Pro Wrestling NOAH’s Global Tag League episode 4 to air this Monday, April 13th.
Pro Wrestling NOAH’s Global Tag League is an annual round-robin tag team tournament held by NOAH in the spring. The episode will start at 8 pm JST, 12 pm BST, at 7 am ET. Eight teams are competing in this year’s tournament. Two points are awarded for a victory, one point for a draw and zero points for a loss. However, each match has a 30-minute time limit. The winners of the tournament are the new number one contenders for the GHC Tag Team Championships. Masaaki Mochizuki and Naomichi Marufuji are the current GHC Tag Team champions.
The lineup for this year’s tournament:
A Block
El Hijo de Dr. Wagner Jr. and René Duprée
GHC Tag Team champions Masaaki Mochizuki and Naomichi Marufuji
Kaito Kiyomiya and Shuhei Taniguchi
Kenoh and Masa Kitamiya
B Block
Akitoshi Saito and Masao Inoue
Daisuke Sekimoto and Yoshiki Inamura
GHC Heavyweight champion Go Shiozaki and Katsuhiko Nakajima
Hideki Shrek Sekine and GHC National champion Takashi Sugiura
Due to the ongoing COVID-19 global pandemic, this year’s tournament was pre-recorded without live fans in attendance.
Monday’s episode will feature two matches.
Pro Wrestling NOAH’s Global Tag Team League
El Hijo de Dr. Wagner Jr. and René Duprée (1-0) vs. Kaito Kiyomiya and Shuhei Taniguchi (0-1)
Firstly, El Hijo de Dr. Wagner Jr. and René Duprée of Sugiura-gun will face Kaito Kiyomiya and Shuhei Taniguchi.
Duprée is best known for his tenure in WWE from 2002 to 2007. Since then, the French star has competed for Japanese promotions such as HUSTLE, All Japan and Wrestle-1. El Hijo de Dr. Wagner Jr. is part of the legendary Wagner wrestling family, the son of Dr. Wagner Jr. and nephew of Silver King. Kenoh and Masa Kitamiya were defeated by the international duo on the second night of the tournament. Duprée and El Hijo de Dr. Wagner Jr. are one of only two undefeated teams in the tournament.
Kiyomiya and Taniguchi lost their first tournament match against GHC Tag Team champions Masaaki Mochizuki and Naomichi Marufuji on the first night of the tournament.
Kiyomiya has enjoyed a less than fruitful year in 2020, losing the GHC Heavyweight Championship to Go Shiozaki in January. In addition, he unsuccessfully challenging Takashi Sugiura for the GHC National Championship in February.
Pro Wrestling NOAH’s Global Tag Team League
Go Shiozaki and Katsuhiko Nakajima (0-1) vs. Hideki Shrek Sekine and Takashi Sugiura (1-0)
Secondly, Go Shiozaki and Katsuhiko Nakajima meet Hideki Shrek Sekine and Takashi Sugiura.
Shiozaki and Nakajima will undoubtedly be looking to rebound after their shocking loss to Akitoshi Saito and Masao Inoue on the first night of the tournament.
Reigning GHC Heavyweight champion Shiozaki took the pinfall loss to the 54-year-old Saito.
Hideki Shrek Sekine and Takashi Sugiura, meanwhile, won their first tournament matchup against Daisuke Sekimoto and Yoshiki Inamura on the second night of the tournament.
An extra layer of intrigue to this match is the repeated challenges Nakajima has been issuing to Sugiura for a GHC National Championship match.
Sugiura is the inaugural GHC National champion. He defeated Michael Elgin for the championship in November last year. In addition, Sugiura has managed four successful defenses against Shuhei Taniguchi, Masa Kitamiya, Kaito Kiyomiya and Minoru Tanaka. Will Shiozaki and Nakajima capture the win or will Sekine and Sugiura remain undefeated?
The final episode of block competition will take place on April 14 at 8pm JST, 12 pm BST, 7am ET.
The lineup is:
First, Akitoshi Saito and Masao Inoue will face Hideki Shrek Sekine and Takashi Sugiura. Secondly, Daisuke Sekimoto and Yoshiki Inamura meet Go Shiozaki and Katsuhiko Nakajima. Lastly, El Hijo de Dr. Wagner Jr. and René Duprée face Masaaki Mochizuki and Naomichi Marufuji.
All episodes of the Global Tag League are streamed on the DDT UNIVERSE service.
