** Check out the results from nights One and Two if you missed them.
NJPW World Tag League 2015 – Third Venue
November 23, 2015
Aired on Samurai TV, tournament matches available on New Japan World
City: Kuwana, Mie, Japan
Venue: Kuwana City Gymnasium
Attendance: 1,220
Series: World Tag League 2015
The third event in the World Tag League was aired on Samurai TV in Japan. Unfortunately I wasn’t able to watch the whole show, but the matches that are part of the tag tournament have been made available on New Japan World. So here are the results from the event, plus comments on the matches I was able to watch.
Match 1
Jay White & KUSHIDA & Tiger Mask (IV) (NWA World Junior Heavyweight Champ) vs David Finlay & Mascara Dorada (CMLL World Welterweight Champ) & Ryusuke Taguchi
Result: Tiger Mask pins David Flair with a double-arm suplex
Time: 9:14
Match 2
Satoshi Kojima & Hiroyoshi Tenzan vs Sho Tanaka & Yohei Komatsu
Result: Kojima pins Komatsu after a lariat
Time: 9:06
Match 3
Juice Robinson & Tomoaki Honma & Togi Makabe vs Captain New Japan & Manabu Nakanishi & Yuji Nagata
Result: Honma pins Captain New Japan after Kokeshi (diving headbutt)
Time: 9:07
Match 4
YOSHI-HASHI & Toru Yano & Tomohiro Ishii (NEVER Openweight Champ) & Shinsuke Nakamura (IWGP Intercontinental Champ) & Kazuchika Okada (IWGP Heavyweight Champ) vs Cody Hall & Tama Tonga & Yujiro Takahashi & Bad Luck Fale & AJ Styles
Result: Okada pins Cody Hall after Rainmaker (short-arm lariat)
Time: 11:21
Match 5
World Tag League 2015 Match (Block B)
“King of Darkness” Evil & Tetsuya Naito w/ Bushi vs Matt Taven & Michael Bennett (ROH Tag Champs) w/ Maria Kanellis
This was a pretty good match. Taven and Bennett seemed to be fighting a losing battle for most of the match. From the start, Naito suckered them in with his kind of aloof style of behavior. He took forever to take off his entrance gear, then refused to approach Bennett after the bell rang. This allowed EVIL to attack Bennett from behind and set the tone for most of the match.
Bennett and Taven seemed to work better as an actual team though, pulling of some nice, quick tag team moves. Towards the end of the match they started to take over. Unfortunately, Maria’s charms didn’t work as a distraction on this night. She tried distracting EVIL, but he just chased her off and then distracted the referee, allowing Bushi to enter the ring and spit mist in Bennett’s eyes. Naito then hit Destino for the win.
Tetsuya Naito pins Michael Bennett after Destino (standing shiranui)
Time: 9:53
Match 6
World Tag League 2015 Match (Block A)
Michael Elgin & Hiroshi Tanahashi vs Frankie Kazarian & Christopher Daniels
Good match. In a way this was similar to the previous match on this show because one team (Daniels and Kaz) had much better success as a tag team than the other, but they still lost. They had some really good double-team tactics, but Elgin and Tanahashi are so powerful individually that they couldn’t pull off the win.
Daniels and Kaz had Tanahashi in trouble for a good portion of the match, but Elgin was able to get in there just enough to turn the tide. In the end, Elgin eliminated Daniels from the match with a vicious spinning backfist, then powerbombed Kaz after Tanahashi had downed him with a sling blade. Tanahashi followed up with High Fly Flow for the win. Tanahashi and Elgin will be tough to beat in this tournament.
Hiroshi Tanahashi pins Frankie Kazarian with High Fly Flow (frog splash)
Time: 13:15
Match 7
World Tag League 2015 Match (Block B)
Doc Gallows & Karl Anderson (IWGP Tag Champs) vs Katsuyori Shibata & Hirooki Goto
This was a really good match and a nice closer for the show. Very hard-hitting with some brawling and lots of power moves. Gallows and Anderson were dominant for most of the match. They spent a good portion of the first half isolating Goto, but Goto took all that they gave and wouldn’t stay down.
Goto eventually tagged in Shibata and it looked like was going to be more of the same, which it was for a while, but Shibata and Goto managed to take out Anderson with a combination STO and Russian Leg Sweep. After that, Goto and Shibata double-teamed Gallows which led to Shibata applying a sleeper hold, then a Penatly Kick for the win.
Katsuyori Shibata pins Doc Gallows after a Penalty Kick (running kick to the chest)
Time: 14:43
Show Impressions
I can’t really talk about the show as a whole since I wasn’t able to see all of the matches, but what I saw was good. The last match was the best for sure. Shibata has been impressive in the tournament and a standout as far as I’m concerned. I’d kind of like to see Goto and Shibata face Tanahashi and Elgin in the final match of the tournament.
Tournament Standings After Night 3
Block A
| Team | Record | Points |
|---|---|---|
| Hiroshi Tanahashi & Michael Elgin | 2-0-0 | 4 |
| Kazushi Sakuraba & Toru Yano | 1-0-0 | 2 |
| Manabu Nakanishi & Yuji Nagata | 1-0-0 | 2 |
| Kazuchika Okada & YOSHI-HASHI | 1-1-0 | 2 |
| Christopher Daniels & Frankie Kazarian | 0-1-0 | 0 |
| Bad Luck Fale & Tama Tonga | 0-1-0 | 0 |
| Togi Makabe & Tomoaki Honma | 0-2-0 | 0 |
Block B
| Team | Record | Points |
|---|---|---|
| Evil & Tetsuya Naito | 2-0-0 | 4 |
| Hirooki Goto & Katsuyori Shibata | 2-0-0 | 4 |
| Hiroyoshi Tenzan & Satoshi Kojima | 1-0-0 | 2 |
| Matt Taven & Michael Bennett | 0-1-0 | 0 |
| AJ Styles & Yujiro Takahashi | 0-1-0 | 0 |
| Shinsuke Nakamura & Tomohiro Ishii | 0-1-0 | 0 |
| Doc Gallows & Karl Anderson | 0-2-0 | 0 |