Earlier this week, New Japan announced the following major matches for their string of “Destruction” iPPVs in the month of September and the main event for the “King of Pro Wrestling” iPPV on October 10 at the Ryogoku Sumo Hall in Tokyo:
9/1 Lion’s Gate Project 3 at Shinjuku FACE in Tokyo
* NJPW vs. NOAH 8-Man Tag: NEVER Champion Katsuyori Shibata, Hitoyoshi Tenzan, Satoshi Kojima, Yuji Nagata & Manabu Nakanishi (NJPW) vs. Go Shiozaki, Maybach Taniguchi, Katsuhiko Nakajima, Masa Kitamiya & Kaito Kiyomiya (NOAH)
9/17 “Destruction in Tokyo” at the Ota Ward Gym in Tokyo
* NEVER Title: Katsuyori Shibata (c) vs. ROH TV Champion Bobby Fish
(NOTE: Fish gets the title shot by way of defeating Shibata to retain the ROH TV Title at the 8/20 ROH TV Tapings in Las Vegas that will soon air on ROH on Comet TV.)
* IWGP Jr. Title: KUSHIDA (c) vs. BUSHI
(NOTE: BUSHI gets another crack at the champion after defeating him during the round-robin portion of the Best of the Super Jrs. tournament back in June.)
9/22 “Destruction in Hiroshima” at the Tottori Industry Gym in Hiroshima
* IWGP Tag Titles: The Briscoes (c’s) vs. IWGP Jr. Tag Team Champions The Young Bucks
(NOTE: Bucks made the challenge after retaining the Jr. Tag Titles over the Motor City Machine Guns at the 8/21 Super J Cup Finals, looking to break the walls between the two tag divisions.)
* Adam Cole vs. Will Ospreay
(NOTE: ROH Champion Cole returns to New Japan to face CHAOS’ star high-flyer in Ospreay.)
* IWGP Champion Kazuchika Okada vs. Bad Luck Fale
(NOTE: Although not for the title, Okada looks to avenge his loss to Fale from last month in the G-1 Climax.)
* G-1 Rights: Kenny Omega (c) vs. YOSHI-HASHI
(NOTE: Omega defends his Tokyo Dome title shot against the first man who beat him during the course of the G-1 Climax on the first day of B Block, CHAOS’ Head Hunter in YOSHI-HASHI, who shocked the world when he cleanly pinned Omega with his Karma finisher.)
9/25 “Destruction in Kobe” at the Kobe World Memorial Hall in Hyogo
* NEVER 6-Man Tag Titles: Satoshi Kojima, Ricochet and Matt Sydal (c’s) vs. ROH Champion Adam Cole and IWGP Jr. Tag Team Champions The Young Bucks
(NOTE: Bucks look to reclaim the NEVER 6-Man Titles this time with their ROH brethren as part of Bullet Club in Cole.)
* IWGP Intercontinental Champion Michael Elgin vs. Tetsuya Naito
(NOTE: Elgin looks to avenge his loss to Naito from the G-1 Climax, but as also said he would he put the IWGP Intercontinental Title on the line. While not officially made as of yet by NJPW, this could wind up being a title match to main event Kobe.)
10/10 “King of Pro Wrestling” at the Ryugoku Sumo Hall in Tokyo
* IWGP Title: Kazuchika Okada (c) vs. Naomichi Marufuji (NOAH)
(NOTE: Okada threw down the gauntlet during the G-1 Finals, challenging Marufuji to a title match after Marufuji beat Okada on the first day of the G-1 back in July. Its New Japan’s new Ace vs. the long-standing Ace of NOAH in one of Japan’s biggest wrestling venues.)