NJPW Destruction in Hiroshima Results, Grades, and Analysis

Great Bash Heel (Tomoaki Honma & Togi Makabe) & Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. CHAOS (Jay White, YOSHI-HASHI, & Kazuchika Okada)

Okada came out and he was sad that he couldn’t hit Rocky Romero with his balloons because Rocky was out back. The Ace came out, and it’s interesting to see that it seems like Okada has fallen behind Tanahashi again, as Tana has firmly reclaimed the stop of being NJPW’s #1 guy winning the G1. Tanahashi was unable to beat Okada in the G1, where they went to a draw. The last two singles matches between Tanahashi and Okada have gone to a 30 minute draw. He has not been able to defeat Okada since January 4th, 2015, and Tana wants to beat Okada before going to the Tokyo Dome.

The match was going to start with Okada and Tanahashi, but Jay White tagged himself in and told Okada to get to the apron. White continued to try and tell Okada that he’s the leader of CHAOS, and that he beat both Tanahashi and Okada in the G1, so he should start the match. White has a point. He has wins over both men, so why isn’t he challenging for the briefcase? This was largely the story of the early portions of the match, with White refusing to tag in Okada.

Okada and Makabe got in the ring and started exchanging blows, with Makabe getting the best of it. Makabe floored Okada with a lariat, and tagged in Tanahashi, who knocked both YOSHI-HASHI and White. Tanahashi went for the sling blade on Okada, but Okada countered and tried for the tombstone. Tanahashi countered and hit the Twist and Shout and a sling blade. Tanahashi went for the High Fly Flow, but Okada dropkicked him and took him off the top rope. Okada hit a second dropkick, and Okada managed to tag out to YOSHI-HASHI.

White wanted to get YOSHI-HASHI to use a chair, but he refused. Honma hit a headbutt on YOSHI-HASHI, while Tanahashi went for the High Fly Flow. White shoved Tanahashi off the top rope, saving YOSHI-HASHI. Okada and YOSHI-HASHI tried to double team Tanahashi, but Okada accidentally kicked YOSHI-HASHI in the face. Tanahashi rolled up YOSHI-HASHI and scored the pinfall.

Result: Tanahashi, Makabe, & Honma

Rating: ***3/4 (3.75 stars out of 5)

YOSHI-HASHI left the ring, angry at Okada. Jay White yelled at Okada for causing them the match. Okada looked lost and bewildered. This is the weakest that Okada has ever looked in his NJPW run, and it appears that Tanahashi is in prime position to take his place again as the top man in NJPW. YOSHI-HASHI looked entirely conflicted, clearly thinking that he’ll be better off going with White or Tanahashi instead of Okada. Okada is going to have to deal with White one way or another soon, but first, he takes on Tanahashi at NJPW Destruction in Kobe on September 23rd.