Three teams remain eligible in the A Block of New Japan’s World Tag League.
Monday’s show from Kochi featured four round-robin matches as the tournament heads into its final week.
Shingo Takagi & Yota Tsuji, Gabe Kidd & SANADA, and Hirooki Goto & YOSHI-HASHI left the show with eight points and each team is still alive in the block.
Takagi & Tsuji beat Zack Sabre Jr. & Ryohei Oiwa in the main event to improve to 4-2 and have one more match against Shota Umino & Tomoaki Honma.
Bishamon’s Goto & YOSHI-HASHI also moved up to eight points after beating Jeff Cobb & Callum Newman to officially eliminate the United Empire representatives.
Kidd & SANADA defeated Alex Zayne & Ryusuke Taguchi to create a three-way tie for first place.
The other A Block pairing featured KENTA & Chase Owens moving to six points by beating Shota Umino & Tomoaki Honma. Umino returned to action after suffering an ankle injury but didn’t miss any Tag League matches.
The B Block resumes on Wednesday with Tetsuya Naito & Hiromu Takahashi vs. EVIL & Ren Narita, Hiroshi Tanahashi & Jado vs. Oleg Boltin & Toru Yano, HENARE & Great O-Khan vs. Stevie & Tome Filip, and Shane Haste & Mikey Nicholls vs. Taichi & Taka Michinoku.
The final A Block matches will occur on Thursday with key matches being Gabe Kidd & SANADA vs. Hirooki Goto & YOSHI-HASHI, and Shingo Takagi & Yota Tsuji vs. Shota Umino & Tomoaki Honma.
The final B Block matches are on Friday and the winners of each block will meet in the final this Sunday.
Traditionally, the winner of the World Tag League earns a title shot at Wrestle Kingdom on January 4 and it’s already been established that The Young Bucks will challenge for the belts on January 5 at Wrestle Dynasty.
Updated standings:
A BLOCK
*Shingo Takagi & Yota Tsuji (8)
*Gabe Kidd & SANADA (8)
*Hirooki Goto & YOSHI-HASHI (8)
*Jeff Cobb & Callum Newman (6)
*KENTA & Chase Owens (6)
*Shota Umino & Tomoaki Honma (4)
*Zack Sabre Jr. & Ryohei Oiwa (4)
*Alex Zayne & Ryusuke Taguchi (4)
B BLOCK
*HENARE & Great O-Khan (8)
*EVIL & Ren Narita (8)
*Oleg Boltin & Toru Yano (6)
*Tetsuya Naito & Hiromu Takahashi (6)
*Mikey Nicholls & Shane Haste (4)
*Hiroshi Tanahashi & Jado (4)
*The Natural Classics (2)
*Taichi & Taka Michinoku (2)
