From now on, all NJPW World Tag Team Shows are only available on next day delivery on NJPW World (excepting the 11/27 and 12/6 show and the final). Also only the tournament matches are available so I will, obviously, only be talking about those. If something out of the ordinary happens on the various undercard matches (which is unlikely), I will of course let you know.
B Block – Los Ingobernables (Tetsuya Naito and EVIL) defeated The Kingdom (Michael Bennett and Matt Taven with Maria Kanellis) in 9:53 via pinfall:
Pretty generic tag match. Nothing wrong with it but it was more about further establishing Los Ingobernables (including BUSHI) as a threat than really a match. Naito was his usual entertaining self, and it seems EVIL is impervious to Maria’s “assets”, much to the dismay of the dashing damsel. BUSHI played his role by spraying the infamous green mist in Bennett’s face, allowing Naito to hit the Destino for the win. Mission accomplished for Los Ingoberables and that’s perhaps the best that can be said about this match.
A Block – Hiroshi Tanahashi and Michael Elgin defeated The Addiction (Kazarian and Daniels) in 13:15 via pinfall:
Again, not a bad match but I expected much more fireworks from those two teams. There was a lack of chemistry here, in my opinion, and I think this can be attributed to The Addiction not having found their marks in NJPW yet. That being said, this was entertaining to watch, with especially Elgin continuing his impressive NJPW run and Tanahahsi treating this tournament as anything but an afterthought. I’m starting to think Tanahashi and Elgin might make it to the final, which might be an indication that NJPW indeed does have plans for Elgin.
B Block – Hirooki Goto and Katsuyori Shibata defeated Doc Gallows and Karl Anderson in 14:43 via pinfall:
These two teams have quite a bit of history together (Meiyu Tag defeated the Bullet Club Boys in last year’s finals, took the title from them at WK9 and lost the titles to them on their first defense) and it showed here. Great chemistry but the big story of this tournament so far is how strong Meiyu tag has been booked. Shibata and Goto are on top of their game and Shibata’s intensity helps him well to come over as a major star. Very good match, Shibata finished things of for his team with a PK on Gallows. The tag champions are in trouble in this tournament.
Standings (number of matches/points ):
BLOCK A
Hiroshi Tanahashi and Michael Elgin (1-2)
Kazushi Sakuraba and Toru Yano (1-2)
Yuji Nagata and Manabu Nakanishi (1-2)
Kazuchika Okada and Yoshi-Hashi (2-2)
Tama Tonga and Bad Luck Fale (1-0)
Christopher Daniels and Frankie Kazarian (1-0)
Togi Makabe and Tomoaki Honma (2-0)
BLOCK B
Tetsuya Naito and Evil (2-4)
Hirooki Goto and Katsuyori Shibata (2-4)
Satoshi Kojima and Hiroyoshi Tenzan (1-2)
Shinsuke Nakamura and Tomohiro Ishii (1-0)
A.J. Styles and Yujiro Takahashi (1-0)
Michael Bennett and Matt Taven (1-0)
Doc Gallows and Karl Anderson (2-0)
Matches for day 4:
The Addiction vs Tama Tonga and Bad Luck Fale
The Kingdom vs Doc Gallows and Karl Anderson
Kazuchika Okada and Yoshi-Hashi vs Manabu Nakanishi and Yuji Nagata
