New Japan Pro Wrestling
World Tag League 2019 – Night 15
December 5, 2019
Fukuoka Citizen Gymnasium
Fukuoka, Japan
Watch: NJPW World
WORLD TAG LEAGUE 2019
TOMOHIRO ISHII & YOSHI-HASHI (18) DEF. HIROOKI GOTO & KARL FREDERICKS (4)
I loved this match, this was a great opener. One of the rare WTL instances that I wish the match was a little longer. I bang on about Karl Fredricks every review but every time I see him he’s even better and he hit maybe his best dropkick yet on Ishii, just fantastic. YOSHI-HASHI figuring out how to be good has lifted the floor for his team. I could prattle on about the good parts of this match or I could just tell you to watch it. ***3/4
WORLD TAG LEAGUE 2019
CHASE OWENS & BAD LUCK FALE (12) DEF. SATOSHI KOJIMA & HIROYOSHI TENZAN (8)
Another good match, off to highly enjoyable start to this show folks. The best part of this was it was short and sweet, it was able to highlight the few strengths of Tenzan and Fale while Kojima and Owens could do a bulk of the heavy lifting. Maybe it’s because he hasn’t been booked for a while and he’s fresh as a daisy but Kojima has been great this tour and has taken the honors of being the best New Japan Dad. Owens picks up his 3rd straight pinfall in this one, good for Chase. ***
WORLD TAG LEAGUE 2019
KENTA & YUJIRO TAKAHASHI (16) DEF. JEFF COBB & MIKEY NICHOLS (14)
I am happy for my fellow countryman ‘Mad’ Mikey for finding his feet in New Japan and this might’ve been his best showing yet. Cobb also looked great in defeat in this match, throwing his opponents around like rag dolls, why doesn’t he do this all the time? This was paced perfectly to allow the babyfaces to shine and for KENTA to still look like the heaviest hitter in the match. In my last review, I took issue with KENTA using the G2S in guys that won’t take it properly and Mikey sold like absolute death. Pretty good match here and this show is off to a fun start. ***1/4
WORLD TAG LEAGUE 2019
ZACK SABRE JR. & TAICHI (16) DEF. HIROSHI TANAHASHI & TOA HENARE (4)
This one started slow and had hints of 2017 Taichi (bad) about it but this really picked up in the middle and ended but being pretty good. Henare was back to form in this match, he probably is the most under-rated /under-utilized guy on this roster and if you’re going to do anything with him in Japan he should at least be the Ishii of New Japan of USA. the closing stretch was pretty excellent here – a real strength of Dangerous Tekkerz and really Taichi if I’m to be honest. ***1/4
WORLD TAG LEAGUE 2019
EVIL & SANADA (24) DEF. TOGI MAKABE (6)
Another feather in the cap of GBH, giving another great team their worst match of the tournament. Honma is broken and Makabe is lazy. This went for 11 minutes and honestly felt like 25. **
WORLD TAG LEAGUE 2019
TAMA TONGA & TANGA LOA (22) DEF. SHINGO TAKAGI & TERRIBLE (12)
Joel Abraham of the esteemed Super J cast coined the term Guerillas Three in place of gentlemen’s three and this was about as Guerillas Three as it gets. I’m just bewildered how these matches are so mediocre, G.O.D do some really impressive things and then it just goes back to plodding and boring. The worst thing is they can have great matches, I’ve seen them with my own eyes. ***
WORLD TAG LEAGUE 2019
JUICE ROBINSON & DAVID FINLAY (22) DEF. MINORU SUZUKI & LANCE ARCHER (16)
Gotta give the WTL credit, through all the boring mid-card matches that don’t matter, the main events, for the most part, have been really good to great. I had reasonably high expectations for this one and although they might not have reached them, this was still really good. Suzuki looked so great in this match, real murderer energy from him. Finjuice is the perfect babyface team, great charisma, connects with the crowd, fast-paced matches and fiery comebacks. Suzuki and Archer gave them a beat down after the match and its going to make their *hopeful* tag league win that much more meaningful, getting there beaten, bruised and covered in tape. Recommend watching this one. ***3/4
FINAL THOUGHTS
I gotta say, this was a really easy show to watch. Looking at the card I thought we were in for a rough one but everyone came to play tonight. The show as a whole had a bit more of an important feel about it too. A pretty easy 2.5 hours to get through but if you don’t have the time, the opener and the main event are the ones to watch.
