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.
Hiroshi Tanashi enters his first tag league since 2016 and teams with Toa Henare who is looking for his breakout moment of 2019. Tanahashi’s eight reigns as IWGP Heavyweight Champion is a record, and his work during the ‘dark day’ of NJPW allowed the company to grow into the international wrestling company that is today.
NJPW Begins World Tag League With A Hot Start
Toa Henare shows promise to be among the next generation of draws within NJPW after battling back from a 2017 Achilles injury, which kept him out most of the year.
The new tag team was able to capture a competitive victory over the reunited Great Bash Heel (GBH). Over the last two years Henare teamed with Togi Makabe of GBH during World Tag League, adding an extra bit of intrigue to the match. However, they would lose to Bad Luck Fale and Chase Owens on the 17th.
Makabe is the current Never Openweight 6-Man Tag Team Champions with Ryusuke Taguchi and Toru Yano. Their opening match against Tanahashi and Henare was an impressive performance for the team. The team was able to capture their first victory on the 17th over Yuji Nagata and Manabu Nakanishi.
Kojima and Tenzan are known for their decorated singles and tag team careers, which has lasted two decades. They were able to capture a win in their World Tag Leauge opening match against the Los Ingobernables de Japon team of Terrible and Shingo Takagi. They lost to Juice Robinson and David Finlay on the 17th in their second match of the tournament.
Yuji Nataga won the 2000 G1 Tag Leauge (with Takashi Iizuka) and the 2010 version of the tournament (with Wataru Inoue). Manabu Nakanishi has never won the tournament, but the third generation team has been a regular tag team throughout the past several years, teaming together forty-eight times total in 2018 and 2019 in various tag team matches before World Tag League began.
While fans on social media feel the team is an afterthought in the tournament, their opening contest against KENTA and Yujiro Takahashi showed they have a lot of fight left despite losing the contest.
In 2018, Nagata had a 176-day reign as the All-Asia Tag Team Champion while teaming with fellow veteran Jun Akiyama in All Japan Pro Wrestling (AJPW), proving he can still be relevant in championship contention.
While their path through the tournament is tough, expect them to continue battling no matter the result.
