New Japan Pro Wrestling kicked off the 2021 World Tag League on Sunday. Part of a dual tour with the Best of Super Juniors, the show featured three big returns.
The most obvious return was Tetsuya Naito. He had a big press conference last week to announce his recovery from injury, and he closed the show on Sunday with a win alongside SANADA. The tandem made fairly easy work of CHAOS’s YOSHI-HASHI & Hirooki Goto.
Tag League competition opened with a return as well, but a much different one. TAKA Michinoku returned to NJPW for the first time since about 2018. Less a match and more a gang re-initiation, Taichi and Zack Sabre Jr. spent about 20 minutes beating TAKA into unconsciousness, getting the win by knockout. After the match, Suzuki, Taichi, Sabre & TAKA all showed each other respect and left under the Suzuki-gun marching theme; an oddly touching way to begin this year’s tournament.
Last but certainly not least in big returns, Bad Luck Fale returned to NJPW after being stuck in New Zealand due to travel restrictions. Him and Chase Owens picked up right where they left off, kicking ass. They got a somewhat surprising win over the dominant United Empire.
Last year’s winners Tama Tonga & Tanga Loa came into Sunday’s show with a new fire and malicious intent. They gave Togi Makabe & Tomoaki Honma a sound thrashing to earn their first two points.
Elsewhere on the card, Yuji Nagata & Tiger Mask fell to Tenzan & Kojima. Hiroshi Tanahashi & Toru Yano dressed like the main characters from Be-Bop High School in their win over House of Torture’s Yujiro Takahashi & EVIL. Also Young Lions Nakashima & Fujita wrestled to a time limit draw.
.@tanahashi1_100 & @YTR_CHAOS "TAEM Be-Bop Highschool"
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— NJPW WORLD (@njpwworld) November 14, 2021
Here are the full results:
11/14
NJPW World Tag League: Night 1
Available on NJPWWorld.com
- Non-Tournament Match: Yuto Nakashima wrestled Kosei Fujita to a Time Limit Draw. (10:00)
- World Tag League: Taichi & Zack Sabre Jr. (2) def. Minoru Suzuki & TAKA Michinoku (0) by KO. (18:44)
- World Tag League: Hiroyoshi Tenzan & Satoshi Kojima (2) def. Tiger Mask & Yuji Nagata (0) by pinfall. (10:09)
Satoshi Kojima pinned Tiger Mask via Lariat. - World Tag League: Tama Tonga & Tanga Loa (2) def. Togi Makabe & Tomoaki Honma (0) by pinfall. (14:00)
Tama Tonga pinned Tomoaki Honma via Gun Stun. - World Tag League: Chase Owens & Bad Luck Fale (2) def. Aaron Henare & Great-O-Khan (0) by pinfall. (9:13)
Bad Luck Fale pinned Aaron Henare via Grenade Launcher. - World Tag League: Toru Yano & Hiroshi Tanahashi (2) def. Yujiro Takahashi & EVIL (0) by pinfall. (12:16)
Toru Yano pinned Yujiro Takahashi via Rollup. - World Tag League: Tetsuya Naito & SANADA (2) def. YOSHI-HASHI & Hirooki Goto (0) by pinfall. (18:12)
Tetsuya Naito pinned YOSHI-HASHI via Destino.
NJPW returns on Nov. 15th at 4:30 ET for Best of Super Juniors: Night 2 on NJPWWorld.com
