We’re back with the usual monthly preview of NJPW’s schedule. This month includes the end of the junior tag league, the beginning of the world tag league, and a card in Texas that could be fun. I used this preview as a chance to give an updated look at my junior tag league predictions, gather some thoughts on the potential world tag league field, and put some other ideas down.
Let’s dive into the schedule!
11/1/23 - NJPW ~ Super Junior Tag League 2023 ~ Road To Power Struggle ~ Night 8 - Komatsu Suehiro Gymnasium, Ishikawa
There are now just two days left in the round-robin portion of the NJPW Super Junior Tag League. After that, the top two teams will face off in the finals. Yesterday, I put in my prediction that the finals will see El Desperado and Master Wato face Clark Connors & Drilla Moloney.
After today’s card, I have crunched the numbers to further figure out how we can reach the conclusion of a Connors/Moloney vs. Desperado/Wato finals. Before we start, here are the current standings after night seven:
Super Junior Tag League 2023 Standings Through Night 7
SHO & Yoshinobu Kanemaru (10)
El Desperado & Master Wato (10)
Francesco Akira & TJP (8)
Clark Connors & Drilla Moloney (8)
Kevin Knight & KUSHIDA (8)
BUSHI & Titan (8)
Kosei Fujita & Robbie Eagles (6)
MUSASHI & YOH (6)
Ryusuke Taguchi & The DKC (4) (Eliminated)
DOUKI & TAKA Michinoku (2) (Eliminated)
As you can see tons of teams are still technically in the running. But when considering the lineups of the next two nights, I think it will be down to four teams come night nine. Here’s how I see it: We’ll head into night nine with a four-way tie for first, as two teams with 10 points will lose, and two with eight points will win on night eight.
I’m willing to predict that BUSHI and Titan will drop out of the race after suffering a loss to Kosei Fujita and Robbie Eagles. Clark Connors and Drilla Moloney will beat Ryusuke Taguchi and The DKC, who have lost every match except two in this tournament so far. Francesco Akira and TJP will beat SHO and Yoshinobu Kanemaru, levelling the two teams at 10 points each. Here’s the part where the prediction might fall apart: For four teams to stay at 10 points each, El Desperado and Master Wato will lose to DOUKI and TAKA Michinoku in the biggest upset of the tournament.
That’s a pretty odd loss to happen, but let me explain. If it were to go this way, the final night would have the top three matches in the lineup all have implications for the finals of the tournament. I’ll go over how this hypothetical night nine will work, but first, here’s how the standings would look if the above results happened:
On night nine, Connors and Moloney will face Fujita and Eagles. After that, Knight and KUSHIDA will face Akira and TJP. One of the two contending teams in these matchups will lose their bout and the other will win, giving the winning team 12 points and putting them into the finals. I believe that Connors and Moloney will gut out a victory, with Akira and TJP falling to Knight and KUSHIDA — who notably beat them earlier this year for the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Championships. In the main event of night nine, Desperado and Wato will face SHO and Kanemaru, with the winner earning 12 points and securing the other spot in the finals.
Of course, there are off-roads in this theory that allow for certain other results to happen. SHO and Kanemaru could beat Desperado and Wato on night nine and take their finals spot instead. Or, Connors and Moloney could lose and Akira and TJP could win, presenting a finals without the champions. Assessing the options, I would argue that Akira and TJP taking a spot from Connors and Moloney is more likely a possibility than if Desperado and Wato were to lose.
If there’s anywhere that makes this theory weak, it’s the prediction that Connors and Moloney will lose to Taguchi & The DKC. However, that loss arguably has to happen for the three-match setup to happen on the final night, which I would imagine NJPW would want to happen. If this theory collapses, I’m going to guess it’s because of that match.
Disclaimer, I’m very ready to be wrong about this. The whole theory could easily fall apart by tomorrow if just a few results don’t go my way. A big part of predictions is seeing what you get wrong. We’ll find out very soon if my all-over-the-place, hard-to-explain prediction plays out.
Here are the lineups for the Wednesday and Thursday shows:
Ren Narita, Shota Umino, Tomoaki Honma vs. Callum Newman, Great-O-Khan & HENARE
Gedo & Taiji Ishimori vs. Hiromu Takahashi & Yota Tsuji
Tomohiro Ishii, Toru Yano & YOSHI-HASHI vs. Dick Togo, EVIL & Yujiro Takahashi
Ryusuke Taguchi & The DKC vs. Clark Connors & Drilla Moloney (Super Junior Tag League 2023 Match)
BUSHI & Titan vs. Kosei Fujita & Robbie Eagles (Super Junior Tag League 2023 Match)
MUSASHI & YOH vs. Kevin Knight & KUSHIDA (Super Junior Tag League 2023 Match)
El Desperado & Master Wato vs. DOUKI & TAKA Michinoku (Super Junior Tag League 2023 Match)
Francesco Akira & TJP vs. SHO & Yoshinobu Kanemaru (Super Junior Tag League 2023 Match)
11/2/23 - NJPW ~ Super Junior Tag League 2023 ~ Road To Power Struggle ~ - EDION Arena Osaka, Osaka
Gedo & Taiji Ishimori vs. Hiromu Takahashi & Yota Tsuji
Kazuchika Okada, Tomohiro Ishii & Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. Dick Togo, EVIL & Yujiro Takahashi
Oleg Boltin, Oskar Leube, Ren Narita & Shota Umino vs. Callum Newman, Great-O-Khan, Jeff Cobb & Will Ospreay
Ryusuke Taguchi & The DKC vs. DOUKI & TAKA Michinoku (Super Junior Tag League 2023 Match)
MUSASHI & YOH vs. BUSHI & Titan (Super Junior Tag League 2023 Match)
Kosei Fujita & Robbie Eagles vs. Clark Connors & Drilla Moloney (Super Junior Tag League 2023 Match)
Kevin Knight & KUSHIDA vs. Francesco Akira & TJP (Super Junior Tag League 2023 Match)
El Desperado & Master Wato vs. SHO & Yoshinobu Kanemaru (Super Junior Tag League 2023 Match)
11/4/23 - NJPW Power Struggle ~ Super Junior Tag League 2023 - EDION Arena Osaka, Osaka
On Saturday, NJPW will present the finals of the Super Junior Tag League as part of their Power Struggle card from the EDION Arena Osaka in Osaka, Japan.
There are a few neat matches set to take place on the card. The return of Taiji Ishimori, going up against Hiromu Takahashi in a singles bout, has the chance to be the top match of the night. Consistency is the word to use when describing this pairing. These two have met eight times since 2018. In the five instances when journalist Dave Meltzer has graded their matches, the rating has never slipped below a four out of five. Their last meeting, which came as part of Best of the Super Juniors this year, ended early due to Ishimori suffering an injury that would keep him sidelined up until just recently. It’s fun storytelling that his first true match back will be a follow-up on that tournament match.
Will Ospreay and Shota Umino will meet for the fourth time. This was a match that was made at Royal Quest III in October, with Umino trying to take the IWGP United States Heavyweight Championship off Ospreay. While I currently don’t see Umino as a spectacular in-ring talent, he has the ability to put on big matches every once in a while. Plus, the three previous meetings between these two have all been well received. There will be big expectations for this match, as Ospreay has been on a roll as of late with stellar singles appearances.
Also on this card is a match between AEW’s Jon Moxley and Great-O-Khan. There was slight concern personally that Moxley wouldn’t be able to compete on this show after suffering a concussion last month, but he returned to action last weekend in England and Ireland for OTT. Great-O-Khan has always struggled in singles matches, but Moxley tends to be a fun name. This to say, it’s hard to tell what the quality of this match will end up like. One thing’s for sure, and that’s the fact that Moxley will be a fun character to have around the NJPW ring once again.
There are a few notable but less interesting matches on here: this includes TMDK challenging for the NEVER Openweight Six Man Tag Team Championships, and Tanga Loa facing David Finlay. Here’s the full lineup:
Mochizuki Jr., Strong Machine J & Yoshiki Kato vs. TBA
Will Ospreay vs. Shota Umino (IWGP United States Heavyweight Championship)
Jon Moxley vs. Great-O-Khan
Tanga Loa vs. David Finlay
Tetsuya Naito & Yota Tsuji vs. SANADA & Yuya Uemura
Kazuchika Okada, Tomohiro Ishii & Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. Mikey Nicholls, Shane Haste & Zack Sabre Jr. (NEVER Openweight Six Man Tag Team Championships)
Hiromu Takahashi vs. Taiji Ishimori (IWGP Junior Heavyweight Championship)
TBA vs. TBA (2023 Super Junior Tag League Finals)
11/10/23 - NJPW Lonestar Shootout 2023 - Curtis Culwell Center, Garland, Texas, USA
As discussed in yesterday’s post, a solid chunk of NJPW Lonestar Shootout was thrown together during and after the promotion’s show in Las Vegas on Saturday. While the lineup is likely incomplete, this show looks like it has a few fun pairings on it that could be memorable.
The main attraction to this show will likely be Shingo Takagi defending his NEVER Openweight Championship against AEW’s Trent Beretta, who called him out on Saturday. That, or Eddie Kingston putting his NJPW STRONG Openweight Championship on the line against Satoshi Kojima. For me personally, the 15-minute time limit match between Zack Sabre Jr. and Mike Bailey is what I’m looking forward to the most. Those are two incredibly consistent singles workers that will likely be magic, especially under the fast-paced ruleset that the NJPW World Television Championship forces.
In what is a first-time comedy pairing, Joey Janela will fight Toru Yano. Also, Mayu Iwatani will face Stephanie Vaquer. Iwatani is always a treat, and Vaquer has impressed many in her brief appearances on NJPW shows so far.
Toru Yano vs. Joey Janela
TJP vs. Mistico
El Phantasmo & Hikuleo vs. Jorel Nelson & Royce Isaacs (NJPW STRONG Openweight Tag Team Championships)
Eddie Kingston vs. Satoshi Kojima (NJPW STRONG Openweight Championship)
Mayu Iwatani vs. Stephanie Vaquer (IWGP Women’s Championship)
Zack Sabre Jr. vs. Mike Bailey (NJPW World Television Championship)
Shingo Takagi vs. Trent Beretta (NEVER Openweight Championship)
11/17/23 - NJPW New Japan Road 2023 - Yamagata Big Wing, Yamagata
NJPW will have a small bit of a rest period in mid-November, presenting just three events from the 11th to 19th. The promotion’s dates in Anjo, Aichi, and Utsunomiya, Tochigi, will not air on NJPW World and won’t be attached to any larger type of tour. However, the November 17th show from Yamagata will air on the network.
11/20/23 - NJPW World Tag League 2023 Night 1 - Korakuen Hall, Tokyo
Shortly after NJPW’s junior tag league will wrap up, their tournament for the big boys — the World Tag League — will kick off. This tournament will run a lengthy 16 nights from November 20th to December 12th, including eight shows this month.
We don’t know the lineup for this year just yet, as we’re still a few weeks out. I’ve gone back to last year’s lineup and tried to figure out who might be returning. I would guess that: Hirooki Goto and YOSHI-HASHI, Shane Haste and Mikey Nicholls, Great-O-Khan and HENARE (known last year as Aaron Henare), Alex Coughlin and Gabriel Kidd are all returning teams. I guess something to watch for here would be if Goto will be able to return for this tour — he departed the Destruction tour with a damaged medial collateral ligament.
For fun, let’s go over teams from last year that won’t be returning: Kyle Fletcher and Mark Davis, who are now in AEW after leaving NJPW, with Davis currently injured). Tetsuya Naito and SANADA, considering SANADA left Los Ingobernables de Japon for Just 5 Guys. Bad Luck Fale seems to also no longer regularly touring with NJPW, so I doubt we will see him with Chase Owens once again.
Last year had Hiroshi Tanahashi and Toru Yano teaming up. I’d be curious to see if instead maybe they will put Tanahashi with Tomohiro Ishii or even Kazuchika Okada, since they are two-thirds of the NEVER six-man tag titleholders. I’d guess Just 5 Guys will have a team, maybe Taichi and Yuya Uemura.
Last year also had AEW’s Lance Archer as the sole true surprise entrant, coming in to team with fellow Suzuki-gun member Minoru Suzuki. Considering the disbandment of Suzuki-gun, I don’t expect that team to be around again. However, I am curious if AEW could spare a wrestler or two. Or could NOAH, especially after Kaito Kiyomiya participated in the G1 Climax this past summer? I believe there is a strength in having outsiders to NJPW come in for tournaments, giving a certain freshness to the lineup. I’m hoping that can be done here, like it was last year.
11/21/23 - NJPW World Tag League 2023 Night 2 - Korakuen Hall, Tokyo
11/23/23 - NJPW World Tag League Night 3 - Yokohama Budokan, Kanagawa
11/24/23 - NJPW World Tag League Night 4 - Aimesse Yamanashi, Yamanashi
11/25/23 - NJPW World Tag League Night 5 - Fujisawa City Akibadai Cultural Gymnasium, Fujisawa
11/26/23 - NJPW World Tag League Night 6 - Big Palette Fukushima, Fukushima
11/28/23 - NJPW World Tag League Night 7 - Nagoya Congress Center Event Hall - Aichi
11/29/23 - NJPW World Tag League Night 8 - Twin Messe Shizuoka, Shizuoka
Tuesday Notebook
Just one note today since we’re on a quick turnaround from yesterday’s article: Viva Van is joining a TJPW tour in November. She was very impressive during her appearance during AAA Triplemania XXXI Tijuana this summer, so I’m looking forward to that. Next TJPW Time Limit post is coming in a day or so, keep your eyes out for it!