NJPW continued on the road to Destruction, with today’s show being a Blue Justice special with it taking place in Yuji Nagata’s hometown. The show was headlined by match one of the six-man best-of-seven series between Yuji Nagata, Shota Umino and Master Wato against Ren Narita, El Desperado and Minoru Suzuki.
The bout began with Wato and Desperado, a rematch from Best of the Super Junior. Both men were attacking the arm of one another before Desperado drove Wato’s face into Narita’s boot. Narita and Umino were then tagged in and they’ve had ongoing issues for over a month now. It showed as they kept trying to outdo each other.
There were a lot of reversals before Umino hit Narita in the face with a dropkick, Nagata was then in the ring to hit Narita with some stiff kicks. Nagata was attacking Narita’s arm before Umino came in to hit Narita with a suplex. Blue Justice then showcased his striking, he was hitting Narita with kicks and forearms, but Narita caught him with a spinning heel kick and tagged in Suzuki.
Suzuki charged into the ring hitting Nagata with a big boot and then locking him into a rope-hung armbar. Once the hold was released he threw Nagata into the steel barricade and then slammed his head with the steel gate door. They then took the battle into the crowd where Suzuki dropped Nagata with a forearm and then hit him with a piece of the barricade he broke off.
Suzuki overcoming Blue Justice. Credit: NJPW
It was now Desperado’s turn to get some offence in and he locked Nagata into a seated abdominal stretch. All three members of Strong Style then came to attack Nagata, Suzuki and Desperado locked in knee bars while Narita had him in a chin lock. Nagata was really struggling and Strong Style was picking him apart, all three men were taking turns hitting him with lariats and big boots. They then got all three of their opponents in a different submission hold, with Suzuki holding Nagata in a sleeper hold.
Nagata broke the hold by grabbing the ropes and when Desperado was tagged in he hit him with a belly-to-belly suplex. He was then finally able to tag in Wato who quickly started taking out all three of his opponents before diving over the top rope and hitting Desperado with a tope. Back in the ring, both men were now trading strikes, but it was Wato catching Desperado with a kick to the skull. Despite the kick, Desperado came right back hitting Wato with a spine-buster and then Narita and Umino were tagged in.
Narita hit Umino with a pump kick, a back elbow and a one-arm suplex and Umino hit a plethora of forearms and a running dropkick. Umino then connected a lifted reverse DDT and went for Death Rider, but Narita blocked and tagged in Suzuki. However, Umino hit Suzuki with a dropkick and then tagged Nagata back in. Nagata was rejuvenated as he hit Suzuki with a double-arm suplex.
Nagata hoping for a submission. Credit: NJPW
Nagata, Wato and Umino now locked all three members of Strong Style into a submission, returning the favor from earlier. Once the holds were released, Nagata and Suzuki were trading stiff strikes to the face. They were laying in slap after slap until Nagata hit him with an exploder suplex, however before he could go for the pin the bell rang. The 30-minute time-limit expired, neither team would get a 1-0 series lead as match 1 was a time-limit draw.
NJPW Road to Destruction Sept. 10 Results
Tiger Mask, Togi Makabe, Hiroyoshi Tenzan & Jado vs. Oskar Leube, Yuto Nakashima, Tomoaki Honma & Satoshi Kojima
Makabe got the win for his team by hitting Nakashima with his diving knee drop from the top rope.
Winners: Tiger Mask, Togi Makabe, Hiroyoshi Tenzan & Jado
Toru Yano & Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. YOH & Ryusuke Taguchi
Yano made sure the referee was distracted and hit both YOH and Taguchi below the belt. He then rolled Taguchi up and stole a win.
Winners: Toru Yano & Hiroshi Tanahashi
CHAOS (Tomohiro Ishii, YOSHI-HASHI, Hirooki Goto & Kazuchika Okada) vs. TMDK (Bad Dude Tito, Shane Haste, Mikey Nicholls & Zack Sabre Jr.)
Ishii attempted to hit Sabre with a sliding lariat, but Sabre reversed into a crucifix pin to steal the win for TMDK.
Winners: TMDK (Bad Dude Tito, Shane Haste, Mikey Nicholls & Zack Sabre Jr.)
Los Ingobernables de Japón (BUSHI, Shingo Takagi & Tetsuya Naito) vs. United Empire (HENARE, Great-O-Khan & Jeff Cobb)
HENARE isolated BUSHI in the ring, he hit him with a gut punch and headbutt before forcing him to submit to Ultima.
After the match, O-Khan invited Takagi to leave LIJ and join the United Empire with a shirt, Takagi took the shirt without giving an answer and walked to the back.
Winners: United Empire (HENARE, Great-O-Khan & Jeff Cobb)
Los Ingobernables de Japón (Yota Tsuji & Hiromu Takahashi) vs. United Empire (Callum Newman & Will Ospreay)
This match came down to Takahashi and Newman, and it would be Takahashi hitting a Time Bomb for the victory.
Winners: Los Ingobernables de Japón (Yota Tsuji & Hiromu Takahashi)
Just 5 Guys (DOUKI, Taichi, SANADA & Taka Michinoku) vs. House of Torture (Dick Togo, Yujiro Takahashi, SHO & EVIL)
EVIL got Michinoku in the ring, threw him into the exposed turnbuckle and won with Everything is Evil. Following the victory, all members of HoT continued to beat down Michinoku before escaping with the stolen titles again.