New Japan Pro-Wrestling is entering a seemingly very strange time period. They have a brand-new company president, they’ve opened up ties and collaborations to multiple American promotions over the last few years, and arguably their two biggest stars of the last decade have just set sail to America. What if, in an effort to continue making headlines and save themselves from a possible dark period in the absence of Okada and Ospreay, Hiroshi Tanahashi and NJPW decide to open up to some hesitant cross-promotion with the 4 other biggest (male-focused) promotions in the Land of the Rising Sun? Select tag team representatives from All Japan Pro-Wrestling, Pro Wrestling NOAH, DDT Pro-Wrestling, and Michinoku Pro Wrestling, as well as select AEW teams, cross-promotion teams and freelancers, will all get a chance to grapple on the lion mark during THE RISING SUN TAG LEAGUE! 32 teams, in 4 blocks of 8, will compete in a G1-style round-robin tournament with quarterfinals, semifinals, and the final on the horizon for the best 2 duos in each block. The winning team will get a shot at 3 Japan-based world tag team championships of their choosing, and will have either made a name for themselves or defended their position at the top of the card.
Over the next couple of months, I’m going to be posting weekly blogs fantasy-booking this tournament. I like to fantasy-book in a world of relative realism, so the teams, matches, and results will all be pretty realistic. I don’t write fantasy booking like it’s a story or a wrestling movie – I prefer to focus on the wrestling itself, where kayfabe very much exists and there isn’t really any backstage drama to think about. This is my first time writing organized fantasy booking content, so there might be some kinks to work out but I’m excited to start this journey. But without further ado, here are the 32 teams competing in The Rising Sun Tag League.
BLOCK A
Bullet Club War Dogs (Drilla Moloney and Clark Connors): Current IWGP Jr. Heavyweight Tag Team Champions so they’re a no-brainer. More War Dogs to come later…
Tomohiro Ishii and Hiroshi Tanahashi: Might be a little weird for Tana to be in this as the current NJPW president, but these two seem like the perfect guys to really defend NJPW’s honor against all this new competition. It also makes sense post-Okada as the 3 were STRONG trios champs and tagged together a lot.
Bishamon (Hirooki Goto and YOSHI-HASHI): Up until pretty recently, the IWGP World Tag Team Champions. One of the teams to look out for in this tournament.
Aussie Open (Kyle Fletcher and Mark Davis): I guess you could say these guys are the AEW representatives, but they’re also of course in the United Empire so they have lots of ties to Japan. Super consistent workers who are going to put on a show.
Saito Brothers (Jun Saito and Rei Saito): Gives AJPW some fully signed reps (some… less-signed reps later on), and it’s always fun to have a twins team around. They came close to winning the most recent AJPW Real World Tag League, and they’re basically very American-style powerhouses to my limited knowledge of them.
TMDK (Shane Haste and Mikey Nicholls): Nothing much to say about these guys, they’re just no-brainers for any NJPW tag content.
The Great Sasuke and Jinsei Shinzaki: Representatives from Michinoku Pro Wrestling, this team feels like a callback to Shinzaki’s iconic tag matches with Hayabusa in AJPW. They’re both getting up there, but can absolutely still go and are still wrestling consistently.
House of Torture (EVIL and SHO): I’ll admit I didn’t fully want House of Torture in this tournament, but they are a pretty important stable in NJPW right now and I actually think EVIL is pretty good.
BLOCK B
Shota Umino and Jon Moxley: This is just a huge deal for NJPW to bring Mox back, even if temporarily, and it would really bring global eyes to this tournament. AEW is wildly chock-full of talent right now, and don’t necessarily need Mox all the time even though he’s arguably their Hogan. They can afford to let him come over and tag with sort of a student of his and honorary BCC member in Umino, and their matches are going to be must-watch.
Astronauts (Takuya Nomura and Fuminori Abe): Many people believe them to be the best tag team in the world, let alone the best team in Japan. They are by far the biggest freelance team in this tournament, and one of the most dangerous teams as well.
The37KAMIINA (Konosuke Takeshita and Yuki Ueno): The most famous wrestler whose home fed is DDT and the KO-D Openweight Champion, both trained by DDT, these are the perfect reps for the puroresu/WWE parody promotion. Takeshita always makes some noise globally, so it’s a great chance to promote their champ in Ueno as well.
Bullet Club War Dogs (KENTA and Chase Owens): This is where the realism aspect becomes somewhat unfortunate. Frankly, this team probably shouldn’t exist, but they’re the IWGP Tag Team Champions so they kind of need to be here. Will they defend their spot at the top of the division and prove that their belts are the most prestigious in Japan? No one wants them to!
Guerrillas of Destiny (HIKULEO and El Phantasmo): The team that should really still be champions. The rematch should be fun (if they can dodge interference from the BC).
TMDK (Zack Sabre, Jr., and Kosei Fujita): Tekkers! ZSJ was always going to be in any NJPW fantasy booking of mine, and Fujita can get a nice shot in the spotlight as well.
Kaito Kiyomiya and Go Shiozaki: These are two really good reps for NOAH, and I could see them (in kayfabe) feeling like they’re often overlooked and wanting to prove themselves on a global stage. This is an especially interesting narrative to me in such a NJPW-heavy block especially.
Satoshi Kojima and Jack Perry (“The Punk Haters”): This is just a funny concept to me. These two guys bonding over their shared hatred of a man not even on the continent. LARIAAAAT!
BLOCK C
Los Ingobernables de Japon (Tetsuya Naito and Hiromu Takahashi): An iconic team that’s part of an iconic stable. Naito is IWGP World Heavyweight Champion, and Takahashi very recently held gold as well, so these two are definitely a team to beat.
Bullet Club War Dogs (Taiji Ishimori and Gabe Kidd): The Block C division of the War Dogs. As you’ll see a bit further down, I like the idea of them being spread all around the tournament and Finlay overlooking it all like a general divvying up his troops.
Eddie Kingston and Jun Akiyama: The last of a dying breed, here to bring pure King’s Road wrestling to this tournament. They feel like a callback to Akiyama tagging with Kenta Kobashi and winning the AJPW Real World Tag League in 1998, and are just about as dangerous. They’re also not in the same group as the team above for no reason – those Eddie-Gabe Kidd brawls…
Minoru Suzuki and Yuji Nagata: This is a team that, in kayfabe, definitely signed up for this after they heard that the Kingston-Akiyama duo was happening. Essentially the King’s Road reps of New Japan, they’re looking to show that their hybrid style is just as good as the pure ’90s AJPW matches of the team above. They also teamed in the 2023 NJPW World Tag League.
United Empire (TJP and Francesco Akira): The definitive tag representatives from Ospreay’s former stable, at least in Japan, these guys are always up for a fight. Especially with the War Dogs – Kidd and Ishimori are going to have a go of it in this block.
Just 5 Guys (SANADA and Yuya Uemura): People talk about Uemura as the future of NJPW, and SANADA was just world champ very recently. He can claw his way back to the top using this, and I can see some very cool fighting spirit-based stuff with the King’s Road guys and Naito, the man that took his belt.
Bishop Kaun and Toa Liona: Gives the tournament some more AEW relevancy and gives Don Callis something to brag about if they pull off a surprise win or two. Liona is also just a really underrated wrestler and should get a chance to shine in something like this.
CHAOS (Lio Rush and YOH): I doubt a lot of people know this, I know I didn’t, but both these guys are actually current members of CHAOS. I think a tag team with them would be super fast-paced and fun to watch, and Lio Rush is one of my favorite and most underrated guys in TNA right now.
BLOCK D
Good Looking Guys (Jack Morris and Anthony Greene): They might not be up there in terms of global relevance, but they are the GHC Tag Team Champions and must defend NOAH’s honor and their place on top of its tag division. They also need to prove that they can be taken seriously (see lack of global relevance).
Naomichi Marufuji and Kota Ibushi: These two have a lot of history together tagging and being tag opponents in 2000s NOAH. This team fighting the GHC Tag Team Champions would be a sight to see, and they’re really out to prove that they’ve still got it. This is also in a world where Ibushi is fully cleared, and much smarter about his health and limitations – sadly one of the least realistic bits of this series.
Katsuhiko Nakajima and Kento Miyahara: Essentially the Mega-Powers Unite (AJPW edition). They’ve had multiple 5.25-star matches in NOAH and AJPW, and they’re both currently working AJPW (despite Nakajima being un-contracted). Nakajima is quite literally the Triple Crown champion, and Miyahara is seemingly his best opponent. These two feel like the biggest threats to the New Japan teams, and definitely are teaming up specifically to teach those teams a thing or two.
Los Ingobernables de Japon (Shingo Takagi and Yota Tsuji): Just some hard-hitting bastards who can really thrive in a tournament with guys like the team above.
United Empire (Jeff Cobb and Callum Newman): Between Tsuji above and these two, this block is turning into the “heavily praised by Ospreay” block. Slightly lesser UE reps, but still will put on a show.
Bullet Club War Dogs (Bad Luck Fale and Alex Coughlin): The Block D division of the War Dogs.
Tajiri and Mikey Whipwreck: These guys are freelance reps, but they’re also a classic, classic ECW tag team. If you want to yell at me and say I’m being unrealistic about these guys’ abilities in 2024, go right ahead, but they’re both still active! And no one’s asking them to do full-fat strong style here. Just let me mark out about the idea of these guys getting together for one last run, okay? Maybe they can even call up Father James Mitchell to manage them again! If he’s not… busy.
Katsuyori Shibata and Ren Narita: Mentor and student. These guys can be stiff as hell when the match calls for it, but also have a lot of experience with American wrestling and can do more American-style matches with teams like the ECW lads.