NJPW World Tag League: Aftermath

Hi guys,

We're at the end of another Tag League in NJPW and well on the way to the Tokyo Dome on January 4th for Wrestle Kingdom. Even though this was a long ass tour, with a lot of matches on different days, it was definitely one of those tours that I enjoyed watching. I didn't really know what to expect going in to this tour because of the changes they made to the system, like only having one block and things like that, but I made my predictions (which you can see at ) and really thought FinJuice was going to win... or even Best Friends (but you'll hear about why that failed later). Even though the tag league didn't go my way, here's a look at the tour in a bit more detail! 

I never really liked the idea of a step by step look at each day of the tag league, so here are the most important bits and especially the matches you should definitely have a watch if you can! I think out of the whole tournament, it was the Suzuki Gun v Suzuki Gun matches which were the best of the tour. You had the Killer Elite Squad beat their leader Suzuki and Iizka in a match that was as brutal as I expected, faction loyalty went down the drain for these matches. Then we had Killer Elite Squad v Zack Sabre Jr and Taichi which started off hilariously with Taichi getting Lance to chase him (I think around the entire venue) whilst Zack and Davey Boy Smith Jr battled in the ring with strength and agility. I mean Taichi just brought some hilarious moments throughout even when him and Sabre Jr went against Suzuki and Iizka and it turns out that not even Taichi can make Iizka turn on Suzuki! Looking through my list, the top matches just seem to mainly include Killer Elite Squad who were really something this year with their matches against Nagata/ Nakanishi and Best Friends. Then, even though they weren't always technically the best, whatever match Yano was in just made me smile. Don't get me wrong, Ishii was badass in all of them but something about Yano just makes me happy! I also can'f forget my boys FinJuice who, even though they didn't win, put on some amazing matches and really are going to be a force to beat if they keep up this tag team and start challenging for some titles!

So, even with all these amazing matches, I don't think I can write about this tag league without looking at the 29th November which was the best night of the whole tour in so many ways. I mean I was already pretty excited because Jay White was returning to NJPW and it was the start of the bizarre team of Okada and Tanahashi (with Rocky and Kushida). It also had some great matches like the Suzuki Gun (Suzuki and IIzka) v Suzuki Gun (ZSJ and Taichi) which was both really intense and sort of hilarious. I mean we had th ZSJ and Suzuki stand off which really makes me want to see this singles match in the future at Taichi being tactical by trying to persuade Iizka to bite Suzuki... with mixed results!

But, the best and probably most emotional and heartbreaking part of this day was Chuckie T going crazy. Just to let you know how I felt, here's what I wrote on my notes when it actually happened:
DUSTIN TURNED ON GREG AND THAT EMOTIONALLY DAMAGED ME BECAUSE NO ONE EXPECTED IT AND I WAS LIKE DAMN DUSTIN IS NOW TEAM JAY WHITE WHICH EXCITES ME BUT I LOVE GREG SO I AM SO DAMN CONFLICTED 
Now, you can probably tell that I was slightly taken back by what happened but, looking back, I don't think that Chuck is team Switchblade but by god, it was such a great storyline throughout. I mean Chuck went crazy quite a few times but not like semi crazy but full on lunatic with bashing open Tanga Loa's head open, pile driving Kenta-san and wrapping a belt around Finlay. But, I'm actually so excited to see what happens with this and I swear, if Best Friends split up, it shows that there's no such thing as true friendship.

The best thing was that they ended Tag League in a great way too. Okay, I had some grievances like the Elite turning up and the Young Bucks being inserted into the tag match at WK after the final but let's not dwell on the negatives. We had some great opening tag matches which saw my boy Chase Owens returning, Chuck going crazy again and endless hip attacks. We then had a series of higher calibre matches which included an amazing #1 contender's match for the NEVER title which was won by my boy Ospreay who fought the sneaky Taichi, even with hurt ribs, and is now having his match against the new NEVER champ Kota Ibushi. Yes, you heard right. Kota Ibushi is a champ in NJPW in 2018 after his outstanding match with Goto for the title and we now have a dream match set for WK, I mean I have dreamt about Kota v Ospreay and now it's happening. I'm sad Goto is out of the main WK card because he is so consistent and amazing but he should be so proud of that match!

We then had the Tag finals between G.O.D and Evil/ Sanada and let me just say... what a bloody match! It was so brutal - it had a bit of everything that I loved. I mean we've got the strength of Evil and Tanga Loa but seeing Sanada and Tama in the ring was so amazing, like a test of speed and agility. In the end, Evil and Sanada came out on top after a long ass and gruelling match and are now back to back champs! So, they challenged G.O.D for the title and then the Bucks came out and cashed in their rematch for WK too... I have mixed feelings about this but I know it's going to be an amazing match.

So, even with people having mixed thoughts on tag league, I thought it was amazing through and through and has really got me excited for Wrestle Kingdom. We had some amazing surprises through Shota Umino and Yoshida (who I can see doing massive thing), the vets like Nagata and Kojima slaying (even without getting the points) and there was such a nice build up to the Jr Tag titles and Okada v Jay. With WK so close, next week's post is going to look at the entire card for that show as it's been released so I'll see you there

Like always, let me know in the comments or on social media (@Wrestling_Chat on Twitter and Wrestling Chatter on FB) what you thought of this post!

Until next time,

Bye!