After five days of action in the New Japan Pro Wrestling World Tag League, we’ve got a couple of interesting block races to watch along the way and the field is open for anyone to win it all.
In the A Block, United Empire’s Jeff Cobb & Callum Newman lead and are undefeated with six points. However, there are four powerhouse teams that are trailing with only one loss.
Those teams are Shota Umino & Tomoaki Honma, Zack Sabre Jr & Ryohei Oiwa, Yota Tsuji & Shingo Takagi, and three-time World Tag League winner Bishamon’s Hirooki Goto & Yoshi-Hashi. Gabe Kidd & SANADA are the only team with two points, while Alex Zayne & Ryusuke Taguchi and KENTA & Chase Owens are both without any points at all with four matches to go.
In the B block, EVIL & Red Narita are predictably leading the block with four points each and are undefeated since there’s only been two nights of block action so far. There are six teams with one win each. They are Toru Yano & Boltin Oleg, Tetsuya Naito & Hiromu Takahashi, Taichi & Taka Michinoku, TMDK’s Mikey Nicholls & Shane Haste, United Empire’s Great-O-Khan & HENARE, Tome Filip & Stevie Filip aka “The Natural Classics.” Finally, Hiroshi Tanahashi & Jado bring up the end of the block with zero points with five matches to go.
There are some conclusions to draw that need to be kept in mind for Wrestle Kingdom and Wrestle Dynasty. Sabre, Shota, Taichi, SANADA, Tanahashi, EVIL, Narita, Cobb, Oiwa, Kidd, Takagi, and Tsuji all have matches hinted at or made for the Tokyo Dome. That leaves Naito & Takahashi, Great-O-Khan & HENARE, Haste & Nicholls, and Bishamon as the true possible tournament winners. With The Young bucks in the wings, could it be a multi team match instead at the Tokyo Dome?
There's still several weeks of action to go. I'll be back with another update next weeek.
