Finals set in Kagoshima
On Friday December 8, Kirishima City in Kagoshima will see the semifinals of World Tag League. The final four will become the final two on Friday, while fallout from prior nights will spill into action on tonight’s undercard, now made official.
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Main event: WTL Semifinal- Bishamon (Hirooki Goto & YOSHI-HASHI) (B Block 2nd place) vs BULLET CLUB War Dogs (Gabe Kidd & Alex Coughlin) (A Block 1st Place)
Tag record: 2-1 Bishamon
What a difference a year makes, or the more things change the more they stay the same? That’s the story of our main event tonight. In one corner, third verse is the same as the second and first for Bishamon, who are looking to make an unprecedented threepeat of World Tag League, and in the process be the first champions to win the league, despite the champions making the finals on several occasions in the past. Opposite them, a team who had a risible two point record in 2022, but with new attitudes and allegiances, whether one likes them or not, War Dogs have propelled themselves to the top seed in A Block.
The first test for Alex Coughlin and Gabe Kidd as members of David Finlay’s BULLET CLUB was to wrestle Bishamon in back to back nights over Independence Day, first for the STRONG Openweight Championships and then for the IWGP. Kidd and Coughlin brute forced their way to the gold on July 4, an effort that was marked with sloppy tag co-ordination but a boundless capacity for violence. The next night, Hirooki Goto and YOSHI-HASHI had gotten wise to their foes, and would not taker them lightly again, retaining the IWGP titles in decisive form.
Yet while Bishamon have racked up the miles and damage since, Goto first sustaining an MCL injury that took him out of the autumn, and during WTL dealing with neck issues, Kidd and Couhlin have gone from strength to fearsome strength. Tonight, with chips on shoulders proudly borne, will the War Dogs seize their chance for gold and bodies, or will the bonds of Bishamon prove too strong?
7th Match: WTL Semifinal- Guerrillas of Destiny (El Phantasmo & Hikuleo) (B Block 1st Place) vs TMDK (Shane Haste & Mikey Nicholls) (A Block 2nd place)
While Hikuleo and El Phantasmo’s past extends farther back than to the formation of this team at the end of the G1 in August, there were still voices that spoke critically of the two Guerrillas of Destiny as a ‘thrown together team’. Through a win and two defences of the STRONG Openweight Tag team Championship, and most of all, an impressive ten point record in their first World Tag League, they have proven this is anything but the case. yet opposite them are a team in Shane Haste and Mikey Nicholls that have unbreakable bonds forged over decades, and arguably the greatest duo never to be the IWGP Tag Champions. Which side gets a step closer to their first WTL trophies?
6th Match: Just Five Guys (DOUKI, Yuya Uemura, Taichi &