Csonka’s NJPW World Tag League (Night 5) 11.23.16 Review

Csonka’s NJPW World Tag League (Night 5) 11.23.16 Review

OFFICIAL RESULTS
* Block A Match : Brian Breaker & Leland Race defeated Manabu Nakanishi & Henare @ 11:55 via pin [**]
* Block A Match : Guerrillas of Destiny defected War Machine @ 11:35 via pin [***½]
* Block A Match : Yujiro Takahashi & Hangman Page defeated Tetsuya Naito & Rush @ 13:03 via pin [*]
* Block A Match : Hiroyoshi Tenzan & Satoshi Kojima defeated Hiroshi Tanahashi & Juice Robinson @ 18:50 via pin [***]

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– Like the BOTSJ & The G1, I will be only covering the tournament matches.

Block A Match: Brian Breaker & Leland Race defeated Manabu Nakanishi & Henare @ 11:55 via pin : If you had told me that Brian Breaker was Harley Race’s kid, I’d believe it, Henare seems to be a way more seasoned and complete performer on every level. Leland isn’t bad, but he just exists in these matches, has no real intensity, I only notice him when it appears that he’s falling asleep during his matches. Race throws strikes like he’s afraid of a receipt, and feels in way over how head; Nakanishi is Nakanishi (slow and Planet like) and Henare is learning. But he didn’t learn enough, eating the Thundergun for the finish. Brian Breaker & Leland Race defeated Manabu Nakanishi & Henare @ 11:55 via pin [*] There is nothing to see here, it was a VERY long 13-minutes; go pet your dog, feed your cat or read a chapter of that book you’ve been putting off, do anything but watch his joyless, lifeless shit hole of a match. It went roughly 10-minutes longer than it needed to go.

Block A Match: Guerrillas of Destiny defected War Machine @ 11:35 via pin : War Machine has been awesome so far, the Guerrillas of Destiny worked really hard here and it resulted in on of their better matches. We got a lot of brawling, an intense and focused War Machine, and that was enough to carry this into very good territory. Tonqa was a ton of fun for the Guerrillas of Destiny, and the crowd was actually into this until the finish; they died when the Guerrillas of Destiny won and I do not blame them. The Guerrillas of Destiny lack a killer instinct and a sense that they are legit bad asses. If they could lock that in, they’d be better off. Guerrillas of Destiny defected War Machine @ 11:35 via pin [***½] This was a good effort from a motivated Guerrillas of Destiny team, who were likely trying not to be embarrassed by War Machine, who have been the highlight of the tour so far. I really hope War Machine gets more NJPW work out of this; they have been great and play the role of the American Bruisers really well.

Block A Match: Yujiro Takahashi & Hangman Page defeated Tetsuya Naito & Rush @ 13:03: Much like the Brian Breaker & Leland Race vs. Manabu Nakanishi & Henare match, this was not only no good, but also went around 13-minutes too long. Yujiro Takahashi & Hangman Page are a perfectly serviceable undercard/prelim team, but they were black holes of charisma that killed this mach. Any time the action started to amp up or feel fun it died. Nothing Naito or Rush did could save it. It was a match; it It existed; it kept going and the wrong team won. For your mental health, skip this match. Yujiro Takahashi & Hangman Page defeated Tetsuya Naito & Rush @ 13:03 via pin [*½] This was a bad example of the professional wrestling.

Block A Match: Hiroyoshi Tenzan & Satoshi Kojima defeated Hiroshi Tanahashi & Juice Robinson : For as much as the World Tag League can slowly drain my life-force, matches like this one remind me of why it can be fun Juice and Tanahashi are just a fun big brother, little brother tag team, with Juice working extra hard these days. His improvement is noticeable to me as well as the life crowds, who have started to get behind him and support him even more than usual. TenKoji are working with more of a sense of urgency, maybe looking for one more run with the titles. Hiroyoshi Tenzan & Satoshi Kojima defeated Hiroshi Tanahashi & Juice Robinson @ 18:50 via pin [***] This was a good small show main event, with everyone playing thier roles well.

BLOCK A STANDINGS
* Satoshi Kojima & Hiroyoshi Tenzan – 6pts
* Tama Tonga & Tanga Loa – 4 pts.
* Brian Breaker & Leland Race -2pts
* Yujiro Takahashi & Hangman Page -4 pts.
* Manabu Nakanishi & Henare – 0 pts.
* War Machine – 4pts
* Hiroshi Tanahashi & Juice Robinson – 0 pts.
* Tetsuya Naito & Rush – 2pts

– End scene.

– Thanks for reading.

6.0

The final score: review Average

The 411

This is far from a must see show, War Machine is the team to watch, motivated, working hard and adapting to everyone they work with very well. Sure they aren’t popping MOTY candidates every night, but in a tournament hat is traditionally the shits, they have easily been the shining stars.