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NJPW Destruction Tour 2018


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Okada/Tanahashi was fucking fantastic. ****3/4. I loved the twist of Okada destroying Tana’s leg and then actually sticking with it unlike the G1 match. Tana’s selling was great. Okada’s leg selling was surprisingly good. The finishing sequence was off the charts. I loved them doing the Tana/Nakamura finish from G1 25. Tana finally beating Okada was an amazing moment. My only criticisms is that there was a little too much padding in the early portion of the match like many NJPW main events and I’m kinda getting tired of seeing the exact same spots and sequences in every Okada/Tana match. I think at this point, I don’t need to see a Rainmaker countered into a slingblade or a dropkick countering the High Fly Flow in mid-air ever again. Of their matches this year, I think I slightly preferred Dontaku but this blew the G1 match away in my opinion. In the overall series, I’d probably put this match #6 or #7.

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20 hours ago, FlaeBlazer said:

So before tomorrow’s match, how would you rank the Tana/Okada matches?

For me:

1. WK 10

2. KOPW 2013

3. Invasion Attack 2018

4. Dontaku 2018

5. G1 26

6. WK 9

7. Dominion 2012

8. G1 28

9. G1 23

10. WK 7

11. New Beginning 2012

Invasion Attack was 2013.

1. Wrestle Kingdom 10 *****.

2. King of Pro Wrestling 2013 *****.

3. Invasion Attack 2013 *****.

4. Dominion 2012 *****.

5. G1 Climax 28 *****.

6. Wrestle Kingdom 9.

7. Wrestling Dontaku 2018.

8. The New Beginning 2012.

9. G1 Climax 26.

10. G1 Climax 23. 

11. Wrestle Kingdom 7. The only match I don't like at all.

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Eh, I actually may have preferred the G1 match of their three matches this year but all were 5 stars in my mind. And I disagree about padding the beginning. Everything mattered. Tanahashi was out-wrestling and even out-striking Okada. It wasn't until he hit the pescado and aggravated his old man arthritic knee that Okada got an advantage. In turn, Okada was ruthless and it almost paid off. Another thing I loved about this match was the struggle for the tombstone as the deciding factor. Okada went for it about a dozen times with Tanahashi either reversing or resisting until way late into the match where it felt like a legitimate setup to an Okada win. Then it was his own undoing as he repeatedly went for the avalanche version and it ended in his demise. Really fantastic match that demonstrated perfectly where they are it. Okada was pretty much only in it because Tanahashi is old and breaking down. The rainmaker is dead. The post-match stuff was great and it is time for a new era. Beating Jay at the Dome will be the beginning of Okada's new character arc I imagine and it'll feel earned with him struggling for 6+ months rather than Okada just turning things around randomly in the G1 for an immediate recovery. This struggle against a straight up heel will very likely finally get the fans behind Okada, especially now that Chaos is fractured. 

Also is this morally reprehensible, funny, or both? I'm leaning towards the latter. 

(the title is random and the video is safe for work.) 

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6 minutes ago, Oyaji said:

Eh, I actually may have preferred the G1 match of their three matches this year but all were 5 stars in my mind. And I disagree about padding the beginning. Everything mattered. Tanahashi was out-wrestling and even out-striking Okada. It wasn't until he hit the pescado and aggravated his old man arthritic knee that Okada got an advantage. In turn, Okada was ruthless and it almost paid off. Another thing I loved about this match was the struggle for the tombstone as the deciding factor. Okada went for it about a dozen times with Tanahashi either reversing or resisting until way late into the match where it felt like a legitimate setup to an Okada win. Then it was his own undoing as he repeatedly went for the avalanche version and it ended in his demise. Really fantastic match that demonstrated perfectly where they are it. Okada was pretty much only in it because Tanahashi is old and breaking down. The rainmaker is dead. The post-match stuff was great and it is time for a new era. Beating Jay at the Dome will be the beginning of Okada's new character arc I imagine and it'll feel earned with him struggling for 6+ months rather than Okada just turning things around randomly in the G1 for an immediate recovery. This struggle against a straight up heel will very likely finally get the fans behind Okada, especially now that Chaos is fractured. 

Also is this morally reprehensible, funny, or both? I'm leaning towards the latter. 

(the title is random and the video is safe for work.) 

Would you say this is better than the Dontaku match? I still think the Dontaku match is their clear best this year.

If I were to rank them:

1. Wrestling Dontaku - 5*

2. Destruction - 4.75*

3. G1 28 - 4.5*

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Yes, I would but admittedly I watched that after the G1 match because I took a few months off from wrestling due to being burned out on it from Mania week and NBA+NHL playoffs. 

But I watched them back to back this week with a friend and still prefer the G1 match. Better crowd, tighter structure, and the unlikely return of Tanahashi as the Ace. 

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8 minutes ago, FlaeBlazer said:

So in general, where does this rank for y’all in the Okada/Tanahashi series? How would you rank their 2018 matches?

 

7th or 8th out of 12. 

1. G1 Climax 28,  *****. 

2. Wrestling Dontaku 2018, ****3/4.

3. Destruction in Kobe 2018, ****3/4. 

Not sure if Dontaku should switch places with Kobe.

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By the way, why did the G1 Okada/Tanahashi match draw so badly? It drew 6,180 which was literally half of what Ibushi/Omega did the next night.

They drew more in Fukuoka and Kobe for B-shows than they did in Tokyo and Budokan Hall for the freaking G1 Climax Block Finals. A lot of people point to the reason being its placement on Friday but Okada/Tanahashi in 2016 and Naito/Tanahashi in 2017 both drew better in the smaller Sumo Hall. That number seems to be a head scratcher because the interest in Okada/Tanahashi wasn’t necessarily dead considering how this show was the first Kobe sellout in decades. 

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Rather have Okada and Yoshi-Hashi join the main unit and Jay's Chaos gets renamed. But what's more likely to happen is two split factions with the bloated membership cut in half or so. Chaos Red and Blue, gotta collect them all.

 

 

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So the elephant in the room...

What the fuck is gonna be the main event of King Of Pro Wrestling? Kenny Omega doesn’t have a challenger. Many assumed that Jericho would show up tonight to set up a match with EVIL but that didn’t happen. The next NJPW show is Fighting Spirit Unleashed on Sept 30th which is 8 days before KOPW. I find it hard to believe that NJPW would announce the main event of one of their biggest shows of the year just 8 days before.

Are they really gonna headline with Tanahashi vs. White? I was sure that was gonna be the semi-main but there doesn’t seem to be an IWGP Heavy or IC Title match in the works so they may go in that direction.

 

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Do I get a pithy line such as that when Tanahashi beats White? I think one or two people on here thought Okada was going to win. The rest of us were nervous about the possibility but did not think it was inevitable or even wanted it to happen.

It does feel like White needs a big, clean-ish, signature win over one of the big boys because he'd kind of look incompetent losing to Tanahashi and Okada back-to-back in marquee matches at KOPW and WK. The Omega win in February was immediately overshadowed by the BC implosion => Golden Lovers reunion and it was an awful long time ago. The G1 wins were via nefarious means and maybe that's how he wins against the top, top guys for a while still yet but if they want to elevate him, he needs a big win. Inserting him into the Tokyo Dome main event seems massively premature though. On the other hand, Okada has dropped a lot of falls post-Dominion and I don't know if they want to sacrifice him to get White to that elite stratosphere. I'm interested though, not complaining. 

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22 minutes ago, Oyaji said:

Do I get a pithy line such as that when Tanahashi beats White? I think one or two people on here thought Okada was going to win. The rest of us were nervous about the possibility but did not think it was inevitable or even wanted it to happen.

It does feel like White needs a big, clean-ish, signature win over one of the big boys because he'd kind of look incompetent losing to Tanahashi and Okada back-to-back in marquee matches at KOPW and WK. The Omega win in February was immediately overshadowed by the BC implosion => Golden Lovers reunion and it was an awful long time ago. The G1 wins were via nefarious means and maybe that's how he wins against the top, top guys for a while still yet but if they want to elevate him, he needs a big win. Inserting him into the Tokyo Dome main event seems massively premature though. On the other hand, Okada has dropped a lot of falls post-Dominion and I don't know if they want to sacrifice him to get White to that elite stratosphere. I'm interested though, not complaining. 

So what are they gonna do as the KOPW main event? At this point, it seems really late in the game to do an IWGP Title match or IC Title match. Are they really gonna headline with Tanahashi/White? Do they think that match has the drawing power to sell out Sumo Hall?

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2 hours ago, FlaeBlazer said:

By the way, why did the G1 Okada/Tanahashi match draw so badly? It drew 6,180 which was literally half of what Ibushi/Omega did the next night.

They drew more in Fukuoka and Kobe for B-shows than they did in Tokyo and Budokan Hall for the freaking G1 Climax Block Finals. A lot of people point to the reason being its placement on Friday but Okada/Tanahashi in 2016 and Naito/Tanahashi in 2017 both drew better in the smaller Sumo Hall. That number seems to be a head scratcher because the interest in Okada/Tanahashi wasn’t necessarily dead considering how this show was the first Kobe sellout in decades. 

I think that one of the reasons might have been that everyone just assumed that Okada is going to win G1 semi-final because OKADAWINSLOL. While this by comparison had almost as big stakes and match looked like 50/50.

So yeah, not sure what exactly are they going to do with KoPW now? First impression would be that they'd run Tanahashi/White, but I really doubt that it can sell out such a big building. But if thats what they are running... then it probably should result with White getting stopped by Okada since he is obviously going to cheat and maybe Okada and Tanahashi could become partners instead of rivals? This could be a good way to move past never ending cycle of Okada/Tanahashi matches.

Yoshi-Hashi hitting apron was such a Yoshi-Hashi thing that at first I assumed that it was planned spot. Because who else would hit his head while trying to help his friend. But seriously, I hope he is okay.

Overall I felt like show was good, but lacked any memorable moments, but I guess it made sense. Gedo picking White was big angle and would have overshadowed everything else on the show either way.

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Alright, fantasy booking and match lists comparison aside...

I'm up to the LIJ/Suzuki Gun six man and I will say the card has been pretty average (yes, I know it's a smaller event).

Tsuji/Uemura was my favorite match so far with the LIJ/Suzuki Gun six man tag being my second favorite. Tsuji/Uemura was a neat fiery young lions card opener and LIJ/Suzuki Gun wasn't great, but not bad either -- compact and short six man tag.

I still haven't seen KUSHIDA/BUSHI or Tanahashi/Okada, but I'll give those a watch later and edit my post with thoughts on those.

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Maybe I missed something, but I really didn't care all that much about Gedo turning on Okada because Okada over a month ago, maybe more, said he wouldn't be cornered by Gedo anymore. It just seemed like a matter of time before Gedo started backing someone else. I suppose Jay White is as fine of a choice as any because I already think White is a piece of shit and I don't like Gedo either.

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Pity aside, I can see Okada costing White the match vs Tanahashi to set up Okada/White at the dome, where White wins and, along with Tanahashi's telling Okafa he's not the Rainmaker anymore, finally snaps Okada back into All star mode and dumping the balloons for his gold chains again.

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19 minutes ago, Craig H said:

Maybe I missed something, but I really didn't care all that much about Gedo turning on Okada because Okada over a month ago, maybe more, said he wouldn't be cornered by Gedo anymore. It just seemed like a matter of time before Gedo started backing someone else. I suppose Jay White is as fine of a choice as any because I already think White is a piece of shit and I don't like Gedo either.

This was payback for that. I thought it weird they had some amicable breakup at the end of the G1 during a backstage interview. It worked out because Gedo came off as petty/rejected and he's lashing out in revenge. Does he really believe in White or is he doing it just to get back at Okada? LOVE TRIANGLE, Y'ALL!

@Edwin even for a New Japan mid-sized show, the undercard was really forgettable and bland. The Young Lions match was my favourite up to the BUSHI/KUSHIDA match, which was very good. God damn, it never gets tiring watching the NJ Dojo churn out quality youngster after quality youngster. Their execution is crisper than the majority of Western or even other Japanese wrestlers already and they can fill 10 minutes up no problem. And while I like the big picture stuff they're doing with KES vs. Best Friends, neither match was any good or got the crowds going. I thought the finish was a bit nonsensical too because that exact move just beat Trent six days ago and here he magically finds the strength to get the flash pin reversal on the giant Archer. And at this point, I don't want to see another LIJ/Suzuki-gun tag match for a long time. I'm so over it. They are over it. The crowd is over it. Move on. I am all for a big reshuffling of stables at this stage because things are pretty stale and a lot of the factions are bloated with b-team members that should just be part of the main roster or, better yet, released (though generally corporate loyalty works both ways far better in Japan than in the West). I get needing fall guys but each faction has 3 or 4. And Bullet Club is in a weird place with Cody and Page kind of associating with the Golden Elite, who really shouldn't be part of the BC at this stage (though we wouldn't get anymore of those neat Kota Ibushi, Yujiro, and Chase Owens interactions).

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3 minutes ago, Raziel said:

Pity aside, I can see Okada costing White the match vs Tanahashi to set up Okada/White at the dome, where White wins and, along with Tanahashi's telling Okafa he's not the Rainmaker anymore, finally snaps Okada back into All star mode and dumping the balloons for his gold chains again.

Okada isn’t losing to White at the Dome. I guarantee that we will see the Rainmaker return at the Tokyo Dome and destroy Jay White and Gedo. That’s clearly what this is building to in my opinion.

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Maybe Okada stops skipping leg days and goes back to being the pants free Rainmaker.

But yeah, I'm guessing Okada murders the shit out of White at the Dome. I could see something like Okada giving him about 5 Rainmakers in a row, with the last one having Okada stare daggers at Gedo as if to say, "you backed the wrong scrub."

I don't think that hurts White either. He's still a shitheel knife pervert and sometimes a heel needs to get their ass kicked. Badly.

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1 hour ago, Oyaji said:

BUSHI/KUSHIDA match, which was very good.

Agreed. It was solid indeed. Thought the blind mist spot and follow up was excellent. KUSHIDA used his instinct to put away BUSHI and didn't just magically start seeing after being blinded. Good stuff.

Edit: Just watched Tanahashi/Okada, yeah, this type of New Japan modern epic isn't for me. I was honestly not drawn in and it felt like it was really long. I guess what kills my interest in the current product is how it's constantly sold as the greatest wrestling ever and yet when I watch it it doesn't come across as such. Not to be overly critical, but neither guys selling was exactly mindblowing or anything. Those Rainmaker counters were embarrassing. They looked like they were dancing to Enrique Iglesias Bailamos.

Also, that post match fiasco turned into a complete joke once Yoshi Hashi busted himself hardway on the botched run in.

I'll watch whatever matches peak my interest in their next event and will decide if I will keep my subscription or cancel it.

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