New Japan kicked off the 2025 World Tag League, the annual year-end (usually) Heavyweight Tag Team tournament, today with the start of Block A.
Today’s event was held at Korakuen Hall in Tokyo and can be watched on demand on New Japan World. You can also watch the first 2 matches FOR FREE on YouTube.
The announced paid attendance was 1498, a legit sellout.
Before the event began, Yoh came out to request a NEVER 6-Man Tag Team Championship match at Tokyo Dome, meaning a title defense. More on that later.
Match 1: Yoshinobu Kanemaru, SANADA & Ren Narita beat Zane Jay, Alex Zayne & Lance Archer. Narita pinned Jay.
Match 2: Hartley Jackson, Ryohei Oiwa & Zack Sabre Jr. beat Jacob Austin Young, Callum Newman & Great-O-Khan. Oiwa beat Young with a transformed Boston Crab.
Match 3: Shoma Kato, Yuya Uemura & Shota Umino beat Masatora Yasuda, El Phantasmo & Hiroshi Tanahashi. Umino pinned Yasuda after a lariat.
Match 4: Gedo, Hiromu Takahashi & David Finlay beat Daiki Nagai, OSKAR (The Grouch) & Yuto Ice (Ice Baby). Finlay pinned Nagai after a power bomb whip.
World Tag League Block A:
Match 5: Boltin Oleg & Toru Yano beat Shuji Ishikawa & El Desperado. Yano pinned Ishikawa.
Match 6: Don Fale & EVIL beat Chase Owens & Yujiro Takahashi. EVIL beat Takahashi with a scorpion deathlock.
Match 7: Satoshi Kojima & Taichi beat YOSHI-HASHI & Hirooki Goto. Taichi pinned YOSHI-HASHI after Black Mephisto.
Main Event: Drilla Moloney & Shingo Takagi beat Gabriel Kidd & Yota Tsuji. Takagi pinned Kidd after WAR DRAGONS.
After the event ended, Yoh came out again to continue begging Chairman Naoki Sugabayashi for a Tokyo Dome title match. Granted. More as it becomes available.
The next event is Saturday at Fujisawa City Chichibunomiya Memorial Gym in Kanagawa with the start of Block B. Live streaming on New Japan World will begin at 1 AM PT/4 AM ET.
UPDATE: CMLL FANTASTICAMANIA 2026 was announced during the event. Next year’s series will run 7 events between 2/18-2/27 with the following CMLL participation: Mistico, Mascara Dorada, Titan, Atlantis, Atlantis Jr., Templario, Stigma, Ultimo Guerrero, Hechicero, Averno, Soberano Jr., Okumura, Magnus, Futuro, Valiente Jr., Hijo de Stuka Jr. and ring announcer Ivan Salguero.
Event dates: 2/18 (Yoyogi National Stadium Gym 2, Tokyo), 2/21 (CHRES Seliz, Kochi), 2/22 (ATC Hall, Osaka), 2/23 (Aichi Prefectural Budokan, Aichi), 2/24 (EDION Osaka B, thinking this is aka Osaka Prefectural Gym 2), 2/26 & 2/27 (Korakuen).
UPDATE 2: In a post-match comments clip posted on New Japan’s Japanese social media account, Tanahashi responded to 11/19 post-match comments from DDT’s Kaisei Takechi where “The Rampage” requested a match against Tanahashi before his retirement. Tanahashi was happy about that but expressed concerns about it not being possible due to Takechi’s schedule. But Tanahashi seemingly extended an invite for Takechi to be part of Tokyo Dome on 1/4.
More as it becomes available..
UPDATE 3: It’s now official. Takechi will be part of 1/4z also, the NEVER 6-aman Tag Team Title match will be a Tornado Rambo aka a battle royal.