Rivals turned tag team partners Gabe Kidd and Yota Tsuji currently sit atop the A Block for NJPW’s 2025 World Tag League tournament.
Kidd and Tsuji scored a pinfall win on Tuesday night in Yamanashi, Japan, placing them first in the eight-team standings following Night 9 of tournament action.
A physical co-main event win over El Desperado and Shuji Ishikawa, which saw Kidd get busted open after taking a piledriver through a table at one point, ended after 17 minutes. Kidd, who battled back into the match after the table spot, hurt Desperado with a knee to the head, then tossed him into a Gene Blast spear from Tsuji for the pinfall win.
Ishikawa and Desperado are among the five other teams that are still in the running with six points in the standings.
Yamanashi’s own Shingo Takagi scored a win alongside Drilla Moloney in the main event, mathematically eliminating the duo of Satoshi Kojima and Taichi following a 21-minute bout.
Takagi put away Kojima with a Burning Dragon for the pinfall win, ending one of the tournament’s longer matches so far this year. The loss means that Taichi and Kojima are now unable to earn enough points to get past block action.
Bishamon’s YOSHI-HASHI and Hirooki Goto overcame House of Torture’s interference tactics on Tuesday night to defeat Don Fale and EVIL. Despite taking a Magic Killer from Dick Togo and SHO while the referee wasn’t looking, YOSHI-HASHI was able to counter a move from Fale into a roll-up pin for the victory in nine minutes.
It continues to be a rough World Tag League for House of Torture’s Chase Owens and Yujiro Takahashi, who remain winless through nine nights. While Owens came close to earning a win in an exchange against Boltin Oleg, the Kazakh wrestler eventually put him away with the Kamikaze (Finlay Roll), earning him a third win this year alongside Toru Yano.
Here are the full results for Tuesday’s show, as well as an updated look at the standings:
- El Phantasmo, Hiroshi Tanahashi & Katsuya Murashima def. Alex Zayne, Lance Archer & Zane Jay
- Ren Narita, SANADA & Yoshinobu Kanemaru def. Callum Newman, Great-O-Khan & Jakob Austin Young
- Hartley Jackson, Kosei Fujita & Ryohei Oiwa def. OSKAR, Yuto-Ice & Daiki Nagai
- David Finlay, Gedo & Hiromu Takahashi def. Shoma Kato, Shtoa Umino & Yuya Uemura
- Boltin Oleg & Toru Yano def. Chase Owens & Yujiro Takahashi (A Block)
- Hirooki Goto & YOSHI-HASHI def. Don Fale & EVIL (A Block)
- Gabe Kidd & Yota Tsuji def. El Desperado & Shuji Ishikawa (A Block)
- Drilla Moloney & Shingo Takagi def. Satoshi Kojima & Taichi (A Block)
A Block
- Gabe Kidd & Yota Tsuji (8)
- Drilla Moloney & Shingo Takagi (6)
- El Desperado & Shuji Ishikawa (6)
- YOSHI-HASHI & Hirooki Goto (6)
- Don Fale & EVIL (6)
- Boltin Oleg & Toru Yano (6)
- Satoshi Kojima & Taichi (2)
- Yujiro Takahashi & Chase Owens (0)
B Block
- Ren Narita & SANADA (6)
- Zack Sabre Jr. & Ryohei Oiwa (4)
- David Finlay & Hiromu Takahashi (4)
- Lance Archer & Alex Zayne (4)
- Shota Umino & Yuya Uemura (4)
- Great-O-Khan & Callum Newman (4)
- OSKAR & Yuto-Ice (4)
- Hiroshi Tanahashi & El Phantasmo (2)
