New Japan announces Destruction cards feat. Omega vs. Ishii, Tanahashi vs. Okada

Originally published at https://www.postwrestling.com/2018/08/20/new-japan-announces-destruction-cards-feat-omega-vs-ishii-tanahashi-vs-okada/

New Japan Pro Wrestling has released the lineups for the three Destruction events in September and has loaded the shows with major main events on each.

The matches that had been expected for King of Pro Wrestling in October with Kenny Omega vs. Tomohiro Ishii and Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. Kazuchika Okada will be taking place in September on these shows.

The promotion has announced that the IWGP junior heavyweight title is vacant following Hiromi Takahashi’s injury. The title will be decided in a four-man tournament with KUSHIDA facing Bushi on September 23rd and Will Ospreay taking on Marty Scurll on September 30th in Long Beach. The two winners will face off at King of Pro Wrestling on October 8th at Sumo Hall.

The key dates for the Destruction tour of events are Saturday, September 15th in Hiroshima, Monday, September 17th in Beppu, and Sunday, September 23rd in Kobe.

In addition, they have announced the first three matches for the Fighting Spirit Unleashed card on Sunday, September 30th at the Walter Pyramid in Long Beach, California.


Below are the cards for each show:

Destruction in Hiroshima – Saturday, September 15th at 5 am Eastern:
*Kenny Omega vs. Tomohiro Ishii for the IWGP heavyweight title
*Hiroshi Tanahashi, Togi Makabe & Tomoaki Honma vs. Kazuchika Okada, Jay White & Yoshi-Hashi
*Minoru Suzuki, Zack Sabre Jr, El Desperado & Taka Michinoku vs. Tetsuya Naito, EVIL, Sanada & Bushi
*Hirooki Goto, Toru Yano & Gedo vs. Taichi, Yoshinobu Kanemaru & Takashi Iizuka
*Guerrillas of Destiny & Taiji Ishimori vs. Juice Robinson, Ryusuke Taguchi & David Finlay for the NEVER Openweight six-man tag titles
*Kota Ibushi, Chase Owens & Yujiro vs. Will Ospreay, Beretta & Chuckie T.
*Killer Elite Squad vs. Michael Elgin & Ayato Yoshida
*Bad Luck Fale vs. Toa Henare
*Roppongi 3K & Rocky Romero vs. Jushin Thunder Liger, KUSHIDA & Tiger Mask

Destruction in Beppu – Monday, September 17th at 5 am Eastern:
*Minoru Suzuki vs. Tetsuya Naito
*Hirooki Goto vs. Taichi for the NEVER Openweight title
*Hiroshi Tanahashi, Juice Robinson, Togi Makabe & Tomoaki Honma vs. Kazuchika Okada, Jay White, Toru Yano & Yoshi-Hashi
*EVIL, Sanada & Bushi vs. Zack Sabre Jr., Yoshinobu Kanemaru & El Desperado
*Killer Elite Squad vs. Beretta & Chuckie T.
*Will Ospreay, Roppongi 3K & Rocky Romero vs. KUSHIDA, Ryusuke Taguchi, Tiger Mask & Jushin Thunder Liger
*Takashi Iizuka vs. Ayato Yoshida
*David Finlay & Ren Narita vs. Toa Henare & Shota Umino
*Yuji Nagata, Manabu Nakanishi & Yuya Uemura vs. Satoshi Kojima, Hiroyoshi Tenzan & Yota Tsuji


Destruction in Kobe – Sunday, September 23rd at 3 am Eastern:
*Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. Kazuchika Okada with the winner going to Wrestle Kingdom to challenge for the IWGP heavyweight title
*KUSHIDA vs. Bushi in the semi-final match for the vacant IWGP junior heavyweight title
*Tetsuya Naito, EVIL & Sanada vs. Minoru Suzuki, Zack Sabre Jr. & Taka Michinoku
*Juice Robinson, David Finlay & Toa Henare vs. Jay White, Will Ospreay & Yoshi-Hashi
*Killer Elite Squad vs. Chuckie T. & Beretta
*Yuji Nagata, Satoshi Kojima, Hiroyoshi Tenzan & Manabu Nakanishi vs. Togi Makabe, Tomoaki Honma, Ryusuke Taguchi & Ayato Yoshida
*El Desperado & Yoshinobu Kanemaru vs. Jushin Thunder Liger & Tiger Mask
*Roppongi 3K vs. Shota Umino & Ren Narita
*Yuya Uemura vs. Yota Tsuji

Fighting Spirit Unleashed – Sunday, September 30th at 8 pm Eastern:
*Juice Robinson vs. Cody for the IWGP United States title
*The Young Bucks vs. Guerrillas of Destiny for the IWGP tag titles
*Will Ospreay vs. Marty Scurll in the semi-final match for the vacant IWGP junior heavyweight title

Interesting that Omega & Ishii are only on the one card right now and they have Tanahashi on all 3 of the Destruction shows.

Golden Lovers vs Ishii & Ospreay on one of the Road to Destruction shows should be dynamite