Osaka sees Monstersauce taste first loss, tie at top of table
Night ten of World Tag League 2023 saw action head to Osaka, where a sold out EDION sub arena brought the fifth matches for B Block, and a main event of Bishamon versus Yota Tsuji and Zandokan Jr.
Hirooki Goto and YOSHI-HASHI were in a must-win position in the main event, and Yota Tsuji and Zandokan Jr. weren’t far off that point themselves, a loss putting them right on the edge of the bubble. Tsuji brought the aggression to YOSHI-HASHI in the opening moments, and Zandokan helped maintain those violent levels against the IWGP Tag Champions on the outside. Hirooki Goto labored in the blue corner until a lariat brought the YOSHI-HASHI back in, but despite the Headhunter doing some damage, a big boot would score for Tsuji, followed by a face plant out of the corner on Goto. That saw Zandokan Jr. tagged, and another tag to the chest of Goto with a brutal chop.
Goto fired up with YOSHI-HASHI’s help, hitting Ushigoroshi on Zandokan and finally tagging out after a Muramasa follow-up. The match growing ever more chaotic, Bishamon had designs on hitting the Dangerous Nebra on Zandokan, but instead found themselves the victims of stereo dives; Ancla followed, and the two looked for Vamos Amigo, but Tsuji went face-first into the empty canvas instead as Goto re-emerged. Bishamon built momentum with Violent Flash and then scored the Dangerous Nebra before Shoto for three.
The semi-final pit the undefeated Monstersauce against the winless side of Yuji Nagata and Minoru Suzuki. Archer enjoyed a violent exchange with his former Suzuki-Gun boss early before he and Alex Zayne took over on Yuji Nagata; a basement dropkick would finally bring the King back in to trade bombs with Archer. As Nagata came in, an exploder suplex on Zayne set up Nagata Lock II, as Suzuki tried to choke out Archer, only for the power of Monstersauce seeing crunching cannonballs to both veterans. With Suzuki-Gun out on the floor, Archer wanted Blackout Sauce on Nagata, but Suzuki would make the save. As the King held Archer at bay, Zayne went for the Baja Blast but ate an enzuigiri and a Backdrop suplex for the upset pin and the first points on the board for Nagata and Suzuki.
Yuya Uemura and Taichi headed into the night having suffered their first loss against Monstersauce, while the CMLL side of Atlantis Jr and Soberano Jr. were sore after only a time limit draw with Bishamon. That led to spirited grappling for Uemura and Soberano, and hard hits between Atlantis and Taichi. A Gamengiri would give the J5G side control for the first time in the match, with a thrust kick bringing Soberano back in for a surge in pace, including a crunching guillotine leg drop on Uemura. High-impact double team moves followed on Uemura, and Atlantis landed a big splash for a near two, but Yuya kept himself in the hunt. Countering La Atlantida, Uemura chained a deep Steamboat armdrag into a crucifix pin and brought about victory.
The first league match of the night saw the Rogue Army side of Bad Luck Fale and