Ren Narita & SANADA Take B Block Top Spot in NJPW World Tag League

By Noah Leatherland

NJPW took the World Tag League to Akita for the eighth night of tournament action, with B Block in the spotlight. Things got more congested in the middle of the leaderboard, while House of Torture’s Ren Narita and SANADA managed to push themselves out into the lead.

The night’s block action kicked off with Shota Umino and Yuya Uemura taking on the team of Monster Sauce, Alex Zayne and Lance Archer. Umino and Uemura had kicked off their tournament with a win, but had then suffered back to back losses. The duo managed to get the better of Zayne and Archer, brining them up to four points and level with their opponents in the standings.

The reigning IWGP Tag Team Champions, OSKAR and Yuto-Ice have had a less than stellar run so far in World Tag League. Having lost their first two opening matches, the Knockout Brothers have now started an upswing back to winning ways. That carried through to this night’s round of competition, as they defeated the United Empire’s Callum Newman and Great-O-Khan.

The B Block top spot was up for grabs in the next match, as the odd couple of David Finlay and Hiromu Takahashi met Ren Narita and SANADA. Both teams began the night on four points, meaning a win for either side would propel them into the lead.

Narita and SANADA managed to walk out with the win, taking them to six points at the top of B Block. The next match threatened their lead, as Ryohei Oiwa and Zack Sabre Jr. also looked to move to six points. They met El Phantasmo and Hiroshi Tanahashi, who had yet to score any points in the tournament. They played spoiler to TMDK, managing to secure their first two points.

Despite a rocky run in the tag league, Tanahashi radiated positivity on the microphone after the match, with the building hype around Wrestle Kingdom at the heart of it:

Here are the fill results of NJPW World Tag League Night 8, plus the B Block standings, courtesy of purolove.com:

• Chase Owens, Yoshinobu Kanemaru & Yujiro Takahashi def. Katsuya Murashima, Oleg Boltin & Toru Yano (6:04)
• Dick Togo, Don Fale & EVIL def. Hirooki Goto, YOSHI-HASHI & Tatsuya Matsumoto (7:08)
• Gabe Kidd, Gedo & Yota Tsuji def. El Desperado, Shoma Kato & Shuji Ishikawa (8:12)
• Drilla Moloney, Shingo Takagi & Daiki Nagai def. Masatora Yasuda, Taichi & Zane Jay (6:45)
• B Block: Shota Umino & Yuya Uemura [4] def. Alex Zayne & Lance Archer [4] (14:10)
• B Block: OSKAR & Yuto-Ice [4] def. Callum Newman & Great-O-Khan [4] (12:18)
• B Block: Ren Narita & SANADA [6] def. David Finlay & Hiromu Takahashi [4] (14:02)
• B Block: El Phantasmo & Hiroshi Tanahashi [2] defeat Ryohei Oiwa & Zack Sabre Jr. [4] (22:10)

B Block:

1. Ren Narita & SANADA – 6 points
2. Shota Umino & Yuya Uemura – 4 points
3. Alex Zayne & Lance Archer – 4 points
4. OSKAR & Yuto-Ice – 4 points
5. Callum Newman & Great-O-Khan – 4 points
6. David Finlay & Hiromu Takahashi – 4 points
7. Ryohei Oiwa & Zack Sabre Jr. – 4 points
8. El Phantasmo & Hiroshi Tanahashi – 2 points