By Chris Vetter, ProWrestling.net Contributor (@chrisvetter73)
New Japan Pro Wrestling “World Tag League 2023”
December 3, 2023 in Hyogo, Japan at Arcrea Himeji
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 11 with the A Block back in action. At the conclusion of this show, all teams in this Block will have completed six of their seven round-robin matches.
This is another one of these large rooms with no upper deck; attendance is in the 800-1,000 range but it appears to be a sellout. Japanese-only commentary until the tournament finals.
1. “Bullet Club” Bad Luck Fale and Jack Bonza and Taiji Ishimori defeated “Just 5 Guys” Taichi and Yuya Uemura and Douki at 8:41. Bonza and Yuya opened. Fale entered and bodyslammed Yuya at 2:00. The BC began working Yuya over in their corner. Fale stood on Yuya’s back. Taichi made the hot tag at 4:30 and he hit some Kawada Kicks on Fale. Fale dropped him with a shoulder tackle. Taichi hit an enzuigiri on Bonza. Douki entered for the first time and hit a huracanrana on Bonza at 6:30, then a springboard double-back-elbow. Bonza hit a clothesline for a nearfall at 8:00. Douki went for Daybreak slingshot DDT, but Bonza caught him, hit a piledriver, and scored the pin.
2. Atlantis Jr., Soberano Jr. and Tiger Mask defeated “Guerrillas of Destiny” El Phantasmo and Hikuleo and Jado at 9:06. Hikuleo let all the short luchadors jump and try to high-five him, showing these teams are babyfaces. Hikuleo and Atlantis opened; no tape on Atlantis’ left shoulder for the first time this whole tournament. All three luchadors wore similar red outfits today. Tiger Mask entered and hit a top-rope crossbody block at 2:00. Hikuleo hit a double clothesline. Phantasmo tagged in and worked over Tiger Mask. Jado tagged in at 3:30, but TM got a rollup for a nearfall. TM hit a Tiger Driver on Phantasmo at 5:30.
Soberano Jr. entered for the first time and hit a top-rope corkscrew press on ELP, then a huracanrana. ELP hit a springboard crossbody block. Phantasmo fired back with a Burning Hammer. Hikuleo hit a Mafia Kick on Soberano, with Jado making the cover for a nearfall. Soberano accidentally kicked Atlantis Jr.! Atlantis hit a plancha to the floor on ELP and Hikuleo. It left Soberano alone in the ring to hit a top-rope moonsault to pin Jado. Good action.
3. Yuji Nagata, Minoru Suzuki, and Master Wato defeated Tomoaki Honma and “Bishamon” Hirooki Goto and Yoshi-Hashi at 9:27. Goto and Suzuki opened with standing switches, then they switched to trading forearm strikes. Honma and Wato battled. Nagata hit a T-Bone Suplex on Yoshi-Hashi at 6:00, and he applied a crossface on the mat. Honma missed a Kokeshi on Nagata. Minoru re-entered and hit some forearms on Honma. Suzuki nailed the Gotch-style piledriver to pin Honma. Okay action.
4. “Los Ingobernobles de Japon” Shingo Takagi, Bushi, Yota Tsuji, and Zandokan Jr. defeated Ryusuke Taguchi and Oskar Leube and “Monster Sauce” Lance Archer and Alex Zayne at 11:22. Archer and Zandokan Jr. opened, with Archer hitting some running back elbows in the corner. Taguchi entered but Zandokan dropped him with a hard chop. LIJ began working over Taguchi. Taguchi hit a series of punches to Yota’s stomach at 5:00, then a mid-ring buttbump. Zayne hit his jump-up Frankensteier. Archer slammed teammate Zayne onto Yota for a nearfall at 7:00.
Shingo hit a suplex on Zayne, and they traded forearm strikes. Zayne hit his summersault axe kick to the back of the head. Leube entered for the first time at 8:30 and he hit a bodyslam on Shingo and was fired up. Archer set up for a chokeslam but Shingo blocked it. Bushi and Zandokan Jr. hit dives through the ropes. Shingo nailed the Pumping Bomber clothesline for the pin.
5. “United Empire” Henare and Great-O-Khan (6) defeated “Gates of Agony” Toa Liona and Bishop Kaun (2) in an A Block tournament match at 16:16. Kaun and O-Khan opened, with Kaun hitting a senton. They brawled to the floor. Henare hit a senton at 4:00. Kaun hit a DDT on O-Khan and a hard clothesline on Henare. Toa made the hot tag at 7:00 and traded forearms with O-Khan. O-Khan hit his Mongolian Chops. Liona hit a Black Hole Slam for a nearfall but O-Khan reached the ropes. Henare and Liona squared off and traded forearms at 9:30, then they traded headbutts. Liona hit a Samoan Drop for a nearfall.
Henare hit his Rampage football tackle on Liona and they were both down at 12:00. O-Khan hit a clotheslne. O-Khan hit a TKO neckbreaker on Kaun for a nearfall. Kaun hit a Shotgun Dropkick, then a running double knees in the corner for a nearfall, but Henare made the save. Kaun hit a Lungblower move for a nearfall at 14:30. Henare hit a spin kick to Liona’s jaw. They traded headbutts and everyone was down again. O-Khan hit his Claw Slam to Kaun’s skull for the pin. Good match. It appears the UE left with one of the GoA belts.
6. “Chaos” Tomohiro Ishii and Toru Yano (8) defeated Kaito Kiyomiya and Ryohei Oiwa (4) in an A Block tournament match at 14:03. Kaito and Ishii opened and immediately traded forearm strikes. Kaito and Oiwa hit some team armdrags. Oiwa hit a series of forearm strikes that Ishii no-sold. Oiwa hit a suplex on Yano at 3:00. Kaito hit a Dragonscrew Legwhip on Yano; he went for a Figure Four Leglock but Ishii made the save. Kaito and Ishii traded more forearm strikes. Oiwa and Kaito hit a double dropkick. Kaito hit a powerslam on Ishii. Yano hit some belly-to-belly suplexes. Ishii hit a German Suplex on Oiwa at 8:30.
Ishii hit a standing powerbomb for a nearfall. Kaito entered and hit a running knee on Ishii, then some dropkicks. Oiwa hit a gutwrench suplex on Ishii for a nearfall at 11:00, but Yano made the save. Ishii hit a decapitating clothesline on Oiwa for a nearfall. Oiwa hit a German Suplex for a believable nearfall at 13:00. Oiwa applied a full nelson but Ishii quickly escaped, and Ishii hit a sliding clothesline for a nearfall. Ishii hit a brainbuster for the pin. Another very good match from the young Oiwa. However, at 2-4, Kaito and OIwa are eliminated.
7. “Bullet Club War Dogs” Gabe Kidd and Alex Coughlin (8) defeated “House of Torture” EVIL and Yujiro Takahashi (4) in an A Block tournament match at 15:56. Heel-heel matchups are always challenging. The HoT came down first. Kidd and Coughlin ran to the ring, holding chairs, and they immediately started brawling on the floor. They got in the ring and the bell rang at 1:00. EVIL choked Coughlin with a towel. Coughlin hit a gutwrench suplex on EVIL at 3:00, and the BCWD worked over EVIL. Dick Togo and Yoshinobu Kanemaru suplexed Kidd on the hard floor. In the ring, Yujiro hit a suplex on Kidd for a nearfall at 6:30. Kanemaru tried to spray alcohol in Kidd’s face, but Kidd punched him and the alcohol went straight up in the sky instead.
The ref got bumped. They all brawled over to a wall, and they began looping around the outside of the seating area. Kidd went up to a balcony and leapt down onto all of the HoT at 10:00, and they were all down on the floor. Kidd got up and was fired up. He grabbed Yujiro, dragged him back to ringside, and slammed him headfirst into the ring post. In the ring, Kidd hit a brainbuster for a nearfall at 11:30. The BCWD hit their team Muscle Buster for a nearfall, but EVIL made the save. The lights suddenly went out! When they came on, the BCWD were down. Sho strutted down to ringside, wearing a jacket that indicated he was on the building’s maintenance team and turned the lights out. Nice.
The HoT worked over the War Dogs in the ring, with Dick Togo hitting his knife-edge chop to the groin of an upside-down Kidd for a nearfall at 14:30. Gedo ran to ringside with a sledgehammer, and he chased the HoT up the entrance ramp. Kidd hit a low blow on Yujiro, and Coughlin hit Yujiro with a staff. the BCWD hit a team spike piledriver to pin Yujiro, as Gedo scared EVIL away from entering the ring to break up the pinfall. Again, offical time is closer to 14:50.
8. “The Mighty Don’t Kneel” Shane Haste and Mikey Nichols (10) defeated Shota Umino and Ren Narita (6) in an A Block tournament match at 20:18. Shota and Haste opened. Ren and Nicholls entered and traded stiff forearm strikes. Ren and Shota each hit sentons at 4:30. Haste beat up Ren on the floor, and tossed him back in the ring, where Nicholls beat Narita down. Ren finally hit a spinning leg lariat on Haste and made the hot tag to Umino at 8:30. Shota hit a fisherman’s suplex on Haste for a nearfall. Haste hit a dropkick. Shota hit a pop-up kneestrike on Nicholls, then an Exploder Suplex. Ren tagged back in at 10:30 and hit a Northern Lights Suplex on Mikey for a nearfall.
Nicholls hit a DDT. Ren applied a rear-naked choke an switched to a Cobra Twist/octopus, but Haste made the save at 12:00. Ren hit a German Suplex. He hit an Exploder Suplex on Shane and tagged Umino back in. Shota hit some European Uppercuts on Haste. Umino hit his DDT onto the ring apron, with Shane tumbling to the floor. In the ring, Shota hit a top-rope missile dropkick. Shota hit a sideslam for a nearfall, and he applied an STF, but Shane reached the ropes at 16:30. Shota and Ren hit a team suplex for a nearfall. Shota hit a running swinging neckbreaker on Haste for a nearfall. Shota missed a Hidden Blade diving forearm.
Shota hit a half-nelson suplex for a nearfall on Haste. He set up for the Hidden Blade but Haste hit a clothesline, then a sit-out powerbomb for a believable nearfall at 19:00. Nicholls hit a Blue Thunder Bomb. Haste hit a suplex on Umino for a nearfall. Umino hit a tornado DDT on Haste. TMDK hit their team DDT to pin Umino. I’m actually surprised here, as I thought we were going to see a TMDK loss that resulted in a four-way tie for first.
* Haste got on the mic and declared TMDK were going to win the A Block, win World Tag League, then win the tag titles. Very similar to a promo he did after a win earlier in the tournament.
Final Thoughts: An excellent main event and possibly in the top five matches of the tournament; certainly in the top 10. I started to wonder if they were going to a time-limit draw but they were going at a pace far too fast for that. Ishii/Yano’s match takes second. Once again, Ishii was in the ring the bulk of the match for his team, which honestly is what is needed to make the match work. Like two days ago, we didn’t have silly Yano antics — no low blows, no medical tape or playing with corner pads, or school boy rollups.
So, TMDK is alone in first at 5-1 (10 points), while the Bullet Club War Dogs and Chaos are 4-2 (8 points). I’ll look at tie-breakers later but I presume that the two teams at 3-3 are mathematically still alive. The B Block will be back in action on Monday as we cruise toward the finals next weekend.
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