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 4th, 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 B Block, fighting for a place in the final on December the 10th. GREAT BASH HEEL (TOGI MAKABE & TOMOAKI HONMA) Last year’s Tag League winners have cooled off since their brief title reign at the beginning of this year so will be looking at re-capturing the magic of last year’s tournament. GBH have the advantage of being one of the longer established team so their chemistry will not be a problem, and could be big contenders in this group. PREDICTON: tough competition but could be fighting for a place in the final. KATSUYORI SHIBATA & YUJI NAGATA This team is just ridiculous. The former rivals battled over the NEVER Openweight championship earlier in the year as Shibata looked to take out the ‘Third Generation’ who felt that his leaving NJPW during their leaner years was disrespectful. After two brilliant contests the two found common ground, and have teamed in multi-man matches against teams from Pro Wrestling NOAH. Shibata is coming off two sensational matches at Revolution Pro’s Global wars shows against Zack Sabre Jr and Chris Hero, as well as regaining his NEVER title from EVIL on Tuesday, so he has a head of steam coming into this tournament. Nagata is also on a good streak and is still going strong, even as he approaches 50. I don’t see this team winning, but they are going to have a fun ride. PREDICTION: Contender, but won’t make it to the final. KAZUCHIKA OKADA & YOSHI-HASHI The reigning IWGP Heavyweight Champion teams here with his CHAOS teammate YOSHI-HASHI (he of terrible hair) despite his position in the main event on January 4th when he takes on G1 Climax winner Kenny Omega. YOSHI-HASHI is on the verge of something big, as the crowds are behind him and are desperate for him to pick up a huge victory, which means that it is a little disappointing he is teaming with Okada here because with the champ’s previous engagement it means they are unlikely to win the tournament, but still expect some great matches from this team, especially when they face the other CHAOS team in this group PREDICTION: Contenders for the final, but won’t win on December 10th. HIROOKI GOTO & TOMOHIRO ISHII Tomohiro Ishii may be my MVP of the year; wherever he goes he has sensational matches. He recently has been gunning for the Guerrillas of Destiny, teaming with YOSHI-HASHI and Gedo in unsuccessful challenges. Here he may have found the right partner to finally take down G.O.D… Except his partner is Hirooki Goto. Goto is a great wrestler but always seems to be the Bridesmaid, never the Bride. This year he made it to the New Japan Cup final…and lost, then made it to the G1 Final (in very Goto fashion, go back to our G1 climax coverage to see what I mean)…and lost. Could this be the time that GOTO gets the proverbial monkey off his back and wins one of the big tournaments on the way to gold? I have a feeling this could be his time. PREDICTION: Group winners. YOSHITATSU & BILLY GUNN Yoshitatsu hasn’t had the best of times since coming back from his near career ending neck injury, he attempted to take down the Bullet Club with tag partner Captain Fookin New Japan, but ultimately failed when CFNJ turned on him after losing every match they fought together. YoshiTatsu will be looking to turn the tide on his less than stellar year, or at least get some revenge on the man now known as Bone Soldier. His Tag partner making his New Japan debut is non over than Mr Ass, Rockabilly, The One, Billy Gunn! Yes, that Billy Gunn, New Age Outlaw/Smoking Gunn. Now in his 50’s but still in great shape and capable of having fun little matches, he is the person that most fans will be more familiar with, however he is entering unknown territories, will be be able to keep up with the pace of Omega? The ferocity of Ishii? How will he cope with Shibata trying to murder him? He is an interesting prospect here, that is for certain. PREDICTION: lower table finish. KENNY OMEGA & CHASE OWENS The second Bullet Club pairing in this group features Super Juniors competator Chase Owens, a fringe member of the Bullet Club who has yet to make a great impact. His partner however is a man everyone will be watching. Kenny Omega has had a banner year, starting the year losing his Jr title to KUSHIDA, he declared himself a heavyweight, pinned Shinsake Nakamura, Kicked A.J. Styles out of the Bullet club, won the Intercontinental title, and then won the G1 Climax while having Match of the year candidates all year long. Very few can claim to have had a year as good as Omega. Despite this, he already has January 4th in his diary for what is possibly the biggest match of his career, so I don’t expect this team to win the tournament, but don’t expect to see Omega staring at the ceiling too much. PREDICTION: Mid Table finish. BAD LUCK FALE & BONE SOLDIER The Bullet Club pair of the Underboss and the former Captain Fookin New Japan seem to be the “last two left, throw them together” pair of the Bullet Club. Fale has a ton of experience in these New Japan tournaments, and Bone soldier has a lot of experience in Tag action. Apart from the inevitable encounter with Yoshitatsu, I fear they will be the team to miss. PREDICTION: a few wins but they won’t make a big impact. SANADA & EVIL The Los Ingobernables de Japon members have had pretty great years, EVIL has risen up the card after debuting his new persona last year to ultimately win (then lose in his next match) the NEVER Open weight Championship. SANADA on the other hand came in hot, interfering and helping Naito win the IWGP heavyweight title back in April, then having some great contests with the likes of Tanahashi and Okada in the G1. Both look primed to really break out, and with how talent rich the B block is, they could have some awesome contests. PREDICTION: Mid Table finish, but will create some great moments. KEY MATCHES Goto and Ishii vs Everyone Shibata & Nagata vs Everyone. 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.
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