Csonka’s NJPW World Tag League (Day Three) Review 11.23.15

NJPW World Tag League (Day Three) Review 11.23.15

OFFICIAL RESULTS
– World Tag League Block B Match: Tetsuya Naito & EVIL defeated Michael Bennett & Matt Taven @ 9:53 via pin [**]
– World Tag League Block A Match: Hiroshi Tanahashi & Michael Elgin defeated Frankie Kazarian & Christopher Daniels @ 13:15 via pin [**¾]
– World Tag League Block B Match: Katsuyori Shibata & Hirooki Goto defeated Doc Gallows & Karl Anderson @ 14:43 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.

Tetsuya Naito & EVIL defeated Michael Bennett & Matt Taven: So we had the death squad look of Los Ingobernables, facing off with the Kingdoms, who looked like the Powerpuff Girls, only less threatening. The match came off really flat, with a good bit of stalling and attempted character establishing since BUSHI is now with Los Ingobernables. The match is best described as a slow, bland, but ultimately fine encounter. It just lacked any real juice, and the crowd wasn’t into what they had to offer, but it was never bad. The most exciting thing was the comeback by the Kingdom, but it was far from great. Mist from BUSHI and then the Destino by Naito finished things off; Los Ingobernables goes 2-0 to open the tournament.

Hiroshi Tanahashi & Michael Elgin defeated Frankie Kazarian & Christopher Daniels: Hiroshi Tanahashi & Michael Elgin defeated Frankie Kazarian & Christopher Daniels in a good, but disappointing match. The back and forth was generally good here, and the crowd was way into this more than they were for the opening match. Both teams work well together as teams, but this match felt off. Considering the overall skill and experience in the ring, I expected a much smoother flow, but this felt like choppy waters instead of a smooth surf. I’m using water analogies today, blame a Point Break re-watch (for the 495th time). Again, the teams working as teams were fine, but there was either a lack of communication or bad chemistry here at times that held it back from being a very good or even great match. Tanahashi took out Daniels, and then Kazarian ate a powerbomb and high fly flow to get a proper welcome to Japan.

Katsuyori Shibata & Hirooki Goto defeated Doc Gallows & Karl Anderson: The good news here is that as far as the crowd went, this was the most into a match they were all evening. And that makes perfect sense, due to the history that the teams have going back to last year’s tournament (Shibata and Goto beat the champ in the tournament, and then beat them at WK and then dropped the titles back to them). Also due to the fact that they have history, they worked well together, but this felt a notch below their efforts that they previously had. The match is good, with well worked back and forth action that made it easy to watch and even some crowd brawling, but I kept waiting for it to kick into the next gear and it never did. The IWGP tag team champions went down for the second match in a row, as Goto took Anderson out of play, leaving Shibata to lock in the sleeper and then he penalty kick on Gallows for the win. Shibata and Goto are 2-0 along with Los Ingobernables, while the champions fall to 0-2.

BLOCK A
* Hiroshi Tanahashi and Michael Elgin (2-0)
* Kazushi Sakuraba and Toru Yano (1-0)
* Yuji Nagata and Manabu Nakanishi (1-0)
* Kazuchika Okada and Yoshi-Hashi (1-1)
* Tama Tonga and Bad Luck Fale (0-1)
* Christopher Daniels and Frankie Kazarian (0-1)
* Togi Makabe and Tomoaki Honma (0-2)

BLOCK B
* Tetsuya Naito and Evil (2-0)
* Hirooki Goto and Katsuyori Shibata (2-0)
* Satoshi Kojima and Hiroyoshi Tenzan (1-0)
* Shinsuke Nakamura and Tomohiro Ishii (0-1)
* A.J. Styles and Yujiro Takahashi (0-1)
* Michael Bennett and Matt Taven (0-1)
* Doc Gallows and Karl Anderson (0-2)

– End scene.

– Thanks for reading.

“Byyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyye Felicia!”

6.0

The final score: review Average

The 411

This was an overall completely average set of matches, with nothing you need to go out of your way to see.