There are four nights of World Tag League action left from December 4th through 7th; one night of A Block action, two nights of B block action, and the finals.
Three teams are left in contention in the A Block of the World Tag League with eight points each. Those teams are:
- Hirooki Goto & Yoshi-Hashi (Bishamon)
- SANADA/Gabe Kidd (Bullet Club)
- Shingo Takagi/Yota Tsuji (LiJ)
If LiJ loses to Shota Umino and Tomoaki Honma, the winner of Bullet Club vs. Bishamon would advance as the A block winner.
With SANADA potentially having an upcoming match with Taichi, Gabe Kidd with Kenny Omega, Shingo Takagi with Takeshita, and Yota Tsuji with David Finlay, it stands to reason that Bishamon moves on.
With two nights left in B block action, the field is a bit murkier. Half of the field is eliminated, leaving 4 teams left. Those are:
- Great-O-Khan/HENARE (United Empire)
- EVIL/Ren Narita (House of Torture)
- Toru Yano/Boltin Oleg
- Tetsuya Naito/Hiromu Takahashi (LiJ).
Naito and Takahashi have a challenging, but clear path to win B Block. They must defeat both teams that sit at eight points in United Empire and House of Torture and if they do so, they could potentially win a three-way tiebreaker to win the block.
I’m inclined to rule out House of Torture from winning with Narita and EVIL booked for Tokyo Dome matches, especially with a Tanahashi tag match in EVIL’s future. I would also rule out Oleg/Yano as they’re NEVER 6-Man champions and those titles haven’t been defended at the Tokyo Dome in recent past.
United Empire also has a match at Wrestle Dynasty vs. The Young Bucks. There are hints that the match could have other participants added, and United Empire losing the World Tag league could add credence to that theory.
Finals prediction: Naito/Takahashi vs Bishamon
OTHER NEWS:
- On the November 29th show, both Shota Umino and Yota Tsuji suffered injuries. Umino injured his right ankle in a routine rope running tackle, and Yota Tsuji suffered a minor pec tear on his left side. Umino missed one day of action and while he was active in a match, he was highly protected. Tsuji wrestled as normal despite clear bruising. At this point, both should be assumed to be at Wrestle Kingdom and Wrestle Dynasty.
