I really enjoyed this match. From the Goto/Guerrero mat wrestling, to seeing Goto and Nakamura going at it, to Goto finishing Guerrero, it was entertaining throughout.

5) IWGP Jr. Heavyweight Tag Team Title: No Remorse Corps (Davey Richards & Rocky Romero) defeated the champions Apollo 55 (Prince Devitt & Ryusuke Taguchi) 

Very good match here, with Devitt and Richards delivering the most memorable performances. I would have maybe liked it to go a bit longer, but there simply wasn’t enough time for that on this ten match card.

Davey is pretty much the top heel in the junior division at the moment, I wouldn’t be surprised to see him get a shot at Devitt’s singles title in the not too distant future.

6) Satoshi Kojima beat Hiroyoshi Tenzan

 I was a bit distracted during this one, but it seemed good. Started slow, building up to hard hitting action near end.

7) Yuji Nagata defeated Toru Yano 

Yuji Nagata is so awesome that his entrance music gets it’s own entrance music. The match was solid, with a very cool and surprising finish that saw Nagata counter Yano’s counter, rolling him up for the pinfall in the process.

8) IWGP Intercontinental Title: Masato Tanaka defeated MVP (c) 

Tanaka’s still got it, and MVP is better than I’ve ever seen him. Very entertaining match. The American has bulked up, his strikes look stiffer and his suplexes look more powerful. Tanaka is as much of a beast as ever, and his sliding forearm strikes (the “Sliding D”) that ultimately won him the title looked brutal.

Japanese tables are infamous for not breaking, but Tanaka managed to do so with his devastating frog splash to MVP on the outside. MVP wasn’t so successful though, as he later powerbombed Tanaka onto a table that survived fully intact.

9) Minoru Suzuki beat Togi Makabe

 I didn’t enjoy this one as much as I thought I would. I think this has a lot to do with Suzuki’s attire. It just doesn’t look like wrestling gear, it looks like underwear with school shoes. Any hardcore Suzuki fans out there, feel free to argue.

It was a good match though, and there were some very cool moments involving Suzuki’s sleeper on Makabe.

10. IWGP Heavyweight Title: Hiroshi Tanahashi (c) defeated Tetsuya Naito 

This great main event was definitely match of the night. I’ll give you a brief summary: It opened with some impressive mat wrestling, which eventually led to a section where Tanahashi was surprisingly dominated by the smaller man, following his missed senton to the outside and Naito’s running dropkick from the apron.

Their momentum swung back and forth, and at one point it looked like Naito was done for as Tana locked him deep into a submission hold (I forget what it was, something like a texas cloverleaf), but he made it to the ropes. Naito earned himself the “no-sell of the week” award as he sprung to life and flew around the ring, kicking the champion all over the place, until he landed his corkscrew moonsault and remembered he had an injured leg to sell. A short while later, Tanahashi ended the title aspirations of Naito, who was a bit bloody around the mouth, with two of his signature frog splashes.

It was a great match, one I would definitely recommend checking out. Going in I didn’t believe for a second that Naito would win, but they got me with some of the nearest near falls I’ve ever seen. A strong outing, and I think I preferred this one to last month’s Tanahashi/Nakamura match, despite being a bigger fan of Nakamura than I am of Tana or Naito.

Overall thoughts: A solid PPV, highlighted by a great main event. If you’re a fan of the gaijin (non-Japanese wrestlers), their matches are well worth checking out too.

- Lee