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New Japan Soul

House of Torture were riding high coming out of Dominon. They had three new recruits, they won the Junior Tag titles, Evil beat David Finlay, and, pertinent to this topic, they held the NEVER 6-Man Tag Team Championship. It even made Sho a double champion, as he was one half of the Jr Tag Champions as well. 

However, the team that they had won the Jr Tag Titles from, Yoh & Master Wato, were not at all pleased with how they lost their titles. After several shows on New Japan Soul tour with House of Torture continuing to beat down the Junior Heavyweight duo, the two recruited the help of Toru Yano to lay some retribution. After one show, the three battered their House of Torture adversaries, leaving with their weapons and both the NEVER 6-Man Tag Team titles and the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Titles. This prompted House of Torture to grant the Main Unit team title matches for the belts they stole.

First up was the NEVER 6-Man title match, which was a continuation of the brawling that had preceded the match all throughout the tour. Fortunately for the Main Unit team, thanks to the addition of Yano to their trio, they were able to take down House of Torture, and won the NEVER 6-Man Tag Team titles from House of Torture. While Yoh and Wato would go on to lose their rematch for the Jr Tag Team titles, this win was at least a small bit of retribution for the group.

Road to Destruction

There wasn’t much movement in the NEVER 6-Man title scene for most of the G1 Climax. However, the next chapter for the belts would take place towards the end of the tournament, where one Ryusuke Taguchi was inspired to have a go at the belts and reform Taguchi Japan. His first recruit was a reluctant El Desperado, the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Champion, but he would struggle to find a qualified third for a 6-man tag title challenge. He would eventually land on a big fish to fill the part: NJPW President and resident Ace, Hiroshi Tanahashi. On the Road to Destruction, the three challenged their Main Unit stablemates to a NEVER Openweight 6-Man Tag Team title match, the first match for the belts that didn’t involve House of Torture in over a year. However, despite their best efforts, Team Taguchi would not find success here, and Yano and the boys retained their titles.

New Japan Road in Anjo

However, if you thought that was the end of House of Torture fighting for the NEVER 6-Man Tag titles, then you’d be sorely mistaken. We would get not one, but two House of Torture title matches for the remainder of the year.

First was at New Japan Road in Anjo, where Evil sought to take the NEVER titles after his own winning of the NEVER Openweight Championship from Boltin Oleg, and add a bit of insult to injury for Aaron Wolf in their upcoming Wrestle Kingdom match. He brought Yoshinobu Kanemaru and Dick Togo with him to try and take the titles from Main Unit, but with help from Aaron Wolf, it was not to be.

World Tag League

This cooled Evil down a bit, but after an upset victory from Toru Yano & Boltin Oleg prevented  Evil & Don Fale from making the playoffs of World Tag League, he was fired right back up again. He put together a much more formidable team this time, recruiting fellow World Tag League competitors Sanada & Ren Narita to once again try and win the belts. On the day of the World Tag League Finals, House of Torture pulled out all the stops, turning the shenanigan levels to the max in order to try and cheat the 6-Man titles off of Main Unit. However, thanks to another timely assistance from Aaron Wolf and the Young Lion class, some proper officiating, and creativity on the part of the champions, they were able to once again retain the NEVER 6-Man Tag Team Titles.

Wrestle Kingdom 20

We now look ahead to Wrestle Kingdom 20, where the NEVER 6-Man Tag Team Titles are set to turn 10 years old. However, the belts might not have made it onto the show if not for the efforts of Yoh. The man enacted a protest on the opening day of World Tag League, demanding a NEVER 6-Man Tag Title match for Wrestle Kingdom 20. His request would eventually be granted in the form of a New Japan Ranbo, where 8 teams will compete, leaving the last man standing as the NEVER Openweight 6-Man Tag Team Champions. While this may not have been what Yoh had in mind, it’s sure to make for a chaotic environment at Wrestle Kingdom 20.

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