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Sunday, November 22, 2020

NJPW: World Tag League 2020 Night Four Review - November 22nd, 2020

NJPW World Tag League Night Four
November 22nd, 2020 

After a day off, the gods are back at it again with the fourth evening of World Tag League action. #njwtl 

1) Tomoaki Honma & Satoshi Kojima vs. Yuji Nagata & Yota Tsuji

Kojima & Nagata tear into each other to start. Tsuji gets in and goes IN ON THE VEterans. His exchange with Kojima fucking ruled and they actually had some back and forth. Unfortunately the flurry isn’t sustainable nor enough to finish off the legend and Tsuji eats another lariat and it puts him away like it did a few nights ago. 

Match rating - **1/2 

2) Bad Luck Fale & Chase Owens (Bullet Club) (0 pts) vs. Shingo Takagi & SANADA (LIJ) (4 pts) - World Tag League Tournament Match 

I am fully hoping and preparing to see Shingo destroy both of these individuals for the greater good. Fale & Owens jump Shingo & Sanada at the bell per usual. Sanada gets isolated then Shingo gets tagged in and we get awesome exchanges with him and Owens & Fale. They build up to Shingo being able to knock Fale down with the pumping bomber which rules then Chase Owens gets in and has a good back & forth with him. SANADA comes back in and Fale & Owens hit some double team offense on him to regain control. Miscommunication from Owens & Fale lead to things leveling off. SANADA & Owens trade near falls before SANADA catches him for the win. Probably the best match Fale & Owens will have all tournament. 

Match rating - **3/4

3) Hirooki Goto & YOSHI HASHI (CHAOS) (2 pts) vs. Hiroshi Tanahashi & Toa Henare (0 pts) - World Tag League Tournament Match 

This was simple and fine, but nothing to write home about. Tana & Henare’s losing streak continues after a few minutes of back & forth where it looked like they might finally secure a victory. Tana & Yoshi had some good sequences. Yoshi & Goto hit some double team stuff and pin Henare to gain two points. 

Match rating - **1/2

4) EVIL & Yujiro Takahashi (w/ Dick Togo) (Bullet Club) (4 pts) vs. Tomohiro Ishii & Toru Yano (CHAOS) (4 pts) - World Tag League Tournament Match 

This starts off building towards Ishii getting his hands on EVIL as EVIL essentially refuses to start with Ishii. Yano gets in and gets worn down and isolated as they keep Ishii at bay by knocking him off the apron. Ishii finally gets in and throttles EVIL with a suplex. The flurry doesn’t last long before a double low blow leads EVIL & Yujiro to a three count and a victory. 

Match rating - **1/2 

5) Great O’ Khan & Jeff Cobb (Empire) (4 pts) vs. FinJuice (David Finlay & Juice Robinson) (4 pts) - World Tag League Tournament Match 

Here we have last year’s winners and fan favorites against this year’s possible front runner if you look at how dominant they’ve been (outside of their one random loss). Juice & Cobb start. Juice is immediately antsy due to the strength and speed of Cobb along with the aggressiveness of the team as a whole. Finlay gets in and gets worked over by the Empire duo with everyone’s favorite baby face Juice cheering him on. Pretty quick transition hot tag to Juice who throws jabs at Cobb and HELL YEAH. Juice clears house and I’m here for it but it doesn’t last long before he’s broken down. FinJuice really couldn’t get much going here despite having a few flurries. This made it a little less fun to watch, but it’s understandable booking. The finish is sick as fuck with Cobb catching Finlay mid air during a sliced bread attempt and tossing him with tour of the islands for the victory. 

Match rating - **3/4 

6) Dangerous Tekkers (Zack Sabre Jr & Taichi) (Suzukigun) (4 pts) vs. Guerrillas of Destiny (Tama Tonga & Tanga Loa) (Bullet Club) (4 pts) - World Tag League Tournament Match 

This starts out on the floor and they fight up the entrance way onto the wooden stage. ZSJ & Taichi tease a double suplex on Tanga off the stage to the floor, but it never happens and they end up back in the ring... then they end up back on the stage. The Tekkers lock them in a dueling submission and then try to get a count out victory by running back to the ring, but fail. This continues as quite the brawl, it just honestly never really grasped my attention outside of the spot teases at the beginning and then at the end where the kendo stick got involved. Sabre beats Tanga with it instead of allowing to be used against him. However, Tama is waiting with the iron fingers from hell that he stole from Taichi and Sabre gets nailed and pinned. I guess this makes sense as it gives Sabre & Taichi a loss, but not in a way that makes them look weak. The match was decent although it's definitely the weakest main event of the tourney so far. Kudos to them for doing something different with it, though, to change things up because that's always nice and I probably shouldn't be so complacent/negative on this for that reason. 

Match rating - **3/4

UPDATED STANDINGS FOLLOWING THIS SHOW:

Guerrillas of Destiny (Tama Tonga & Tanga Loa) - 6 pts
Shingo Takagi & SANADA - 6 pts
EVIL & Yujiro Takahashi - 6 pts
The Empire (Great O'Khan & Jeff Cobb) - 6 pts
Dangerous Tekkers (Zack Sabre Jr. & Taichi) - 4 pts
FinJuice (David Finlay & Juice Robinson) - 4 pts
Tomohiro Ishii & Toru Yano - 4 pts
Hirooki Goto & YOSHI HASHI - 4 pts
Hiroshi Tanahashi & Toa Henare - 0 points
Bad Luck Fale & Chase Owens - 0 points


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