NJPW DESTRUCTION in Beppu Results and Review

Ospreay, SHO, YOH, & Romero vs Liger, KUSHIDA, Taguchi, & Tiger Mask

SHO and Liger begin the match, which is awesome. They lock up, but SHO pushes Liger back against the ropes, demonstrating his power. Clean break. Liger tries to run the ropes, but SHO stops him in his tracks with a big dropkick. The veteran responds with a tiltawhirl backbreaker followed by the Romero Special. Ospreay, YOH, and Romero all rush in to make the save. Taguchi gets the tag and tries to take advantage of a downed SHO, but SHO outpowers him and is able to tag in YOH, who mockingly hits Taguchi with a few hip attacks. The Coach is annoyed and hits a big hip attack of his own. The Taguchi Train follows, and YOH is in big trouble.

Liger, Kushida, and Tiger Mask pick up Yoh and try to toss him into the backside of Taguchi, who is perched on the second rope in the opposite corner,  but YOH is able to reverse it by… well… jabbing Funky Weapon’s funky weapon. The rest of the Chaos team hits the ring, and Romero directs a train of his own.

Ospreay tags in and does Ospreay things, but Taguchi is able to fight him off with another big hip attack. KUSHIDA gets the hot tag and lays out everyone. He and Ospreay go at it, reminding everyone just how good they are together. Ospreay hits the Pip Pip Cheerio and attempts the Stormbreaker, but Kushida gets out of it and fights back. They simultaneously tag out to Tiger Mask and Romero. Rocky quickly finds himself in trouble, but SHO and YOH enter the ring to back up their manager. All eight members of the match quickly get involved and lay each other out, leaving Romero and Tiger Mask alone in the ring again. A Tiger Driver and tombstone from the legend keeps Romero down for the three count.

This was a lot of fun- a perfect mix of great high-flying wrestling and silly comedy spots, exactly what you want out of an under-card tag match. On top of that, the match was used to effectively build tension between Ospreay and Kushida for a potential IWGP Jr Heavyweight Championship clash at King of Pro Wrestling. Solid stuff overall.

Rating: ***

Killer Elite Squad (DBS Jr & Archer) vs Best Friends (Berreta & Taylor)

KES jump Beretta and Taylor before the bell. The Best Friends try to fight back, but Archer and Smith are just too big and scary. Beretta and DBS find their way back to the ring and start to duke it out. Beretta can’t get anything going at all. Archer lays Chuck Taylor out at ringside and tosses him over the barricade as Smith Jr. continues to work over Beretta in the ring. Archer tags in and KES hits a pop-up powerslam. The domination continues as Archer and DBS take turns treating Beretta like a punching bag.

Eventually, Beretta is able to reverse a powerslam attempt and hit a half-and-half suplex. Chuckie T gets the tag and tries to go to work, but the Best Friends immediately lose momentum again as DBS hits a trio of Germans. Archer gets another tag and takes out Beretta and Taylor just as they make a tag of their own. The Best Friends get back into the ring and hit some opportunistic offense. Taylor nails DBS with a tope con giro and Beretta goes for a suicide dive, but Archer catches him and  hits a brutal apron chokeslam. They’re back in the ring as DBS leaves Taylor laid out once again. Beretta reverses the first killer bomb attempt, but the second connects for the finish.

This was a classic monster heel vs underdog babyface tag match. DBS Jr and Archer dominated most of the way, as they work to reestablish themselves as contenders in the tag division. I think the match could’ve been better if the Best Friends would’ve gotten more of a run, but I understand why they didn’t. They’ll get another shot at KES Saturday in Kobe.

Rating: ***