This year marks the fourth installment of NOAH’s Junior Tag League and this year is looking to be good already with many a few outside promotions sending in their top talent to comepete this year. This years tournament will be running from October 15th to the 30th, with 10 teams will be split into 2 block with 5 teams on each side.
NOAH News: NTV Cup ~ Jr. Heavyweight Tag League Update
The official block listings have been released:
(A Block)
KENTA & Atsushi Aoki
Ricky Marvin & Taiji Ishimori
Satoshi Kajihara & Katsuhiko Nakajima (Kensuke Office)
The Great Sasuke & Kenbai (Michinoku Pro Wrestling)
Eddie Edwards & Roderick Strong (ROH)
(B Block)
Yoshinobu Kanemaru & Genba Hirayanagi
Yoshinari Ogawa & Kotaro Suzuki
Dick Togo and Yasu Urano (DDT)
Atsushi Kotoge & Daisuke Harada (Osaka)
Extreme Tiger & Jack Evans (AAA)
A block | KENTA & Aoki | Marvin & Ishimori | Nakajima & Kajihara | Sasuke & Kenbai |
Strong & Edwards |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
KENTA & Atsushi Aoki |
– – | 10.23 Sapporo |
10.22 Asahikawa |
10.26 Niigata |
10.17 Differ |
Taiji Ishimori & Ricky Marvin | – – | 10.15 Hatiouzi |
10.18 Mound |
10.27 Iida |
|
Katsuhiko NakaJima & Satoshi KaJihara |
– – | 10.24 Sapporo |
10.23 Sapporo | ||
The Great Sasuke & KenBAI | – – | 10.19 Hukushima |
|||
Roderick Strong & Eddie Edwards | – – |
Block B | Kanemaru & Hirayanagi |
Ogawa & Suzuki | Togo & Urano |
Kotoge & Harada | Evans & Tiger |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Yoshinobu Kanamaru & Genba Hirayanagi |
– | 10.24 Sapporo |
10.18 Mound |
10.17 Differ |
10.23 Sapporo |
Yoshinari Ogawa & Kotaro Suzuki | – – | 10.15 Hatiouzi |
10.26 Niigata |
10.22 Asahikawa |
|
Dick Togo & Yasu Urano |
– – | 10.27 Iida |
10.26 Niigata |
||
Atsushi KOToge & Daisuke Harada | – – | 10.15 Hatiouzi |
|||
Jack Evans & Extreme Tiger | – – |
So without further ado let’s look at the talent that will be competing in this years League!
(1) KENTA & Atushi Aoki
KENTA won the first two years of the NTV Cup (07/08) and coming off a battle with Kanemaru he looks to quickly re-build himself back up as a key contender in the promotion. Can Aoki and himself mix well enough together to get the big win, that is yet to be seen, but I expect these two pushes themselves pretty hard.
(2) Ricky Marvin and Taiji Ishimori
These two have shown themselves to be a very strong team and are definitely looking to have a rematch for the GHC Jr Belts, so just like KENTA and Aoki I suspect a good showing from them.
(3) (ROH) Roderick Strong & Eddie Edwards
The current singles champions in Ring of Honor, Strong is coming off the biggest win of his career when he beat Tyler Black for the ROH World Championship at Glory by Honor IX a few weeks back. Then we got Edwards who is no stranger to pro wrestling NOAH and this marks his 3rd year in the tournament. Will these two be able to work together as a cohesive and strong unit, or will they seem to fall apart at the seams due to their animosity in ROH?
(4) (AAA) Jack Evans & Extreme Tiger
The high fliers from Mexico, Jack Evans is known for his crazy acrobatics and big spots, and Extreme Tiger is not afraid of shedding his own blood in the least and is looking for his first trip in Japan to be a noteworthy one. Will these guys steal the show with their acrobatics, or will it lead them to their defeat by taking one too many risks?
(5) (Osaka Pro-Wres) Daisuke Harada and Atsushi Kotoge
Osaka Pro is sending in Kotoge and Harada as their representatives and this is undoubtedly a big opportunity for the two young men. Both men have much potential so I am sort of looking at them to be the dark horses in the tournament, because they will definitely be fighting as hard as as they possibly can not only for themselves but for all of Osaka as well.
(6) (Michinoku Pro Wrestling) The Great Sasuke and Kenbai
The Legend that is The Great Sasuke is an excellent addition to this years tournament, he will be coming in as the most experienced talent in the tournament. Kenbai has been a pro wrestler for 5 years in Ocotber and is still looking for his piece of success. Will this duo from Michi-Pro seemingly blend their youth and experience together as a formidable force?
(7) Yoshinobu Kanamaru and Genba Hirayanagi
Kanemaru won the tournament last year with Kotaro Suzuki and with Hirayanagi starting to show his strength as a Junior wrestler it will be interesting to see how far they make it. Kanemaru has been on a roll as of late as the current GHC Jr. Champion so no matter what he will be going in with a target on his head, but if he can translate his success over to the tag division we may have ourselves a top contender to take it all in on October 30th.
(8) Yoshinari Ogawa and Kotaro Suzuki
Ogawa is the crafty veteran in NOAH and Suzuki has recently returned from injury and is still looking to regain his foothold as a top competitor. Will this union be what the two needs to become the top of the Junior division?
(9) (Kensuke Office) Katsuhiko Nakajima and Satoshi Kajiwara
Nakajima is considered by many as the future ace in the making and he will be teaming with his fellow KO team member Kajiwara. Both of these guys look to make Sasaki proud and being able to get the win in this League would do just that.
(10) (DDT) Dick Togo and Yasu Urano
Dick Togo has traveled the world and now being 41 years old he is aiming to show that he has no intention of slowing down anytime soon. Urano has primarily been an Indy wrestler in Japan for the 10 years he has been wrestling, so this is definitely going to give him some exposure if anything. Both of these guys you call the brawlers from all the other talent, so I expect to see a descent mix between the two.
Kind of interesting not seeing the current GHC Tag Team Champions, Kohji Kanemoto & Tiger Mask, in the tournament, but New Japan has their own Jr. Tag Tournament coming up here very soon. So I expect this tournament to be aiming at building up the next viable champions to try and bring the belts back home.
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