NJPW World Tag League 2015 Day 7

News, Results

Day 7 of the World tag league and it should be noted that AJ Styles was once again pulled from the event. This time he was scheduled to work in one of the under-card matches, so that’s certainly a wise decision given the circumstances. The next time Styles is scheduled to compete in the tournament matches is on Tuesday, we’ll know more by then. In the meantime, three tournament matches for today and here they are:

A Block – Tomoaki Honma and Togi Makabe defeated Bad Luck Fale and Tama Tonga in 9:02 via pinfall:

This must have been a weird experience for Tonga. usually he’s the one bumping all over the place for his opponents, today Honma took over that particular role. OK match, more fun than good really since Fale still struggles to come over as an indestructible heel at times. Honma was fine in the face in peril role, as usual and Tonga more or less took the backseat here, basically waiting for Makabe to receive the hot tag so he (Tonga) could eat a top rope Kokeshi and a King Kong Knee Drop. Third consecutive win for Honma and Makabe, their last match is against Kazuckika Okada and YOSHI-HASHI.

B Block – Shinsuke Nakamura and Tomohiro Ishii defeated The Kingdom (Matt Taven and Michael Bennett with Maria) in 10:41 via pinfall:

The battle between CHAOS members, but there was only one team the crowd really cared about (sorry Maria). Lots of back and forth and some fun spots, most notably with The Kingdom doing an old Hardy Boyz favorite with a twist of fate/Swanton Bomb combo. In the end, Nakamura showed everyone who’s the boss with a Boma Yé on Taven. First win in this tournament for Nakamura and Ishii, The Kingdom have now suffered three loses in a row.

A Block – Hiroshi Tanahashi and Michael Elgin defeated Manabu Nakanishi and Yuji Nagata in 14:02 via pinfall:

Good main event with Tanahashi and Elgin once again showcasing the chemistry they have together. Nagata was fine and Nakanishi effective in he by now familiar role of brick wall in the center of the ring. He and Elgin did some entertaining big guy power moves, before Elgin and Tanahashi finished the job with a powerslam/High Fly Flow combo on Nakanishi. Nothing earth-shattering to be fair ( well, except Nakanishi’s final fall) but an entertaining outing overall. Tanahashi and Elgin are now tied with Honma and Makabe for first place in group a, but they still have two more matches to go (against Fale and Tonga and against Sakuraba and Yano) so they are now definitely the favorites to win this block. Unless Yano once again pulls an upset over Tanahashi. That would certainly please Okada (Yano and Okada are both members of the CHAOS faction).

 

Standings (number of matches/points):

A Block

Hiroshi Tanahashi and Michael Elgin (4-6)                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                               Togi Makabe and Tomoaki Honma (5-6)
Kazuchika Okada and Yoshi-Hashi (4-4)
Christopher Daniels and Frankie Kazarian (4-4)
Kazushi Sakuraba and Toru Yano (1-2)
Yuji Nagata and Manabu Nakanishi (3-2)
Tama Tonga and Bad Luck Fale (3-0)

B Block

Tetsuya Naito and Evil (3-6)
Hirooki Goto and Katsuyori Shibata 3-6)
Doc Gallows and Karl Anderson (4-4)
Satoshi Kojima and Hiroyoshi Tenzan (3-2)
A.J. Styles and Yujiro Takahashi (3-2)
Shinsuke Nakamura and Tomohiro Ishii (3-2)
Michael Bennett and Matt Taven (3-0)

 

Tournament matches scheduled for day 8:

A Block – Manabu Nakanishi and Yuji Nagata vs. Kazushi Sakuraba and Toru Yano

B Block – Katsuyori Shibata and Hirooki Goto vs. Satoshi Kojima and Hiroyoshi Tenzan

B Block – Tomohiro Ishii and Shinsuke Nakamura vs. EVIL and Tetsuya Naito

 

 

 

 

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