Nick Wayne Christens Team with KUSHIDA ‘Time Splitters V2’ as NJPW Super Jr Tag League Kicks Off

By: Noah Leatherland

NJPW kicked off the Super Jr. Tag League in Kumagaya, with half the teams in the field getting early points on the board. As some of the duos get used to working together, Nick Wayne and KUSHIDA have given their team an official name, Time Splitters V2.

Wayne and KUSHIDA opened their tournament campaign by facing House of Torture representatives DOUKI and Yoshinobu Kanemaru. Wayne comes into the tournament with a lot of momentum, scoring back-to-back wins over Chris Jericho over in AEW. He showed great chemistry with KUSHIDA, despite it being their first time teaming together. However, despite showing great promise, the House of Torture’s playbook was just too effective. Kanemaru blinded Wayne with whisky and DOUKI rolled up KUSHIDA, keeping a tight hold on the ropes to score a dirty win in the opening night of the tournament.

Speaking backstage, Wayne and KUSHIDA officially named their team – Time Splitters V2, or TV2 for short. Their reasoned that their joint style is similar to that of the Motor City Machine Guns, or KUSHIDA’s own team with Alex Shelley, the original Time Splitters.

With DOUKI and Kanemaru victorious, they move up to the top half of A Block on 2 points. Joining them are Unbound Co.’s Taiji Ishimori and Robbie X, as well as Master Wato and KUKKAI, with both those teams scoring opening wins.

Meanwhile, across in B Block, other AEW representatives got off to a better start. Blake Christian and Lee Johnson won their first match, picking up 2 points. TMDK’s Kosei Fujita and Robbie Eagles also won their opener, as did United Empire’s Francesco Akira and Jakob Austin Young.

The NJPW Super Jr Tag League continues with a double header in Korakuen Hall on October 25th and 26th.

Here are the full results for NJPW Super Jr Tag League, Day 1, courtesy of purolove.com:

• Tatsuya Matsumoto def. Taisei Nakahara (9:14)
• B Block: Francesco Akira & Jakob Austin Young [2] def. SHO & Dick Togo [0] (10:35)
• A Block: DOUKI & Yoshinobu Kanemaru [2] def. KUSHIDA & Nick Wayne [0] (9:36)
• B Block: Robbie Eagles & Kosei Fujita [2] def. Titan & Daiki Nagai [0] (10:32)
• A Block: Taiji Ishimori & Robbie X [2] def. Ryusuke Taguchi & Kazuma Sumi [0] (12:50)
• B Block: Blake Christian & Lee Johnson [2] def. YOH & Hyo [0] (12:06)
• A Block: Master Wato & KUUKAI [2] def. Mistico & Masatora Yasuda [0] (13:32)

Here are the current standings for the NJPW Super Jr Tag League:

A Block

• Master Wato & KUUKAI [2]
• Taiji Ishimori & Robbie X [2]
• DOUKI & Yoshinobu Kanemaru [2]
• Mistico & Masatora Yasuda [0]
• Ryusuke Taguchi & Kazuma Sumi [0]
• KUSHIDA & Nick Wayne [0]

B Block

• Robbie Eagles & Kosei Fujita [2]
• Francesco Akira & Jakob Austin Young [2]
• Blake Christian & Lee Johnson [2]
• YOH & Hyo [0]
• Titan & Daiki Nagai [0]
• SHO & Dick Togo [0]