The 2016 edition of the World Tag League kicks off this Friday at the Korokeun Hall in Tokyo. The 16 team tournament is the last stop before WrestleKingdom on January 4 th , featuring many unique teams facing off, much like the G1 Climax, in 2 blocks, A and B, with the winners of the blocks facing off for a chance to challenge for the IWGP Heavyweight Tag Team Championships at the Tokyo Dome. Previous Winners include popular NJPW tag teams such as Great Bash Heel, Anderson and Gallows and TenCozy (Tenzan and Kojima), could this year’s league see an established team earn themselves a shot at the titles? Or will one of the new teams featuring some of NJPW’s singles stars and title holders be fighting the champions on January 4th? Here is the rundown of all the Teams in this year’s A Block, fighting for a place in the final on December the 10th. HIROSHI TANAHASHI & JUICE ROBINSON The Ace of NJPW already has his ticket booked for the Tokyo Dome, when he faces IWGP Intercontinental champion Tetsuya Naito in the semi-main of Wrestlekingdom, but before that he teams with former NXT star and current NJPW Young lion Juice Robinson (FKA CJ Parker) Robinson has shown himself to be a very capable star since leaving NXT and joining NJPW, and he will be in a similar circumstance as Henare in that he will earn valuable experience teaming with one of the biggest stars in the company. PREDICTION: Will make an impact but won’t be challenging for the titles on Jan 4th. TENCOZY (HIROYOSHI TENZAN & SATOSHI KOJIMA) The 6 time IWGP Heavyweight Tag Team champions may be reaching the twilight of their careers, but they are still solid favourites with the fans. Also with Tenzan’s G1 story gaining so much popularity in the early going, this would be a great opportunity for the former heavyweight champion to get his one last big run at glory along with his long-time partner and friend. PREDICTION: Could be in the running to win the block. MANABU NAKANISHI & HENARE This team of former Olympic wrestler and IWGP Heavyweight champion Nakanishi and the New Zealand Young Lion Henare are an interesting pairing that is probably more for the benefit of Henare to gain some experience teaming with a decorated star like Nakahishi. Henare has had a few good performances and could be a big player for NJPW in the future, this tournament should allow him to get a little more of a reputation while protecting the ageing Nakahishi. PREDICTION : one or two wins but will be mainly there to take some loses. WAR MACHINE (HANSON & RAYMOND ROWE) The former Ring of Honor Tag Team Champions make their first big appearance in New Japan, representing ROH in this tournament. These two will be looking to secure themselves a place on future NJPW shows, and with their hard hitting style, may fair better than the Briscoes who have been featured this year but struggled to connect with the crowd after some ‘OK’ matches with G.O.D PREDICTION: Dark Horses to win the A Block, will be contenders. BRIAN BREAKER & LELAND RACE Breaker and Race come from World League Wrestling, and apart from Leland’s wrestling heritage (son of Harley, owner of WLW) they are the unknowns for many in this tournament. Like War Machine, they will also be looking to make an impression on the big stage. PREDICTION: Will pick up a few wins but won’t figure in who makes it to the final. GUERELLAS OF DESTINEY (TAMA TONGA & TANGA ROA) The current IWGP Heavyweight tag champions have only recently started to hit their stride as a team, which coming 7 months after originally winning the IWGP Tag-titles shows some of the issues in the title picture of the tag division. With that said, their recent defences against teams featuring Ishii showed they are capable of great things, and a strong G1 Climax has lead to an improved confidence in Tama Tonga, who could soon be on the road to becoming a singles star. The current champs will be the big scalps as a win against them could give a team a future shot at the titles without having to win the whole tournament. PREDICTION: In the running to win the block, but the champions are unlikely to win the tournament. YUJIRO TAKAHASHI & HANGMAN PAGE The first Bullet Club pairing of the block features the Tokyo Pimp and the Hangman. These two have teamed together in the past and make for a nice clash of styles, with the sleazy Takahashi looking out of place alongside the intense brawling style of Page. These two could do quite well as NJPW obviously like Takahashi; he regularly picks up wins in multi-man matches, and ROH also putting focus on Page recently, this team could make a mark. PREDICTION: They will stay active to the final day, but I don’t see them making the final. TETSUYA NAITO & X The final Team of the A Block is the Los Ingobernables de Japon pairing of Tetsuya Naito, and a Mystery partner. Speculation on the mystery partner points to the possibility of a new member, back in the run up to King of Pro Wrestling there was a masked man at ringside during LIJ matches. Another possibility is a member of the original Los ingobernables from CMLL, possibly RUSH. Naito himself already has a date for the big dance on January 4th when he defends his IWGP intercontinental Title against Tanahashi. PREDICTION: Will make an impact but won’t be challenging for the titles on Jan 4th. KEY MATCHES Naito & X vs Tanahashi & Robinson G.O.D vs Takahashi & Page War Machine vs G.O.D The World Tag League runs from November 18th until the 10th of December, and all the action can be watched live on NJPWWORLD.COM (sign up instructions here) Night 1 will also be available to watch without a subscription!
You can also follow all the action here on the Royal Grumble Website, as well as on the podcast every Sunday, available on iTunes and Podbean from the links on the right hand side.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
NEW EPISODES EVERY SUNDAYArchives
March 2017
Categories
All
|