New Japan continued the World Tag League today with the penultimate day of Block A.
Today’s event was held at Kochi Prefectural Gym in Kochi and can be watched on demand on New Japan World.
The announced paid attendance was 941.
Pre-show match: Shoma Kato beat Daiki Nagai.
Match 1; Jacob Austin Young, HENARE & Great-O-Khan beat Gedo, Tome & Stevie Filip. HENARE beat Gedo with Ultima.
Match 2: DOUKI, TAKA Michinoku & Taichi beat Kosei Fujita, Shane Haste & Mikey Nicholls. TAKA pinned NIcholls after Heavy Killer 1.
Match 3: Tiger Mask, Boltin Oleg & Toru Yano beat Katsuya Murashima, Jado & Hiroshi Tanahashi. Oleg pinned Murashima after Kamikaze.
Match 4: BUSHI, Hiromu Takahashi & Tetsuya Naito beat Dick Togo, Ren Narita & EVIL. Takahashi beat Togo with Maxiimum The Holding 3rd Form.
World Tag League Block A:
Match 5: Chase Owens & KENTA beat Tomoaki Honma & Shota Umino. Owens pinned Honda after a package piledriver.
Match 6: SANADA & Gabriel Kidd beat Ryusuke Taguchi & Alex Zayne. SANADA pinned Taguchi after Deadfall.
Match 7: Hirooki Goto & YOSHI-HASHI beat Callum Newman & Jeff Cobb. YOSHI-HASHI pinned Newman after Shoto.
Math Event: Yota Tsuji & Shingo Takagi beat Ryohei Oiwa & Zack abre Jr. Tsuji pinned Oiwa after Pumping Blaster.
With one match left, there are now 3 tied for first at 4-2, 8 points-Kidd/SANADA, Tsuji/Takagi and, to many foreign fans’ dismay, Bishamon (the 4-peat bid remains alive). The other teams are eliminated (Owens/KENTA and Newman/Cobb mathematically have chances but lose all tiebreakers). The top 2 advance to the Semifinals. The final day’s matches set up like this: Bishamon-Kidd/SANADA means the winner (if there is one) advances, If it’s a draw, then if Takagi/Tsuji lose both advance. Takagi/Tsuji have Honma/Umino and would also advance with a win. In a 3-way tiebreaker between the top 3, it would most likely be Bishamon & Tsuji/Takagi advancing.
The next event is Wednesday at Karatsu City Gym in Saga with the penultimate day of Block B. Live streaming on New Japan World will begin at 1:30 AM PT/4:30 AM ET.
