Five teams still alive with one match left

World Tag League 2021 hit Ehime on December 9 for the penultimate matches of league action before Hiroshima Sunday and the grand finals Wednesday. 

The main event would see CHAOS’ Hirooki Goto and YOSHI-HASHI face the United Empire’s Aaron Henare and Great-O-Khan, in a match that would determine who would be in control of their narrative come Sunday in Hiroshima. Goto would start with Henare, who bowled over the CHAOS member with a tackle before falling foul of effective double team work, but as O-Khan provided Iron Claw support, Goto would be on the back foot. 

Following O-Khan into the ropes to score a lariat, Goto would create a tag to YOSHI-HASHI, but despite the Headhunter’s best efforts, he would be caught in the Sheep Killer as O-Khan continued to dominate. It wasn’t until a basement dropkick to Henare that Goto would re-enter the ring, he too falling to a Maori Drop and heavy double team offense until an errant boot from O-Khan caught Henare instead.

CHAOS, usually so effective off the hot tag were expertly dealt with by the United Empire, who landed a double team Berzerker Bomb and the Sheep Killer Marine on YOSHI-HASHI. In a flash though, Goto was back on the scene to assist, and though the Dominator broke up a Shoto attempt and put Goto in an Iron Claw, a thrust kick from the Headhunter scored flush, and the GYW and then Shoto connected on Henare to put the CHAOS side on the top of the standings at 14 points. 

Already out of mathematical contention, but fighting for pride were Hiroshi Tanahashi and Toru Yano as they faced the long since eliminated TenCozy. With corner exposed and dirty tactics galore, Yano and Tanahashi kept Hiroyoshi Tenzan away from Satoshi Kojima, but when the Strongest Arm got a tag, there were two full Machine Gun clips for his opponents and a diving elbow for Tanahashi. Yano would fall prey to the TenCozy Cutter, but the Ace would make the save, and a quick low blow and rollup would see Yano get the pin on Tenzan.

The last BULLET CLUB derby of World Tag League saw Bad Luck Fale and Chase Owens take on Tama Tonga and Tanga Loa. Seven time tag team champions Guerrillas of Destiny showed Chase Owens just why they earned that status with quick tags isolating the Crown Jewel early, but a big back body drop would see Bad Luck Fale punish Tama before taking him to the Tongan Massage Parlor. Big strikes would see Tonga get the distance to tag in Loa, and G.o.D began to build steam before being stopped by Fale’s sheer size and power, but just as Fale closed on victory, a sunset flip and dropkick combo saw a quick pin for the Guerrillas. 

Great Bash Heel were looking for their second win as Dangerous Tekkers sought their seventh on the night; Tomoaki Honma and Togi Makabe starting strong before being taken to the floor. There Honma would be worked over until making the tag to the heavy hitting Makabe, who was able to power through even Zack Sabre Junior’s technical mastery before landing a thudding lariat. 

The rejuvenated Honma would get in to go blow for blow with Taichi and land a Kokeshi before a double team with Makabe had Taichi in jeopardy. Honma was too slow to land either the diving Kokeshi or the Kokeshi Device, and though he got wide to block the Holy Zack Driver, he was caught with Ore to Zack for two. As Sabre held Makabe at bay, Taichi would lock in the Seitei Jujiro and victory was secured. 

Tetsuya Naito and SANADA sought to control their own destiny Sunday in Hiroshima with a win over Yuji Nagata and Tiger Mask. After a scientific opening between SANADA and Nagata, Naito was rather more rough with Tiger Mask, tearing at the legendary hood and bringing him to the LIJ corner. Tiger was able to land a Tiger Driver to bring Nagata back inside, and after some solid strikes, Blue Justice caught SANADA in Nagata Lock II, but ultimately it would be a Skull End followed by a Moonsault that ended Nagata’s night as Tiger Mask was held at bay. 

The first league match of the evening saw HOUSE OF TORTURE face the winless Suzuki-Gun pairing of TAKA Michinoku and Minoru Suzuki. As expected, a brawling affair saw the teams evenly matched before the numbers game got too much, and Michinoku was stuck in the wrong corner. A pump kick from TAKA brought Suzuki in to tee off on EVIL, but when Suzuki was incensed at HOUSE OF TORTURE’s tactics, he would grab a chair from ringside, only succeeding in drawing the referee away as Yujiro used his stick and then Big Juice to get victory.