All Japan Pro Wrestling
Real World Tag League 2021 Night 3
ShinKiba 1stRing
Tokyo, Japan

Watch: AJPW.tv

Non-Tournament Matches

  • Izanagi def. Black Menso-re by Countout
  • Jun Saito, Rei Saito, Shuji Ishikawa & Yoshitatsu def. NEXTREAM (Atsuki Aoyagi, Kento Miyahara, Rising HAYATO & Yuma Aoyagi)
  • TOTAL ECLIPSE (Hokuto Omori & Jake Lee) def. Evolution (Dan Tamura & Suwama)

Real World Tag League 2021 Block C Match
Kazma Sakamoto & Kengo Mashimo (4) def. LEONA & Mitsuya Nagai (0)

Obviously, Nagai is very limited at this stage in what he can do in the ring but what he is still able to do he does well. It’s important as an older wrestler to know your physical limitations, too often wrestlers when they get older are too prideful to admit that they can’t do all the stuff they used to be able to do. LEONA has shown some signs of improvement recently and even his look while still horrible has become better. Kazma and Kengo have meshed well in both of their RWTL matches so far and they are great tag workers. This showed here as well as they got an easy win over their opponents while looking dominant.

Real World Tag League 2021 Block B Match
Strong Hearts (El Lindaman & T-HAWK) (3) def. TAJIRI & Super Crazy (0)

A very shtick-heavy match, which is unfortunately necessary given the state of TAJIRI and Super Crazy in 2021. Linda and T-HAWK can pull this off very well but this just wasn’t a match for me. Super Crazy especially just looked off and never really gelled well with his opponents. This just seemed very awkward at times and wasn’t very interesting otherwise.

Real World Tag League 2021 Block D Match
TOTAL ECLIPSE (Kuma Arashi & Koji Doi) (2) def. Purple Haze (Shigehiro Irie & Zeus) (3)

This was a really good match. Just four powerhouses going out there and showing off their strength. Kuma Arashi especially looked impressive just carrying out Zeus, who is not a small man, like it’s nothing. His tag partner looked good here as well but has been on a little bit of a downward slope recently. He looks noticeably flabbier than he did early in his All Japan run and while he used to be the clear number one guy in the tag team now it feels more like a team of exact equals. On the other side of the ring, I enjoyed Zeus’ performance in this match and it’s a shame that he will no longer be a regular in the promotion once this tournament ends. Hopefully, Irie sticks around though as he’s great, especially in tag matches like this. He showed off his athleticism in this match a lot and added some needed dynamism.

Real World Tag League 2021 Block D Match
Koji Iwamoto & Ryuki Honda (3) def. Axebombers (Takao Omori & Isami Kodaka) (0)

After going to a draw on night one Honda and Iwamoto get their first win. Honda seems like a guy in line for a big push in 2022 and he will drop the black young boy tights soon. The match itself was ok but nothing special. While it’s a shame that Yuko Miyamoto got hurt Isami Kodaka is a definite upgrade over him. But Takao Omori is very limited these days and most of this match was his team in control beating down on Iwamoto. The right team won though as Honda and Iwamoto have a good dynamic given their size difference. With this result, things stay very close at the top of D Block as three teams are all within one point of each other.

Final Thoughts

A really solid Real World Tag League show from All Japan. Only one of the tournament matches ended up being disappointing whereas the other three were all ok to good. Arashi & Doi vs Zeus & Irie was clearly the best match of the night. Just a very fun performance from all four men.