New Japan Pro Wrestling
NJPW started the Destruction tour, which is leading to the major Kobe World Hall show on September 29th. The final two televised shows happened this past weekend, including a show in the Sendai Sun Plaza Hall and the return to Noboribetsu for the first time in over three decades.
The fourth night of the tour happened in Sendai in front of 1,126 fans, which is a solid number and an increase on the Best Of The Super Juniors 30 show last year. The main event saw DOUKI successfully retaining the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Championship against Taiji Ishimori for the first time in his career with the Suplex de la Luna. The match was great and featured a fantastic showing from Ishimori, who is as motivated in 2024 as he’s been in years in terms of putting out consistent performances. He worked well on top as he went for DOUKI’s arm which came up multiple times later in the match and led to great moments with the Bone Lock including Ishimori using the setup of DOUKI’s finisher into the Bonelock. The finishing stretch was well done with DOUKI surviving. The win means he has defeated the big three of the NJPW Junior Division this year as he beat Hiromu Takahashi at New Beginning and the BOSJ, El Desperado at the Soul tour, and now Taiji Ishimori. Next up for him is his mentor during DOUKI’s time in Suzuki-gun and the beginning of JUST 5 GUYS – Yoshinobu Kanemaru.
The story New Japan has been telling with DOUKI over this year has been tremendous and nobody could have seen that coming when he came to New Japan as a replacement in the BOSJ back in 2019, where he scored just 2 points. He reached the mountain top of the Junior Division as the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Champion and is keen to stay there.
New Japan made its return to Noboribetsu for the first time in 39 years in front of a crowd filled with 1,255 excited fans. The show was more comedy-filled than usual with a Noboribetsu Rambo Match that Shota Umino was able to win by eliminating Zack Sabre Jr. last. Backstage, Umino made it once again clear that he will challenge Zack if he wins the IWGP World Heavyweight Championship at King Of Pro Wrestling in October, which is currently expected. With that, it seems like Umino will challenge for the World Heavyweight Championship of New Japan soon, which will either be at Power Struggle in Osaka or at Wrestle Kingdom in the Tokyo Dome. The match feels too small to happen in the main event of the Dome, but that can be said about most of the realistic match-ups for Zack Sabre Jr. and Umino is the only blemish left of Zack’s run in the G1 Climax.
In the main event of the show, Hiroshi Tanahashi, Boltin Oleg & Toru Yano successfully defended the NEVER Openweight Six Man Tag Team Championships against House Of Torture’s Dick Togo, EVIL & Yujiro Takahashi in 16:51. The match was similar to nearly every HoT match that fans have seen countless times since the faction was founded. It worked in front of the crowd, who simply wanted to see the babyfaces beat up the heels. After the match, SHO made the challenge to set up him, EVIL, and Yujiro Takahashi at the Kobe show on September 29th. The show ended with a cool moment between Boltin Oleg, Toru Yano, and Hiroshi Tanahashi, who ended the show with a positive vibe.
Pro Wrestling NOAH
At the NOAH Star Navigation 2024 show at Korakuen Hall in front of 1,391 fans, Ryohei Oiwa had his final match in NOAH before going back to New Japan, facing his rival and the current GHC Heavyweight Champion Kaito Kiyomiya. It was a rematch from their 30-minute time limit draw during the N-1 Victory, which was by far the best match of the tournament, and this wasn’t far off that level. Oiwa and Kaito have tremendous chemistry, and it was a great way to finish off their story in NOAH. It started slow, but the longer it went, the better it got. It seemed that around the 25-minute mark, Kiyomiya hurt his shoulder a bit, but he was able to continue. They ended the match shortly after with a roll-up, and the finish felt a bit abrupt, but it didn’t hurt the match quality too much as the entire match was filled with fantastic pro wrestling. It being a GHC Heavyweight Championship match would have fit better, but politics play a role here. Before Oiwa was able to cut a promo, Masa Kitamiya interrupted and asked for a GHC Heavyweight Title match against Kiyomiya, which the champion accepted for the Korakuen Hall show next month.
Ryohei Oiwa’s return to New Japan is anticipated as he is a fantastic young wrestler who will try to climb the ranks of the heavyweight division. His next step will likely be that he is revealed as the new TMDK member on September 29th in Kobe. Oiwa has been connected with Zack Sabre Jr. throughout his entire career as they faced twice in singles matches in the New Japan Cup and for the NJPW World Television Championship, and Zack was also presented as a mentor of Ryohei Oiwa in the early stages of his career as well as both training under Yoshinari Ogawa.
