Bryan Rose is an editor from California that has been covering professional wrestling for well over a decade. He officially joined F4WOnline as an editor in 2017.
EVIL and SANADA have won the World Tag League for the second year in a row.
The duo managed to defeat Tama Tonga and Tanga Loa, the Guerrillas of Destiny, after EVIL landed the Darkness Falls on Tama Tonga, with SANADA finishing things off with the moonsault. This likely means that they will face the Guerrillas of Destiny, the IWGP tag team champions, at Wrestle Kingdom 13 for the titles.
But right after they won, The Young Bucks then came out in a surprise. They said that EVIL and SANADA are the best tag team in the tournament, but they are the best in the world. Matt mentioned they never got the rematch from when the Guerrillas of Destiny defeated them back at Fighting Spirit Unleashed. He suggested that they get the next title shot.
After everyone had left, EVIL mentioned that they are willing to take on both at the same time, leaving the door open for a possible triple threat match at Wrestle Kingdom.
After an injury temporarily derailed plans, the Wrestle Kingdom 13 NEVER Openweight title was set tonight at the World Tag League finals as new champion Kota Ibushi will challenge Will Ospreay.
Ospreay won a number one contender’s match on the show, defeating Taichi with the stormbreaker. In the next match, Kota Ibushi defeated Hirooki Goto to win his first championship since 2014, putting away Goto with two kamigoyes.
After the title match, Ospreay came out and officially challenged Ibushi to a match on January 4, noting how this was a dream match that everyone wanted. They shook hands, confirming the match for the Tokyo Dome.
Ospreay was originally supposed to challenge then champion Taichi to a match at Power Struggle for the championship. However, Ospreay injured his ribs and was sidelined until tonight’s match. Goto filled in for him and ended up winning the championship on 11/3. He ended up holding the title for around 36 days.
Big Cass suffered what appeared to be a seizure during tonight’s House of Hardcore event.
David Onda of Xfinity, who was at the event, tweeted that Cass was in the arena lobby when he collapsed, landing right on his face. Fans stood back as a doctor was called and tended to him. Tommy Dreamer and Bully Ray were by his side as it all happened.
Onda later tweeted that Cass was loaded into an ambulance and taken to a hospital. Cass was said to be responsive after the incident occurred.
Dreamer later addressed the crowd about the situation, saying that Cass had suffered a seizure. He also made sure to point out that it was not a drug-related matter.
Cass was scheduled to be a part of the show following the intermission. He made his debut for the promotion back on 12/1 in a losing effort against MVP. He’s continued to wrestle on the independent scene since his release from WWE back in June.
Tegan Nox has given an update regarding her current injury status.
In a Twitter post this morning, she talked about undergoing a knee scope last Thursday.
“I had to undergo a knee scope on my left knee to clean out some of the gunk that built up over the past few months after the ACL/Meniscus repair” she wrote, saying that the reason for the scope was that there was a bump in the knee that was causing her to have issues. That issue has now been fixed.
She also noted that her rehab was heating up, and credited the WWE Performance Center staff for her rehabilitation.
“Genuinely don’t know what I would do without the amazing medical staff at the PC,” she wrote. “They push me to give me all 100% of the time but are always there to help/comfort me when I feel like I just want to quit or if I feel like I have no more to give!”
Nox injured her ACLduring a match against Rhea Ripley in a Mae Young Classic quarterfinal match back in August. She had just come back from an ACL injury in her other knee that kept her out for a year.
She noted in the post that she hopes to be back by next summer.
The finals of this year’s World Tag League will be set after tonight’s show in Akita.
There are four teams at 18 points, and coincidentally enough they are all facing each other tonight: Killer Elite Squad vs. EVIL and SANADA and Guerrillas of Destiny vs. Tomohiro Ishii and Toru Yano. The winners of these two matches, should they be clean finishes with no draws, should determine the two teams that will advance to the finals on December 9.
It seems like the end of the road for the rest of the teams in the tournament, but there are still plenty of other tag team matches that will determine rankings. It would be interesting to see if Shota Umino and Ayato Yoshida, who have scored 0 points in the tournament so far, will be able to pull off a win against Manabu Nakanishi and Yuji Nagata.
Another eight man tag headlines tonight’s show. HIroshi Tanahashi, Kazuchika Okada, KUSHIDA and Rocky Romero will team up to take on JAy White, Bad Luck Fale, Taiji Ishimori and Gedo.
Join us this morning starting at 5 a.m. ET. Kevin Kelly and Excalibur will be on commentary.
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World Tag League: Yuji Nagata & Manabu Nakanishi defeated Ayato Yoshida & Shota Umino
This was fine, but your typical opener between young lions and the old guard in Nagata/Nakanishi. Umino showed great fire in selling all of Nagata’s offense. He eventually fell to the Nagata lock while Nakanishi kept Yoshida at bay. So in other words, Yoshida and Umino fail to score any points in the tournament.
World Tag League: Tencozy defeated Minoru Suzuki & Takashi Iizuka
This too felt atypical. I’ve seen plenty of times where Suzuki or a cohort take someone to the crowd, only for them to magically come back to the ring at 19. Iizuka came in and did whatever he calls offense. He escaped a 3D once, but fell for it a second time. Tenzan went and did the moonsault and connected as well as he could for the win.
World Tag League: Zack Sabre Jr. & Taichi defeated Togi Makabe & Toa Henare
This time around it was Taichi and Sabre who took it into the crowd. Another countout tease. Sabe works on Henare’s leg. Suzuki-gun are in control for awhile until Makabe is finally tagged in. Makabe went for the king kong knee drop, but Sabre held him back.
Henare missed a charge in the corner as he and Taichi went at it. Henare went for a charge to the corner but Taichi grabbed his cane and whacked Henare with it. He finished things off with the press powerbomb. Another okay match, but nothing to write home about.
World Tag League: Juice Robinson and David Finlay defeated Best Friends by DQ
This was a much better match than previous bouts, lots of good back and forth action crowd was kind of quiet, though. Best Friends worked over Finlay and isolated him from Juice. Chuckie T was on offense and got a nearfall with a piledriver.
Chuckie T has a new gimmick now where he introduces weapons for no real reason other than I guess these tournaments need someone to do DQs now. He just whacks Finlay with a chair for the DQ. He then piledrove the referee which got the crowd to boo.I hope this is going somewhere.
World Tag League: Hangman Page and Yujiro Takahashi defeated Jeff Cobb & Michael Elgin
Hangman & Cobb, as well as Elgin & Yujiro, paired off against each other early. Hangman & Cobb’s offense looked good. Hangman eventually works over both men, launching off with a giant moonsault off the top to the floor.
Elgin came back to mount some offense, but Yujiro raked him in the eyes and hit the pimp juce DDT. Cobb came back and laid out Yujiro with the tour of the islands. Page fired back with the buckshot lariat then pinned Cobb with the rite of passage. This was pretty good, but this crowd was quiet tonight and it hurt match quality as a result.
Kevin Kelly pushed Hangman Page vs. Jeff Cobb ahead of their Final Battle match next week. Page said on commentary after the match that Cobb had one week to rest.
Jay White, Bad Luck Fale, Taiji Ishimori and Gedo defeated Kazuchika Okada, Hiroshi Tanahashi, KUSHIDA and Rocky Romero
Okada didn’t even wait for the bell as he went right after the Bullet Club crew, the rest of his team following suit. KUSHIDA was getting the heat when White cut him off, allowing the rest of the Bullet Club to jump everyone, take them into the crowd and throw them into the barricades.
Back in the ring, the heels worked over KUSHIDA, grinding him down with sleeper holds. Tanahashi was eventually tagged in and worked on Fale’s knee. KUSHIDA and Romero worked over White and Ishimori together. Okada hit White with the dropkick as Tanahashi laid out Fale with the slingblade.
Romero scored some nearfalls, with Okada coming in for an assist. However, White manages to grab Romero, laid out Okada with Romero then pinned him with the Switchblade. Pretty good while it lasted.
The story being pushed here is that Okada & Tanahashi failed each time they faced off against the Bullet Club on this tour.
World Tag League: EVIL & SANADA defeated Killer Elite Squad
This started off as a good back and forth match. Archer pushed EVIL into Red Shoes, who rolled out of the ring into the floor. Archer then grabbed the exposed turnbuckle and threw EVIL into it. Archer introduced a chair and went to whip EVIL into it, but EVIL countered and sent Archer head first into the chair.
SANADA and DBS worked for a bit before Archer came in helped DBS plant SANADA with an avalanche powerslam. DBS went for the bulldog bomb but SANADA countered with a roll-up and got the surprise win. EVIL & SANADA advance to the finals in a good match.
Archer argued it wasn’t a three count after the match. DBS put someone through a table in anger.
World Tag League: Guerrillas of Destiny defeated Tomohiro Ishii and Toru Yano
Heels worked over Yano early, avoiding Ishii. Ishii came in for a hot tag, then Yano came in to continue the momentum, taking out Loa with a belly to belly. Both Loa and Tonga made a comeback, hitting stereo splashes on Yano. They hit Guerrilla Warfare on Yano, but he kicked out.
Yano continued to fight back, pushing Tonga into Loa. Loa distracted the referee but Yano was about to low blow him when Tonga interrupted. Jado struck Yano in the back, giving the GoD an opportunity. They planted Yano with a powerbomb off the middle rope, with Loa getting the pinfall.
That makes it Guerrillas of Destiny vs. EVIL and SANADA in the finals of the World Tag League on 12/9.
Loa says this show isn’t over yet. He calls out SANADA and EVIL who obliged, selling the match they had with KES earlier. He asked them to enter the ring. He brought up that last year GoD lost to them, but they beat them during the World Tag League. It’s now one and one, and they’ll get the win on Sunday.
They all started to leave, but GoD, along with Jado and his cane, jumped them. They hit the magic killer on SANADA and posed over them to close out the show.
Final Standings:
Guerrillas of Destiny (10-3) — 20 points
EVIL & SANADA (10-3) — 20 points
Killer Elite Squad (9-4) — 18 points
Tomohiro Ishii & Toru Yano (9-4) — 18 points
Michael Elgin & Jeff Cobb (8-5) — 16 points
Zack Sabre Jr. & Taichi (8-5) — 16 points
Juice Robinson & David Finlay (8-5) — 16 points
Best Friends (7-6) — 14 points
Minoru Suzuki & Takashi Iizuka (5-8) — 10 points
Hangman Page & Yujiro Takahashi (5-8) — 10 points
Hiroyoshi Tenzan & Satoshi Kojima (5-8) — 10 points
The latest episode of WWE ARRIVAL featuring Matt Riddle has been released.
The third episode features Matt Riddle on the road with his two daughters as they move to Florida, where Matt Riddle will be training at the WWE Performance Center. Riddle also talks about his run in the UFC and how he was fired from the promotion. He says that it was due to butting heads with people within UFC over a Dan Hardy fight, but the documentary doesn’t touch upon the failed marijuana tests.
After being fired from the UFC in 2013, Riddle competed in MMA for another year before transitioning to professional wrestling in 2014. His first big break came when he signed with WWN, competing in EVOLVE for the next three years, winning the EVOLVE and WWN championships along the way. He officially signed with the WWE a few months ago in October.
You can catch the latest episode, along with the first and second episodes below.
Alexa Bliss is not yet cleared for in-ring action.
Dave Meltzer has confirmed that Alexa Bliss is still not cleared to return to the ring. This comes after Mark Henry said on Busted Open Radio yesterday that Bliss was “100 percent cleared”.
Despite not being cleared, she does have limited clearance for physical activity. It was noted in the most recent edition of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter that she was taking light bumps at the WWE Performance Center last week with WWE medical nearby monitoring her.
Bliss has been out of action since October 20 with a concussion. She has suffered from multiple concussions recently in a short period of time.
She has remained on television since her since then, with Baron Corbin giving her the power to run the Raw women’s division. She was also the team captain at Survivor Series last month, leading the Raw team to victory over SmackDown.
A WrestleMania 34 rematch, along with a rap battle will take place next week on SmackDown.
Charlotte will take on Asuka in a singles match ahead of their TLC match with Becky Lynch. Charlotte brought up during the contract signing for the match tonight that she was the one who broke Asuka’s winning streak, retaining the Smackdown Women’s title in the process. She and Asuka later faced Mandy Rose & Sonya Deville in tag action, with the pair losing after Asuka attacked Charlotte in retaliation after Charlotte previously booted Asuka off the apron by accident.
Meanwhile, a rap battle will take place next week between the Usos and The Bar, with The New Day serving as hosts. This comes after Jey Uso defeated Xavier Woods and Cesaro in a triple threat match. The New Day and The Usos competed against one another in a previous rap battle with Wale hosting.
SmackDown will take place next week at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada.
The man formerly known as Neville was won gold in Dragon Gate.
PAC defeated Masato Yoshino today at Fantastic Gate 2018 inside Korakuen Hall to win the company’s top single title, the Open the Dream Gate championship. Yoshino had held the title for 177 days, winning it back on June 10.
This comes after a long period where PAC’s contract was frozen by WWE after he walked out before an episode of Raw back in October of 2017. He remained sidelined with his contract situation up in the air until August, where it was reported he was no longer under WWE contract. He then resurfaced in Dragon Gate a few months later, aligning himself with the R.E.D stable on October 2.
PAC is scheduled for a number of dates in the United Kingdom. The most high profile bout is a match between him and Will Ospreay that will take place at a upcoming RevPro event on February 15.
A women’s championship contract signing and the latest edition of Miz TV is set for SmackDown tomorrow.
During tonight’s episode of Raw, it was announced that Daniel Bryan would join the Miz on Miz TV. The two feuded over the summer and into the fall, with Daniel Bryan getting the better of Miz at WWE Super-Showdown. But given Bryan’s new attitude over the last few weeks, the dynamic may be different.
Meanwhile, a contract signing between Becky Lynch, Charlotte and Asuka will take place. After seemingly becoming friends again shortly before Survivor Series, the mood has changed once more, with Charlotte challenging Becky Lynch to a match at TLC. After a number of other women declared that they wanted an opportunity, a battle royal was made to determine a third challenger. Asuka won that match, last eliminating Sonya Deville. Their match will be conducted under TLC rules.
SmackDown tomorrow night will take place at the Frank Erwin Events Center in Austin, Texas.
WWE is in Santiago, Chile this week for their first ever tryouts in the country.
WWE.com posted an article talking about the tryouts. WWE Performance Center head trainer Matt Bloom and coaches Robbie Brookside and Sarah Stock are in attendance. Also on board to help train are NXT wrestlers Adrian Jaoude, Cezar Bononi, Taynara Conti, Raul Mendoza and NXT referee Eddie Orengo.
The athletes that were highlighted in the WWE.com article include:
Tayane Porfirio de Araújo, 23, a multi-time world champion in jiu-jitsu
Ricky Marvin, who has wrestled for AAA, CMLL and Pro Wrestling NOAH for over two decades
Manuel Alejandro Saez, former Cruiserweight Classic participant who lost to Gran Metalik in the first round
Ariki Toa, a 11 year in-ring veteran
Patricia Maria Fontes Santos, a former ballerina who transitioned into jiu-jitsu. A three time World No-Gi champion.
Stephanie Vaquer, a wrestler who has wrestled in the United States, Japan and Mexico.
Dragon Bane, who is the current King of the Air champion for IWRG.
Zatara, a masked wrestler from this year’s Mae Young Classic tournament.
Diego Valdes, better known as Alex Hero who has wrestled in the Chilean indy scene since 2013.
Keyra, who currently wrestles for AAA but has also worked The Crash and Impact Wrestling. She also wears a mask.
Pedro Sanchez, who is being billed as a street-workout athlete. He trains in boxing.
WWE also announced that they will be holding tryouts in Mumbai, India next March. Their last tryout camp was last month in Cologne, Germany.
Dave Meltzer has confirmed that King is headed to the promotion. King has pulled out of all future dates with Major League Wrestling.
King has gained traction over the last year as an independent name. He has was branched out across the United States any beyond, working for AAW, Defy, Progress, WWN, GCW, PWG, The Crash and AAA. He is the current AAW champion.
Originally trained at the Santino Bros. Wrestling Academy, Brody King made his debut in 2015. He’s worked in the Southern California indy scene extensively, making his PWG debut at Neon Knights this fast February. He lost to Adam Brooks, but has competed regularly there since then, even challenging WALTER for the PWG title back in July.
The news of King’s signing comes as Pierre Carl Ouellet, or PCO, was also announced as heading to ROH. He too will be unable to fulfill remaining dates with MLW going forward.
NJPW returns to Korakuen Hall this morning for more World Tag League action.
The main event will be much like yesterday morning’s tag team match, but it will now be an eight man tag team match. Rocky Romero joins Hiroshi Tanahashi, Kazuchika Okada and KUSHIDA while Gedo joins Jay White, Bad Luck Fale and Taiji Ishimori.
More tag team action is set for tonight. Togi Makabe & Toa Henare vs. Ayato Yoshida & Shota Umino, Yuji Nagata & Manabu Nakanishi vs. Best Friends, Satoshi Kojima & Hiroyoshi Tenzan vs. Juice Robinson & David Finlay, Hangman Page & Yujiro Takahashi vs. Minoru Suzuki & Takashi Iizuka, Killer Elite Squad vs. Zack Sabre Jr. & Taichi, Jeff Cobb & Michael Elgin vs. Tomohiro Ishii & Toru Yano and SANADA & EVIlL versus Tama Tonga & Tanga Loa will all take place tonight.
Current standings show EVIL & SANADA just slightly ahead of their competition. But Ishii & Yano, Guerillas of Destiny and Zack Sabre Jr. & Taichi are not too far behind, and anything can change during the next week.
Join us for live coverage starting at 4:30 a.m. EDT.
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World Tag League: Togi Makabe & Toa Henare defeated Ayato Yoshida & Shota Umino
Yoshida and Henare worked together for a bit; Yoshida showed great fire. Makabe was in there, but a lot of this was Henare. Umino came in and got the heat with some good near falls. Of course, in the end, Henare won with the Samoan Drop. Patterned, but pretty good.
World Tag League: Best Friends defeated Yuji Nagata & Manabu Nakanishi
Solid stuff to start things out with. Nakanishi was in working mode, launching off with a plancha that…well, didn’t look good at all, but A for effort. He did something that vaguely looked like brawling with Beretta near the entrance as Chuckie T and Nagata went after it. Chuckie cut off Nagata with a knee to the face, then grabbed his leg and rolled him up out of nowhere for the win.
This was fine, a different kind of match up that wasn’t too offensive when Nakanishi wasn’t in there.
World Tag League: Juice Robinson & David Finlay defeated Hiroyoshi Tenzan & Satoshi Kojima
Juice was wearing gear that resembled 80’s Randy Savage, complete with the headband, robe and glasses.
Juice and Finlay controlled early but Juice then accidently sledged Finlay. Despite that, he remained in control. Kojima came in and did his number, but got cut off. Kojima came back after grabbing Juice from the top rope and landing the Koji Cutter.
Kojima motioned for the lariat but Juice ducked and went for the Pulp Friction. Kojima blocked it, but walked into a fist from Juice and a stunner from Finlay. Juice then connected with the Pulp Friction for the win. Good match.
World Tag League: Minoru Suzuki & Takashi Iizuka defeated Hangman Page & Yujiro Takahashi
Since this was a Suzuki-gun match, naturally this wound up as a brawl around the arena. Suzuki took care of Yujiro while Iizuka went after Hangman Page. Suzuki whacked Yujiro with the ring bell hammer.
Iizuka was eventually unleashed, muzzle off, and attacked both Yujiro and Page by biting them. Page made a comeback, at one point dropkicking Iizuka and landing a moonsault on Suzuki at the same time.
Yujiro was in control as Page hit the slingshot lariat on Suzuki as an assist. He and Iizuka brawled on the outside as Yujiro tried for the pimp juice DDT. Suzuki countered and instead hit the Gotch piledriver for the win. It was fine, just kind of there for the most part.
World Tag League: Killer Elite Squad defeated Zack Sabre Jr. & Taichi
Taka cut a promo before the match saying it would be a hard match to predict, but anyone who faces Zack will just tap out. He also said in English “let’s have a clean fight.”
Taichi stalled a lot in the beginning. He wanted a handshake. He tried to jump Archer when he accepted the handshake, but it didn’t work in his favor. They chased one another around the arena until both Taichi and Archer made it at 19.
Archer chased Taichi to the back as Davey Boy Smith Jr. and Sabre went at it. They chained wrestled before Sabre focused on the knees. DBS had the advantage when Archer came back in carrying Taichi.
Both KES worked on Sabre as he avoided offense from DBS. Taichi was tagged in as he worked on Archer. He went for the superkick, but Archer countered with the pounce. He and DBS then hit the killer bomb for the win. Another just okay match, though DBS/Sabre chain wrestling was cool while it lasted.
Everyone shook hands after the match.
World Tag League: Tomohiro Ishii & Toru Yano defeated Michael Elgin and Jeff Cobb
This got pretty heated as time went on. Yano did his comedy early. Cobb and Yano were going at it. Cobb hit the standing moonsault but Yano countered with a belly to belly suplex. Cobb fired back when Ishii entered, hitting a spinning slide slam. Ishii and Elgin then battled one another, with Ishii absorbing a lariat.
Elgin actually landed a Chaos Theory suplex then Germaned him after. Both he and Cobb hit dual German suplexes. Yano managed to spear Cobb and ow blow Elgin. Ishii hit a lariat, but Cobb broke it up. Together, Elgin and Cobb double teamed Ishii
Elgin hit the Elgin bomb, but Ishii kicked out. The two brawled, Elgin connecting with a roaring elbow. Ishii came back with a lariat but Elgin kicked out. Ishii finally connected with the brainbuster for the win. Damn, this turned into an amazing match toward the end. Really worth watching if you’re picking and selecting matches to watch during this tour.
World Tag League: Guerillas of Destiny defeated EVIL & SANADA
SANADA has grown a beard during this tour. It’s the weirdest look.
After some back and forth early (including SANADA putting Tonga in the Paradise Lock), everyone brawled into the crowd. SANADA manages to make it to the ring by 19. Tonga teases the paradise lock a few times, but prefers to stomp on SANADA instead.
SANADA tries to tag EVIL in, but Loa keeps him away. He finally manages to break free, but Tonga takes EVIL off the apron. Finally he tags in, but GoD keep at him, working him over as well. After a brief back and forth, EVIL takes out Tonga with a lariat.
SANADA is tagged in again as he runs wild, even taking out Jado with a plancha.Everyone winds up in the ring. SANADA goes for a moonsault on Loa but messes up his foot on landing. The referee is bumped as Jado gets involved. Loa charges, but hits Jado instead. Loa kicks out of a rollup, sending SANADA into the ropes and also into a cane shot by Jado.
GoD hit the Guerrilla Warfare on EVIL, then take SANADA to the top rope. Loa launches off the middle rope with a powerbomb and pins SANADA for the win. Good stuff overall, basic match but the crowd was good.
Jay White, Bad Luck Fale, Taiji Ishimori and Gedo defeated Kazuchika Okada, Hiroshi Tanahashi, KUSHIDA and Rocky Romero
Okada is in and takes out Ishimori, then hones in on Gedo, who is quickly laid out with a DDT. White comes and and plants Okada with a side suplex then tags himself in to continue his work. KUSHIDA and Ishimori are tagged in, having some great back and forth with one another.
Okada and Tanahashi work together, taking out White with a double suplex and send Fale to the floor with a double clothesline. Rocky and Ishimori are in as Ishimori looks to finish. He goes for a lifting DDT into a lungblower but KUSHIDA stops it. Rocky fights back, but then falls to Ishimori’s finish, scoring the win for the Bullet Club. Good, fast-paced main event.
White tries to attack Okada after the match but Okada gets the better of him until Fale splashes him in the corner. White lays out Okada with the bladerunner then bails as the rest of his teammates make the save. White eventually makes the rest of the team leave so the Bullet Club can post in the ring.
White cuts a promo saying that the “dream team” of Okada and Tanahashi are now 0-2. But no worries, he is here to save the day. They can’t beat him, they can’t beat us, and this is the cutthroat era of the Bullet Club. They will breathe with the Switchblade in his new era.
Updated Standings:
EVIL & SANADA (6-2) — 12 points
Tomohiro Ishii & Toru Yano (6-2) — 12 points
Guerrillas of Destiny (6-2) — 12 points
Zack Sabre Jr. & Taichi (5-3) — 10 points
Killer Elite Squad (5-3) — 10 points
Best Friends (5-3) — 10 points
Juice Robinson & David Finlay (5-3) — 10 points
Michael Elgin & Jeff Cobb (4-4) — 8 points
Minoru Suzuki & Takashi Iizuka (4-4) — 8 points
Hangman Page & Yujiro Takahashi (3-5) — 6 points
Hiroyoshi Tenzan & Satoshi Kojima (3-5) — 6 points
Tyler Breeze made an appearance at tonight’s NXT tapings at Full Sail University.
It was announced early on that a mystery opponent would challenge Ricochet later in the evening for the NXT North American title. That mystery opponent ended up being Breeze. Ricochet ended up retaining the title successfully.
This isn’t the first time that Breeze has popped up in NXT this year. Breeze worked a number of NXT house shows in September, facing the likes of Ricochet, Dan Matha and Marcel Barthel. He also did a tour in July and a one-off in May, also facing Barthel.
Breeze was part of the original NXT roster when the brand became a developmental territory in 2012. Originally known as Mike Dalton, he transitioned to the Breeze character in 2013 and competed in high profile matches before being called up in 2015.
His current tag team partner, Fandango, has been sidelined with a torn labrum since July and is expected to be out around six months.
New Japan Pro Wrestling is bringing in Excalibur to call the last few days of the World Tag League next month.
NJPW’s Global Twitter made the announcement this morning. He will join Kevin Kelly to call the last three nights of action, which will start on December 6, continue on the 7th and end on the 9th with the finals.
“It’s been a longtime dream of mine to commentate for @njpw1972 @njpwglobal, and I’m super excited to be joining the booth-shaped booth with @realkevinkelly for the last three nights of [the World Tag League]” Excalibur wrote on Twitter. “Thanks to everyone for the support! Unless you don’t, then you can go to hell.”
In addition, Chris Charlton, author of the recent book Eggshells that details the history of wrestling at the Tokyo Dome, announced that he will be a part of Wrestle Kingdom 13’s English commentary team.
Excalibur is one of the founders of Pro Wrestling Guerilla and continues to do commentary for all of PWG’s shows. He recently was also part of the announce team for All In.
