League passes one third distance in Kawasaki
World Tag League continues in Kawasaki this Wednesday night, as three teams head into the night undefeated, but at least one winning streak will be broken.
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Main event: ‘Be-Bop High School’ (Toru Yano & Hiroshi Tanahashi) (3-0) vs Los Ingobernables De Japon (Tetsuya Naito & SANADA) (3-0)
Headlining in Kawasaki, somebody’s ‘oh’ has to go when two undefeated teams face off. Tetsuya Naito made a declarative statement on day one of World Tag League, promising that he and SANADA would not just win the league, but do so undefeated. The LIJ duo has backed that talk up in successive performances over Suzuki-Gun and Great Bash Heel.
More unassuming, at least at first, were Toru Yano and Hiroshi Tanahashi. With their ‘Be-Bop High School’ inspired throwback high school uniforms, it looked as first like ‘Hiroshi and Toru’ were just happy to be part of the action and have a little fun. But the two beat HOUSE OF TORTURE on night one, and then racking up four more points over the last week. Could they go even further and derail former IWGP tag Team Champions in our main event?
6th Match: Dangerous Tekkers (Taichi & Zack Sabre Jr.) (3-0) vs United Empire (Aaron Henare & Great-O-Khan) (2-1)
Another undefeated streak is at stake in the semi main event in Kawasaki as Taichi and Zack Sabre Jr. look to stay perfect against Aaron Henare and Great-O-Khan. That’s much easier said than done; despite a sore loss to Bad Luck Fale and Chase Owens on night one, the United Empire team have picked up two straight wins, and both United Empire members have a lot to play for. With O-Khan’s pride still smarting from his tapout loss to ZSJ in the G1, the Dominator has a score to settle, and Ultimate Weapon Henare has high profile targets in sight.
5th Match: Suzuki-gun (Minoru Suzuki & TAKA Michinoku) (0-3) vs Guerrillas of Destiny (Tama Tonga & Tanga Loa) (2-1)
Despite Naito and SANADA’s big talk, with a 12 team league, a perfect record is nigh on impossible. That said, being the first team to ‘blink’ at the top of the table is a tough position to be in, and last year’s winners blinked before LIJ, Dangerous Tekkers, and Yano and Tanahashi. Tama Tonga and Tanga Loa head into their fourth match with a desire to quickly re-establish themselves, and in a winnable environment. TAKA Michinoku has had a difficult re-introduction to NJPW competition as he and Minoru Suzuki have dropped three straight, but Suzuki-Gun will always want to secure a prime trophy kill, and the WTL 2020 trophy winners fit that bill.
4th Match: Great Bash Heel (Tomoaki Honma & Togi Makabe) (0-3) vs BULLET CLUB (Bad Luck Fale & Chase Owens) (2-1)
Direct tag record: 1-0 BULLET CLUB
Bad Luck Fale and Chase Owens have had an impressive start to this year’s World Tag League, wins being secured over the United Empire and, in some sweet tasting intra factional revenge from the G1 for Owens, HOUSE OF TORTURE. Can they keep up that record against Great Bash Heel? Honma and Makabe have been having a difficult time getting on the scoreboard but Fale and Owens should bring out their brawling style perfectly, and could see their first two points.
3rd Match: TenCozy (Satoshi Kojima & Hiroyoshi Tenzan) (1-2) vs HOUSE OF TORTURE (EVIL & Yujiro Takahashi) (0-3)
For all of HOUSE OF TORTURE’s ability to play the numbers game when EVIL or SHO are in singles environments, they’ve struggled in tag situations where the numbers are more even. Zero points is the record for EVIL and Yujiro after three matches, and the danger of being forced out of contention looms. With competition intense for high profile spaces on one of three major Wrestle Kingdom 16 cards, HOUSE OF TORTURE want to get moving in World Tag League, but want to do so against a formidable team in TenCozy who know every trick in the book and then some.
2nd Match: Tiger Mask & Yuji Nagata (0-3) vs CHAOS (Hirooki Goto & YOSHI-HASHI (2-1)
With a wealth of experience, and junior tag gold for Tiger Mask, he and Yuji Nagata seemed to be a team to be reckoned with before World tag league started. Yet in a world where it isn’t merely enough to be equal to the sum of one’s parts, the all valuable X factor for a successful team has eluded this hontai side. Can they find their first two points against Goto and YOSHI-HASHI? Or, one win off the pace, will the CHAOS side build momentum?
1st Match: Yuto Nakashima (0-0-5 this tour) vs Kosei Fujita (0-0-4 this tour)
Singles record 0-0-3
Ten minutes can be a long time in combat, or it can go by in a flash. The latter has been the case for the three Young Lions who have been looking for their first win all the way through this tour, only for the time limit to expire every single time. Will it be the case once again tonight, or will Nakashima or Fujita finally score their first win?
