16 teams across two blocks
World Tag League returns on November 20 this year, with a loaded tour running over three weeks and showcasing the best in heavyweight tag teams. In the biggest league since 2019, 16 teams will be taking part, and for the first time since 2017, they’ll be split across two blocks, with top two point scorers facing off from opposite blocks facing off on December 8 in semifinals and grand finals on the tenth. Here are the teams doing battle:
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A BLOCK
Shota Umino ＆Ren Narita (debut entry)
Since shaking hands in the wake of a wild best of seven series through the Road to Destruction, Shota Umino and Ren Narita have felt that though they may have wildly different visions of the future in NJPW, obviously with each of them as the focal point, Working together might be the best thing they could do for all of professional wrestling at this point in time. While their first outing post excursion as a tag team back in March resulted in painful defeat at the hands of the Okada and Tanahashi dream team, both have made significant strides since, and World Tag League could see them make a major break as a tandem, and as individuals.
CHAOS (Tomohiro Ishii & Toru Yano) 4th entry, 1st in three years
After a pair of runs for Be-Bop Tag Team in the World Tag League, Toru Yano teams with CHAOS mate Tomohiro Ishii instead of Hiroshi Tanahashi for the first time in the tournament since 2020. Former IWGP Tag Team Champions, Ishii and Yano’s combination of tough fighting and wily tactics could easily see them to a surprise berth in the final four- how far will they go?
United Empire (Great-O-Khan & HENARE) 3rd entry, 3rd consecutive
One of the strengths of the United Empire as a faction in the past three years has been in having any two members of its ranks being able to combine equally effectively as a tag team. The hard hitting and intensely focused nature of HENARE and Great-O-Khan have threatened to make finals in their 7-4 and 5-4 entries in 2021 and 2022; this year can they make the top two in their block?
TMDK (Shane Haste & Mikey Nicholls) 2nd entry, 2nd consecutive
Last year’s World Tag League saw Shane Haste and Mikey Nicholls well in the mix up to the last day of league action, falling at the last hurdle to eventual winners Bishamon. Their impressive performances together with the results they did put together would see a trio of challenges to IWGP Tag Team Championship gold in 2023, but each time they fell short- now Hysterical Haste and Mad Mikey are seeking to use WTL as a stepping stone to finally change their status of arguably the best tag team never to win IWGP gold.
BULLET CLUB War Dogs (Alex Coughlin & Gabe Kidd) 2nd entry, 2nd consecutive
While Gabe Kidd and Alex Coughlin first tamed up in last year’s World Tag League, their dramatic transformation as part of BULLET CLUB War Dogs, coupled with their championship experience with NJPW STRONG gold over the summer make them a dangerous combination this year. Those belts were taken off of Kidd and Coughlin by Hikuleo and El Phantasmo October 9 in Ryogoku, and the War Dogs have every intention on meeting their G.o.D rivals in the knockout phase.
HOUSE OF TORTURE (EVIL & Yujiro Takahashi) 4th entry, 4th consecutive
The fourth World Tag League entry for HOUSE OF TORTURE raises for the fourth time the uncomfortable question of whether H.O.T will darken the doors of the tag title scene. Certainly EVIL will look to improve on a semifinal outing in the G1 with more success in the tag ranks, but will our other teams be able to put them in their place?
Kaito Kiyomiya & Ryohei Oiwa (debut entry)
A big surprise entry to the World Tag League scene, Ryohei Oiwa and Kaito Nakajima arrive from Pro-Wrestling NOAH> At the culmination of his debut G1, Kiyomiya formed a connection with then Young Lion Ryohei Oiwa, and invited the young heavyweight to make his excursion domestically as part of NOAH. Having recently come just shy of the GHC Tag Team Championships in the green promotion, Oiwa and Kiyomiya could be dark horse picks for WTL victory.
Gates of Agony (Bishop Kaun & Toa Liona) (debut entry)
Having made an impressive mark on the Ring of Honor scene, where along with Brian Cage they are two thirds of the ROH Six Man Tag Team Champions, the Gates of Agony make their World Tag League debuts. A powerful tag team combination, they could pose a significant heavyweight threat to any of our A Block teams.
B BLOCK
Bishamon (YOSHI-HASHI & Hirooki Goto)- IWGP Tag Team Champions, 2021, 2022 WTL winners. 5th entry, 4th consecutive
Bishamon are the team to beat in World Tag League. Replicating the feat of EVIL and SANADA in 2017 and 2018, the last two years saw Hirooki Goto and YOSHI-HASHI victorious in back to back World Tag Leagues, and to pull off the ‘double double’ of winning the IWGP Tag Team Championships at successive Wrestle Kingdoms as a result. No team has yet won three World Tag Leagues though, let alone consecutively. Should Bishamon do so, they’ll be able to call their shot in the Tokyo Dome, and are sure to have a long list of potential opposition from all the way around the world.
Hikuleo ＆El Phantasmo – (debut entry). STRONG Openweight Tag Team Champions
After a successful defence of STRONG Openweight Tag Team Championship gold at Lonestar Shootout Friday, El Phantasmo and Hikuleo share the target on the back that champions bear going into any tournament. Having proven against the West Coast Wrecking Crew in Texas that they are indeed more than a ‘thrown together tag team’, but do they have enough to win the trophies?
Yuji Nagata ＆Minoru Suzuki (debut entry)
It’s still hard to believe that on October 9 2023, Yuji Nagata and Minoru Suzuki seemed to put 20 years of seething hatred behind them and shook hands for a greater good. Yet that’s just what happened, and much as Narita and Umino are moving on alongside one another, and even El Desperado and Master Wato seemed to almost get along with one another by the end of Super Junior Tag League, so the Justice the King will form the most fearsome veteran team imaginable this World Tag League.
Just 5 Guys (Taichi ＆Yuya Uemura）debut entry
Taichi forms a first time tag team with Yuya Uemura for World Tag League. Recently back from excursion and inserting himself into Just Five Guys, Uemura is looking to make a major mark in a bid to make it onto his first main Wrestle Kingddom card. Could that Dome debut be for the IWGP Tag Team Championships?
Yota Tsuji & Z (debut entry)
While Yota Tsuji did have plans to team with Shingo Takagi for the World Tag League, the Dragon’s acquisition of singles gold in the form of the NEVER Openweight Championship changed the direction for Tsuji, and has raised questions of just who he’ll partner up with in the tournament. At a live event in Anjo on November 11, Tsuji intimated that it wouldn’t be an LIJ ‘pareja’, but rather a friend he met on excursion, and that he wasn’t an ‘X’ but a ‘Z’. All will apparently become clear at a live event this weekend in Utsunomiya..
Soberano Jr. & Atlantis Jr. (debut entry)
Two of CMLL’s best in Soberano Jr and Atlantis Jr. enter World Tag League. These two are well familiar with one another both as partners and as opponents; one of the most exciting combinations in their group, we’ll see how far they can go together in a competitive B Block field.
Monstersauce (Lance Archer & Alex Zayne) debut entry
What Alex Zayne and Lance Archer lack in ring time as a team, they more than make up for in impact made thus far. In Korakuen Hall, and then Las Vegas where they came just short of STRONG Tag gold, Monstersauce have definitely made a mark. Will they make it to the final four?
BULLET CLUB Rogue Army (Bad Luck Fale & Jack Bonza)
Completing the lineup, Bad Luck Fale and Jack Bonza represent the Antipodean side of BULLET CLUB, and NJPW TAMASHII’s Rogue Army. Showing they mean business across Australia and New Zealand, will Japan bring success to this band of rogues?
