Csonka’s NJPW World Tag League (Day Six) Review 11.28.15

NJPW World Tag League (Day Six) Review 11.28.15

OFFICIAL RESULTS
* WTL B Block: Hirooki Goto & Katsuyori Shibata defeated AJ Styles & Yujiro Takahashi via forfeit
* WTL A Block: Togi Makabe & Tomoaki Honma defeated Christopher Daniels & Frankie Kazarian @ 10:05 via pin [***]
* WTL B Block: Karl Anderson & Doc Gallows defeated Hiroyoshi Tenzan & Satoshi Kojima @ 10:51 via pin [***]

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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.

Hirooki Goto & Katsuyori Shibata defeated AJ Styles & Yujiro Takahashi via forfeit: So the first thing we have to discuss is the fact that AJ Styles had to miss his tournament match, due to a lingering back injury. His team forfeits the points and he can return to the tournament. I am not going to lie; the injury worries me a lot. Styles has been relatively injury free trough out his career, but at age 38, he will feel things sooner, be more likely to get hurt and it will take him longer to get healthy. He had to miss an ROH weekend, which is something he hasn’t done in the past. This tournament runs through the 9th, he is booked for the December 18th ROH Final Battle PPV in the main event and then for WK 10 in a co-main event match with Nakamura. I was not a fan of him being added to the tag league, and I hope the right decisions are made, because If not some big time matches are n danger of not happening if he doesn’t heal properly.

Togi Makabe & Tomoaki Honma defeated The Addiction (Christopher Daniels & Frankie Kazarian): The fun thing about the tournament is that Daniels and Kazarian have been able to bounce around between face and heel depending on the opponent. It’s fun and allows them to show off what they have to offer on their first tour as a team. Makabe did well early for his team, throwing the Addiction off balance and dominating with his power game. The Addiction got the heat on Honma (of course) and worked him over for a long while. Honma fought back and hit a desperation kokeshi, and then made the hot tag to Makabe. He ran wild, we got to see the doomsday kokeshi once again Kazarian ate the King Kong knee drop and that was that. This was a fine way to kick off the tournament action for the night, Honma is such a great face in peril and the Addiction was spectacular assholes.

Karl Anderson & Doc Gallows defeated Hiroyoshi Tenzan & Satoshi Kojima: One of the things that has been of interest tome is the fact that Karl Anderson & Doc Gallows, the IWGP Champions, haven’t had the easiest road so far. Usually the champions have an easy run, go to the finals and lose, and then we have or WK match. It feels that they are trying to mix things up a big, which is appreciated. We got the usual floor brawl, which wasn’t a good idea (not just because of repetition) because with this being a single camera show, the action was difficult to see. Bullet Club then took control of the match, getting the heat on Kojima, mocking him and just kicking his ass. He managed to hit the cutter out of nowhere, and Tenzan then got the hot tag. Crowd loved Tenzan’s run, as he chopped down both members of Bullet Club. They worked a nice homestretch, which made the match come off better overall. Kojima would return, he and Anderson had some great back and forth; he was able to escape the gun stun, but fell to the magic killer. Karl Anderson is so good, unfortunately I feel he is slotted and will only get the occasional/token singles matches to build t a title match, because he delivers well on the big shows.

BLOCK A
* Hiroshi Tanahashi and Michael Elgin (4 points)
* Kazuchika Okada and Yoshi-Hashi (4 points)
* Togi Makabe and Tomoaki Honma (4 points)
* Christopher Daniels and Frankie Kazarian (4 points)
* Kazushi Sakuraba and Toru Yano (2 points)
* Yuji Nagata and Manabu Nakanishi (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 (6 points)
* Satoshi Kojima and Hiroyoshi Tenzan (2 points)
* A.J. Styles and Yujiro Takahashi (2 points)
* Shinsuke Nakamura and Tomohiro Ishii (0 points)
* Michael Bennett and Matt Taven (0 points)

– End scene.

– Thanks for reading.

“Byyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyye Felicia!”

7.0

The final score: review Good

The 411

If you have 21-minutes, I have two good matches for you. The matches are good, but nothing you have to go out of your way to see. The standings are in that bunch up phase, which happens in the middle of these tournaments. Now we get to see who will step up their game.