BANKIE'S HOT TAKE #123 - Dragon Bane & Alejandro: GHC's Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Evolution
- Apr 26
- 5 min read
In my humble opinion, Pro Wrestling NOAH has had the most influential junior heavyweight competitors throughout this millennium.
It is incredible how the style of KENTA and Naomichi Marufuji really transfused modern pro wrestling in America, from the kicks and strikes to the high-flying. I mean, KENTA’s style alone helped inspire CM Punk’s offense, down to the Go To Sleep, which Punk started using in 2007, and the Shiranui from Marufuji helped inspire Brian Kendrick, Alex Shelley, Jimmy Jacobs, and others.
Over the past twenty-five years, so many junior heavyweights who have wrestled in a NOAH ring have really been influential towards the industry. Yoshinobu Kanemaru, Taiji Ishimori, Katsuhiko Nakajima, Zack Sabre, Jr, and Kenoh are just a few of those talents. All of these men have found themselves enthralled in phenomenal singles contests.
Yet, it’s the tag division that has really caught my eye over the years. In particular, the GHC Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Championships.
There is no doubt the belts were inspired by New Japan Pro Wrestling’s version, which was created on August 8, 1998. NOAH, under founder and Japanese legend Mitsuharu Misawa, ran a single-elimination, eight team tournament, beginning on July 6, 2003 and culminating on July 16, with KENTA and Marufuji defeating Jushin Thunder Liger and Takehiro Murahama to become the inaugural titleholders.
Over the next twenty-three years, there have been sixty-five reigns between forty-seven different tandems. Some of the great tandems to hold the gold include BxB Hulk & Shingo and Naruki Doi & Masato Yoshino from Dragon Gate, Jay and Mark Briscoe, KENTA & Ishimori, Yoshinari Ogawa and ZSJ, Gedo & Jado, and Daisuke Harada and Tadasuke.
A few years ago, I really fell out of watching NOAH, save for the odd show. To me, there was absolutely nothing wrong with the product, but there are only 24 hours in the day. And even this nerd needed to live a little life.
However, around 5AM EST on the 24th, I couldn’t sleep, and was laying down. I got a notification from Wrestle Universe on my phone, and noticed that NOAH was on, running their Legacy Rise 2026 event from Korakuen Hall in Tokyo.
With a little bit of time before getting up, I started streaming it.
It was a solid event, as NOAH always is. However, once I got to the GHC Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Title match, I was WIDE AWAKE and energized
I was mesmerized by the champions’ fluidity as a team. Speed, flash, and synchronized tag team maneuvers were on the table. The NOAH fans truly seemed to enjoy their efforts, as the longer I watched, I was witnessing one of the best tag teams I’ve seen in quite some time.
It takes a lot for me in the early morning, to be pumped up, especially by a match.
I knew, once it ended, that I needed to see more of this team in action, which I have watched religiously over the past two days. I, again, was shocked at how good they were.
To me, the best tag team in the world are the GHC Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Champions Dragon Bane and Alejandro.
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In a weird way, Dragon Bane & Alejandro trauma bonded over being betrayed by their own flesh and blood over the past few months.
The Mexico City luchadore Bane, only 26 years old, was already a former two-time GHC Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Champion with his brother Alpha Wolf., as well as holding the GHC National Championship.
However, following Wolf defeating Bane for the National Title at The New Year 2026 on January 1, 2026, Wolf stunned everyone by joining Team 2000X!
Ten days later, Kai Fujimura, part of All Rebellion with his brother Alejandro, shocked the entire NOAH promotion, also turning his group and flesh and blood, by joining Team 2000X as well!
A few weeks later, the NOAH Jr. Tag League 2026 began, starting on February 6, 2026 and ending on March 1 at Korakuen Hall. Dragon Bane & Alejandro, spurned by their brothers, formed a brotherhood of their own, joining up for the tournament. The winners of the Round Robin Tournament would receive a guaranteed shot at the GHC Junior Heavyweight Championship.
Ironically enough, Alpha Wolf & Fujimura of Team 2000X also joined as a tandem.
Dragon Bane and Alejandro went 5-2, losing to both Team 2000X teams (Tadasuke and Jun Masaoka & Wolf and Fujimura), but pulled in second to face Wolf and Fujimura in the finals. The now villainous evil spawn went 6-1, finishing first.
In an absolute classic on March 1, Bane and Alejandro defeated Wolf and Fujimura in a twenty-minute classic main event to win the Jr. Tag League 2026! After getting their trophies, they went face-to-face with Los Intocables of Daga and Daiki Odashima, amping up for the following week for their guaranteed Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Title shot.
In a breathtaking fight, Dragon Bane and Alejandro cashed in and won the GHC Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Championships at Apex Conquest 2026 (Night 1) at the Yokohama Budokan. All four men laid it all on the line, but to me, I was in awe. It all came together at the end when Bane nailed a Kidmanesque Shooting Star Press to Odashima to win the belts.
It is Dragon Bane’s third and Alejandro’s first reign as titleholders.
For the relatively quick forming of their tandem, Bane and Alejandro feel like they’ve been teaming for years. Their pace is unreal. Bane, in particular, might be the most graceful high flyer I’ve seen since Dragon Kid from Dragon Gate. He’s insanely fluid and there isn’t a wasted movement with anything he does. Meanwhile, Alejandro has such sympathy with him when he is in peril, that when he fights back from behind, the NOAH fanbase just wants him to overcome.
Both men are so athletically gifted and compliment each other so well. It proved itself wonders in their first title defense against Lykos Gym on April 12.
And then, their second defense on April 24 against Team 2000X’s Tadasuke and Fujimura. With the sheer chaos Team 2000X has been bringing as of late, the champions had a tough task ahead.
Fujimura and Tadasuke cheated at any given opportunity, but Bane and Alejandro just kept surviving. The duo even survived a low blow and high impact moves when the referee was accidentally taken out. At the end of the match, thanks to a handspring Pele Kick from Dragon Bane into a Code Red from Alejandro, the duo retained the gold.
As I alluded to earlier, an absolutely fantastic encounter. I rewatched it back earlier today, something I don’t do as much of anymore, and it got as pumped up as I did the first time watching it.
That is all in credit to the insane chemistry of Dragon Bane and Alejandro. They know each other like a pair of brothers, ironically enough.
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In the vein of the phenomenal GHC Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Champions of the past, Dragon Bane and Alejandro are the next evolution of tremendous junior tag teams. There is so much meat on the bone as it comes to this tandem. I don’t think we’ve even touched the surface of what these guys can do.
Winning the Jr. Tag League, the belts, and retaining in their first two defenses, I truly believe there is legitimately potential for them being Tag Team of the Year across the entire industry if they keep this pace.
Dragon Bane and Alejandro as a tag team is an unexpected gem for Pro Wrestling NOAH. I hope they get that opportunity to hit their maximum potential as a team. They make wrestling FUN. And because of this team, I will be watching Wrestle Universe as closely as possible. They are legitimately inspirational.
Bankie Bruce
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