New Japan wraps up the World Tag League today with the Finals, which we got to in quite dramatic fashion. What will make most foreign fans happy is, for the first time this decade (if you don’t count 2020), Bishamon won’t win as Hirooki Goto & YOSHI-HASHI saw their bid for a 4-peat end in their final match. Instead it’ll be Gabriel Kidd & SANADA who bested them facing Hiromu Takahashi & Tetsuya Naito, who got in because originally it was a 4-way tie in the block after Takahashi/Naito’s last win was a forfeit due to a HENARE injury, meaning HENARE & Great-O-Khan, and Takahashi/Naito were in a 4-way tie. With the current IWGP Heavyweight Tag Team Champions out that meant a 3-way tiebreaker where L-I-J beat Ren Narita & EVIL and (thankfully) Toru Yano & Boltin Oleg to advance. The winner today will get a future tag team title shot, the question is when. And now, depending on the HENARE injury situation, perhaps if. (They will either way but the circumstances may change). Also no updates yet on Callum Newman, who also is out with, like HENARE, a knee injury.
Today’s event will be held at Grand Messe Kumamoto in Kumamoto and can be watched LIVE on New Japan World in Japanese and English. It will also be a live broadcast on ABEMA in Japan. The card has 8 matches with all but the main event having 20-30 minute time limits (no time limit for the main event), which suggests an event that will wind up running about 3 hours, so not quite an all-nighter for those like me on the US west coast but might have me fighting to avoid dozing off at the end.
Today’s lineup:
Tiger Mask vs. Daiki Nagai
Katsuya Murashima & Shoma Kato vs. Shane Haste & Mikey Nicholls
YOSHI-HASHI & Hirooki Goto vs. Tome & Stevie Filip
TAKA Michinoku, DOUKI & Taichi vs. Jacob Austin Young, Jeff Cobb & Great-O-Khan
BUSHI, Yota Tsuji & Shingo Takagi vs. Gedo, Chase Owens & KENTA
Jado, Tomoaki Honma, Boltin Oleg, Toru Yano & Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. Yoshinobu Kanemaru, Sho, Yujiro Takahashi, Ren Narita & EVIL
Ryusuke Taguchi, Alex Zayne & Shota Umino vs. Kosei Fujita, Ryohei Oiwa & Zack Sabre Jr.
World Tag League Finals: Hiromu Takahashi & Tetsuya Naito vs. Gabriel Kidd & SANADA
Refresh this page occasionally for the latest results.
Updates below will begin at 10 PM PT/1 AM ET.
8:15 PM PT UPDATE You will also be able to watch the first 2 matches FOR FREE on YouTube.
8:35 PM PT UPDATE: While it will be 85 minutes before it actually begins, the live stream on New Japan World has started in pre-show mode. They did show a few seconds at ringside as they tested the video feed.
10 PM PT UPDATE: Live updates begin now.
We are LIVE from Grand Messe Kumamoto in Kumamoto, Japan. Your hosts are someone I’m not familiar with and Milano Collection A.T. No guest on commentary yet. Your English hosts are Walker Stewart & Chris Charlton.
The paid attendance will be announced after the event. The venue has multiple configurations (convention hall/center space) and the closest thing to potential capacity I could find was a little over 2100 but it’s probably closer to 3000. It already sounds like a good crowd based on noise during the opening video so for now I’ll start with a guess of around 2500. Not sure if it’s a sellout but from what I could see that wasn’t in the dark it looked mostly full. (Update: Not a sellout, there were some mostly empty sections, but not many) (UPDATE: The announced paid attendance was 2232)
The matches begin at 10:05 PM PT/1:05 AM ET.
Match 1: Tiger Mask vs. Daiki Nagai. 20 minute time limit
Result: Tiger Mask beat Daiki Nagai
Match 2: Katsuya Murashima & Shoma Kato vs. Shane Haste & Mikey Nicholls. 20 minute time limit
Result: Shane Haste & Mikey Nicholls beat Katsuya Murashima & Shoma Kato. Haste pinned Murashima.
The YouTube broadcast ends here.
Match 3: YOSHI-HASHI & Hirooki Goto vs. Tome & Stevie Filip. 20 minute time limit
Result: YOSHI-HASHI & Hirooki Goto beat Tome & Stevie Filip. YOSHI-HASHI pinned Stevie Filip after Shoto.
Match 4: TAKA Michinoku, DOUKI & Taichi vs. Jacob Austin Young, Jeff Cobb & Great-O-Khan. 30 minute time limit
Result: TAKA MIchinoku, DOUKI & Taichi beat Jacob Austin Young, Jeff Cobb & Great-O-Khan. DOUKI beat Young with Italian Stretch 32. Afterwards, Taichi refused to release a submission hold on Khan and appeared to issue a KOPW 2024 Championship challenge while posing with the belt. With only 3 weeks left in the year there may not be time for another match, but we’ll see.
Match 5: BUSHI, Yota Tsuji & Shingo Takagi vs. Gedo, Chase Owens & KENTA. 30 minute time limit
Result: BUSHI, Yota Tsuji & Shingo Takagi beat Gedo, Chase Owens & KENTA. Tsuji pinned Gedo after Pumping Blaster.
Hirooki Goto is now the guest on Japanese commentary.
Match 6: Jado, Tomoaki Honma, Boltin Oleg, Toru Yano & Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. Yoshinobu Kanemaru, Sho, Yujiro Takahashi, Ren Narita & EVIL. 30 minute time limit
Result: Yoshinobu Kanemaru, Sho, Yujiro Takahashi, Ren Narita & EVIL beat Jado, Tomoaki Honma, Boltin Oleg, Toru Yano & Hiroshi Tanahashi by DQ. Tanahashi DQ’d. Chair use (attempted murder of EVIL with it). Nobody was really complaining though. Afterwards, Tanahashi with microphone. Sounds like a new stip requested for 1/4 at the Tokyo Dome against EVIL, I think he said Lumberjack Match. Will confirm later today if possible. (UPDATE: It’s now official. Lumberjack match)
Match 7: Ryusuke Taguchi, Alex Zayne & Shota Umino vs. Kosei Fujita, Ryohei Oiwa & Zack Sabre Jr. 30 minute time limit
Result: Kosei Fujita, Ryohei Oiwa & Zack Sabre Jr. beat Ryusuke Taguchi, Alex Zayne & Shota Umino. Oiwa pinned Taguchi after The Grip.
Main Event: World Tag League Finals: Hiromu Takahashi & Tetsuya Naito vs. Gabriel Kidd & SANADA. No time limit
Result: Hiromu Takahashi & Tetsuya Naito beat Gabriel Kidd & SANADA to win the tournament. Takahashi pinned SANADA. As a result, Takahashi & Naito will get an IWGP Heavyweight Tag Team Championship match in the near future, but when may depend on the status of the injured HENARE. It could wind up being a determination match for the titles if HENARE & Great-O-Khan have to vacate the titles because of the injury.
The next event is STRONG STYLE EVOLVED on 12/15 at Walter Pyramid in Long Beach, CA. Live streaming on New Japan World will begin at 5 PM PT/8 PM ET. It will also be available live as a PPV on TrillerTV/FITE. (It is not a PPV on New Japan World so monthly paid subscribers can watch without additional fees)
UPDATE: No word on tag title shot for the main event winners, but instead it will be Naito vs. Takahashi on 1/4.
