Could One Of These Teams Make A World Tag League Push?

New Japan Pro Wrestling (NJPW) began its annual World Tag League (WTL) tournament on November 16th. This entry looks at four teams from the group of sixteen who look to win the biggest round robin heavyweight tag team tournament in wrestling. All pictures are property of NJPW.

Minoru Suzuki and Lance Archer won the last G1 Tag League in 2011 (The World Tag League tournament began in 2012) and have a reputation of being fierce competitors. While the team has six points, two wins behind tournament leaders Cold Darkness (Evil and Sanada), they have enough time to make a run.

Suzuki’s resume is as decorated as it is long. He nearly defeated IWGP Kazuchika Okada during his v3 defense at NJPW’s first event in the United Kingdom, Royal Quest on August 31st this year. While Lance Archer has put together, one of if not the best year of his career. On October 14th at King of Pro Wrestling, he won his first major singles championship when he defeated Juice Robinson for the vacant title. Archer has taunted Jon Moxley on social media, who was forced to vacate the title; after being unable to travel on account of a tsunami.

The tag team is one to watch throughout the rest of World Tag Leauge.

Dangerous Tekkers had an amazing match against their Suzuki-Gun brothers on the second night of the tournament and were able to pick up their first two points of the tournament. However, after their November 17th victory, they haven’t been able to keep their momentum going.

Over the past two years, Taichi and Zack Sabre, Jr have seen their stocks rise within NJPW as both singles and tag team wrestlers. With only four points, it’s unlikely they’ll be able to capture a top-two finish, but they remain a formidable team.

Tama Tonga and Tonga Loa are 5x and reigning IWGP Heavyweight Champions. The team has managed an impressive seven defenses. The Guerrillas of Destiny entered the tournament as one of the favorites, but have not gotten off the best of starts, already accumulating two losses.

While their six points have them in the hunt, they will need to get on a hot streak if they are to catch either FinJuice (Juice Robinson and David Finlay) or Cold Darkness.

G.O.D. has been dominant throughout 2019, and there’s no reason to believe that they could not end up in the tournament finals.

With three wins and three losses, NEVER Openweight Champion KENTA and Yujiro Takahashi remain in World Tag League tournament contention. Despite the attention being on KENTA for his tremendous 2019 campaign, Yujiro has held up his side of the bargain during tournament matches.

How far will the team be able to advance with a tough road in front of them? The result of their match this morning against Cold Darkness will go a long way in determining that.

With only four points, Bad Luck Fale and Chase Owens sit near the bottom of tournament rankings, yet the Bullet Club contingent remains dangerous. This year Owens has shown to be a solid tag team competitor with Yujiro and has looked sharp during his World Tag League matches alongside Fale.

The team could make a surprise run, but they will need to start picking up victories. However, they have a tall task in front of them when they face their Bullet Club mates, Guerrillas of Destiny on November 27th.