Bishamon and GoD collide in main event
December 10 will see the finals of World Tag League. 16 teams have become two, and the world’s best duos will do battle Sunday afternoon to determine the 2023 WTL winners, and the future of the IWGP Tag team Championships at Wrestle Kingdom 18.
Watch LIVE on NJPW World! (English to follow very soon after the event)
Main event: World Tag League Final- Bishamon (Hirooki Goto & YOSHI-HASHI) vs Guerrillas of Destiny (Hikuleo & El Phantasmo)
Tag record: 1-0 GoD
The World Tag League final is supposed to determine the top tag team over a three week period, and its fitting that two sets of tag team champions comprise our final for the first time ever. Hirooki Goto, already a four time winner of the tournament seeks his fifth overall trophy and an unprecedented third in a row with YOSHI-HASHI, as Bishamon seek to further make history as the first IWGP tag team Champions to win the winter tag classic.
Yet victory will be no easy task. Hikuleo and El Phantasmo are the NJPW STRONG Openweight Tag Team Champions, and started their campaigns with a win over Bishamon in Korakuen Hall, a venue that has historically been to YOSHI-HASHI and Hirooki Goto’s extreme advantage. Now, they stand to stop the streak of Bishamon and move closer to double tag gold in the Tokyo Dome- but if Goto and YOSHI-HASHI are victorious, what might be in the pipeline for the tag gold at Wrestle Kingdom?
7th Match: Just Five Guys (SANADA, Taichi, Yuya Uemura, DOUKI & TAKA Michinoku) vs Los Ingobernables De Japon (Tetsuya Naito, Shingo Takagi, Yota Tsuji, Zandokan Jr.& BUSHI)
Tetsuya Naito makes his return to in ring competition after eye surgery to face off with SANADA less than one month away from their main event showdown over the IWGP World Heavyweight Championship at Wrestle Kingdom 18. With just four weeks separating both men from their date with destiny, tonight will see an important step on the road to Wrestle Kingdom. NEVER Openweight Champion Shingo Takagi is also involved in the Tokyo Dome card, and with opponent Tama Tonga absent, will be looking to make a show of force ahead of WK18. For Uemura meanwhile, a win Friday night in Kagoshima did little to satisfy the recent returnee, still sore from a humiliating loss to Tsuji at Power Struggle. Insistent he will get the upper hand on the Gene Blast before the year is out, will this be a big step toward that point?
6th Match: Hiroshi Tanahashi & Kazuchika Okada vs gates of Agony (Bishop Kaun & Toa Liona)
A massive opportunity for the Gates of Agony sees them end their first tour of Japan by taking on the Dream Team of Tanahashi and Okada. The Ace and the Rainmaker will combine as a duo for the first time since April 15 and Capital Collision in Washington DC. That night was a sore memory for Tanahashi, who sustained a rib injury in a four way challenge to the STRONG Openweight Tag Team Championships, but in the weeks that followed, he and Okada, along with Tomohiro Ishii took the NEVER Opernweight 6 Man titles, setting a scene of two thirds of two trios champions to collide here tonight. Tanahashi has admitted envy of Bishop Kaun’s abs, but it’s GoA that are envious of the impact the Dream Team have, and will look to make some impact of their own in major fashion.
5th Match: Tomoaki Honma, Ryohei Oiwa & Kaito Kiyomiya vs HOUSE OF TORTURE (EVIL, Yujiro Takahashi & Yoshinobu Kanemaru)
Beaten and humiliated by Kaito Kiyomiya and Ryohei Oiwa during the early stages of World tag League, EVIL continues his campaign against NOAH’s ‘Galaxy View’ tonight. Friday in Kagoshima, HOT scored a win over Oiwa, but were chased off by Kiyomiya before they could continue to put the boots in. Can Kiyomiya and Oiwa strike back in trios action this afternoon?
4th Match: Tiger Mask & Shota Umino vs HOUSE OF TORTURE (Ren Narita & SHO)
Shota Umino headed to Kagoshima Friday ready to get his hands on Ren Narita and take his former partner to task for joining HOUSE OF TORTURE early in the week. Yet Narita would instead sneak in to attack Umino’s partner from behind and then secure a win in under a minute, the only physical contact with Umino happening when Narita’s new H.O.T comrades joined the beat down. After three nights ended under the degenerate boot of Narita, will the Roughneck finally be able to bounce back today?
3rd Match: Oskar Leube, Yuto Nakashima, Toru Yano & Tomohiro Ishii vs United Empire (Callum Newman, HENARE, Great-O-Khan & Jeff Cobb)
Imperial Unit Jeff Cobb makes his return to combine with Callum Newman, HENARE and Great-O-Khan for eight man action. The United EMpire side look to be the favourites in this contest, and with HENARE making odes to Gates of Agony’s ROH Six Man titles, might Cobb be the perfect third piece to that puzzle?
2nd Match: Alex Zayne, Lance Archer, Minoru Suzuki & Yuji Nagata vs BULLET CLUB (Gabe Kidd, Alex Coughlin, Jack Bonza & Bad Luck Fale)
It took the whole of World tag League to do it, but against Bad Luck Fale and Jack Bonza in their last league match, Yuji Nagata and Minoru Suzuki finally got onto the same page. Tonight they combine with the other team they were able to score against in the league, Alex Zayne and Lance Archer or Monstersauce, while the presence of a Gabe Kidd and Alex Coughlin incensed at their semifinal exit Friday will lead to a chaotic battle in Kumamoto.
1st Match: TMDK (Kosei Fujita, Shane Haste & Mikey Nicholls) vs Master Wato, Soberano Jr. & Atlantis Jr.
TMDK enter Kagoshima similarly ruing a semifinal exit from World Tag League 2023. As Soberano Jr. and Atlantis Jr. wrestle their last match in Japan before a return at Fantasticamania, TMDk want to send them packing with a win, and to get back on track to title contention in the new year.
Frontier Zone: Boltin Oleg & Ryusuke Taguchi vs Asosan & Kodai Nozaki
The Frontier Zone continues to bring new wrestling to fans of NJPW, this time with two heavyweight figures from Kyushu Pro. The independent promotion is represented by hard hitter Kodai Nozaki, and Asosan, named after Mount Aso, from here in Kumamoto, where it’s the highest active volcano in Japan. Will this team erupt over Boltin and Taguchi?
