This show was previously covered on Happy Wrestling in a sleep-deprived live blog: Happy Thoughts – NJPW Destruction in Kobe (9/23/18) – Live Blog!. The show had some OK stuff (highlighted by Jushin Thunder Liger & Tiger Mask vs. Yoshinobu Kanemaru & El Desperado and barely KUSHIDA vs. BUSHI) but this match is the only thing worth seeking out. And it’s really really worth seeking out.
1. Tokyo Dome IWGP Heavyweight Title Contendership: Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. Kazuchika Okada
Okada has got the old jacket, is missing the balloons, but still has the same shitty red hair. Before the bell he looks like a little boy next to this hulking MAN Hiroshi Tanahashi. But it’s also incredible what he can do with his face. When he hit the first dropkick to Tanahashi’s leg, he went from little shit to stone cold killer just like that.
This went from respectful headlocks to no clean break and THROWING ELBOWS real quick. I liked it a lot. A LOT. It’s another excellent and unique entry into their series. Heel Okada ripping up Tanahashi’s leg to get to the Tokyo Dome was a great dynamic. I dug him leaning into elbow smashes, asking for more, then kicking Tanahashi in the knee. Tanahashi getting caught by his leg on the post and Okada hammering on his knee was transcendent too.
Tanahashi countered the leg destruction (HA) by just peppering his shit in when he could – a dragon screw here, a tombstone piledriver on the floor there.
Once Okada tried the first Rainmaker this went on a RIDE. Tanahashi sold his knee like the pro wrestling maestro he is and had the crowd behind him the whole time. Stuff like not being able to do the jackknife pin and the awkward High Fly Flow kickout might’ve seemed a little weird but added to him feeling completely screwed. The odds felt insurmountable, but this is Tanahashi.
The slap counter of the Rainmaker is always good, especially if Okada just kicks Tanahashi in the knee right after. What was even better was Tanahashi countering the Rainmaker with a Dragon suplex hold for a completely insane near fall.
Okada going for a TOP ROPE TOMBSTONE, fully wiling to murder Tanahashi, only for Tanahashi to hit the High Fly Flow AS OKADA FELL TO THE MAT was all-timer stuff. Incredible finish, incredible match. ****3/4
AXS clips out the YOSHI-HASHI trip, though seeing it full screen vs. computer screen is horrifying – guys’ face is completely screwed up.
AND THEN GEDO TURNED ON OKADA FOR JAY GOD DAMN WHITE
Hiroshi Tanahashi sums it up as he lays on the floor backstage: “Ah, shit! Do you have any idea how many years it took for me to finally beat Okada, you son of a bitch!”
