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Pantoja’s NJPW World Tag League & Super Jr. Tag League Review 12.3.22

December 4, 2022 | Posted by Kevin Pantoja
NJPW World Tag League Image Credit: NJPW
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Pantoja’s NJPW World Tag League & Super Jr. Tag League Review 12.3.22  

NJPW World Tag League & Super Jr. Tag League Night 10

December 3rd, 2022 | Kakogawa Gymnasium in Kakogawa, Hyogo | Attendance: 933

Alright, back to being a day late with these but it’s hard to get the energy to cover the World Tag League. It’s only four matches due to Fale and Owens having to leave the tournament.

Alex Coughlin and Gabriel Kidd [0] vs. Aussie Open [10]

The two most impressive teams among the heavyweights. Aussie Open is coming off of their only loss in the tournament. This was one of those matches that managed to be highly entertaining and really engrossing despite the fact that you knew the outcome beforehand. Kidd and Coughlin brought it with moonsaults to the outside, gutwrench suplexes, and more. They weren’t intimidated by the favorites to win it all. Still, Aussie Open mostly dominated because they are indeed the more experienced and established duo. Coughlin powered out of Corealis and made a hot tag to Kidd that I wasn’t totally expecting. Kidd being able to go toe to toe with Davis on chops was a highlight of the entire tournament and the crowd ate that shit up. So did I. Kidd fell to Corealis, capping a really good 11:19. Keep teams like these two and get a booker who cares about tag team wrestling and this division could be saved. [***½]

Aaron Henare and The Great-O-Khan [8] vs. Hirooki Goto and YOSHI-HASHI [6]

Both teams gained two free points via forfeit. These are two teams that are fine yet never really excite me. Even when this opened with a strong exchange between Goto and O-Khan, I just couldn’t fully get engaged. The United Empire took control to start things and worked over Goto at a snail’s pace. I want to see these guys beat on each other, so methodical isn’t what I was looking. YOSHI-HASHI got the tag about halfway through but didn’t do all that much with it. He and Goto hit a clothesline/leg sweep combo for two, survived a bit more offense from UE, and won with Shoto on Henare in 13:21. It was okay. [**½]

EVIL and Yujiro Takahashi [0] vs. Lance Archer and Minoru Suzuki [6]

Archer and Suzuki felt like a team that could possibly make the finals or at least be involved in the conversation late. The quick loss to TMDK hurt that idea. Look, a brawl where EVIL and the Suzuki-Gun guys waged war would be rad but that’s not the EVIL we have anymore. This was okay at start because it was a brawl and Archer’s hot tag was filled with him kicking ass. Then we got the shenanigans involving SHO, Togo, and a ref bump. Yawn. To make it worse, EVIL and Yujiro finally got a win after Suzuki was hit with SHO’s wrench and Everything is EVIL. It went 9:41 and was yet another House of Torture match. [**]

Hiroshi Tanahashi and Toru Yano [6] vs. SANADA and Tetsuya Naito [8]

The LIJ duo just beat Aussie Open and are now in the running for the whole tournament. The main reason this was going on last was that the rest of the card was pretty weak and we got some Tanahashi/Naito exchanges. That combo has basically always worked for me outside of the G1 23 finals. Anyway, when they were in there this was good but Yano against SANADA didn’t do it for me. Every time SANADA traps someone in the Paradise Lock, I die a little inside. The same goes for his Skull End into moonsault spot. I did like SANADA doing Dragon Screws on Tanahashi given how often Tanahashi uses that move. Yano nearly stole it with some believable rollups on Naito. He’s the one dude who can almost always make me buy a finish with that. Alas, he was beaten by Destino as one of the few dudes who will lose to only one of those after 16:18. A good match that never quite got going into anything more. [***]

5.0
The final score: review Not So Good
The 411
The World Tag League strikes again. This is as middle of the road as it gets. A very good opening contest, a solid main event, and two bland matches in between.
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