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12/10 NJPW WORLD TAG LEAGUE FINALS RESULTS FROM KUMAMOTO, JAPAN

12/10/23 Results from the Finals of World Tag League 2023; new match for Wrestle Kingdom 18 From Kumamoto, Japan:

1 - Mikey Nicholls, Shane Haste and Kosei Fujita vs. Atlantis Jr. Soberano Jr. and Master Wato

Wato pins Fujita with a Tsutenkaku German Suplex.

TMDK shakes hands with the CMLL stars after the match.   Atlantis Jr and Soberano Jr celebrate with fans at ringside and pose for photos.

2 - Yuji Nagata, Minoru Suzuki, Lance Archer and Alex Zayne vs. Alex Coughlin, Gabe Kidd, Jack Bonza and Bad Luck Fale

Monster Sauce come to the ring with a Kaiju monster.    Hilarious.   Their music entrance video is amazing.   Archer and Zayne have been great on this tour.

Suzuki gets a massive pop in Kumamoto.  

Bonza is stunned by a knee from Archer.  Zayne hits a flipping hurricanrana on Bonza.  Suzuki hits a Gotch Piledriver on Bonza.  Archer picks up Zayne for a Black Out and drops him on Bonza.

Zayne pins Bonza.

Suzuki snubs Nagata again after the match.  This rivalry will never die.

3 - Tomohiro Ishii, Toru Yano, Yuto Nakashima and Oskar Leube vs. Great O-Khan, Jeff Cobb, HENARE and Callum Newman

Cobb pins Oskar with a Tour of the Islands.

HENARE and Ishii keep brawling after the match.   Cobb jumps in and pounds on Ishii.   O-Khan poses with Ishii’s NEVER Openweight 6-man title.   Seems like a challenge is laid down by United Empire towards Ishii for the December 21 or 22 events.

This will make sense to move the NEVER 6-man titles to United Empire since Tanahashi is facing Zack Sabre Jr.  and Okada is facing Danielson at Wrestle Kingdom.

4 - Shota Umino and Tiger Mask vs. Ren Narita and SHO

SHO comes out with Togo and EVIL.   No Narita.   Umino is questioning this decision.   EVIL goes to the back.  SHO takes the mic and craps on Kumamoto.  He says Narita would not wrestle against weak opponents.  Then he says Narita will not wrestle in front of geeks in Kumamoto.    He blames Kumamoto for Narita being here.   SHO and Togo attacks Umino and Tiger Mask.

Awesome heel work by SHO and building the feud between Umino and Narita.

Umino fights back and dominates both men.   Narita runs to the ring and grabs Umino in a rear naked choke.  Narita bounces Umino into the guardrails and kicks him in the face.

SHO takes out his wrench.   Togo chokes Tiger Mask with his wire.  Narita hits an X-Factor on Tiger Mask.  

SHO pins Tiger Mask.  

Umino goes after Narita but he escapes.   The camera catches Narita’s wicked smile as he looks at Umino who stands alone in the ring.

New Japan:  please keep building this feud the right way.   No titles are needed.   Just look at Brock vs. Cody last year.  The crowd hates House of Torture and both Umino will be elevated by this feud.   No need to rush things.

5 - Kaito Kiyomiya, Ryohei Oiwa and Tomoaki Honma vs. Yujiro Takahashi, Yoshinobu Kanemaru and EVIL

Kanemaru sprays Honma with a Suntori Surprise and EVIL follows with Everything is Evil.

EVIL pins Honma.

House of Torture continue to beat on the babyfaces.  SHO and Narita join them.  Umino comes out to make the save.  House of Torture retreats.

6 - Hiroshi Tanahashi and Kazuchika Okada vs. Bishop Kaun and Toa Liona

Big match for Gates of Agony.   They are pumped for this match.

Solid match.  Liona missed his timing on a Samoan drop and Okada fell but he rolled with the fall.     Okada sold the move.  Liona hit a running butt tackle but protected Okada’s neck.  Kaun hit a double knee strike but also protected Okada.

Gates of Agony hit a double lariat and hit Fall from Heaven.  Tanahashi breaks the two count.   Kaun takes Tanahashi to the floor.   Tanahashi hits a Sling Blade on Liona and Kaun.   Okada hits a dropkick on Liona.   Liona shrugs it off.  Okada hits a Landslide and follows with a Rainmaker.

Okada pins Liona.

All four men shake hands in the middle of the ring. 

As Kaun leaves the ring, he looks into the camera, points to the ring and says those two are the greatest of all time.   He says “Me and Toa will be back in New Japan”.

7 - SANADA, Taichi, Yuya Uemura, DOUKI and TAKA Michinoku vs. Tetsuya Naito, Shingo Takagi, BUSHI, Yota Tsuji and Zandokan Jr.

Tetsuya Naito wanted to start the match.  SANADA refused at first.   Then changed his mind.  Crowd was hot for their lockup.   Pace picks up and bodies start flying.

BUSHI pins TAKA after an MX.

Just 5 Guys leave the ring.   After the match, Hiromu Takahashi joins his team in the ring.   Naito does the LIJ fist bump.  Every member raises their fists.   Zandokan Jr. stands apart at first then joins them.  Zandokan Jr. now looks like a member of Los Ingobernales de Japon.

World Tag League Finals:

8 - Hirooki Goto and YOSHI-HASHI vs. Hikuleo and El Phantasmo

Good match.  Goto and ELP are taped up and look like they are in pain.  Bishomon hit Violent Flash on ELP.   They go for Shoto, but Hikuleo breaks it up.    Bishomon hit a neck breaker knee smash combination.    They hit a Headhunter neck breaker on ELP.  Two count.   Bishomon hits a Shoto on ELP.   Hikuleo breaks it up.   Crowd thought it was over.

Hikuleo goes for a chokeslam but Bishomon hit a double lariat.   Bishomon hit Shoto on Hikuleo through a table on the floor.   Ouch!   All four men are hurting.

ELP fights back two on one.   Bishomon go for Shoto but ELP kicks off YOSHI-HASHI.   ELP hits a Shoto on Goto.  Two count.    ELP hits an ushigaroshi on Goto.   ELP hits Sudden Death and a CR2 on Goto.   Two count!

YOSHI-HASHI hits a super kick.   Bishomon with another Violent Flash and Goto hits a GTW.  Two count.   Goto with a bulldog from the top rope.  Two count.   

Bishomon hit a Neraku on ELP.

Goto finally pins ELP.

Bishomon win World Tag League 2023.  They become the first three time World Tag League winners and the first current Tag Champions to win the tournament.

Bishomon is presented their trophies and belts.  

Despite the loss, this may be El Phantasmo’s best performance .   He was fighting both Bishomon by himself, with an injured shoulder, and had you believing he was going to win.

Goto takes the mic and thanks ELP and Hikuleo for the matches.  Goto offers a title match for both IWGP and New Japan Strong Tag Team Championships.   Hikuleo and ELP accept.

Goto praises YOSHI-HASHI and calls him the MVP.  YOSHI-HASHI puts over ELP and Hikuleo.  He leads the crowd in a cheer and streamers fly.

We add another match to Wrestle Kingdom 18:  IWGP Heavyweight Tag Team Championship and New Japan Strong Tag Team Championship:  Hirooki Goto and YOSHI-HASHI vs. Hikuleo and El Phantasmo

Thanks for reading.

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