NJPW Destruction in Ryogoku notes: New champions crowned, Just Five Guys add member

New Japan Pro Wrestling presented Destruction in Ryogoku on Monday from Sumo Hall. 

The show was headlined by SANADA defending the IWGP World Heavyweight Championship against his former tag partner, EVIL. Ref bumps and Interference by House of Torture members took place throughout the match with SANADA’s Just Five Guys stablemates attempting to even up the odds. SANADA would eventually retain with a Skull End.

Following the main event, SANADA was joined in the ring by the winner of the G1 and his former LIJ stablemate, Tetsuya Naito. With SANADA having retained over EVIL, the Wrestle Kingdom main event of Naito vs. SANADA appears to be set. 

Hiromu Takahashi retained the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Championship in a three-way against YOH and Mike Bailey. YOH was replacing Lio Rush in the match, who is out of action with a fever. Takahashi pinned YOH with Time Bomb 2 for the win. Bailey was furious after, demanding one more shot against the champion. 

Following the match, the lights in the building went out and when they came back on, Taiji Ishimori was in the ring with Takahashi. He attacked the champion and then cut a promo telling Takahashi his time is over. Ishimori has been out of action since suffering an injury during his match with Takahashi in the Best of the Super Juniors on May 21. 

Hiroshi Tanahashi, Kazuchika Okada, and Tomohiro Ishii retained the NEVER Openweight Six Man titles over the Motor City Machine Guns and Josh Alexander. Shelley and Alexander, who will wrestle at Impact Bound for Glory later this month, had a miscommunication that resulted in Alexander accidentally hitting Shelley. This led to Tanahashi pinning Shelley with a High Fly Flow. Alexander and Shelley seemed to get along just fine after the match, though. Tanahashi motioned to Shelley that they are now 1-1 against each other. Shelley successfully defended the Impact title against Tanahashi at Multiverse United 2 in August.

Tama Tonga is once again the NEVER Openweight Champion. He used a Styles Clash and a Jay Driller to defeat David Finlay and win the title for a third time on Monday. Finlay beat Tonga for the title at Wrestling Dontaku on May 3. 

More notes from NJPW Destruction in Ryogoku:

  • Gabe Kidd, Hikuleo, Alex Coughlin, Kevin Knight, and Jeff Cobb all returned to action after having missed shows this week due to illness. 
  • Yuya Uemura returned from his excursion with Impact Wrestling on the show. He was revealed as Just Five Guys’ mystery partner against House of Torture. The stable had been down to just four guys after the defection of Yoshinobu Kanemaru. Uemura, DOUKI, and TAICHI then defeated HOT’s Kanemaru, SHO, and Yujiro Takahashi. Uemura got the pin on Takahashi for his team. Uemura would later reveal at the post-show presser that his condition for joining the group is that he gets singles matches against all of them, including potentially against SANADA for the IWGP World Heavyweight title. 
  • The best of seven series between Master Wato, Shota Umino, & Yuji Nagata, and Strong Style concluded in Ryogoku. After Umino pinned Ren Narita the series concluded in a tie with each team winning three times and drawing once. Everyone shook hands following the match.
  • Former Bullet Club members El Phantasmo and Hikuleo defeated current Bullet Club members Gabe Kidd and Alex Coughlin to win the NJPW Strong Openweight Tag Team Championships. The commentary team mentioned ELP and Hikuleo will likely be defending those belts in Las Vegas at Fighting Spirit Unleashed later this month. 

NJPW Destruction in Ryogoku results:

  • Ryusuke Taguchi, Tiger Mask, Toru Yano, Oskar Leube, & YOSHI-Hashi defeated Takahiro Katori (Freedoms), Jun Masaoka (DDT), Kazuma Sumi (DDT), Takeshi Masada (DDT), & Kengo (Freedoms/Tenryu Project)
  • DOUKI, TAICHI, & Yuya Uemura (Just 5 Guys) defeated Yoshinobu Kanemaru, SHO, & Yujiro Takahashi (House of Torture)
  • Tanga Loa defeated Chase Owens
  • BUSHI, Yota Tsuji, Shingo Takagi, & Tetsuya Naito (Los Ingobernables de Japon) defeated Jeff Cobb, Great-O-Khan, HENARE, & Callum Newman (United Empire)
  • IWGP Jr. Heavyweight Tag Team Championship: Drilla Moloney & Clark Connors (Bullet Club War Dogs) (c) defeated KUSHIDA & Kevin Knight (Jet Setters) to win the titles
  • Master Wato, Shota Umino, & Yuji Nagata defeated El Desperado, Ren Narita, & Minoru Suzuki (Strong Style) (Series ends in a 3-3-1 draw
  • NEVER Openweight 6-Man Tag Team Championship: Tomohiro Ishii, Hiroshi Tanahashi, & Kazuchika Okada (c) defeated Josh Alexander, Chris Sabin, Alex Shelley
  • NEVER Openweight Championship: Tama Tonga defeated David Finlay (c) to win the title
  • IWGP World Heavyweight Championship Lumberjack Deathmatch: SANADA (c) defeated EVIL