Because Day 12 was only available today, I found myself watching it AFTER the final day. Since I didn’t think it made much sense posting a separate post under these circumstances, here are the two Tournament matches that happened on Saturday:
World Tag League Day 12:
B Block – Karl Anderson and Doc Gallows defeated AJ Styles and Yujiro Takahashi via forfeit:
Styles was officially pulled from the tournament on Saturday and will not be appearing during the finals this Wednesday. At times of writing he is still expected to be able to compete against Jay Lethal at Final batlle and Shinsuke Nakamura at Wrestle kingdom 10.
B BLOCK – Matt Taven and Michael Bennett defeated Hiroyoshi Tenzan and Satoshi Kojima in 12:07 via pinfall:
Rather typical kingdom match, with them double-teaming Tenzan for some time after a Maria distraction. Kojima eventually got the hot tag and cleared the ring, but The Kingdom regained the upper-hand after yet another Maria distraction. Superkicks and Hail Maria on Tenzan for the Kingdom win. Why someone as experienced as Tenzan would fall twice for the same antics is beyond me. OK match, nothing more.
A BLOCK – Hiroshi Tanahashi and Michael Elgin defeated Toru Yano and Kazushi Sakuraba in 12:19 via pinfall:
This was fun, and we have Elgin and yano to thank for that. Indeed, it was quite a sight watching Yano trying his usual antics on Elgin only for Big Mike to completely smash through whatever Yano had in store for him. The Sakuraba/Tanahashi and Sakuraba/Elgin sequences were also entertaining, but the story of this match was Elgin having no patience for Yano’s antics and, fittingly, it was him who made the same after Yano used his usual low blow/Sakuraba kick for a pin attempt on Tanahashi. Yano tried to hold on to Sakuraba to avoid a German suplex from Elgin, but Big Mike just suplexes everybody into oblivion. Powerbomb and High Fly Flow combo on Yano for the win. Good, fun match.
World Tag League Day 13:
A BLOCK: Toru Yano and Kazushi Sakuraba defeated Bad Luck Fale and Tama Tonga in 3:38 via pinfall:
Not much to tell here, Sakurabe trew the Bullet Club boys off their game with some nice reversals, Yano hit the obligatory low blow on Tonga, leaving Sakuraba to mop things up. Short but fun, If only all of Fale’s matches were like this.
B BLOCK: Karl Anderson and Doc Gallows defeated Shinsuke Nakamura and Tomohiro Ishii in 11:55 via pinfall:
A rather good match. While Nakamura and gallows kept themselves busy with some brawling here and there, Ishii and Anderson took care of the majority of the in-ring work and presented us with a very entertaining bout in the process. As said before, Anderson really shines every-time he hasn’t to cover for gallows’ limitations and Ishii really shines in the role of the Stone Pitbull who starts head-butting everything that moves as soon as things get complicated. And things did get complicated for Ishii once Anderson and Gallows took out Nakamura. Very nice finishing sequences with ishii stubbornly refusing to admit defeat before finally succumbing to the numbers game. very logical result as the tag Team Champions needed a win over a strong team in order to gain momentum for their Wrestle Kingdom match. Good stuff.
A BLOCK: Togi Makabe and Tomoaki Honma defeated Kazuchika Okada and YOSHI-HASHI in 14:31 via pinfall:
A block Final in a way as Makabe and Honma had to win in order to qualify for the finals. Just as Nakamura and Tanahashi (on the under-card), Okada more or less got the night off as NJPW clearly didn’t want to take any more risk with their top-guys. Which left YOSHI-HASHI desperately pulling all the stops in order to achieve his dream of getting to the finals. Makabe and Honma also worked well in order to disguise the fact Okada was only there in name. And they succeeded. It was indeed very entertaining watching YOSHI-HASHI not playing second fiddle for once and be given some time to shine and display all his talent. Sadly for him, the result was never really in question as Makabe and Honma were the ones destined for the finals this year. Doomsday Kokeshi and King Kong Knee Drop proved to much for the CHAOS member. Maybe next year…
B BLOCK: Tetsuya Naito and EVIL defeated Hirooki Goto and Katsuyori Shibata in 13:36 via pinfall:
B Block Final and while the match was fine, the finish was all too predictable. Still some good, intense brawling from two teams who have been building up this feud for the last couple of months. This tournament was clearly designed to allow Los Ingobernables to grow as a team, and, in that aspect, it’s certainly mission accomplished as they are now firmly established as a force to be reckoned with. That being said, don’t believe for an instant that this feud is over just because Los Ingobernables happened to win here, Goto and Shibata are much too stubborn to simply admit defeat and I expect them to be a major thorn in the side of Naito and friends in the coming months. Good, fun main event that gives us Makabe and Honma vs Naito and Evil (and BUSHI who once again did his green mist thing). Should be fun!
Final standings:
A BLOCK
Togi Makabe and Tomoaki Honma – 8 points (winner by virtue of their victory over tanahashi and Elgin earlier in this tournament)
Hiroshi Tanahashi and Michael Elgin – 8 points
Kazuchika Okada and YOSHI-HASHI – 6 points
Christopher Daniels and Frankie Kazarian – 6 points
Toru Yano and Kazushi Sakuraba – 6 points
Bad Luck Fale and Tama Tonga – 4 points
Yuji Nagata and Manabu Nakanishi – 4 points
B BLOCK
Tetsuya Naito and EVIL – 10 points
Hirooki Goto and Katsuyori Shibata – 8 points
Karl Anderson and Doc Gallows – 8 points
Shinsuke Nakamura and Tomohiro Ishii – 6 points
Matt Taven and Michael Bennett – 4 points
Hiroyoshi Tenzan and Satoshi Kojima – 4 points
AJ Styles and Yujiro Takahashi – 2 points
Finals are scheduled for this Wednesday, full report on Thursday.
