Early Monday morning on the West, New Japan announced tons of upcoming matches for their Destruction tour. 14 cards were announced for the Destruction tour which makes its biggest stops in Hiroshima, Beppu and Kobe. The first night of the tour is on September 5th, with Will Ospreay. Beretta and Tomohiro Ishii facing Chase Owens, Kota Ibushi and Kenny Omega. Two nights later in Korakuen Hall Ospreay and Ishii face The Golden Lovers. The night after that, again in Korakuen Hall, it’s a CHAOS versus CHAOS matchup when Juice Robinson and Hiroshi Tanahashi take on Beretta and Kazuchika Okada. On the 9th theres a huge 8-man tag match as Manabu Nakanishi, Hiroyoshi Tenzan, Yuji Nagata & Satoshi Kojima face David Finlay, Juice Robinson, Tomoaki Honma & Togi Makabe. Toru Yano makes a return to the main event slot on the 11th, teaming with Ospreay and Ishii to face The Golden Lovers and “The Tokyo Pimp” Yujiro Takahashi. The card the following day has a special main event, with Ospreay, YOSHI-HASHI, Yano & Ishii facing Owens, Takahashi and The Golden Lovers in an elimination tag match. Wrapping up the Road To shows leading to Destruction In Hiroshima is a main event of Ospreay and Ishii versus The Golden Lovers. Notice that Suzuki-gun and Los Ingobernables de Japon have no appearances in the main event.
The Destruction In Hiroshima card has nine matches set for it, with the main event being Kenny Omega defending his IWGP Heavyweight Championship against Tomohiro Ishii, who issued the challenge at the NJPW G1 Final. Lower down on the card the NEVER 6-Man Tag Team Championships are defended, as the new champions of Taiji Ishimori, Tanga Loa and Tama Tonga face Ryusuke Taguchi, David Finlay and Juice Robinson.
Destruction In Beppu has one Road To show taking place on the 16th. It is headlined with what should be a classic Los Ingobernables versus Suzuki-gun tag match. BUSHI, SANADA, EVIL & Tetsuya Naito face TAKA Michinoku, Zack Sabre Jr., Takashi Iizuka & Minoru Suzuki. The Destruction In Beppu is main evented by another meeting between Tetsuya Naito and Minoru Suzuki. Before them is the title defense of Hirooki Goto’s NEVER Openweight Championship against Taichi.
After that show New Japan heads back on the road, with the final Road To shows culminating at Destruction In Kobe. The first of three Road To shows is headlined by Juice Robinson, Togi Makabe & Hiroshi Tanahashi facing Jay White, YOSHI-HASHI & Kazuchika Okada. The next show, two days later the same trio of White, YOSHI-HASHI and Okada fights Tomoaki Honma, Makabe and Tanahashi. The final Road To show which is on the 21st has the same match as the first road to show closing off the card. The Destruction In Kobe card has 9 matches, two of them being singles matches. “Time Splitter” KUSHIDA meets BUSHI in a “IWGP Jr. Heavyweight Championship Tournament Semi-Final.” The main event is Hiroshi Tanahashi battling Kazuchika Okada in what one could assume is a match that will have Tanahashi’s G1 Briefcase up for grabs in.
Once all Destruction shows are done, New Japan wraps up the month of September with a return to the Long Beach Walter Pyramid for “Fighting Spirit Unleashed.” September is set to be an extremely busy month for New Japan Pro Wrestling.
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