By Chris Vetter, ProWrestling.net Contributor (@chrisvetter73)
New Japan Pro Wrestling “World Tag League 2023”
December 1, 2023 in Wakayama, Japan at Wakayama Prefectural Gymnasium
Streamed live on New Japan World
New Japan Pro Wrestling continued World Tag League on Friday, Dec. 1, 2023. 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 9 with the A Block back in action. At the conclusion of this show, all teams in this Block will have completed five of their seven round-robin matches.
The venue is a big gym, but the lower deck was almost completely empty, as most fans are seated on the floor, and it does appear the floor seats are full. Attendance feels between 500-700. We have Japanese-only commentary until the finals.
1. “Bullet Club” Taiji Ishimori, Bad Luck Fale, and Jack Bonza defeated “Guerrillas of Destiny” Hikuleo, El Phantasmo, and Jado at 7:13. Fale rejected a handshake offfer from Hikuleo. The BC attacked to start the match, and they worked ELP over in their corner. Fale stood on Phantasmo’s back, and there was the added weight of Ishimori climbing onto Fale! ELP finally hit a DDT on Bonza at 4:00 and he tagged in Hikuleo. Hikuleo hit a double clothesline. Fale pushed Hikuleo into ELP! (Creating some dissension?) Bonza hit a backbreaker over his knee on Jado; Fale hit an elbow drop on Jado, and Bonza made the cover for the pin.
2. “Just 5 Guys” Douki, Yuya Uemura, and Taichi defeated Tiger Mask, Soberano Jr., and Atlantis Jr. at 10:47. Soberano is in black today; he packed a lot of gear for this trip. Atlantis and Taichi opened and immediately traded chops, and Atlantis hit a huracanrana. Douki entered at 2:30 and hit a doublestomp on Atlantis Jr.’s stomach. Tiger Mask entered and he tied up Douki on the mat. Soberano Jr. hit a basement dropkick on Douki’s back at 5:00. Uemura tagged in for the first time and hit a flying forearm and deep armdrags. Soberano hit a top-rope corkscrew press on Uemura at 8:00. Atlantis hit a backbreaker over his knee. TM hit a Tiger Driver on Uemura for a nearfall, then a Crucifix Driver for a nearfall at 10:00. Uemura hit a top-rope crossbody block on Tiger Mask, then a double-underhook suplex with a bridge to pin Tiger Mask. Solid match.
3. Master Wato, Minoru Suzuki, and Yuji Nagata defeated Ryusuke Taguchi and “Monster Sauce” Alex Zayne and Lance Archer at 9:42. Archer and Suzuki teamed up in an undercard match earlier in this tour, but they opened on opposite teams here. Lance offered a handshake to his former Suzuki-Gun teammate, but Minoru slapped it away, and they immediately traded forearm strikes. Zayne and Nagata entered at 1:30, with Yuji hitting some roundhouse kicks and a Helluva Kick. Zayne hit a summersault axe kick to the back of the neck. Meanwhile, Archer and Minoru traded more forearm strikes on the floor!
In the ring, Archer’s team worked over Nagata. Archer slammed (teammate!) Zayne onto Yuji at 5:00. Suzuki got the hot tag and he hit a Helluva Kick on Archer. He tried a sleeper but Archeer shrugged it off. Taguchi entered at 7:00 and hit some buttbumps on Suzuki. Wato tagged in and battled Taguchi, and Ryusuke applied an anklelock. Wato hit a basement dropkick on the knee, and they traded rollups. Wato locked on the Vendeval head & shoulders submission hold, and Wato submitted. Archer and Suzuki kept arguing after the bell.
4. Boltin Oleg, Yoh, and “Bishamon” Hirooki Goto and Yoshi-Hashi defeated “Los Ingobernobles de Japon” Shingo Takagi, Yota Tsuji, Bushi, and Zandokan Jr. at 9:53. Goto’s team backed Tsuji into his corner and they worked over Yota early on. Shingo and Oleg traded stiff forearms at 4:30. Yoshi-Hashi entered and hit a swinging neckbreaker on Zandokan Jr. at 7:00. Bushi nailed a dive through the ropes. Bishamon worked over Zandokan, with Yoshi-Hashi hitting his Headhunter flipping neckbreaker. Yoh hit a superkick on Bushi, then a neckbreaker over his knee, then the Direct Drive double-arm DDT to pin Bushi. That really picked up nicely.
* Storyline update: The Gates of Agony appeared to join the House of Torture on Wednesday, including putting on HoT T-shirts. I never bought it…
5. “House of Torture” Yujiro Takahashi and EVIL (w/Dick Togo) (4) defeated “Gate of Agony” Toa Liona and Bishop Kaun (2) in an A Block tournament match at 10:56. The losing team will be officially eliminated. They all gave the ‘too sweet’ high-fives and were seemingly on the same page, until the GoA attacked Dick Togo, then EVIL and Yujiro, and they peeled off the HoT T-shirts. The HoT rolled to the floor to stall and regroup. They all brawled on the floor.
Sho and Yoshinobu Kanemaru joined in on beating down the GoA. In the ring, Kau hit a flying dropkick and everyone was down at 6:00. Liona made the hot tag and he hit a short-arm clothesline on EVIL. He hit a double shoulder tackle. Togo hit his knife-edge chop to the groin of an upside-down Kaun, with EVIL getting a nearfall at 8:30. Just as GoA were getting the upper hand in the ring, Sho and Kanemaru snuck in and hit low blows. EVIL hit the Everything is Evil uranage to pin Kaun. Basic. At 1-4, the GoA are officially eliminated.
6. “The Mighty Don’t Kneel” Shane Haste and Mikey Nicholls (8) defeated Kaito Kiyomiya and Ryohei Oiwa (4) in an A Block tournament match at 10:16. Oiwa and Nicholls opened and traded forearm strikes, and TMDK worked Oiwa over early on. Nicholls hit a DDT on Kaito at 4:30. Haste hit his rolling cannonball in the corner, then a Falcon Arrow for a nearfall. Oiwa entered and hit impressive gutwrench suplexes on Haste at 7:30, the a powerslam for a nearfall. TMDK hit a team suplex. Oiwa hit a back suplex, then a German Suplex for a nearfall at 9:30, but Nicholls made the save. TMDK hit their team DDT on Oiwa for the pin. Good match.
7. “Bullet Club War Dogs” Alex Coughlin and Gabe Kidd (6) defeated “United Empire” Henare and Great-O-Khan (4) in an A Block tournament match at 10:48. The BCWD came out first; they brawled on the floor. (Once again, NJPW is inconsistent with its rules as the bell was called for, even though no one was in the ring. Callum Newman hit a flip dive onto the BCWD. In the ring, Henare hit a shoulder tackle on Coughlin, then stiff kicks to the spine at 1:30. Meawhile, Kidd and O-Khan brawled over the guardrail and over to a wall, far, far from ringside. In the ring, Coughlin hit a fallaway slam on Henare for a nearfall. Kidd got in and they kept Henare in their corner.
O-Khan finally got in at 7:00 and hit a TKO neckbreaker on Kidd for a nearfall. Henare hit a powerbomb. O-Khan hit a Tombstone Piledriver on Kidd for a nearfall at 9:00. Coughlin and Henare traded punches, and Coughlin blocked a full nelson attempt. Kidd hit a springboard stunner on O-Khan, and the BCWD hit a team Spike Piledriver to pin O-Khan. Good brawl. At 3-2 (6 points), the War Dogs remain in the hunt for a playoff spot. (To me, anyone who is 2-3 is all but mathematically eliminated.)
8. “Chaos” Tomohiro Ishii and Toru Yano (6) defeated Ren Narita and Shota Umino (6) in an A Block tournament match at 22:30. I’ll leave this to others to research, but Yano is almost NEVER in a main event, so let’s see if he leaves the comedy behind today. Ishii and Ren opened with an intense lockup, then they traded stiff forearm strikes. Ren and Shota each hit sentons. Shota hit a series of forearms that Ishii no-sold, and Ishii beat Shota down with strikes in the corner. Yano entered at 3:00 and immediately removed a corner pad. He slapped Shota in the back of the head to tick him off. Ren hit a running knee to the chest for a nearfall. They all went to the floor, with Yano brawling with Ren and Ishii fighting Shota.
In the ring, Ishii and Yano kept Ren in their corner. Shota tagged in and hit a fisherman’s suplex on Ishii at 7:00. Shota and Ishii traded forearm strikes and this was intense and fun. Ishii hit a high back suplex and they were both down at 9:00. Yano tagged in, but Shota hit a dropkick. Ren hit a Northern Lights suplex on Yano for a nearfall. Ren applied a Sharpshooter on Yano at 10:30 and dragged him to the center of the ring, but Yano eventually reached the ropes. Ren applied the Cobra Twist but Yano powered out. Yano did a slingshot, sending Ren face-first onto a turnbuckle. Ren again applied the Cobra Twist. Yano fired back with a belly-to-belly suplex and they were both down at 13:30.
Ishii made the hot tag. Ren hit a German Suplex with a high bridge for a believable nearfall. Shota tagged in and hit a DDT onto the ring apron on Ishii. Shota hit a slingshot stunner into the ring on Ishii at 15:30, then a powerslam, rolled through, and applied a crossface. Nice sequence. Ren hit a Hart Attack clothesline, with Shota making the cover for a nearfall at 18:00, but Yano made the save. Shota set up for the Death Rider, but Yano fought free. Ishii immediately grabbed Shota and hit a standing powerbomb for a believable nearfall. Shota hit an enzuigiri on Ishii. Ren hit a Northern Lights Suplex on Ishii, then an enzuigiri. Ren accidentally kicked Shota; Ishii hit a hard clothesline for a believable nearfall on Umino at 20:00.
Shota hit a shotgun dropkick and a clothesline on Ishii. Shota hit a half-nelson suplex for a believable nearfall. Shota nailed the Hidden Blade diving forearm to the back of the head, but Ishii immediately hit an enzuigiri, and they were both down. Ishii hit a sliding clothesline for a nearfall, but Ren made the save. Shota again set up for the Death Rider but Ishii blocked it. Ishii hit a leaping headbutt to the chin, then a brainbuster for the pin! That was fantastic and a pleasant surprise.
* In typical Ishii fashion, he rolled to the floor and headed to the back. It’s just not his personality to take the mic and give a long-winded speech to the crowd. However, he did briefly speak to a camera backstage.
Final Thoughts: That was a stellar main event. And let’s be honest… for that match to be stellar, Ishii had to be in the match 60% or more of the time, and that was definitely the case. Yano was fine in his short stretches. There were no rolls of tape, no low blows, no schoolyard takedowns. He had the ‘straight’ match he needed to make that main-event-worthy. As a devout Ishii worshipper, I loved this. But I also love that it means we have a three-way tie for second at 3-2, while TMDK remains the front-runner at 4-1. Realistically, the playoffs will be comprised of two of those four teams.
TMDK vs. Oiwa/Kaito was really good, and I have to again reiterate how Oiwa has looked so strong in this tournament. This kid was a Young Lion months ago! Think about a year ago this time, when Kevin Knight’s team with Kushida went 2-7 in the Super Junior’s Tag League, and Kidd/Coughlin barely won at last year’s World Tag League. We knew Oiwa was good, but I’m really optimistic he’s going to return from excursion at a mid- to upper-tier on this roster. This tournament is a grind with just five days off over the 21-day stretch, so the B Block is back in action Saturday.
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