NJPW World Tag League 2023

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The teams for the World Tag League have been announced starting next Monday as it'll be 16 teams competing in two blocks with the top two advancing.

A Block

Shota Umino and Ren Narita

Great O-Khan and Aaron Henare

Tomohiro Ishii and Toru Yano

TMDK

War Dogs

Evil and Yujiro Takahashi

Kaito Kiyomiya and Ryohei Oiwa

Gates of Agony

B Block

Bishamon

Yuji Nagata and Minoru Suzuki

El Phantasmo and Hikuleo

Taichi and Yuya Uemura

Yota Tsuji and Z

Atlantis Jr and Soberano

Monster Sauce

Bad Luck Fale and Jack Bonza

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Tsuji announced he will reveal who Z is this Sunday.

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Two new Young Lions will be making their wrestling debuts next week

Shoma Kato, 20 years old from Osaka who played Baseball and also MMA and Grappling. He's on a Reality show that Okada produces

Katsuya Murashima, 23 years old from Ibaraki who has a nine year background in amateur wrestling and won regional championships in his time in college.

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Kiyomiya returns for more humbling

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TV and Never matches have been made official for WK18

[ehead]

Pleasantly surprised to see Gates Of Agony in the entrants this year. Looking forward to see how they'll fare.

[Mozenrath]

I am okay with EVIL and Yujiro being in, actually, but ugh about Bad Luck Fale. He is so much worse.

Some decent teams, not sure who I am rooting for, really, though I guess Tsuji's mystery partner means he's got the intrigue going for him.

Tempted to root for O-Khan, but it means having to root for Henare, which, eh I do not hate him or anything, but Jeff Cobb is way cooler as a partner for O-Khan. Shame they couldn't team this go-round because I'd have been all for them winning it all.

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Today's Tanahashi's birthday

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Soberano has recently turned Rudo so he and Atlantis Jr. may not gel together

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Cubsfan thinks Z maybe Zandokan or Terrible

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Rejoice all ye who want to enjoy the finishes of Naito matches. Kevin Kelly is gone.

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The last two years in New Japan he was unbearable.

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Hayata will be on Sunday's show teaming with Oiwa and Kaito

[theresalwaysanegon]

Bad Luck Fale stinks, but this is definitely the most interesting looking field for World Tag League in a long time. Most years I just watch the finals, but there are definitely some block matches I'll be checking out this time.

[Convoy]

Looking at the lineup, which I do like this year, there are a few clear possibilities of wrestlers that New Japan would want to get on the Wrestle Kingdom main card:

Shota Umino
Ren Narita
Yota Tsuji
EVIL
Bishamon


By default, Bishamon will be defending the tag titles, so they won't need to win the tournament. Feels like they might go the Special Singles Match route (or maybe just a tag match) for the Tsuji/Uemura dynamic. Most everyone else is destined for the KOPW Rambo - and most of them were in it last year (including EVIL). This comes across as Umino & Narita's WTL to lose.

Counting the tag title bout, we are at eight matches for WK, and we typically hover around 9-10 for the main card. Don't know if they are planning anything for the various STRONG belts, or if we'll just see an IWGP Women's defense and maybe one additional feature (like Yota/Yuya). Maybe they can have the STRONG women's and tag belts defended on the preshow with the Rambo, then add Kingston/Kidd to the main card.

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Monday which is the starting show will be free to watch for all.

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Gates of Agony getting a big opportunity here to impress during this. Out of all the teams in AEW, they were the ones that were picked.

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Sho will defend The KOPW Friday, but only if Kanemaru is the special referee.

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Tomorrow's lineup

Tencozy and Togi Makabe vs Boltin Oleg, Oskar Leube and Yuto Nakashima

Master Wato and Toru Yano vs Taiji Ishimori and Gedo

United Empire vs Bishamon and Yoh

Los Ingobernables vs Yuji Nagata, Shota Umino, Minoru Suzuki and Tiger Mask

Just Five Guys vs House of Torture

Kazuchika Okada, Hiroshi Tanahashi and Tomohiro Ishii vs Ren Narita, Tomoaki Honma and Ryusuke Taguchi

KOPW: Sho vs Taichi

[Fundertaker]

Well, with the new young lions debuting, we'll probably have news about Yuto and maybe even Oskar (since he had already some experience under his belt in wXw in Germany) leaving for excursion in relative short order (probably first half of the next year).