Following a rather skippable series of shows, we’ve reached the New Japan Cup finals, where Bad Luck Fale and Katsuyori Shibata face-off for a title match of their choosing…
Shibata had gone through Minoru Suzuki, Juice Robinson and Tomohiro Ishii to qualify, whilst Fale had beaten Michael Elgin, Toru Yano and EVIL. This perhaps wasn’t the best final they could have had on paper, but it is what it is…
Tomoyuki Oka vs. Hirai Kawato
It’s been a while since we have had a Young Lions match on these shows, although the unusually short ten-minute time limit may be a bit of a giveaway.
We started with Kawato tying up Oka’s legs as a precursor to the Boston crab – the only submission move these guys are taught – but Oka fought free, only to fall into a toe hold, this time forcing Oka to the ropes. Eventually Oka made a comeback with a stalling spinebuster, getting a near-fall, but he went for the Boston crab too early before he started to target Kawato’s taped-up shoulder.
A keylock forces the now-20-year-old Kawato to drag his way to the ropes, before Oka just kicked him hard in the ribs. They traded more forearms and elbows, but Kawato took the initiative with a single-leg crab, but Oka dragged his way to the bottom rope for another break as he finally kicked away from Kawato.
Some more stomps and elbows from Oka led to a big hiptoss, then a slam for a near-fall, before a release back suplex dumped Kawato on what was his good shoulder for another two-count. Oka follows up with a Boston crab, sinking in the hold, but Kawato again made the ropes as he’d had enough and went back to Oka with forearms and a schoolboy that almost won it for him.
Kawato unleashes with some stomps and forearms, but his temper just gave him a massive shoulder tackle from Oka as the time ran-out on both men. No decisive winner, but this was all sorts of fun – Kevin Kelly on commentary particularly sold it well as he explained how both these guys had gone from setting up the ring, to gruelling workouts, to having this match at the top of the show… and of course the two were still riled up enough to get into a pull-apart afterwards. **½
Suzuki-gun (Takashi Iizuka, El Desperado & TAKA Michinoku) vs. Jushin “Thunder” Liger, Tiger Mask & David Finlay
Of course, we get a jump start as everyone brawled outside the ring for a while as Liger took down Desperado with a tiltawhirl backbreaker and a Romero special.
TAKA tried to interfere, but just bumped into his own man as Liger inadvertently dived to the outside, where he was taken into the crowd by Desperado, with some fans getting extra close to those barriers. Iizuka gets a chair from under the ring and blasts Finlay with it, whilst Desperado whips Liger with Iizuka’s leash.
Iizuka tags in and chokes Liger with some rope he’d hidden in his tights, but that only got him a series of one-counts before Liger backdropped Desperado onto the apron and brought him back in with a superplex. Tiger Mask comes in and gets a two-count with a Tiger Driver, then follows up with a tombstone as he went up top… and got shoved down by Iizuka.
A spinning back kick knocks down Desperado as Finlay comes in and lays waste to TAKA with some uppercuts. The Suzuki-gun trio triple-team Finlay for a spell, but can’t quite put the youngster away despite a chairshot from Iizuka on the outside. TAKA gets triple teamed for a spell, and out of nowhere Finlay lands a Stunner for the win. This was fine, light on the Suzuki-gun shenanigans (thankfully!) and alright for where it was on the card. **½
Yuji Nagata & Katsuya Kitamura vs. Hiroyoshi Tenzan & Satoshi Kojima
Tenzan and Nagata start us out, and we’re quickly going to the Mongolian chops as Tenzan edged ahead of his fellow veteran.
Nagata fakes out a dropkick then lands one in the knee as Kojima tags in, demanding to face Kitamura, whose shoulder tackle actually knocked the Bread Lover down eventually. The veterans took over, slamming Kitamura down as Nagata was shoved into the crowd barriers, allowing Ten-Koji to to work over the newcomer.
A rake to the eye takes down Kitamura after he’d chopped away at Kojima, but he absorbed some Mongolian chops and charged down Tenzan before bringing in Nagata, who just kicks away at Tenzan’s chest. More Mongolian chops follow, this time for Nagata, who replied with an enziguiri, only to run into a Mountain Bomb.
Rapid-fire chops from Kojima rock Nagata, who replies with a big boot, then an armbar after ducking a clothesline. Tenzan breaks it up just in the nick of time though, before being restrained as Kitamura caught Kojima in a Boston crab. Another Mongolian chop breaks that up, before Nagata avoided a Ten-Koji Cutter, allowing Kitamura to get a near-fall out of a brainbuster on Kojima.
Kojima elbows out of a German suplex, then drops Kitamura with a Koji Cutter, before a Strong Arm lariat got the tag champs the win. A really fun tag match, with Kitamura getting a lot more offence than I expected for someone of his experience. Add him to the list of Young Lions who’ll be in the narrative of “being more seasoned in their opening month than WWE Performance Centre Trainees”… **¾
Suzuki-gun (Minoru Suzuki, Taichi & Yoshinobu Kanemaru) vs. Hirooki Goto, Gedo & Jado
Poor Minoru, playing Zack Sabre Jr in the typical “mix-up of the matches” tag. They have another jump start, but the CHAOS trio managed to nullify that early as they worked over Taichi and Kanemaru in the opening moments.
The numbers game comes into play though as Desperado gets involved on the floor whilst Taichi distracted the referee, which allowed – amongst others – Suzuki to thrust a chair into Goto. Of course, Taichi’s got the bell hammer shoved in his arse crack, and he uses that on Gedo as Desperado randomly appears on the apron.
The tables turned when Shibata missed a big boot in the corner, then took a Gedo dropkick as Goto tagged in to blast through everyone, laying into Suzuki with a spinning heel kick and a back suplex for a near-fall. Suzuki landed that big boot anyway, then ran through Goto with a PK for a near-fall as the pair followed up with elbows a-plenty.
Suzuki slips behind Goto with a sleeperhold, then tries for the Gotch piledriver, before countering a counter into a guillotine. Goto powers up into an ushigoroshi, then brings in Jado… who takes a roundhouse kick from Taichi that would have won it. A superkick from Taichi misses and gets turned into a crossface… but Suzuki quickly breaks that up with a sleeperhold.
Taichi uses the microphone stand on Goto and Jado for a near-fall after some more shenanigans, then watches as Kanemaru dives into a low blow from Gedo. That mic stand’s used by Gedo on Taichi after a ref bump, before Jado locks in that crossface once again, rolling Taichi into the middle of the ring for the WrestleMania 20/Chris Benoit finish. Yeah, we had out Suzuki-gun shenanigans, but this wasn’t too bad… **¾
After the match, Suzuki drags Hirai Kawato up the aisle then slaps him to prove a point. Not sure what that was, but he did it anyway…
Hiroshi Tanahashi, KUSHIDA, Juice Robinson, Michael Elgin & Ryusuke Taguchi vs. Tetsuya Naito, Hiromu Takahashi, EVIL, BUSHI & SANADA
EVIL and SANADA attacked Tanahashi at the start, but the Ace left BUSHI in the ring stranded as the Ingobernable took a five-way assault in the corner with Ryusuke Taguchi directing traffic.
After BUSHI was whipped into Taguchi’s rear end, the rest of the match spilled to the floor, as Naito made a point of targeting Juice Robinson with a slam in the aisle. Back inside, Naito hits a low dropkick to Taguchi as the Ingobernables took over, with SANADA tying up Taguchi in the corner before dropkicking the Funky Weapon.
A hip attack gets Taguchi free to tag in Tanahashi as he, KUSHIDA and Juice triple-team SANADA with a dropkick, before he beats away an attempt at a similar triple-team from the Ingobernables, ending with a double Dragon screw to SANADA and Takahashi. SANADA came back by flipping out of a German suplex from Elgin, who then took the double leapfrog dropkick… before deciding to powerbomb BUSHI into SANADA.
Big Mike dumped Takahashi with a big boot before bringing in KUSHIDA to renew that rivalry, leading to a double armbreaker to BUSHI and Takahashi. Yep, KUSHIDA was on fire here! A springboard into the ring leads to KUSHIDA landing a pop-up ‘rana that Takahashi rolled through on, before we went to Juice and Naito. Juice hits the uranage backbreaker and a side Russian legsweep to take down the Intercontinental champion… but a missed back senton triggered the Ingobernables, who hit the ring to leap into Juice in the corner.
A Destino attempt is blocked as the ring filled up for the usual parade of big moves, ending with a stiff lariat from Elgin to SANADA, as Juice came in with a jackhammer on Naito for a near-fall. Robinson goes for the Pulp Friction, but it’s blocked and met with a kick below the belt, as Naito snatched the win with Destino. Easily the most fun Ingobernables tag of the tour, an even, hard-fought battle, and it looks like we’re getting Naito and Robinson down the line… in addition to Takahashi and KUSHIDA, who fought to the back. ***½
After the match, the Ingobernables bum-rushed Robinson, with Naito getting the proverbial exclamation mark on it all.
Bullet Club (Kenny Omega, Tama Tonga, Tanga Loa & Yujiro Takahashi) vs. Kazuchika Okada, Tomohiro Ishii, YOSHI-HASHI & Toru Yano
Omega kept his shirt on, so this is “Comedy Kenny” by his own admission tonight, and he started by targeting YOSHI-HASHI… who fired back with some chops and a rope-hung dropkick that took Omega to the floor.
Outside, the Guerrillas of Destiny double-teamed YOSHI for a spell, before Ishii and Yano made the save as it became bedlam on that side of the ring… at least until Tonga chased away Yano like a dog. Meanwhile, Kenny Omega whacked YOSHI-HASHI with the ring announcer’s notes.
Back inside, Takahashi gets a near-fall with a neckbreaker, but YOSHI-HASHI was able to break free to tag in Ishii after a Bunker Buster suplex/neckbreaker. Tama Tonga knocks down Ishii after his wacky rope running, but a running powerslam gives Ishii the chance to tag in Toru Yano… who goes straight for the turnbuckle padding. And into Tama Tonga!
You know Toru’s stuff by now – “break” in the ropes, a bit of him running scared from Tanga Loa, and then him getting beaten on by Kenny Omega, who landed a slam and an elbow drop for a near-fall. Okada tags in and promptly drops Takahashi with a sliding elbow as almost all of the Bullet Club somehow run into that exposed turnbuckle.
Another uppercut catches out Takahashi, who replied with a reverse legsweep and a dropkick as Tanga Loa rushes the ring to take Okada into the corner for some more avalanches. An Omega superkick starts a chain that leads to a near-fall, because of course Okada isn’t laying down for a big splash from Tanga Loa!
The ring fills briefly, but clears in time for Omega to take a flapjack, only for Okada to miss a dropkick, then deliver a neckbreaker slam to Loa. A top rope elbowdrop follows, but Omega rushes in to block a Rainmaker pose with a Dragon suplex as the Bullet Club dropped Okada with a triple-team backsuplex/neckbreaker for a near-fall. Another parade of moves ends with an Ishii lariat to Omega, before Okada tries for a Rainmaker and eats a spear from Loa.
Loa tries to follow-up, but he takes a dropkick from Okada, who finally lands the Rainmaker for the win as YOSHI-HASHI clung on to stop Omega from making the save. Decent, but otherwise a run-of-the-mill undercard tag. ***
New Japan Cup – Final: Bad Luck Fale vs. Katsuyori Shibata
Shibata launched into Fale with a big boot at the start, before turning an early Grenade attempt into an armbar, as another big boot sends Fale to the floor… where the tables turn when Shibata gets rammed into the ring post.
The crowd scatters as Fale takes Shibata there, throwing some of the crowd barriers onto him before heading back to the ring in search of a count-out – much like he tried against EVIL in the semi-finals. Back inside, a nerve hold wears down Shibata, exacerbated when Fale ripped off the tape on Shibata’s shoulder, which became the target for the big man.
Fale simply stands on Shibata by the ropes as that beatdown continued, despite Shibata’s attempts at a comeback, as a big shoulder tackle took him down. Eventually, Shibata beat down Fale in the corner and landed his typical diving dropkick, then grabbed a keylock as Fale had him up in a Fireman’s carry.
Shibata reverses an Irish whip, as he sends Fale into the crowd barriers for a spot of retribution, somehow breaking a chair in the process before deciding to grab a second one to throw at Fale… then dropkick into him. Yep, that’s not a DQ… but it doesn’t keep Fale down as he comes back with a Grenade attempt before simply spearing Shibata for a near-fall. More strength moves from Fale keep Shibata down, but his attempt at the Bad Luck Fall gets countered into an armbar, then into a Triangle choke as Fale sinks to the mat.
Fale makes the ropes, but doesn’t roll to the floor as he takes some more kicks from Shibata, before managing to rise up to land a big clothesline, then a big splash for a two-count. He succeeds with the Grenade, but Shibata kicks out at two, then slips out of a Bad Luck Fall into a rear naked choke… but Fale manages to switch that into a side slam to break the choke!
Shibata popped back up, then took a clothesline… and popped up again to reapply that rear naked choke… Fale’s out on his arse, and all that’s left is a PK, and Shibata gets the win! A fantastic final stretch, and I’ll say it, Shibata dragged a pretty good match out of this, before deciding to cash in his title shot against Okada! ****
After the match, Okada was called out… but he didn’t show. No matter, Shibata’s taking his title shot on April 9’s Sakura Genesis show.
Let’s be honest, this was a “fine” final, very symptomatic of the entire New Japan Cup tour as a whole. Some good moments, but compared to last year’s tournament, this wasn’t even close – perhaps a bit of a microcosm for New Japan whom, after having overcoming a turbulent 2016 aren’t quite on their A-game right now.