NNew Japan Pro Wrestling

[Spoilers] World Tag League 2025: Night Seventeen — (12/14) – TV title, NEVER 6s, WTL Finals

  • December 14, 2025

We open with a video thanking us for selling out the Tokyo Dome and promoting how to watch the show, before going into the standard WTL recap video.

Wolf watch: absent

NJPWWorld TV title Open Challenge: El Phantasmo[c] def Hartley Jackson — (11:02, Thunderkiss ‘86)

  • This sub loves Hartley, but Kumamoto doesn’t seem to as he doesn’t get much of a reaction.

  • As they get ready to start the match ELP baits an “ELP” chant; it’s mildly successful but doesn’t last too long.

  • This was fine. It seems like ELP may have inherited Tana’s air guitar.

  • Post match, ELP helps Hartley up and they bro-hug. Hartley exits the ring so ELP can celebrate.

  • As he leaves ELP gives the TV title to a young fan, and throws away the fan’s Naito hat.

Masatora Yasuda, Monster Sauce (Alex Zayne, Lance Archer), Satoshi Kojima, Taichi def Tatsuya Matsumoto, Katsuya Muashima, Boltin Oleg, Bishamon (YOSHI-HASHI, Hirooki Goto) — (9:37, Lariat)

  • Yasuda and Murashima decide to start.

  • Another perfectly fine one with some fun moments. Kojima managed to get the crowd the loudest I’d heard them thus far.

  • Post match, Archer helps Kojima up. Kojima shakes hands and hugs everyone but Yasuda. Taichi and Kojima raise Yasuda’s hand and then Kojima shakes the YL’s hand.

  • Taichi leads the crowd in a Kojima chant and Koji bows to the crowd.

  • Archer grabs a mic as he’s leaving, says in Japanese that “Monster Sauce will see you later.”

Yoshinobu Kanemaru, Don Fale, SHO def
Shoma Kato, Shuji Ishikawa, El Desperado — (5:41, pin [after a Fale Grenade])

  • So I was looking at the match lineup like “why did SHO get listed ahead of Fale they rarely do that for Juniors when the rest of the team is non-YL NJPW talent?” And then I remembered that it’s because SHO and El Desperado are in a fucking match together at WK20. We have one more televised show before WK20.

  • Post-entrances SHO promo, where as usual he insults the crowd in ways that are oddly (or lovingly, as some fans think) specific to that area. He says Despe is hiding behind Ishikawa and ducking Junior Tag Champs DOUKI and SHO. SHO says at WK he’ll easily dispose of Despe, Ishimori, and Fujita.

  • Then SHO attacks. Very brief outside brawl then the big men Ishikawa and Fale get in the ring to start.

  • HoT Shenanigans level: mild.

Taiji Ishimori, Drilla Moloney, Shingo Takagi def DOUKI, Chase Owens, Yujiro Takahashi — (8:37, WAR DRAGONS)

  • No, DOUKI and Ishimori don’t get top billing here, because only one of them is part of a WK match.

  • DOUKI and Ishimori start in what looks to be a rare clean HoT start… then Chase and Yuj try to sneak attack while Ishimori’s back is turned, but Ishimori catches them. Then DOUKI attacks while Ishimori’s back is turned to him.

  • HoT Shenanigans level: mild.

  • This was fun. Shingo and Drilla continuing to be a team is welcome, and interesting.

  • Post match, Ishimori very briefly talks some shit to DOUKI. The KitaKita Brothers tell the camera they’re coming for the Tag belts.

Yuya Uemura, Shota Umino, Hiroshi Tanahashi def Daiki Nagai, Knock Out Brothers (OSKAR, Yuto-Ice) — (10:44, High Fly Flow)

  • Shota again goes out into the crowd to give away a bracelet.

  • As the faces are getting ready to disrobe, Yuto steps up to Tana. Shota goes over to OSKAR, who just moves Nagai in the way. Yuya gets between Tana and Yuto, Ice shoves them both and then Yuya gets in his face. OSKAR pulls Yuto back, everyone goes to their respective corner to get ready to officially start.

  • Shota starts with OSKAR. They get a decent Shota chant going, OSKAR yells at everyone.

  • Bomboclaat level: 1

  • This was fun and worth watching.

  • Post match, Tana and Yuto have a legitimately quite friendly chat, which ends with Yuto doing his hand sign into Tana’s chest then starting to walk away. Shota goes over to antagonize OSKAR, who’s on the outside.

  • Then Yuya steps over to Tana, which gets Yuto back over. Yuto talks shit to Yuya, and Tana puts his arm around Yuya’s shoulder. Shota comes over and finally Yuto leaves.

  • The faces all pose on the turnbuckles. A Tanahashi chant breaks out.

  • Tana gets the mic. NJPW has returned to Kumamoto. Today was his last match here, thanks the crowd for the support. From now on it’s up to all the young wrestlers job to carry on the company, please keep supporting them. He gives Kumamoto one final Aishitemasu.

  • The faces all do fanservice as they leave, with Tana and Shota holding babies. They stop at the curtain to pose together.

Hiromu Takahashi, David Finlay[w/Gedo] def Callum Newman, Great-O-Khan[w/JAY] — (6:08, DQ)

  • Hiromu and Finlay jump UE from behind during their entrance. We get a fairly long brawl at ringside and in the crowd.

  • Eventually Callum brings Hiromu into the ring. I believe Gedo didn’t come out with Fin/Hiromu, but he did pop up shortly after the match officially started.

  • After a pretty good match, Finlay has GOK dead to rights. Callum brings a chair in and chucks it at Finlay for the DQ.

  • Callum takes Finlay to the outside and throws him into the ringpost. Then he beats up Hiromu, brings him into the ring and hits him with the GHC Junior belt and then spits in it and rubs Hiromu’s face in it, then hits Hiromu with Excalibur.

  • Gedo, who was weakened in the meantime, gets brought in and PKed in the head. GOK gives Callum a chair, and Callum gets ready to decapitate Gedo; but Finlay comes in and swings at him with the shillelagh, which Callum ducks and then bails out of the ring.

  • Callum and GOK walk out into the crowd and Callum yells shit at Finlay.

  • We don’t see it but it seemed like maybe JAY tried to attack Finlay; Drilla and Shingo come out while Finlay is disposing of JAY.

  • Finlay, who’s bleeding from the head, gets a mic. Thanks Callum for reminding him who he is, since he and the fans and most importantly some of the boys in the back were forgetting who Finlay is. Is Callum sure he wants to match down this very dangerous road of trying to kill Finlay off. The Savage King is reborn. The same Savage King who beat Callum’s leader so badly he had to limp off into Uncle Tony’s arms. At WK, Finlay will give United Empire a chance to get revenge or get killed.

NEVER Openweight 6-Man titles: Master Wato, YOH, Toru Yano[c] vs SANADA[iridescent version], Ren Narita, EVIL[w/Dick Togo II, Yujiro, DOUKI, Fale] — (Thrown Out)

  • HoT strike during the face’s ring announcement. After a brief ringside brawl SANADA brings YOH into the ring to start.

  • A minute later, Nobu shows up in a ref shirt and screws YOH out of the match by saying he gave up while in a submission.

  • SANADA’s music plays. Dick 2 announces HoT as the new Champs, HoT beat up Yano, take the belts, and start to leave.

  • YOH gets the mic and says HoT aren’t getting away with it that easily. If this match had even officially ended, it needs to be restarted. Marty Asami and Aaron Wolf appear behind HoT, and intimidate HoT back towards the ring.

  • Ren and SANADA attack the faces from behind, Wolf tries to intervene but gets overwhelmed. The non-match Torturers get ejected to the back, as does Wolf.

NEVER Openweight 6-Man titles: Master Wato, YOH, Toru Yano[c] def SANADA[iridescent version], Ren Narita, EVIL[w/Dick Togo II] — (8:37*, Rollup)

  • Yano is in the ring with EVIL as the match re-starts.

  • HoT Shenanigans level: high. Either Dick 2 SHO wasn’t ejected or he snuck back very quickly. But eventually Wolf shows back up and chokes him out.

  • Post match, EVIL and Wolf start brawling. They’re separated quickly by YL, but EVIL gets free. They brawl up the ramp with the YL trying to stop them and becoming collateral damage/weapons.

  • EVIL gets advantage and drags Wolf through the curtain.

  • Hontai get their belts and celebrate a little, then do fanservice as they leave. The NEVER 6 Ranbo has been protected, and is still on for WK.

Tanahashi hobbles out in street clothes to guest on Japanese commentary.

WTL 2025 Finals: Ryohei Oiwa, Zack Sabre Jr. (B2) def Gabe Kidd, Yota Tsuji (A2) — (32:40, THE GRIP)

  • Gabe waits for Tsuji at the curtain and doesn’t walk out into the crowd during his entrance. He does make sure to walk by the Japanese commentary table and lock eyes with Tana.

  • After the entrances, Zack briefly steps up to Tsuji; but they separate quickly so everyone can get ready to start.

  • Gabe steps up to talk shit, but Tsuji pushes him back (in a friendly way) and calls out Oiwa. Tsuji and Oiwa start.

  • This was great, a must-watch. Gabe started being the one calling the shots, and it lead to TMDK taking over. Tsuji and Gabe got back on track towards the end, but it wasn’t enough. Gabe lost a tooth to Oiwa.

  • Post match, Zack comes in collapses on Oiwa. Tsuji comes back in and helps Gabe sit up, and hugs him. Gabe rolls out of the ring, Tsuji stays briefly to watch Zack and Oiwa stand up and get their hands raised.

  • Gabe and Tsuji leave with their arms around each other’s shoulders.

  • Oiwa promo. TMDK are your WTL winners. It’s been 15 months since he came back from excursion. He hasn’t won any titles and maybe it seemed like he was lingering in the shadows. But today he and Zack won and he proved he’s a main character, not a side character. Oiwa’s glad that he’s been able to be with TMDK, thanks to Zack. You can’t stop TMDK’s momentum, and in 2026 they’ll be at the top and make sure NJPW is the top of the wrestling world. Oiwa will stay true to himself and his pro-wrestling, and that’s TMDK’s style of wrestling. Thank you for all your support. When they come back to Kumamoto, Oiwa wants to see the whole venue decked out in orange.

  • They do some fanservice as they leave.

———WTL Standings———

Finals:

ZSJ/Oiwa (B2) def Tsuji/Gabe (A2)

Semifinal Matches:

  • Tsuji/Gabe (A2) def K.O.B (B1)

  • ZSJ/Oiwa (B2) def Bishamon(A1)

Block Results

A Block

  • 1st Place: Bishamon — 10 points (5-2) — w: Y/C, Y/O, E/F, T/G, S/D – l: T/K, D/I

  • 2nd Place: Tsuji/Gabe — 10 points (5-2) — w: E/F, Y/C, Y/O, D/I, T/K – l: S/D, BSH

—Eliminated—

  • Shingo/Drilla — 8 points (4-3)

  • EVIL/Fale — 8 points (4-3)

  • Yano/Oleg — 8 points (4-3)

  • Despe/Shuji — 8 points (4-3)

  • Taichi/Koji — 2 points (1-6)

  • Yuj/Chase — 2 points (1-6)

B Block

  • 1st Place: – K.O.B — 8 points (4-3) — w: T/E, C/G,~~ Z/O, S/Y – l: F/H, R/S, MS

  • 2nd Place: ZSJ/Oiwa — 8 points (4-3) — w: C/G, S/Y, F/H, MS – l: R/S, T/E, K.O.B

—Eliminated—

  • Shota/Yuya — 8 points (4-3) — w: T/E, MS, F/H, R/S– l: Z/O, C/G, K.O.B

  • Callum/GOK — 8 points (4-3) — w: MS, S/Y, R/S, T/E – l: Z/O, K.O.B, F/H

  • Monster Sauce — 6 points (3-4)

  • Ren/SANADA — 6 points (3-4)

  • Finlay/Hiromu — 4 points (2-4)

  • Tana/ELP — 6 points (3-4)

——————

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by KffingEENTA