NJPW World Tag League Preview

Hi guys,

It's only been a week and a half since the end of Jr Tag League and in less than a week, we've got the start of NJPW's World Tag League (for the heavyweights). It's on a lot bigger scale than the Jr's with more teams and a lot more match ups between all the teams but I am still here to give you guys a little preview of this tour which is also a great lead up to Wrestle Kingdom in January! Since there's 14 teams competing (but in one block not two), I'm going to look at all the teams by faction to make it easier, then look at matches I'm most looking forward to and finally my predictions for the league as well as the other tag matches throughout. 

Like always, the tag league is really Taguchi Japan (Main Unit) heavy because of how many people are actually in this faction! We've got a really interesting team of Young Lions Yoshida and Shota Umino which I'm so excited about because they're normally bitter rivals in tag matches (especially in Power Struggle) and Lion's Gate. I also think it may be the first all Young Lion team (but not the first time a Young Lion's participated), so I've got high hopes for this team's passion and perseverance. We've then got our loyal Taguchi Japan regulars with the power team of Makabe and Toa Henare again (poor Honma hasn't made the cut sadly) and Team FinJuice (David Finlay and Juice Robinson) and it'll be nice to see Juice back and we'll see what these guys can do because their chemistry in the ring is amazing! Then there's good, ol', reliable Michael Elgin teaming with fellow bigman and really upcoming star Jeff Cobb, I mean that's a team to watch! There's also a few legends coming back for Tag League who I've not seen on a full tour for a while! We've got the team Nakanishi and Nagata and Bread King Kojima and Tenzan. With all this talent from this faction, we could even have a mini tag league for this the Main Unit alone and that makes it very exciting because I'm always Team Taguchi Japan!

After all the issues within Chaos, the faction's trying to get back on track and a win at Tag League might just help out. Unsurprisingly, Best Friends (Trent Baretta and Chuck Taylor) are a favourite in the league and I can't blame anyone for putting money on them! These two are not only some of the most charismatic guys on the roster, but they're also mega talented and I think they perfectly blend strong style and high flying wrestling together. I don't know if they're my favourites to win but they're two of my favourite wrestlers in the world, so that counts for something, right? The other team from Chaos is slightly odd but have done pretty well the last 2 years and that's Ishii and Yano. I mean it's the most bizarre thing ever with Ishii's seriousness and Yano being well Yano but I know they work so well together so they might be the surprise of the tournament. Who knows, maybe Yano will take fair play seriously... or maybe he won't but I hope he just has tons of fun and Ishii gives us some brutal matches because I want the best of both worlds!

Guys, after all this aniticipation, NJPW have finally told us that Dick and Balls are representing The Elite in World Tag League. Even though I'm sad Chase isn't part of a team, after last year, I wouldn't have it any other way because Hangman Page and Yujiro are an amazingly pure team and I love them running their dick and balls all over NJPW! But seriously, Page is one of the most talented guys on the roster and with Yujiro's sneaky style, what could possibly go wrong?

We've then got Guerillas of Destiny (Tama Tonga and Tanga Loa) representing Bullet Club OG

G.O.D who are the current Heavyweight Tag Team Champions. After the whole G1 debacle, I'm not holding out for these guys to play clean and I think I'm going to have to accept it because it works with this whole schtick of doing whatever the hell they want. I wonder who's going to get involved: Gedo, Jado, Fale, Ishimori or even Jay. I hope they do have some proper matches because they are mega talented and I love watching Tama Tonga in the ring, especially with guys like Baretta who are on the same athletic calibre!

Now onto Suzuki Gun which is another faction really heavily represented in this tag league. We've obviously got Killer Elite Squad (Davey Boy Smith and Lance Archer) looking to get back into the tag team championship picture and then the leader Suzuki teaming with the vicious and damn ass crazy Iizka and my home boy Zack Sabre Jr teaming with Taichi which is definitely an odd pairing. No matter what happens in the matches, I know that Suzuki Gun is going to dominate in some way and I'm really worried for all their opponents because they're out there to win and don't care who get's hurt or how they win because Suzuki Gun Ichiban!

With only Sanada and Evil competing from Los Ingobernables de Japon, I mean they couldn't of really picked a better duo than the former Tag League Winners and former heavyweight and 6-man tag champs! The chemistry between the two is incredible and both bring their own flair that makes their matches amazing to watch. We've got the brute force of Evil with his strength and really amazing hair, then there's Sanada with his quick, flashy moves and amazing hair. I mean they're really one of the best teams in the company and I'd love to see them climbing back up the tag team ranks!

So, which matches am I looking forward too? As much as I love all the teams and matches, I'm really really excited to see Suzuki/ Iizka v K.E.S and then Suzuki/ Iizka v Zack Sabre Jr/ Taichi. I know I'm not always the biggest fan of Suzuki Gun but these matches are going to be so brutal and I just want to see how they approach them, do we get faction respect or is it every team for themselves with full on Suzuki Gun action. I'm also always going to look forward to any matches with Best Friends and FinJuice in it because they're going to be full of great moves and a lot of fun - so completely different to the Suzuki Gun matches! In terms of other matches, I'm really intrigued and excited for the matches between BC OG (Jay White, Gedo, Fale and Ishimori) v Okada/ Romero weirdly teaming up with Kushida and new bff Tanahashi... I don't know how I feel about this but I do think it's a great development of the story battling a mutual enemy (Jay) and who knows, these matches could be magical!

So, who do I want to win? As good as all the teams are, I'm #TeamFinJuice all the way - I think both Juice Robinson and David Finlay have this natural chemistry and work really well as a team. I'd love them both to show how amazing they really are and get given a chance to shine because they'd be great tag team champs! I mean I wouldn't even mind Sanada and Evil winning because they're an amazing team too. However, FInJuice all the way and anyone who says otherwise can fight me!

Make sure you watch World Tag League on NJPW World and as a treat, they're streaming it for free this Sunday so there's no excuse not to watch the guys kill it as normal! Like always, let me know in the comments or on social media (@Wrestling_Chat on Twitter and Wrestling Chatter on FB) what you think!

Until next time,

Bye!