Team Japan Team Japan is a wrestling faction that was brought together as a part of Total Nonstop Action Wrestling ' s World X - Cup Tournament . History . 2004 . Team Japan started as six - man team as team captain Nosawa from All Japan Pro Wrestling teamed with Osaka Pro Wrestling ' s Ebessan and Kamen competed in non - tournament exhibition match . They lost to Elix Skipper , Sonjay Dutt and Chris Sabin . For the World X - Cup event in May 2008 , Nosawa dropped Ebessan and Kamen and replaced them with Mitsu Hirai Jr . , Ryuji Hijikata and Taichi Ishikari , all of whom were like Nosawa from All Japan . Theyenjoyed some success in exhibitions and singles matches not related to the tournament itself , but failed to have any significant success in the actual tournament and were quickly eliminated , leaving Team Canada , Team Mexico , and Team USA for the finals which were held under Ultimate X rules . After the X - Cup event , Nosawa teamed with fellow All Japan wrestler Kazushi Miyamoto for several months under the Team Japan name . They disappeared from TNA after Victory Road . 2006 . Team Japan returned to TNA for the World X - Cup Tournament 2006 . On the March 11 , 2006 episode of TNA iMPACT ! , Mike Tenay said that Puma would be on Team Japan for the competition . Jushin Liger was shortly thereafter announced to be the captain of the team . Rumored members of the team included Hiroshi Tanahashi , Black Tiger , and Tiger Mask . Oddly , the character of Black Tiger has always been that of a heel in Japan while Tiger Mask is the babyface . The characters are that of " twins " with Black Tiger being the " evil twin " . They do not tag and this would have been considered an unusual decision for TNA to make . Fortunately , these were proven as nothing more than rumours , and none of the rumoured competitors were included on the team . Team Japan made its return at Lockdown 2006 , with members Hirooki Goto , Minoru Tanaka , and Black Tiger competing in an exhibition six man tag match against Team USA members Jay Lethal , Sonjay Dutt , and Alex Shelley . Team Japan pulled out the win in light of miscommunication on the part of Team USA . Liger was supposed to be a part of the exhibition competitions at Lockdown , as he was slated to face off with Christopher Daniels . Due to travel conflicts , Liger was unable to make the pay per view , and TNA had to alter the card , declaring Daniels ' opponent to be a mystery competitor . The competitor was later announced to be Senshi . Liger did , however , compete in a second round match against Petey Williams from Team Canada . Liger pulled out the win after a double underhook faceplant after teammates Hiroko Goto and Black Tiger interfered in the match . Team Japan was heavily favored to win the 2006 World X - Cup in light of TNA ' s talent - swap agreement with New Japan Pro Wrestling , but to the surprise of many , the team finished in last place . It is speculated that this may be due to a lack of participation from Team Captain , Jushin " Thunder " Liger who only made on - screen appearances in the tournament during Sacrifice . All four members of the 2006 Team Japan were also members of Liger ' s heel Control Terrorism Unit ( C . T . U . ) stable from NJPW . 2008 . Team Japan has returned to TNA Wrestling for the 2008 World X - Cup . Naruki Doi and Masato Yoshino debuted on the June 12 edition of " iMPACT ! " with a loss to The Motor City Machine Guns of Team TNA . Entrance music . Team Japan 2004 ' s entrance music was made by Dale Oliver and was also used for Low - Ki . The song was titled " Omori " . The same song is also being used for Team Japan in the 2008 World X - Cup .