On paper this looks like such a random pairing for\nhow drastically different these wrestlers are personality-wise but it makes\nsense actually. Hiroshi Tanahashi is at the point of his career where he enjoys\nmentoring younger wrestlers and take them under his wing, luckily for Toa\nHenare he seems to be the one chosen by The Ace himself to partner up for this\nyear’s tournament. Tanahashi last participated in the WTL way back in 2016 when\nhe paired up with Juice Robinson, overall he has appeared in 11 total Tag\nLeague tournaments. Henare on the other hand has appeared on three so far, this\nwill be his fourth consecutive WTL he has partnered with Togi Makabe the past\ntwo years when Tomoaki Honma was recovering from his injury and in 2016 with\nManabu Nakanishi.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Henare has graduated from his status as a young lion\nearlier this year and is now a full pledged member of the main roster. Having\narguably the greatest wrestler in New Japan history as his tag partner will\nsurely help him progress in his career. Tanahashi though has other bigger fish\nto fry as he sets his focus on his upcoming Wrestle Kingdom match against Chris\nJericho.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Team #2 – Great Bash Heel (Togi Makabe & Tomoaki Honma)<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n GBH is back in full form as Tomoaki Honma returns to\nthe World Tag League with his friend Togi Makabe. This will be their 5th entry as a team,\nthey’ve won the tournament back-to-back in 2015 and 2016, the first team to do\nso. Since Honma almost got his career ended in 2018 due to a neck injury,\nMakabe has somewhat went on a “lone run” but would find allies later\non when members of CHAOS and Sekigun bonded due to a common enemy in Jay White\nand the rest of the Bullet Club. Honma made his return last year and was sad\nthat he did not get to participate in the tournament despite being on the tour,\nhe could finally get his revenge this time around and get back a lot of\nmomentum this team has lost. The 2x former IWGP Tag-Team Champions are looking\nfor their third victory in the tag league but they are not favored to win this\ntime around even though just a few years ago they were dominating the whole\ntag-team division, it’d be nice to see them prove the doubters wrong though as\nthey are still a capable team and have ton of experience over the other ones in\nthe field.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Team #3 – TenCozy (Satoshi Kojima & Hiroyoshi Tenzan)<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n For the 8th straight year in a row TenCozy makes\ntheir appearance in the World Tag League. 2x winners of the tournament, 6x IWGP\nTag-Team Champions with a record total combined reign of 929 days. With that\nresume alone, they are arguably the greatest tag-team in New Japan history. They\nmay be gone from their prime years as World Champion caliber wrestlers but\nKojima and Tenzan are still very much capable wrestlers and could go to war any\ngiven night with any given team. Anyone is welcome to receive the machine gun\nand Mongolian chops from the two. It may surprise you but they always bring it\nup a notch whenever the tag league arrives and they perform well by racking up\na lot of wins in the process so be wary about your brackets, don’t let their\nages be the deciding factors of them losing a lot. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Team #4 – Yuji Nagata & Manabu Nakanishi<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n From TenCozy we move to the other veteran pairing of\nthe tournament with Yuji Nagata and Manabu Nakanishi. Together the four of them\ngraduated in the same dojo class and would go on to become IWGP Heavyweight\nChampions at some point of their careers. This is Nagata and Nakanishi’s 5th\nentry as a team and their third straight in a row, however they have\nparticipated multiple times already in the past but just with different partners.\nDespite not really tagging up a lot up until recently when they got their\nstatus as “New Japan Dads” Nagata and Nakanishi makes for a\nformidable team due to the familiarity they have with one another. The two are\ngreat friends and respect each other as competitive rivals. They could score an\nupset here and there but unlike TenCozy they aren’t as decorated of a team but\nexperience alone still makes them superior over a lot of the teams here as\nwell.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Team #5 – FinJuice (Juice Robinson & David Finlay)<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n For the second straight year in a row, FinJuice is\nback as David Finlay makes his return from injury at King of Pro Wrestling last\nmonth when he rescued Juice from a post match attack brought forth by Lance\nArcher after their IWGP US Title match. Juice and Finlay have a strong\nconnection as they started their New Japan careers together entering the dojo,\nI think it is fair to say that Juice so far has had the better career being a\n2x former IWGP US Champion and scored a lot of high profile wins in his run so\nfar. Finlay is a former NEVER Openweight 6 Man Tag-Team Champion but is still\nyet to find his “groove” so to speak amongst the roster, maybe he’d\nget there now that he has come back. They are one of the teams that have a\nrealistic chance of winning this year’s tournament but it looks like Juice is\nstill focus on Lance Archer more than anything to avenge his loss and take back\nthe title so we’ll see.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Team #6 – Hirooki Goto & Karl Fredericks<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n One of the many new pairings for this year’s\ntournament is Hirooki Goto and Karl Fredericks. An obvious LA Dojo connection\nhere with Katsuyori Shibata whom Goto won the WTL with before in 2014 and they\nwould go on to win the IWGP Tag-Team Championships at Wrestle Kingdom. Karl\nFredericks on the other hand is undergoing with his training at the LA Dojo and\nis the top prospect among his whole class, he has a lot of momentum behind him\nas he won the 2019 Young Lion Cup tournament and is the very first gaijin to do\nso. It will be a nice experience for him learning under the tutelage of Goto\nthroughout the tournament but don’t expect them to score a lot, or any wins at\nall. Interestingly enough this isn’t the first time Goto would team up with a\nwrestler named “Karl” as he also won the tournament back in 2012 with\npre-Bullet Club Karl Anderson, an odd pairing for sure but certainly a\nsuccessful one.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Team #7 – Tomohiro Ishii & YOSHI-HASHI<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n The next team we got the CHAOS duo of Tomohiro Ishii\nand YOSHI-HASHI, while they have tagged a lot before being from the same\nfaction, this is their first entry as a team in the WTL and actually\nYOSHI-HASHI’s first ever WTL appearance. Another year, another time we did not\nget the dream Ishii-Goto pairing but I guess the world will never be ready for\nsuch a destructive duo. This will be Ishii’s 7th consecutive tag league entry\nand his 11th overall, he is yet to win it though and I don’t think that really\nchanges much this year. I see this team scoring some wins but in the end won’t\nbe at the top of the leaderboards. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Team #8 – Toru Yano & Colt Cabana<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Without a doubt my favorite team throughout this\nentire tournament and the true winners in everyone’s heart whatever the result\nends up being: Toru Yano and Colt Cabana, the true aces of the universe!\nSeriously though, ever since they formed a friendship earlier this year during\nthe ROH-NJPW tours, I have enjoyed Yano and Cabana’s work a lot. They are both\ncomedic wrestlers but different in ways of delivering their shticks, put\ntogether though and you got yourself some hilarity and enjoyable in-ring\naction, at least for me. We can trace back the history of this duo in 2018 when\nthey had their dream match at ROH, then earlier this year they had their second\nsingles meeting at the New Japan Cup. Now they are back as a team ready to\ndominate the whole tournament and destroy everyone’s brackets! Real talk\nthough, they are my dark horse picks to win it all this year. That’s just\nbetween you and me.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Team\n#9 – Jeff Cobb & Mikey Nicholls<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Another fresh new pairing both making their first\nappearance in the World Tag League is the team of Jeff Cobb and Mikey Nicholls,\nwho both also made their NJPW debuts this year. Cobb is having a pretty good\nyear so far, at the G1 Supercard he won the NEVER Openweight Championship while\nsimultaneously retaining the ROH Television Championship in a banger of a match\nover Will Ospreay. He had a strong dominant undefeated run at ROH and later on\nwould go on to enter the G1 Climax. Mikey Nicholls on the other hand is still\ntrying to find his footing in New Japan, he’s been personally recruited by\nRocky Romero to join CHAOS since leaving the WWE and has participated earlier\nthis year in the New Japan Cup. It’s an interesting combination with Cobb’s\nstrength and athleticism combined with Nicholls’ vast tag-team experience. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Team\n#10 – EVIL & SANADA<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n The defending champions and back-to-back winners\nEVIL and SANADA make their 4th entry in the World Tag League. The 2x IWGP\nTag-Team Champions are great in singles action but even more successful as a\nteam, the past two years they won the tournament and would end up as champions\nat Wrestle Kingdom winning the belts in the Tokyo Dome. They could make a\nrecord and have the first ever three-peat win in the tournament’s history and\nit looks like that will likely happen as they are the most favorable to be\nvictorious once again. Honestly though for me, I personally want another team\nto win and this is coming from an LIJ fan. It’s always been this way with EVIL\nand SANADA, they have a hot streak as singles wrestlers but would get relegated\nto the tag division once the year ends. Rinse and repeat. It’s been the same\nfor them but there really aren’t any other programs or rivalries available for\nthem as the higher profile ones are already occupied. They had their chances to\npossibly main event with SANADA having multiple chances at the IWGP Heavyweight\nChampionship and EVIL with the Tokyo Dome contract from Ibushi but alas all\nthey could hope for at least now is have another successful run in this year’s\nWTL.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Team #11 – Shingo Takagi & Terrible<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n A team that caught me by surprised is the duo of\nShingo Takagi and Terrible (fka El Terrible) of CMLL. An obvious Los\nIngobernables connection is strong with this one, Shingo is of course a member\nof the LIJ faction led by Tetsuya Naito while Terrible has joined the original\nLos Ingobernables in CMLL along with Rush and La Bestia Del Ring in 2018.\nWhat’s interesting as during the early years of the Bullet Club they had a\nsubsidiary of the group in Mexico particularly in CMLL due to the partnership\nwith NJPW and El Terrible used to be a member of that as well, just a food for\nthought as he will be facing plenty members of BC in this one. This will be\nShingo’s debut in the WTL but Terrible has actually participated before in 2010\nat the G1 Tag League when he paired up with El Texano Jr. He has tagged with\nthe LIJ members earlier this year during the FantasticaMania tour and has done\nwell, earning him a spot here while Tetsuya Naito focuses on his match against\nJay White at Wrestle Kingdom for the Intercontinental Championship. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Team\n#12 – Minoru Suzuki & Lance Archer<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n The most fearsome team in the whole field. Just two\ndeadly men teaming up for the first time in six years, in 2011 they won the G1 Tag League. Both\nSuzuki and Archer will be entering their 7th tag league individually and are\nfavorites this team around with Lance Archer specifically having the best year\nof his career in 2019. Ever since going solo, Archer had a lot of momentum\nthrown at him when he surprised a lot of fans in his match against Will Ospreay\nin the New Japan Cup despite a losing effort. He would continue with the\nimpressive in-ring action at the G1 Climax with great performances one after\nanother. Finally it would all be awarded at King of Pro Wrestling when he won\nthe vacant IWGP US Championship defeating Juice Robinson. As for Minoru Suzuki,\nhe primarily feuded with Jushin “Thunder” Liger throughout the\nyear, it was a vicious rivalry that even\nrevived the demented persona of Jushin as Kishin Liger. It all culminated at\nKOPW with Suzuki bowing down to a defeated Liger after a great and emotional\nmatch. Now both men will continue to wreak havoc in this year’s WTL and could\npossibly win it too with how dominant they have showcased thus far.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Team\n#13 – Zack Sabre Jr. & Taichi<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Making their second consecutive appearance as a team\nfor the WTL is the other Suzuki-Gun duo of the tournament: reigning RevPro\nBritish Heavyweight Champion: Zack Sabre Jr. and the Lord Emperor himself:\nTaichi. As mentioned on their team profile in the NJPW website, these couldn’t\nbe any more different in their wrestling styles and personalities but can actually\nget things done in tag-team action. Both ZSJ and Taichi had pretty decent years\nso far for their individual careers, however they aren’t really booked for any\nhigh profile matches yet at Wrestle Kingdom and are looking to do so by winning\nthis year’s tag league and have a chance at the IWGP Tag-Team titles. They had\ngreat matches at the G1 but were primarily on the losing end of things, we’ll\nsee if things would be different this time around working as a unit.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Team #14 – Guerrillas of Destiny (Tama Tonga & Tanga Loa)<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n The reigning 5x IWGP Tag-Team Champions and arguably\nthe best tag-team in New Japan today: Guerrillas of Destiny, sons of Haku, Tama\nTonga and Tanga Loa. Despite participating four straight years in a row though,\nGoD are yet to win their first WTL. Going only so far as finalists. They could\nnot just be argued as the best tag-team in NJPW but Tag-Team of the year as\nwell with all their impressive performances throughout 2019 since winning back\nthe titles from EVIL and SANADA at the Honor Rising show in February. They have\nsuccessfully defended the belts seven times already and are looking to possibly\nfind out their opponents again this year in the tournament or they could go on\nand win it all and choose whoever they want to face at the Tokyo Dome.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Team\n#15 – KENTA & Yujiro Takahashi<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Another Bullet Club entry, the first time pairing of\nreigning NEVER Openweight Champion: KENTA and the Tokyo Pimp, Yujiro Takahashi\na former NEVER Openweight Champion himself. Since making his debut KENTA has\nmade a name for himself in the New Japan roster and even became a bigger star\nsince joining the BC faction. He defeated Tomohiro Ishii at the UK show for the\nbelt and successfully defended the belt from him at Power Struggle. Yujiro on\nthe other hand is a reliable partner in tag-team scenarios having entered the\ntournament 10 times already so his experience shouldn’t be slept on.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Team\n#16 – Bad Luck Fale & Chase Owens<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Last but not the least we got the third and final representatives of the Bullet Club: Bad Luck Fale and Chase Owens. The Rogue General did not participate in last year’s tournament but will be entering for the 6th time in his career this year. As for the Honorary Tongan Chase, this will only be his third appearance at the WTL. It’s an interesting combination, one we haven’t really seen much before in terms of the BC teaming up. Even though he had a lackluster G1, Fale is still one of the most dominant men in the roster today so don’t expect them to lose a lot especially to lower tier teams.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Those are all the teams competing for the 2019 World\nTag League of NJPW. The winners get a chance at the IWGP Tag-Team Championships\nin the Tokyo Dome at Wrestle Kingdom. The tournament runs from November 16 to\nDecember 8.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Another year is almost over, a lot has happened in 2019 and we’re going to cap it all off with the traditional World Tag League tournament. Usually around these times, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":35,"featured_media":13662,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_bbp_topic_count":0,"_bbp_reply_count":0,"_bbp_total_topic_count":0,"_bbp_total_reply_count":0,"_bbp_voice_count":0,"_bbp_anonymous_reply_count":0,"_bbp_forum_subforum_count":0,"tdm_status":"","tdm_grid_status":"","_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[2,204],"tags":[44],"class_list":["post-13660","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-featured","category-njpw","tag-njpw"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p9jnWd-3yk","jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/prowrestlingjournal.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/evil_sanada.jpg?fit=600%2C400&ssl=1","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/prowrestlingjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13660","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/prowrestlingjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/prowrestlingjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/prowrestlingjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/35"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/prowrestlingjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=13660"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/prowrestlingjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13660\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":13664,"href":"https:\/\/prowrestlingjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13660\/revisions\/13664"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/prowrestlingjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/13662"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/prowrestlingjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=13660"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/prowrestlingjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=13660"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/prowrestlingjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=13660"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"\"\/](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.njpw1972.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/tenkoji.jpg?w=696&ssl=1\")
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