THE NEXT STEP CLOSER TO GLORY:
NJPW DESTRUCTION 2018 & THE ROAD TO THE TOKYO DOME
By Jasmine Olan
After taking a short break following a hugely successful G1 season, New Japan Pro Wrestling will be back on the road as of September 7th for the beginning of the promotion’s annual DESTRUCTION tour. DESTRUCTION 2018 will see NJPW’s top stars continue their respective journeys to the company’s biggest night of the year, WRESTLE KINGDOM. The tour will feature three huge main event matches that are sure to deliver in spades in terms of match quality and story telling and help further set up the IWGP Heavyweight Championship picture heading into January 4th. Some questions may be answered along the way, and others may be raised. One thing that is for certain is that fans will be watching excitedly as some of the best wrestlers in the world face off in amazing matches and new chapters in their stories are written.
Night one of the DESTRUCTION 2018 tour will take place at Korakuen Hall and see the Golden Lovers, Kota Ibushi and Kenny Omega take on CHAOS’s Tomohiro Ishii and Will Ospreay in the main event. The show will kick off with Bullet Club ELITE’s Chase Owens and Yujiro Takahashi facing NJPW young lions, Ren Narita And Shota Umino in the opening match. Night one will also mark the return of Trent Bereta from injury as he goes one on one with Toa Henare in a special singles match. Many of the shows on this tour will feature multi man tag team matches that will help keep laying the ground work for the rest of the year heading into WRESTLE KINGDOM.
The major factions within New Japan will be going to war against each other in many of these matches. Los Ingobernablesde de Japon and Suzuki gun will clash numerous times throughout the tour, and CHAOS will be doing battle with the Bullet Club ELITE. Bullet Club FIRING SQUAD will also be appearing in several matches on the DESTRUCTION tour. With a lot at stake, each faction will be looking to continue to make their mark on each card. These matches will act as a preview for what’s to come for the rest of the year.
At DESTRUCTION IN HIROSHIMA on September 15th, the Best Bout Machine, Kenny Omega will defend the IWGP Heavyweight Championship against the Stone Pitbull, Tomohiro Ishii in the main event. This match be will the latest encounter between the two since their G1 block match earlier this summer. Other titles will also be on the line during the tour. The Guerillas Of Destiny and Taiji Ishimori will be defending the NEVER SIX MAN Tag Team titles against Juice Robinson, David Finlay, and Ryusuke Taguchi.
DESTRUCTION IN BEPPU on September 17th will see Hirooki Goto defend the NEVER OPENWEIGHT Championship against Taichi. The IWGP United States title will be at stake when champion, Juice Robinson defends against the current NWA World Heavyweight Champion, Cody at FIGHTING SPIRIT UNLEASHED ON September 30th. Will the American Nightmare be able to make history for a second time after the massive success of the ALL IN event in Chicago?
The tour will also see NJPW revisit the legendary feud between the Ace Of The Universe, Hiroshi Tanahashi and the Rainmaker, Kazuchika Okada. Tanahashi will defend the IWGP Heavyweight Championship opportunity he earned by winning the G1 Climax tournament at DESTRUCTION IN KOBE on September 23rd. The winner will earn that coveted spot in the main event at WRESTLE KINGDOM. In this match, the extraordinary forty-one year old Ace will seek to prove that age is just a number as he fights to make history by becoming IWGP Heavyweight Champion for a historic eighth time. Meanwhile, the thirty year old Rainmaker will be fighting tooth and nail for the opportunity to retake his place at the top of the international wrestling world. The rivalry between these two has truly been one for the ages, and both of them are sure to deliver another stellar performance.
The best of New Japan Pro Wrestling’s junior heavyweight division will also be on display during the DESTRUCTION tour. After sustaining a serious neck injury at this summer’s G1 special in San Francisco, the Ticking Time Bomb Hiromu Takahashi had to relinquish the IWGP Junior Heavyweight title. This led to the announcement of a mini tournament to crown a new champion. The tournament will feature Will Ospreay, Marty Scurll, KUSHIDA, and Bushi. KUSHIDA and Bushi will go head to head at DESTRUCTION IN KOBE while Ospreay and Scurll will face off at FIGHTING SPIRIT UNLEASHED. The final winner of the tournament will be crowned on October 8th at Ryōgoku Sumo Hall.
Every wrestler featured on this tour will be going into their matches ready to win. The stakes may be higher for some than others, but the goal remains the same for all: to prove themselves worthy of the chance to stand in the spotlight on NJPW’s biggest night of the year. DESTRUCTION 2018 will continue New Japan Pro Wrestling’s long standing tradition of incredible story telling through unparalleled match quality. This tour will undoubtedly have excitement at a fever pitch as destiny calls New Japan’s finest to the Tokyo Dome in January. With the promotion’s momentum showing no sign of slowing down, success on this tour could mean taking that next step closer to greatness and glory. In the end, it will be all about making it to one date, January 4th.
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