On Sunday, Hiroshima played host to the final night of New Japan’s World Tag League tournament that came down to three teams on the last day.
The Guerrillas of Destiny had the opportunity to tie for first place but fell to Tomohiro Ishii and Yoshi-Hashi in the second-to-last match and were eliminated. The IWGP tag champions suffered two losses in the tournament with the other to Colt Cabana & Toru Yano. It provides three viable challengers in addition to the tag league winners.
The Tag League came down to the main event match with Juice Robinson & David Finlay defeating EVIL & Sanada. The match went twenty-four minutes ending with Robinson and Finlay hitting a stunner, Left Hand of God, Pulp Friction, and Acid Drop between them and Finlay pinning Evil.
The loss by EVIL & Sanada ended their streak of winning World Tag League the past two years.
The two finished with 26 points and did lose to the Guerrillas of Destiny in their tournament. Robinson issued the challenger afterward to G.O.D. for an IWGP tag title match at the Tokyo Dome next month.
There were several angles on the show, including an unannounced appearance by Jon Moxley attacking IWGP U.S. champion Lance Archer and Minoru Suzuki. Moxley attacked each with a Death Rider and announced he would have a Texas Death Match with Archer at the Tokyo Dome.
Jushin Thunder Liger wrestled for the final time in his hometown of Hiroshima teaming with Kota Ibushi and Tiger Mask to defeat Kazuchika Okada and Roppongi 3K. Afterward, Liger was in the ring and interrupted with a video from the former Dragon Lee (now referred to as ‘Ryu Lee’) and respectfully asked for a match with Liger before he retires. Liger acknowledged the challenge but said he wanted to face someone who just came back from a neck injury (Hiromu Takahashi) and left it vague regarding his retirement match on January 5th.
Chris Jericho also sent in a video repeating his message for Hiroshi Tanahashi that their January 5th match would be Tanahashi’s last. This time, Tanahashi responded stating he isn’t quitting, and it might be Jericho’s last match.
Wai Ting and I will have a full review of the show late Sunday night for members of the POST Wrestling Café.
Here are the final point totals of the World Tag League:
*Juice Robinson & David Finlay – 26
*EVIL & Sanada – 26
*Guerrillas of Destiny – 24
*Tomohiro Ishii & Yoshi-Hashi – 22
*Zack Sabre Jr. & Taichi – 18
*Lance Archer & Minoru Suzuki – 18
*Colt Cabana & Toru Yano – 18
*KENTA & Yujiro – 16
*Jeff Cobb & Mikey Nicholls – 16
*Shingo Takagi & Terrible – 12
*Bad Luck Fale & Chase Owens – 12
*Satoshi Kojima & Hiroyoshi Tenzan – 8
*Togi Makabe & Tomoaki Honma – 8
*Hirooki Goto & Karl Fredericks – 6
*Hiroshi Tanahashi & Toa Henare – 6
*Yuji Nagata & Manabu Nakanishi – 4
