NJPW World Tag League: Both blocks competitive after 10 shows

By Ethan Renner

Just when I thought I had the answers, New Japan changed the questions.

After eight nights, the 2017 World Tag League featured a competitive A Block, and a B Block that had one dominant team. All of that has changed after the last two shows.

Entering night eleven, four teams sit tied atop the B Block, while the A Block features a six-way tie for second place. Who will emerge from the A Block? Who will conquer the B Block? Your guess is as good as mine.

Elsewhere in New Japan, Tetsuya Naito and Kazuchika Okada remain in each others’ orbit as their January 4th IWGP Heavyweight Championship match looms.

Okada once again got the upper hand on Naito in a tag match on November 30th at Korakuen Hall. Although Naito did get the pinfall, Okada got the best of their exchanges in the bout. It seems clear that Naito will be the one to end Okada’s reign, and the people are ready for that if the crowd response in Korakuen is any indicator. Before being leveled by Okada, Naito fired up, and the sense that the audience wanted to see Naito get the advantage on Okada was palpable.

The Tokyo Dome will be electric, come January 4th, 2018.

Night nine results –

Death Juice (Juice Robinson & Sami Callihan) defeated Yuji Nagata & Manabu Nakanishi (A Block)

Nagata and Robinson started and figured to work most of the way, but Nakanishi and Callihan quickly tagged in for a chop battle. This was the best that Nakanishi has looked so far in the tournament, largely due to Robinson and Callihan bumping all over the building for him.

Nagata and Callihan worked well together, with Juice interfering at will. Nagata hit an exploder suplex on Callihan, throwing him onto Robinson, who was seated in the corner. Robinson and Callihan tried to suplex Nakanishi, but he suplexed both of them at once instead. That was scary, as Callihan almost got dropped on his head. Robinson and Callihan hit Nakanishi with their double team move for the victory.

Hirooki Goto & YOSHI-HASHI defeated Hiroyoshi Tenzan & Satoshi Kojima (A Block)

Kojima ran wild on Goto in the early going and flexed his pecs. Tenzan and Kojima worked over YOSHI-HASHI, who continues to look dreadful in this tournament. He just sticks out like a sore thumb when you’re exposed to all these guys who are so fundamentally sound, if nothing else. I don’t mean to totally bury the guy, so I’ll also mention that he throws a nice superkick.

The place went crazy when Kojima started doing his trademark spots on YOSHI-HASHI. They traded strikes in the middle of the ring until Goto tagged in and worked over Kojima. They did a great near fall on Kojima, but Goto scored the pin on him seconds later anyway. Kojima is still pretty great.

Minoru Suzuki & Takashi Iizuka defeated Bad Luck Fale & Chase Owens (A Block)

Suzuki and Iizuka jumped Fale and Owens as they made their entrance, and the teams brawled through the crowd. Ultimately, Suzuki and Owens made their way to the ring and the match started.

Very quickly, though, Suzuki took things back to the outside and chased Owens through the audience, hammering him with guardrails and chairs. Iizuka and Fale brawled at the opposite end of the arena, but the camera largely focused on Suzuki and Owens, thank goodness.

As they worked back to the ring, Suzuki worked on Owens with a kimura, before he and Iizuka traded off taking the ref while the other choked Owens. Fale and Iizuka tagged in, and, given their limitations, it went about as well as it could have.

Suzuki sold a lot for Owens and Fale, and Owens in particular looked excellent as a result. The finish saw El Desperado take the referee, allowing Iizuka to use the iron hand on Owens. Suzuki then hit the Gotch piledriver to pick up the win.

SANADA & EVIL defeated Hangman Page & Yujiro Takahashi (A Block)

Takahashi and EVIL started off and did very basic stuff, which to their credit, the crowd loved. Things picked up after Page posted SANADA’s knee and hit it with a chair. The crowd really got in to SANADA’s selling.

EVIL tagged in and ran wild on the Bullet Club before yielding to SANADA, who continued to have his leg worked over. He recovered long enough to hit the Magic Killer on Takahashi, with some assistance from his partner, scoring the fall for their team. This was pretty average, but the crowd seemed to like it a lot.

Night 10 results –

Guerrillas of Destiny defeated David Finlay & Katsuya Kitamura (B Block)

Tama Tonga and Kitamura had a hilarious chop battle early on, which the crowd loved. Finlay got more offense than you might expect, looking excellent in doing so. Kitamura continues to keep it very basic, as he should.

Finlay broke up a near fall, then Kitamura kicked out of a Blue Thunder Bomb before succumbing to Tanga Loa’s finisher.

Tomohiro Ishii & Toru Yano defeated Togi Makabe & Henare (B Block)

The story of this match was Henare displaying an ability to take a beating and keep fighting. He got destroyed early on but kept firing up after. When working with someone like Ishii, this was bound to get over, and it did.

They did a great near fall with Henare hitting Ishii with a spear, which the crowd totally bought as the finish. Henare kicked out of one pinning predicament but succumbed to Ishii’s brainbuster.

Best Friends (Beretta & Chuck Taylor) defeated Michael Elgin & Jeff Cobb (B Block)

Taylor was absolutely more over on this night than he has been at any point yet in the tournament, even eliciting a “Chuckie T” chant at the opening bell.

All four guys had their working boots on, and they had a really good match. The place went nuts for Elgin and Cobb’s power stuff, as usual, and they came up with some innovative spots that I’ve never seen, including a vertical suplex where they passed Beretta back and forth to each other while maintaining the suplex.

Taylor and Beretta were on point with their aerial tactics as well. Taylor hit a crazy dive from the top rope in to the crowd. Beretta’s selling isn’t my cup of tea, but he did the bulk of it for his team, and did a fine job.

The place went crazy for the near falls, and the match felt like it reached its climax at the perfect time. Taylor and Beretta hit Strong Zero on Cobb to pick up the win.

War Machine defeated Killer Elite Squad (B Block)

These guys tried their best to follow the previous match, which was quite the tall order, but they were successful.

Lance Archer and Davey Boy Smith Jr. have been positioned as the dominant star team of the tournament so far, and the crowd reacted to them as such, responding in a big way when they lost.

This was four mean guys having a fight, but in an artful way. They looked like they were beating each other up, but with worked or safe forearms and strikes, rather than wailing on each other for real. There’s a time and place for chops, but they can be a crutch.

They did a great spot late in the match where all four guys missed moves from the top rope, and ended up down and selling, which set up the last few minutes nicely. Hanson broke up a near fall after a Hart Attack. Archer broke up a near fall after Fallout, but Smith eventually fell victim to the same move.

Standings after night 10 —

A Block

Death Juice (Juice Robinson & Sami Callihan) — 6
Bad Luck Fale & Chase Owens — 4
Hangman Page & Yujiro Takahashi — 4
Hiroyoshi Tenzan & Satoshi Kojima — 4
Hirooki Goto & YOSHI-HASHI — 4
Minoru Suzuki & Takashi Iizuka — 4
SANADA & EVIL — 4
Manabu Nakanishi & Yuji Nagata – 2

B Block

Killer Elite Squad (Davey Boy Smith Jr. & Lance Archer) — 6
War Machine (Ray Rowe & Hanson) — 6
Best Friends (Beretta & Chuck Taylor) — 6
Guerrillas of Destiny (Tama Tonga & Tanga Loa) — 6
Michael Elgin & Jeff Cobb — 4
Tomohiro Ishii & Toru Yano — 4
David Finlay & Katsuya Kitamura — 0
Togi Makabe & Henare — 0