NJPW World Tag League finals live results: Bishamon vs. GoD

Bishamon will aim to make history as the first team to win three consecutive World Tag Leagues in today’s finals. 

The team of Hirooki Goto & YOSHI-HASHI will try for their unprecedented third straight tournament win against Guerrillas of Destiny’s Hikuleo & El Phantasmo on today’s show. 

Bishamon currently hold the IWGP Tag Team Championship, while GoD hold the NJPW Strong Openweight Tag Team titles. The tournament winner traditionally challenges for the IWGP Tag titles at Wrestle Kingdom, so a Bishamon win seems unlikely. 

Goto has won the World Tag League a total of four times with three different partners — YOSHI-HASHI, Katsuyori Shibata, and Karl Anderson. Only Antonio Inoki has more career World Tag League wins (5) than Goto. 

A series of eight tag matches fill out today’s undercard, highlighted by a 10-man tag semi-main with SANADA, Taichi, Yuya Uemura, DOUKI, & TAKA Michinoku facing Tetsuya Naito, Shingo Takagi, Yota Tsuji, Zandokan Jr. & BUSHI, plus a Hiroshi Tanahashi & Kazuchika Okada vs. Gates of Agony tag.  

Frontier Zone: Oleg Boltin & Ryusuke Taguchi defeated Asosan & Kodai Nozaki (Kyushu Pro)

This was unoffensive and unimpressive.

This showcase opened with the New Japan pair checking the Kyushu Pro imports. Oleg outpowered both of his opponents early, but Nozaki fought back with a throw. Once Oleg regained control, he tagged out to Taguchi, who decided to run the ropes instead of taking advantage, letting both opponents connect with uncontested offense. Looking to close, the Kyushu pair cleared the ring. Instead of setting idle, Taguchi took advantage with a surprise pin on Asosan, which was enough to win the match.

Atlantis Jr., Master Wato & Soberano Jr. defeated TMDK (Kosei Fujita, Mikey Nicholls & Shane Haste)

This was fine.

The opening minutes of this match were fairly contrived. TMDK took control and worked to isolate Soberano. Atlantis helped Soberano bounce back, leading to a double dive to the floor.

Back in the ring, Fujita took control of Wato, who attempted to rush Fujita outside. Fujita maintained this lead for some time with a bit of assistance from his TMDK partners. Eventually, Wato bounced back, hitting a high-angle German suplex before pinning Fujita.

Monstersauce (Alex Zayne & Lance Archer), Minoru Suzuki & Yuji Nagata defeated BULLET CLUB (Alex Coughlin, Bad Luck Fale, Gabe Kidd & Jack Bonza)

This was another average match. Even the War Dogs seemed bored.

Fale and Archer opened the match with little more than a tease before tagging out to Coughlin and Nagata. Coughlin established a lead before tagging back to Fale, who slowed the match while wearing down Nagata.

Suzuki eventually tagged in and took out Kidd and Coughlin. Suzuki attempted the Gotch piledriver, but Kidd stuffed it and escaped to Bonza. Zayne stepped in to challenge Bonza, taking a solid lead. Suzuki helped Zayne close with a Gotch, followed by Archer throwing Zayne onto Bonza, which led to the pinfall win.

United Empire (Callum Newman, Great-O-Khan, HENARE & Jeff Cobb) defeated CHAOS (Tomohiro Ishii & Toru Yano), Oskar Leube & Yuto Nakashima

This match was good. Newman, Leube, and Nakashima were the standouts; they looked great, both on the offensive and defensive.

Soon after the opening bell, Yano and O-Khan tagged in, leading to an extended period of silliness. Ishii eventually tagged in, leading to a counter period of heavy striking. This led to a match breakdown that saw an intense back-and-forth between teams. From the fog, Cobb emerged with the lead. He then hit Leube with Tour of the Islands to win the match.

After the match, Henare and Ishii brawled on the outside. Cobb tried calming Henare down inside the ring, but Ishii fired back, attacking all of UE. For this, he got another beatdown. O-Khan stood over Ishii with one of the NEVER Six-Man belts.

House Of Torture (Ren Narita & SHO) defeated Shota Umino & Tiger Mask

I am highly skeptical of Ren in HoT, but this was great. If Ren maintains this level of intensity without falling into this faction’s lazy go-to match structure, this could be the hottest thing in New Japan.

Ren did not come to the ring when the match started, instead sending Dick Togo. In a bit of a turn, Shota was on the offensive in the opening brawl. Shota beat down Togo on the floor, writing him off for the rest of the conflict.

In the ring, TMIV and Shota beat down SHO, taking complete control early. Just as Shota secured the double underhooks for Death Rider, Ren Narita ran in. With Ren finally in the ring, the match could officially begin.

The actual match was quite brief. Ren beat down Shota on the outside. SHO dropped TMIV on the inside before pinning him to win the match.

House Of Torture (EVIL, Yoshinobu Kanemaru & Yujiro Takahashi) defeated Kaito Kiyomiya, Ryohei Oiwa & Tomoaki Honma

This was a better-than-average HoT match. Interpret that as you will.

This match opened with HoT rushing the babyfaces. They used weapons and attacks on the outside to gain a lead early. Kaito eventually began a rally, but it failed, leading to an even longer period of HoT control.

The first turnaround for the babyfaces happened after Honma tagged in. With help from the rest of his team, he scored a nearfall, but HoT fired back with more cheating. EVIL hit Honma with Everything is Evil, winning the match.

After the match, HoT beat down the babyfaces some more. Ren and SHO joined the attack, prompting Shota to hit the ring. Ren tried his best to avoid Shota, leading to a pursuit to the back.

Hiroshi Tanahashi & Kazuchika Okada defeated Gates of Agony (Bishop Kaun & Toa Liona)

I didn’t love this. It was slow to a fault and generally uninteresting.

GoA gained significant control over Okada early, isolating him from Tanahashi and slowly working him over. The eventual hot tag to Tanahashi evened the odds, giving Okada time to recover.

Once Okada tagged back in, a slow struggle for control with GoA followed. GoA took control back, forcing Tanahashi to make the save once again. Once Tanahashi cleared the ring, Okada was able to regain his footing and hit Liona with a rainmaker to win the match.

Los Ingobernables de Japon (BUSHI, Shingo Takagi, Tetsuya Naito & Yota Tsuji) & Zandokan Jr. defeated Just 5 Guys (DOUKI, SANADA, Taichi, TAKA Michinoku & Yuya Uemura)

This match had its highs, but on the whole, it was nothing more than adequate.

SANADA and Naito opened the match with a tease before tagging out to Tsuji and Uemura. After Uemura won out in a brief encounter, Taichi and Shingo tagged in for a strike exchange. Shingo bested Taichi, forcing a tag to DOUKI, leading to the first period of LIJ control.

SANADA saved DOUKI with a hot tag, taking out all of his former factionmates in the process. Once the ring was cleared, Naito stepped up to challenge SANADA, putting him on the backfoot before tagging out to BUSHI.

TAKA scoring a nearfall on BUSHI forced everyone to hit the ring. Both teams traded moves, but LIJ won out in the exchange. This freed BUSHI to land his finish on TAKA and win the match.

After the match, Zandokan was allowed to join the LIJ salute.

World Tag League Final: Bishamon (Hirooki Goto & YOSHI-HASHI) defeated Guerrillas of Destiny (El Phantasmo & Hikuleo)

I’m sure folks will love this, but it did absolutely nothing for me. It felt heavyhanded and filled with spots only because it was the finals. Without the big moves and false finishes, you could sneak this match onto any other night of WTL, and no one would notice. They tried to make this feel big but only made it feel manufactured.

The opening minutes saw both teams slowly trying to eke out the lead. GoD gained the upper hand first, isolating Goto from YH for quite a while. Bishamon gained their footing by hitting the ring together, overwhelming both of their opponents. Now, with a lead, Bishamon returned the favor, isolating ELP for as long as they could manage.

A hot tag to Hikuleo allowed GoD to answer Bishamon’s control. ELP landed a dive to the floor, taking out both of his opponents. ELP considered using a chair, but Hikuleo talked him out of it; instead, he opted for a table. Goto saved YH from being driven through the table, leading to a struggle for control in the ring.

YH and ELP traded strikes for a while before turning to springboards. Hikuleo then hit the ring, dropping YH with a chokeslam. YH slowed GoD’s advance by blocking a dive with his knees; this didn’t really matter, as GoD maintained their control long enough to land a powerbomb from the top rope, scoring a nearfall.

Hikuleo attempted a splash from the top rope but missed. This bought YH enough time to tag out, leading to an extended struggle for control between both teams. Bishamon hit Shoto, but Hikuleo made the save. Goto tried climbing to the top rope, but Hikuleo pulled him down, teasing a spot with the table from earlier in the match. YH made the save, helping Goto drive Hikuleo through the table with Shoto.

Now, without a partner, ELP took on both of Bishamon. He escaped Shoto and hit Goto with an aided neckbreaker of his own. ELP followed up with multiple big moves that yielded false finishes.

ELP tried for Sudden Death, but YH cut him off with a superkick of his own. Bishamon then hit GTW, but ELP kicked out. Finally, Bishamon hit ELP with Naraku and won the match and world tag league.

After the match, the teams shook hands, and Bishamon cut a show-ending promo and posed with their belts and trophies.

Don’t let my negative reviews sully the rest of this tour. The stale booking is a downer, but other than tonight, it’s been a ton of fun with a few bold choices that have been New Japan’s Q4 highlights.