(These Reviews are based on the available matches on NJPW World which is limited to tournament contests only.)
For those of you who read Laura’s review of days 1 & 2, you’ll know that this year’s World Tag League got off to a pretty confident start with no truly bad matches. The big question is, with still 80-something matches to go till the end of the tour, could they manage to maintain momentum for more than two days? Well, let’s find out…
Day 3 Results:
The Elite? (Yujiro Takahashi & Hangman Page) def. Yuya Uemura & Ayato Yoshida// Yujiro pinned Yoshida off a Pimp Juice DDT
Suzuki-Gun (Zack Sabre Jr & Taichi) def. Ren Narita & Shota Umino // Taichi pinned Narita off a Tensho Jujihou
TenCozy (Hiroshi Tenzan & Satoshi Kojima) def. Tomoaki Honma & Yota Tsuji // Kojima pinned Tsuji off a Lariato.
WTL Tournament Match: Togi Makabe & Toa Henare def. Manabu Nakanishi & Yuji Nagata // Makabe pinned Nakanishi off a King Kong Knee Drop
WTL Tournament Match: Killer Elite Squad (Lance Archer & Davey Boy Smith Jr.) def. Jeff Cobb & Michael Elgin // Archer pinned Elgin off a Killer Bomb
WTL Tournament Match: CHAOS (Tomohiro Ishii & Toru Yano) def. Suzuki-Gun (Minoru Suzuki & Takashi Lizuka) // Yano pinned Lizuka with a Schoolboy.
WTL Tournament Match: Guerillas of Destiny (Tama Tonga & Tanga Loa) def. FinJuice (Juice Robinson & David Finlay) // Loa pinned Finlay after going Apeshit.
Los Ingobernables de Japon (Tetsuya Naito, EVIL, SANADA, Shingo Takagi & BUSHI) def. CHAOS (Kazuchika Okada, Beretta, Chuckie T, Sho & Yoh) // Naito pinned Sho off a Destino
Day 4 Results:
FinJuice (Juice Robinson & David Finlay) def. Tomoaki Honma & Yota Tsuji // Finlay pinned Tsuji off a Trash Panda stunner
Toa Henare & Togi Makabe def. Yuya Uemura & Ren Narita // Makabe tapped out Uemura with a Boston Crab
Yuji Nagata, Manabu Nakanishi, Jeff Cobb & Michael Elgin def. Suzuki-Gun (Minoru Suzuki, Takashi Lizuka, Lance Archer & Davey Boy Smith Jr.) // Lizuka was DQ’ed, probably for hitting Nagata with the Iron Claw.
Bullet Club (Tama Tonga, Tanga Loa & Gedo) def. CHAOS (Tomohiro Ishii, Toru Yano & Rocky Romero) // Loa pinned Romero after going Apeshit
WTL Tournament Match: TenCozy (Hiroyoshi Tenzan & Satoshi Kojima) def. Shota Umino & Ayato Yoshida // Kojima pinned Umino off a Lariat
WTL Tournament Match: Best Friends def. Suzuki-Gun (Zack Sabre Jr. & Taichi) // Chuckie pinned Taichi with a Paul Smackage
WTL Tournament Match: Los Ingobernables de Japon (EVIL & SANADA) def. The Elite? (Yujiro Takahashi & Hangman Page) // SANADA pinned Yujiro with a Rolling Back Clutch
Los Ingobernables de Japon (Tetsuya Naito, Shingo Takagi & BUSHI) def. CHAOS (Kazuchika Okada, SHO & YOH) // Naito pinned YOH off a Destino
Best Matches:
Killer Elite Squad vs Cobb & Elgin (Day 3) – Big boys doing big boy things in their biggest and best big boy ways.
Yoshida & Umino vs TenCozy (Day 4) – Despite the best efforts of Tenzan, this was a lot of fun with the Young Guns really seeming like they might pull off an early upset. Yoshida & Umino are early on my MVPs of the tournament.
Best Friends vs Suzuki-Gun (Day 4) – Good, clean action as the odd couple pairing of ZSJ and Taichi is serving to keep Zackie Boy looking amazing while elevating the trouser-ripping emperor. Where has this Taichi been for the last few months?
Worst Matches:
Suzuki-Gun vs CHAOS (Day 3) – For a few minutes, it was just Ishii vs Suzuki and it was beautiful. Sadly the rest of the match was Lizuka-filled.
Henare & Makabe vs Nagata & Nakanishi (Day 3) – Beyond Henare, this was just a typical Dads match lacking any drive whatsoever.
Guerillas of Destiny vs FinJuice (Day 4) – This wasn’t bad, it just lacked any ambition or invention in the heat sections. Also, f*ck Jado.
World Tag League Standings:
Best Friends (Beretta & Chuckie T) – 4pts – (2-0-0)
Guerrillas of Destiny (Tama Tonga & Tanga Loa) – 4pts – (2-0-0)
Killer Elite Squad (Lance Archer & Davey Boy Smith Jr.) – 4pts – (2-0-0)
Los Ingobernables de Japon (EVIL & SANADA) – 4pts – (2-0-0)
CHAOS (Tomohiro Ishii & Toru Yano) – 2pts – (1-0-1)
FinJuice (Juice Robinson & David Finlay) – 2pts – (1-0-1)
Suzuki-Gun (Zack Sabre Jr. & Taichi) – 2pts – (1-0-1)
TenCozy (Satoshi Kojima & Hiroyoshi Tenzan) – 2pts – (1-0-1)
Togi Makabe & Toa Henare – 2pts – (1-0-1)
Yuji Nagata & Manabu Nakanishi – 2pts – (1-0-1)
Ayato Yoshida & Shota Umino – 0pts – (0-0-2)
The Elite? (Hangman Page & Yujiro Takahashi) – 0pts – (0-0-2)
Michael Elgin & Jeff Cobb – 0pts – (0-0-2)
Suzuki-Gun (Minoru Suzuki & Takashi Iizuka) – 0pts – (0-0-2)