NJPW Destruction 2023 in Kobe & Ryogoku, Card, Date, Time
NJPW Destruction series will return in 2023 with two events – Destruction in Kobe on September 24 at World Hall in Kobe, and Destruction in Ryogoku on October 9 at Sumo Hall in Tokyo.
IWGP United States Championship match between Will Ospreay and Yota Tsuji will headline Destruction in Kobe event. IWGP World Heavyweight Championship match between Sanada and Evil will headline Destruction in Ryogoku event.
NIGHT 1
EVENT INFO
MATCH CARD
- Kevin Knight & Tiger Mask vs Bullet Club Wardogs(Drilla Moloney & Clark Connors)
- Winner – Bullet Club Wardogs
- Just 5 Guys(Douki, TAKA Michinoku & SANADA) vs Bullet Club(Yujiro Takahashi, Dick Togo, EVIL)
- Winner – Just 5 Guys
- Jado, EL Phantasmo, Hikuleo, Tanga Loa, Tama Tonga vs Bullet Club(Gedo, Gabe Kidd, Alex Coughlin, Chase Owens, David Finlay)
- Winner – Jado, EL Phantasmo, Hikuleo, Tanga Loa, Tama Tonga
- YOH & Lio Rush vs BUSHI & Hiromu Takahashi
- Winner – YOH & Lio Rush
- Tomohiro Ishii & Kazuchika Okada vs Bad Dude Tito & Zack Sabre Jr.
- Winner – Bad Dude Tito & Zack Sabre Jr.
- Taichi (c) vs SHO – NJPW King Of Pro Wrestling Championship Match
- Winner – SHO
- Bishamon (Hirooki Goto & YOSHI-HASHI) (c) vs. TMDK (Mikey Nicholls & Shane Haste) – IWGP Tag Team Championship Match
- Winner – Bishamon
- Shingo Takagi vs. Great-O-Khan – Singles Match
- Winner – Shingo Takagi
- Tetsuya Naito vs. Jeff Cobb – Singles Match
- Winner – Tetsuya Naito
- Will Ospreay (c) vs. Yota Tsuji – IWGP United States Heavyweight Championship Match
- Winner – Yota Tsuji
NIGHT 2
EVENT INFO
MATCH CARD
- Just Five Guys (Taichi, DOUKI & Yuya Uemera) vs House of Torture (SHO, Yujiro Takahashi & Yoshinobu Kanemaru)
- Winner – Just Five Guys
- Tanga Loa vs Chase Owens – Singles Match
- Winner – Tanga Loa
- United Empire (Jeff Cobb, Great-O-Khan, HENARE & Callum Newman) vs Los Ingobernables De Japon (Shingo Takagi, Tetsuya Naito, Yota Tsuji & BUSHI)
- Winner – Los Ingobernables De Japon
- BULLET CLUB War Dogs (Clark Connors & Drilla Moloney) (c) vs Intergalactic Jet Setters (Kevin Knight & KUSHIDA) – IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Championship Match
- Winner: BULLET CLUB War Dogs (Clark Connors & Drilla Moloney)
- Master Wato, Shoto Umino & Yuji Nagata vs El Desperado, Ren Narita & Minoru Suzuki – Best of 7 Series Final
- Winner: Master Wato, Shoto Umino & Yuji Nagata
- Guerrillas Of Destiny (El Phantasmo & Hikuleo) defeated BULLET CLUB War Dogs (Alex Coughlin & Gabe Kidd) – NJPW STRONG Openweight Tag Team Championship Match
- Hiroshi Tanahashi, Tomohiro Ishii & Kazuchika Okada defeated Alex Shelly, Chris Sabin & Josh Alexander – Never Openweight 6-Man Tag Team Championship
- Tama Tonga defeated David Finlay (c) – NEVER Openweight Championship Match
- Hiromu Takahashi (c) defeated Mike Bailey, YOH – IWGP Junior Heavyweight Championship Match
- SANADA (c) defeated EVIL – IWGP World Heavyweight Championship Match
NOTES & STORYLINES
NJPW Destruction series returns for the first time since 2019. Destruction in Kobe 2023 and Destruction in Ryogoku 2023 events will be 24th and 25th events in the series respectively.
IWGP World Champion Sanada lost to Evil in the quarterfinal of NJPW G1 Climax 33 tournament. This win granted Evil a shot at the title, which he will get in the main event of Destruction in Ryogoku event.
Mike Bailey won the Super Jr. USA tournament at NJPW Super Jr. Festival USA. After this win, he challenged IWGP Jr Heavyweight Champion Hiromu Takahashi for a match. Takahashi accepted the challenge. The following night, Lio Rush pinned Takahashi in a tag team match at Multiverse United 2 event. Rush also challenged Takahashi, which was accepted. NJPW then announced a triple threat match between Rush, Bailey and Takahashi at Destruction in Ryogoku event.
After their successful title defense at Road to Destruction event on September 9, 2023, Hiroshi Tanahashi challenged IMPACT Wrestling to send 3 of their best wrestlers to challenge for NEVER Openweight 6-Man Championship to face him, Tomohiro Ishii and Kazuchika Okada. In response, it was announced that Josh Alexander, Alex Shelley and Chris Sabin will be the title challengers from IMPACT.
