NJPW News: Tanahashi, Nakanishi and Taguchi win the NEVER Openweight 6-man Tag-Team Championship at New Year Dash 2017
What’s the story?
Los Ingobernables members EVIL, BUSHI and SANADA won the NEVER Openweight Championships at Wrestle Kingdom 11 after beating 3 other teams in a gauntlet match for the titles. They defended the titles tonight against the veteran team of Tanahashi, Taguchi and Nakanishi. The match went back and forth but Tanahashi compensated for a bad night at Wrestle Kingdom by coming through for his team. He hit a Slingblade on BUSHI before diving over the top rope and onto EVIL as Nakanishi hit a Hercules Cutter on a downed BUSHI before covering him to win the NEVER Openweight Tag-Team Championships for his team.
In case you didn’t know..
The “Ace” of New Japan, Hiroshi Tanahashi endured a bad night at Wrestle Kingdom 11 when he unsuccessfully challenged LIJ leader Tetsuya Naito for the IWGP Intercontinental Championship. The duo had a spectacular match in the semi main-event spot with Naito retaining his title after hitting Tanahashi with two Destinos for the win.
The heart of the matter
The NEVER Openweight Championships are usually hotshotted but this title change was still a huge surprise. No one expected Los Ingobernables de Japon to lose the titles so fast after their epic night at Wrestle Kingdom where all 5 members ended up with titles.
What’s next?
Since the NEVER Openweight Championships came into existence, the titles have been hotshotted around the the card so it’s hard to tell what’s next for the titles. It wouldn’t be surprising if Tanahashi, Taguchi and Nakanishi lose it at their first title defence.
Sportskeeda’s take
After Tanahashi lost to Naito last night, it was a great sight to see Tanahashi get some sort of retribution after he helped his team win the NEVER Openweight 6-man Tag titles from members of Los Ingobernables. This feud between Naito and Tanahashi may not be over just yet.