New Japan Pro Wrestling (NJPW) continued the World Tag League 2020 series (WTL 2020) on November 22, 2020, at the Saku City General Gymnasium in Nagano, Japan. The COVID-19 (Coronavirus, 2019) reduced crowd of 838 made for a lively crowd in the well-lit venue.
The opening series match of the event saw Los Ingobernables de Japon (LIJ) members two-time IWGP Heavyweight Tag Team Champion and two-time World Tag League winner (WTL 2017 & WTL 2018) Sanada and “The Dragon” Shingo Takagi (2-1) [4 points] take on the Bullet Club tandem of “Rogue General” Bad Luck Fale and “Crown Jewel” Chase Owens (0-3) [0 points].
Sanada/Shingo came into the match with a victory over reigning IWGP Heavyweight Tag Team Champions and Suzuki-Gun members Dangerous Tekkers (Zack Sabre Jr/Taichi), while Fale/Owens came in off a loss to Empire members Jeff Cobb and Great-O-Khan. Both matches took place on November 19, 2020.
Despite their slow start to WTL 2020, Fale/Owens were able to trouble Sanada/Shingo throughout the match. Fale looked to have shaken the ring rust off from his elongated COVID-19 delay. Owens, who has made a name for himself within NJPW as a good tag team wrestler, was able to direct the offensive attack against the LIJ team.
However, Sanada/Shingo were able to capture the victory at the 9 minutes and 45 seconds mark when Sanada used the O’Connor Bridge clutch technique to gain the fall on Owens. The victory moved Sanada/Shingo to (3-1) [6 points] in WTL 2020 action, while Fale/Owens dropped to (0-3) [0 points].
Sanada/Shingo went on to face the CHAOS team of two-thirds of the reigning NEVER Openweight 6-Man Tag Team Champions and CHAOS members Hirooki Goto and Yoshi-Hashi. While Fale/Owens went on to face former IWGP Heavyweight Tag Team Champions FinJuice (Juice Robinson/David Finlay); both matches took place on November 24th.
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