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Meiyu Tag (盟友タッグ, Meiyū taggu) was a professional wrestling tag team formed by Hirooki Goto and Katsuyori Shibata following they finished their feud and they were disbanded in 2016 when Goto joined CHAOS.

History

Feud with each other

In February 2013, Goto made a challenge towards former high school classmate Katsuyori Shibata,[1] which led to a tag team match on February 10, where he and Wataru Inoue were defeated by Shibata and Kazushi Sakuraba. Afterwards, Goto and Shibata had a heated confrontation, building to a future singles match between the two.[2] In March, Goto once again made it to the finals of the New Japan Cup, before losing to Kazuchika Okada.[3] Goto and Shibata finally faced off in a singles match on May 3 at Wrestling Dontaku 2013, which ended in a draw.[4] A rematch between the two took place on June 22 at Dominion 6.22, where Shibata was victorious.[5][6] A third match between the two on July 20 ended in another draw.[7] During early August, Goto participated in the G1 Climax. On August 8, however, it was revealed that Goto had suffered a fractured jaw and was pulled from the tournament.[8] He was leading the A block with four wins (which included a big win over IWGP Heavyweight Champion Kazuchika Okada) and two losses and had three matches left when he was pulled from the G1.[9][10]

Hirooki Goto 2015

Goto in July 2015

Goto returned on December 8, challenging Katsuyori Shibata to a match at Wrestle Kingdom 8 in Tokyo Dome.[11] On January 4, 2014, Goto defeated Shibata in his return match.[12] The match ended the rivalry between Goto and Shibata and led to the two forming a tag team.[13][14]

Teaming and Championship pursuits

The following day, Goto scored the pinfall in an eight-man tag team main event against CHAOS, after which he challenged Kazuchika Okada to a match for the IWGP Heavyweight Championship.[15] On February 11 at The New Beginning in Osaka, Goto received his seventh shot at the IWGP Heavyweight Championship,[16] but was yet again unsuccessful in capturing the title.[17][18] Afterwards, Goto and Shibata entered the IWGP Tag Team Championship picture, defeating the reigning champions, Bullet Club (Doc Gallows and Karl Anderson), in a non-title match at New Japan's 42nd anniversary event on March 6.[19] They received their title shot on April 6 at Invasion Attack 2014, but were defeated by Gallows and Anderson.[20][21] From July 21 to August 8, Goto and Shibata took part in the 2014 G1 Climax, where Goto finished with a record of four wins and six losses and finished fourth in his block with a record of six wins and four losses.[22][23] During the tournament final event on August 10, Shibata and Goto faced off in another singles match, where Shibata was victorious.[24][25][26][27][28] Goto then entered a storyline, where he started leading a counterattack against the Bullet Club and Chaos stables, with the goal of revitalizing the New Japan Seikigun ("regular army"), which he represented alongside the likes of Shibata and Hiroshi Tanahashi.[29]After entering a rivalry with Shinsuke Nakamura and becoming the number one contender to his IWGP Intercontinental Championship, it was announced that Shibata would be working the full October to November "Road to Power Struggle" tour, his first full tour with New Japan since his return.[30] Shibata received his title shot on November 8 at Power Struggle, but was defeated by Nakamura and Goto received his first shot at the NEVER Openweight Championship, but was defeated by the defending champion, Tomohiro Ishii.[31][32] Later in the month, Goto and Shibata entered the 2014 World Tag League, where they opened with a three match losing streak,[33] only to come back and win their four remaining matches, winning their block and advancing to the finals.[34] On December 7, Goto and Shibata defeated Doc Gallows and Karl Anderson in the finals to win the 2014 World Tag League.[35] This led to a rematch between the two teams on January 4, 2015, at Wrestle Kingdom 9 in Tokyo Dome, where Goto and Shibata defeated Anderson and Gallows to become the new IWGP Tag Team Champions.[36][37] Goto and Shibata's reign ended in their first defense on February 11 at The New Beginning in Osaka, where they were defeated by Anderson and Gallows.[38][39]

On March 8, Goto and Shibata once again faced off in the second round of the 2015 New Japan Cup in a match, where Goto was victorious.[40] Goto eventually made it to the finals of the tournament on March 15, where he was defeated by Kota Ibushi.[41]On April 5, a rivalry ignited between Shibata and Kazushi Sakuraba,[42] after Sakuraba submitted Shibata in a tag team match at Invasion Attack 2015.[43]On May 3 at Wrestling Dontaku 2015, Goto defeated Shinsuke Nakamura to win the IWGP Intercontinental Championship for the second time.[44] Shibata and Sakuraba faced off on July 5 at Dominion 7.5 in Osaka-jo Hall in a match, where Shibata was victorious also later that night Goto made his first title defense defeating Nakamura in a rematch.[45][46] From July 20 to August 14, Goto and Shibata took part in the 2015 G1 Climax,[47] where Shibata finished in the middle of his block with a record of four wins and five losses and Goto After six victories, one of which came over reigning IWGP Heavyweight Champion Kazuchika Okada,[48] Goto entered the final day with a chance to advance from his block, but was eliminated after suffering his third loss of the tournament against Yuji Nagata.[49] Through NJPW's working relationship with the Ring of Honor (ROH) promotion, Goto returned to the United States on August 21, teaming with Jay Briscoe and Mark Briscoe in a six-man tag team match, where they defeated Okada, Beretta and Rocky Romero.[50] Goto's Intercontinental Championship reign ended on September 27 at Destruction in Kobe, when he was defeated by Nakamura in another title rematch.[51][52] Goto and Shibata participated at the 2016 World Tag league and they finished tournament with 8 points and with 4 wins and 2 losses and the lost was against Los Ingobernables de Japon (Evil and Tetsuya Naito) and they lost due to a low blow by Naito on Goto.

Disbanding

Hirooki Goto at THE NEW BEGINNING in OSAKA (2016)

Goto in his new look at The New Beginning in Osaka

On January 4, 2016 at Wrestle Kingdom 10, Shibata won his first singles title in NJPW, when he defeated Tomohiro Ishii for the NEVER Openweight Championship and Goto defeated Tetsuya Naito at the event.[53][54] Shibata made his first successful title defense on February 11 at The New Beginning in Osaka in a rematch against Ishii and Goto received his eighth shot at the IWGP Heavyweight Championship,[55] but yet again failed to win the title, being defeated by the defending champion, Okada and Goto went into the match with new attire, painting his body white and covering himself with script. Following the match, Okada offered Goto a spot in the CHAOS stable.[56] On March 3, NJPW announced that Shibata had signed a one-year deal with the promotion, ending his 11-year run as a freelancer.[57][58]Over the next several events, Okada tried to shake hands with Goto and get him to join Chaos on multiple occasions, but was turned down each time,[59] and Shibata made his next title defenses against NJPW veterans, defeating Satoshi Kojima on March 19 and Hiroyoshi Tenzan on April 10 and Goto made it to the finals of the 2016 New Japan Cup, but was defeated there by Tetsuya Naito. After the final match, Goto finally agreed to shake hands with Okada, after he saved him from a post-match assault by Naito and his Los Ingobernables de Japón stable, and joined Chaos,[60][61] they disbanded.

In wrestling

  • Goto's Finishing moves
    • Goto Shiki (Cross-legged cradle)[62][63][64][65] – 2010–2016
    • Goto Ni Shiki (Modified arm wrench inside cradle)[66] – 2016
    • Shouten Kai (Vertical suplex sitout side slam)[62][67] – 2007–2016
  • Shibata's Finishing moves
    • G2PK (Go 2 Sleep followed into a soccer kick to the opponent's chest)[68][69][70] – 2014–2016
    • Octopus hold[71][72] – 2005–2006, 2014
    • PK – Penalty Kick (Soccer kick to the chest of a seated opponent, usually preceded by a sleeper hold)[62][5][73][74]
  • Double-team finishing moves
    • Gattai Reverse Ushikoroshi (Inverted front powerslam (Goto) / Facebreaker knee smash (Shibata) combination)[75][76]

Championships and Accomplishments

Hirooki Goto IWGP Intercontinental Champion

Goto in August 2015, during his second reign as the IWGP Intercontinental Champion

Shibatanever2

Shibata as the NEVER Openweight Champion

References

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  69. ja:???????Presents G1 Climax 24 (in Japanese). New Japan Pro Wrestling. Retrieved on 2016-01-22.
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  74. Cite error: Invalid <ref> tag; no text was provided for refs named Puroresu
  75. Cite error: Invalid <ref> tag; no text was provided for refs named ShibataGoto013014TS
  76. Cite error: Invalid <ref> tag; no text was provided for refs named ShibataGoto020914NJPW
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External links

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