The full card has been determined for Destruction in Beppu on Sunday September 15, with a huge British Heavyweight Championship match in the main event!
Destruction in Beppu will be presented LIVE and in English on NJPW World!
In the main event, Hiroshi Tanahashi faces Zack Sabre Junior for the British Heavyweight Championship. Tanahashi and ZSJ have been at loggerheads throughout the whole year, this marking their fifth singles encounter in 2019. While Sabre could claim an early edge in their rivalry, and took great pride in putting Tanahashi on the shelf in April at Madison Square Garden, this year has seen the Ace with the upper hand, having defeated Sabre in the New Japan Cup, and in the G1 Climax. Then in London on August 31, an emphatic High Fly Flow saw Tanahashi lift the British Heavyweight Championship for the first time in his career. ZSJ has been granted a huge opportunity to right perceived wrongs here, and will be desperate to regain his title, but the Ace has shown his prior victories were no fluke, and may be looking to put Sabre in his rear view mirror.
In the semi-main event, a special tag team match will see YOSHI-HASHI and Tomohiro Ishii team up to take on the IWGP Tag Team Champions, the Guerrillas of Destiny. GoD have been dominant at the top of the tag ranks, and in their quest for fresh blood to challenge them, came up against Mark Davis and Kyle Fletcher, Aussie Open in London at Royal Quest. Aussie Open came up short, but one had to give the assist points to Jado and his kendo stick, which came into play at several points during the match.
Now Ishii and YOSHI-HASHI step up. Ishii will be walking into Beppu furious with GoD, who got heavily involved in his NEVER Openweight Championship match at Royal Quest. He has a score to settle with both Loa and Tonga, and has recruited YOSHI-HASHI to help him settle it. YOSHI-HASHI for his part was strong in preliminary matches during the G1 Climax tour, and will be looking to make a competitive statement going into the autumn.
In other matches, EVIL and Tetsuya Naito will take on Jay White and Chase Owens, as Naito and White are on a collision course for Kobe on September 22. The other three members of Los Ingobernables De Japon will be in six man action against Rocky Romero, Hirooki Goto and SANADA; SANADA has sights set on Okada at King of Pro Wrestling in October, while Goto and Takagi will have a G1 rematch at Kobe on September 22.
A ten man tag sees Robbie Eagles and Will Ospreay, the Birds of Prey, combine with Tomoaki Honma, Togi Makabe and Kota Ibushi against El Phantasmo, Taiji Ishimori, Yujiro Takahashi, Bad Luck Fale and KENTA. Two exciting junior tag teams will be part of that bout, and the junior tag division continues to look strong in the fourth match of the night, Roppongi 3K teaming with Jyushin Thunder Liger against DOUKI, Yoshinobu Kanemaru and Minoru Suzuki. DOUKI and Kanemaru could be looking to forge new connections, and could Liger and Suzuki’s ongoing issues rise to the fore again?
The night will start with two Young Lion Cup bouts, as Yota Tsuji takes on Karl Fredericks and Shota Umino faces Alex Coughlin. Then the remaining Young Lions will be in tag action as Yuya Uemura and Ren Narita team with Ryusuke Taguchi and Yuji Nagata to face Michael Richards and Clark Connors, who will team up with Toa Henare and Manabu Nakanishi.
