By Chris Vetter, ProWrestling.net Contributor (@chrisvetter73)
New Japan Pro Wrestling “World Tag League 2023”
November 21, 2023 in Tokyo, Japan at Korakuen Hall
Streamed live on New Japan World
World Tag League is a 16-show tournament spread over just 21 days, featuring 16 tag teams. They are split into two blocks of eight teams. It is a round-robin tournament, so each team will have seven matches. The top TWO teams from each Block will make the playoffs, as the Block A winner will face the Block B runner-up, while the Block B winner will face the Block A runner-up. The finals will be Dec. 10. This is night 2, back in Korakuen Hall, and it kicks off the B Block action. Chris Charlton provided commentary.
1. Yuto Nakashima defeated Katsuya Murashima at 4:36. My first time seeing this Young Lion, who looks like a very young Taka Michinoku. Yuto is much taller and thicker. Yuto worked the left arm, hit some chops, then a backbody drop. He applied a Boston Crab and Katsuya tapped out. I don’t think Katsuya got in a move.
2. “Gates of Agony” Toa Liona and Bishop Kaun defeated Oskar Leube and Tomoaki Honma at 6:23. The GoA worked over Honma early on with basic offense. Leube got in and hit chops and forearms on each opponent. However, the GoA hit a team faceplant, then a team slam on Leube for the pin. Okay; it didn’t need to go longer than that.
3. Kaito Kiyomiya, Ryohei Oiwa, and Boltin Oleg defeated “United Empire” Callum Newman, Henare, and Great-O-Khan at 9:40. Kaito opened against O-Khan and hit some deep armdrags and a dropkick. O-Khan bit Kaito’s forearm! “What in the world?” Charlton asked. Oleg entered and battled Great-O-Khan. Newman entered and beat up Oleg as the UE took turns working him over in their corner. Henare and Oiwa traded blows at 6:30. Newman hit his speedy Mafia Kick on Oiwa. (How does he run the ropes so quickly?) Oiwa and Kaito hit stereo dropkicks. Kaito peppered Newman with some European Uppercuts in the corner at 8:30. Kaito hit a top-rope crossbody block on Newman, then a running knee to his head for the pin. That was good stuff.
4. Master Wato, Tiger Mask, Shota Umino, and Ren Narita defeated “Bullet Club War Dogs” Gedo, Taiji Ishimori, Alex Coughlin, and Gabe Kidd at 8:35. Shota and Kidd started throwing punches so their teammates separated them. Tiger Mask and Ishimori started at the bell, with TM hitting a tilt-a-whirl backbreaker over his knee. Ren and Coughlin entered and traded stiff forearm strikes, and Ren hit a Northern Lights Suplex for a nearfall at 1:30, and they brawled to the floor. Kidd and Shota now were also brawling on the floor, with Gabe whipping Umino into a guardrail. Kidd jabbed the edge of a chair into Ren’s back at 4:00.
Umino finally made the hot tag and he hit a tornado DDT on Kidd, then a fisherman’s suplex on Coughlin for a nearfall at 6:00. Kidd nailed a left-arm lariat and they were both down. Wato entered and hit a springboard flying forearm on Gedo. Tiger Mask hit a top-rope crossbody block on Ishimori. TM hit a Tiger Driver on Gedo. Wato immediately applied the Vendeval head and shoulders submission hold and Gedo tapped out. Umino and Kidd kept brawling after the bell.
5. “House of Torture” EVIL, Yujiro Takahashi, and Dick Togo defeated “The Mighty Don’t Kneel” Kosei Fujita, Mikey Nicholls, and Shane Haste at 10:23. The HoT attacked at the bell and all six fought on the floor. In the ring, Togo worked over Haste with some basic stomps and chokes in the ropes. EVIL yanked Haste to the floor and whipped into the guardrail at 4:00 and beat him up on the floor. In the ring, Haste hit a double suplex on Togo and Yujiro and he made the hot tag to Nicholls. Mikey hit some clotheslines, then a DDT on Yujiro for a nearfall at 6:30.
Fujita tagged in and battled EVIL. Fujita hit a springboard dropkick for a nearfall at 8:00. Togo choked Fujita with his wire. Fujita got a German Suplex with a bridge for a nearfall on EVIL. The ref got bumped and Yujiro hit someone with his staff. Kosei hit a spinning leg lariat on EVIL. EVIL nailed Darkness Falls powerbomb on Fujita for a nearfall, then the Everything is Evil uranage to pin Kosei. Decent action.
* Henare has joined Charlton on commentary.
6. Atlantis Jr. and Soberano Jr. (2) defeated Yuji Nagata and Minoru Suzuki (0) in a B Block tournament match at 10:02. Suzuki and Yuji argued and shoved each other before the bell. “They still hate each other!” Charlton said. The luchadors wore identical blue-and-black mask and pants and I don’t know them well enough to know which one is which. Nagata applied a Fujiwara Armbar at 2:30. Suzuki and Nagata tagged in and out but they kept arguing. Atlantis Jr. tagged in at 4:30; he’s bigger and notably thicker than Soberano Jr. Nagata hit an Exploder Suplex. Soberano Jr. hit a powerslam on Suzuki.
Atlantis hit a chop but Suzuki just laughed in his face. Suzuki hit a forearm that dropped Atlantis at 7:30. Suzuki caught him coming off the ropes and applied a Fujiwara Armbar, and he switched to a rear-naked choke. Suzki went for the Gotch-style piledriver on Soberano Jr., but Soberano Jr. fought free, rolled up Suzuki, and scored the pin! That came out of nowhere.
7. “Monster Sauce” Alex Zayne and Lance Archer (2) defeated Bad Luck Fale and Jack Bonza (0) in a B Block tournament match at 11:16. Again, I saw Bonza for the first time on Monday and the description of him as a shorter Erick “Redbeard” Rowan is accurate. Archer looped the ring and leveled the Young Lions. Again, Archer and Fale were in the same A Block of G1 Climax a year ago and have a bit of a rivalry established. Fale and Archer argued in the center of the ring before the bell. Archer and Bonza opened, but Jack’s shoulder tackles had no effect. Fale whipped Zayne into a guardrail at 2:00. Fale’s team worked over Zayne in their corner. (Zayne or Atlantis are likely the lightest men in this tournament and it’s noticeable in this match.)
Fale and Archer entered at 6:00 and they traded forearm strikes Zayne made a blind tag and a dropkick on Fale. Archer grabbed Zayne by his throat but he flipped Alex onto Fale for a nearfall. Zayne hit some forearm strikes but they had no effect on Fale. Fale hit a Samoan Drop at 8:00. Bonza hit a powerbomb, then a backbreaker over his knee, on Zayne. Archer hit a running summersault cannonball from the ring apron onto Fale on the floor at 10:00. In the ring, Archer hit a running kneestrike on Bonza, then the Blackout slam. Zayne immediately hit the Cinnamon Twist/top-rope corkscrew press to pin Bonza. Entertaining match.
8. “Just 5 Guys” Taichi and Yuya Uemura (2) defeated “Los Ingobernobles de Japon” Yota Tsuji and Zandokan Jr. (0) in a B Block tournament match at 19:39. Yota and Yuya immediately brawled to the floor. They brawled into the front row, past where Charlton and Henare were seated. In the ring, Zandokan and Taichi traded chops and spin kicks to the thighs. (Again, I hadn’t seen Zandokan before yesterday, and he is dressed like a pirate with a patch over an eye on his mask and a bandana over his head.) Those two brawled to the floor in the corner. Yuya and Yota also were brawling on the floor. Zandokan slammed a chair across Taichi’s leg at 6:00.
In the ring, LIJ worked over Taichi. In the background, Yuya is visibly stumbling back to ringside while clutching his lower back. Tsuji twisted Taichi’s knee over the ring ropes. Uemura finally made the hot tag at 10:30 and he battled Tsuji. He hit a high back suplex for a nearfall but Zandokan made the save. Tsuji stomped on his head. Uemura fired back with a dropkick and they were both down at 12:30. Taichi tagged back in and hit a kick in the corner on Tsuji. Zandokan Jr. re-entered and hit an enzuigiri on Taichi. Taichi hit his own enzuigiri, and he ripped off his tear-a-way pants. Zandokan hit chops; Taichi fired back with roundhouse kicks to the chest.
Taichi was bleeding over his heart from a chop. Zandokan hit a twisting powerbomb move on Yuya, but Uemura rolled to the floor. Zankdokan leapt through the ropes onto Yuya. In the ring, Zandokan hit a Dominator faceplant on Taichi for a nearfall at 17:00. LIJ hit a team suplex on Taichi. LIJ set up for a team move but Yuya broke it up. Yuya nailed a running dropkick in the corner on Zandokan. Taichi hit a superkick on Zandokan then his Air Raid Crash for the pin. Good match.
9. “Guerrillas of Destiny” El Phantasmo and Hikuleo (w/Jado) (2) defeated “Bishamon” Yoshi-Hashi and Hirooki Goto (0) in a B Block tournament match at 20:10. A big match with the IWGP tag champs (Bishamon) facing the New Japan Strong tag champions (ELP/Hikuleo.) Goto and Hikuleo opened. ELP and Yoshi-Hashi entered at 2:00 and we’re having an extended feeling-out process. Y-H hit his headhunter flipping neckbreaker at 4:30. ELP hit a Lionsault for a nearfall. Bishamon began working over Phantasmo. Hikuleo finally made the hot tag at 9:30 and he hit a Mafia Kick on Yoshi-Hashi, then a hard clothesline on Goto.
Hikuleo set up for a double chokeslam but Bishamon blocked it. Instead, he hit a double clothesline. Hikuleo hit a suplex on Goto. ELP put Goto on his shoulders, spun him several times and turned it into a powerbomb for a nearfall at 12:00, but Y-H made the save. ELP hit a top-rope moonsault to the floor on Yoshi-Hashi. In the ring, Hikuleo powerbombed Goto, and ELP hit a Swanton Bomb for a nearfall on Goto. Goto hit a (grazing) clothesline on Phantasmo and they were both down. Yoshi-Hashi and Hikuleo tagged back in at 14:00. Hikuelo missed a legdrop, and Yoshi-Hashi hit a basement dropkick.
Yoshi-Hashi hit a top-rope Blockbuster. Hikuleo hit a superkick and they were both down at 16:00. ELP hit a dropkick to Yoshi-Hashi’s face. Bishamon set up for the Shoto team slam, but Hikuleo fought free. Moments later, they hit Shoto for a nearfall at 18:00. They hit a second Shoto, but ELP made the save. ELP hit a tornado DDT on Yoshi-Hashi. Hikuleo hit a chokeslam on Yoshi-Hashi. ELP then hit a springboard frogsplash, with Hikuleo covering Yoshi-Hashi for the pin. Good match, and I like that the tag champs are already trailing the leaders. They celebrated with their title belts.
* Hikuleo got on the mic and said they want Bishamon at Wrestle Kingdom in a re-match, predicting they will win the tournament. El Phantasmo noted it is their first World Tag League, but they enter as NJ Strong tag champions, and they’ll finish the tournament as champions. He said that everyone can believe in the G.O.D. They walked through the crowd and posed for pictures with fans, and this was a fun post-show scene.
Final Thoughts: A good main event, not a great match, but a good one. I admittedly have never found Bishamon overly compelling to watch, and Hikuleo is still a bit rough around the edges even though his power moves look good. However, ELP is so entertaining (even though I think he’s better as a heel!) he made this match really entertaining. While I wouldn’t say any matches were standouts, I am definitely a fan of what Monster Sauce and Suzuki/Nagata are doing.
Yesterday, I noted my hope that teams sometimes get off-days. So, I don’t mind that Toru Yano and Tomohiro Ishii weren’t used. This tournament is grueling, and skipping shows when you don’t have a tournament match is a good idea.
Again, there are only FIVE off-days of this 21-day tournament, and one is coming up Wednesday. So, the A Block will return on Wednesday with Mikey Nicholls and Shane Haste vs. EVIL and Yujiro Takahashi in the main event, plus Alex Coughlin and Gabe Kidd vs. Shota Umino and Ren Narita.
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