Csonka’s NJPW World Tag League (Day Eight) Review 11.30.15

NJPW World Tag League (Day Eight) Review 11.30.15

OFFICIAL RESULTS
* WTL A BLOCK: Yuji Nagata & Manabu defeated Toru Yano & Kazushi Sakuraba via submission @ 10:09 [*½]
* WTL B BLOCK: Hiroyoshi Tenzan & Satoshi Kojima defeated Hirooki Goto & Katsuyori Shibata @ 11:30 via pin [***½]
* WTL B BLOCK: Shinsuke Nakamura & Tomohiro Ishii defeated Tetsuya Naito & EVIL @ 16:21 via pin [***¾]

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– Similar to the G1 and the Super Juniors tournament, this is streamlined coverage of just the tournament matches. A lot of the tournament will now be recorded and released on VOD as we go forward.

Yuji Nagata & Manabu Nakanishi defeated Toru Yano & Kazushi Sakuraba via submission: This was a chore to get through, it wasn’t a really bad match, but just felt as if it was a really long 10-mnutes where they did things and no one really cared. Planet Nakanishi remains, for the most part, a stationary target and seriously cannot understand why he is in the damn tournament. Yano was Yano, Nagata and Nakanishi did their torture rack and arm bar spot, but since they never win out of that it’s diminishing returns and the crowd is not caring. Nagata countered out of the sleeper and scored the win with the Nagata lock. There was nothing redeeming here from a quality standpoint, they did stuff. No one cared and this was the most lifeless match in the tournament so far, and I really like Sakuraba and Nagata.

Hiroyoshi Tenzan & Satoshi Kojima defeated Hirooki Goto & Katsuyori Shibata: Compared to the opener, this felt like a match of the year contender and thankfully gave the show some life. This featured guys that wanted to work hard and work a good match together, with a really great crowd that was receptive to everything they did. The fact that these are two of the more established teams I felt also made a difference in the work, as the work seemed rather effortless. Tencozy got some heat on Goto, which featured some great striking exchanges and a real feel that they were fighting. Again, as opposed to the opener, this felt like it had purpose in everything that they did. Later on Shibata and Kojima had some really good back and forth exchanges, with Shibata starting to get the better of things down the stretch. It appeared as if Shibata and Goto were on their way to a big victory, but Kojima said fuck your win and came back with the big lariat to put Shibata away. Following the last show and this opening match I was starting to lose faith in these matches, but these guys stepped up and delivered a fun match with purpose, and I really enjoyed it.

Shinsuke Nakamura & Tomohiro Ishii defeated Tetsuya Naito & EVIL: This was a very good match, the best thing on the show. The funny thing was that when the match started, it felt like any other Naito/EVIL tag match. Things then picked up, with a really well done heat on Ishii, and his interactions with EVIL leading to some of EVIL’s best work in the tournament. He didn’t feel forced here; he really felt as if he got locked into his gimmick here. Naito really worked well with both and I’d be down for future singles matches between Naito and Ishii and Nakamura, give no fucks Naito has been a lot of fun. The match really worked into something well done, escalating the action through out and leading to a finishing sequence that was really well done. They paid off the BUSHI spot where he mists someone, which is appreciated, and also made Nakamura and Ishii come off as smart competitors, actually scouting their opponents. But this time Ishii head butted him in the face to put an end to that bullshit. Nakamura ran wild, Naito got sent to the floor, and that lead to the boma ye to EVIL and then the brainbuster by Ishii to finish things off.

BLOCK A
* Hiroshi Tanahashi and Michael Elgin (6 points)
* Togi Makabe and Tomoaki Honma (6 points)
* Kazuchika Okada and Yoshi-Hashi (4 points)
* Christopher Daniels and Frankie Kazarian (4 points)
* Yuji Nagata and Manabu Nakanishi (4 points)
* Kazushi Sakuraba and Toru Yano (2 points)
* Tama Tonga and Bad Luck Fale (0 points)

BLOCK B
* Tetsuya Naito and Evil (6 points)
* Hirooki Goto and Katsuyori Shibata (6 points)
* Doc Gallows and Karl Anderson (4 points)
* Satoshi Kojima and Hiroyoshi Tenzan (4 points)
* Shinsuke Nakamura and Tomohiro Ishii (4 points)
* A.J. Styles and Yujiro Takahashi (2 points)
* Michael Bennett and Matt Taven (0 points)

– End scene.

– Thanks for reading.

“Byyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyye Felicia!”

7.0

The final score: review Good

The 411

After some bland shows and a lackluster opening match, things turned around with the last two matches here. Day eight was an overall good set of matches, if you have to cut something, cut out the opener.