Hirooki Goto and Taichi main event the first night of the New Japan Cup tour, as the road to be the first challenger for the IWGP World Heavyweight Championship continues.
Quick Results
Minoru Suzuki, Zack Sabre Jr. & DOUKI pinned Yuya Uemura, Gabriel Kidd & Tomoaki Honma in 10:46 (**¾)
EVIL, Chase Owens, Yujiro Takahashi & Taiji Ishimori submitted Tiger Mask, Hiroshi Tanahashi, YOSHI-HASHI & David Finlay in 11:40 (**¼)
Jeff Cobb, Will Ospreay & Great-O-Khan pinned Master Wato, Satoshi Kojima & Hiroyoshi Tenzan in 9:24 (***)
New Japan Cup 2021 – First Round: Toru Yano defeated Bad Luck Fale via count-out in 5:50 (*¼)
New Japan Cup 2021 – First Round: Hirooki Goto pinned Taichi in 22:43 (***½)
We’re back at Korakuen Hall after the New Japan Cup started during yesterday’s 49th Anniversary show…
Suzuki-gun (Minoru Suzuki, Zack Sabre Jr. & DOUKI) vs. Tomoaki Honma, Gabriel Kidd & Yuya Uemura
We’re building up a couple of cup matches here – with Kidd vs. ZSJ being the one leaping out to my eyes.
Of course there’s a jump start, but it mostly backfires for Suzuki-gun as Honma took Suzuki into the rails, while Uemura charged down DOUKI in the ring for a two-count. A dropkick keeps DOUKI down, before Honma came in to land an elbow drop for a two-count of his own. Suzuki grabs Honma’s leg to stop a Kokeshi, then dragged him into a hanging armbar in the ropes as things spilled outside. Honma’s chucked into the rails, then rolled back inside so DOUKI could rake the eyes and hit a stomp off the rops. In comes Sabre for a grounded inverted cravat and a neck twist, going after the obvious body part, while Suzuki’s next to trade chops and elbows with Honma, accompanied by Kidd’s coaching of “hit him.” I mean, the obvious stuff’s usually the most effective, right?
Suzuki busts out the clonking elbows to drop Honma, but a follow up PK just fires up Honma ahead of more palm strikes. A headbutt and a leaping Kokeshi knocks Suzuki down, as tags get us back to Sabre and Kidd. Uppercuts ahoy! Sabre swivels into a side headlock an stays ahead of Kidd for the most part, but Kidd gets ahead with a slam for a two-count.
A butterfly suplex from Kidd looks to follow, but Sabre counters out with a torquing wristlock, throwing Kidd to the mat before a cross armbar instantly ended in the ropes. Sabre doesn’t immediately let go though, and ends up getting caught with an elbow and a dropkick as both men proceeded to tag out.
Uemura and Honma hit the ring to isolate Sabre, with triple-teaming almost getting Uemura the win… but Suzuki-gun flood the ring to break up the pin. They’re dispatched of as Uemura looks for a Kanuki suplex, but Sabre’s overhead kick breaks it up before arm wringers and kicks led to a brief Uemura comeback… but that ends swiftly when Suzuki tagged in and put him away with a rear naked choke, then the Gotch piledriver. Just like EVIL’s sudden win last night – and I’m not at all averse to someone in the tournament winning suddenly. Decent stuff, which picked up steam as we went… **¾
Post-match, Suzuki and Honma went at it… as did Kidd and Sabre, with the latter standing tall there.
Bullet Club (EVIL, Yujiro Takahashi, Chase Owens & Taiji Ishimori) vs. Hiroshi Tanahashi, YOSHI-HASHI, David Finlay & Tiger Mask
EVIL’s got Jeff Cobb in the second round of the cup, but instead we’re building up first round stuff, as you’d expect…
Tanahashi and Ishimori surprisingly start us off, as Tanahashi’s side headlock came to nought, so tags bring in Yujiro and YOSHI-HASHI. Of course Yujiro goes for the hair early, prompting YOSHI-HASHI to fight back with forearms and a Head Hunter. A dropkick in the ropes and a basement dropkick gives YOSHI-HASHI a two-count, before Yujiro hung him up in the ropes as the Bullet Club did their thing on the floor.
YOSHI-HASHI gets choked out with Yujiro’s pimp cane on the floor, before the feed did its thing and dropped out. When it recovered, Chase Owens and EVIL are working over YOSHI-HASHI, with EVIL then chaining up for a big ol’ abdominal stretch – except Yujiro didn’t chain, he just clapped. I mean, come on Yujiro…
Ishimori comes in to work over YOSHI-HASHI’s lower back, while Yujiro’s forearms led to his Fisherman buster getting blocked, as YOSHI-HASHI tries to counter, only to get bitten. A Western lariat from YOSHI-HASHI gets him through though, as tags bring in Finlay and Owens. Finlay lays in with right hands and a backbreaker for an early two-count, before a Shining Wizard blasted through Chase. Ishimori’s back with one of his own for a two-count, before Finlay fought back and tagged in Tiger Mask.
A crossbody off the top has Ishimori down, as did a tiltawhirl backbreaker, but Tiger Mask can’t quite get the three count off that, so he goes for the Tiger Driver… Ishimori escapes, and returned with a handspring kick. EVIL gets the tag in and goes for Tiger Mask with a Fisherman buster for a two-count.
Tiger Mask escapes Darkness Falls, then pulled EVIL down into a double armbar, before the rest of Tiger Mask’s team came in to help with some four-on-one… which EVIL quickly thwarts. Tiger Mask shrugs it off and looks for a Tiger suplex, but EVIL backs into the corner as Dick Togo chokes Tiger Mask, before a Scorpion Deathlock led to the submission. Your usual fare – with some bright spots, but Bullet Club’s gonna Bullet Club, I guess. **¼
United Empire (Will Ospreay, Jeff Cobb & Great-O-Khan) vs. Hiroyoshi Tenzan, Satoshi Kojima & Master Wato
With Kojima out and O-Khan and Cobb through, we’re just building to Ospreay/Tenzan on Sunday with this one…
There’s an obligatory jump start as the match heads outside at the bell, with Ospreay taking Tenzan into the rails. O-Khan heads back inside to work over Kojima with Mongolian chops, but Kojima tries to block them and hit one of his own as things descend into a battle of elbows. O-Khan edges ahead with another Mongolian chop as Kojima’s triple-teamed for a spell, but DDTs get Kojima ahead.
O-Khan’s trapped in the corner for Machine Gun chops, before the forearm in the corner should have led to the top rope elbow, but Ospreay throws Kojima down to the mat, where O-Khan’s waiting for a keylock attempt. Cobb comes in and keeps Kojima in the corner, but a Koji cutter gets Kojima free to make the tag out.
Tenzan’s in to clear the apron, but he’s stopped from his “True” Mongolian chop by O-Khan, who just eats the “new Mongolian” chops as Ospreay then took a spinning heel kick. A brainbuster’s next, before Ospreay looked to fight back… booting Tenzan out of the corner ahead of a springboard forearm for a two-count.
Kawada-style kicks from Ospreay lead to a hook kick on Tenzan… who responds with a Mountain bomb. Tags bring us back to Cobb and Master Wato… but Wato’s springboard uppercut’s caught as he instead has to resort to kicks. An Irish whip’s blocked, so Wato throws another kick, then a leg lariat for a two-count as his partners hit the ring to help out.
Wato keeps pushing on, but a revolution kick’s caught and turned into a nice bridging fallaway slam for a near-fall as we begin a Parade of Moves, featuring a pop-up ‘rana from Wato to Ospreay. A bell clapper gets Wato free of a Cobb belly-to-belly, but Cobb just muscles his way back in, countering another ‘rana into what looked like a powerbomb, but he just then hurks Wato into a Tour of the Islands for the win. I LOVED that finish, with Cobb looking like a monster here. ***
Post-match, EVIL runs out and attacks Cobb from behind, while Dick Togo uses the garrote wire. Where the bloody hell did Ospreay and O-Khan go? They eventually turn around and make the save as Togo and EVIL bail.
Hey New Japan World, we need to talk about your web player. On the same machine and the same connection (with plenty of bandwidth), why on earth is this thing so unreliable? Constant drop-outs, buffering and freezing seem to be the order of the day – yet weirdly, never on the bigger shows…
New Japan Cup 2021 – First Round: Bad Luck Fale vs. Toru Yano
This match has happened three times before, and never once reached the 9 minute mark… and the winner here will face Great-O-Khan in the second round next Thursday. We saw a lot of this pairing last year over Yano’s KOPW 2020 trophy – but the 2021 version isn’t on the line here.
There’s a roll-up… before the bell? How’s that work? Would that have been a loss in negative seconds? Yano kicks out at two as his trophy’s broken again, before he removes a turnbuckle pad. He goes bop on Fale’s head, then gets charged down by the Tongan as Yano then tries to play keepaway.
Fale follows him outside and throws him into the barriers, before returning to the ring to look for the count-out win. Of course, Yano beats the count, but Fale just stomps on him again before an easy scoop slam dropped Yano for a two-count. Last year that’d have won Fale that KOPW trophy…
A Grenade looks to follow, but Yano fights free… only to get stuffed on a slam. Fale hits one of his own, but misses an elbow. We’re back outside as Fale throws Yano into the rails some more, but misses a charge as Yano… has some tape. Fale shoves him into the post before it can be used, then taped Yano’s hands around the post… except Yano’s able to kick Fale away and into the post, before swivelling back into the ring to “break the count”, despite having had his hands tied. Yano wins via count-out with an inventive finish, but yeah, your mileage on this one is probably going to vary massively. *¼
After the match, Yano breaks down in tears because his trophy’s broken. Jushin Thunder Liger just seems to laugh it off.
New Japan Cup 2021 – First Round: Taichi vs. Hirooki Goto
Winner takes on the winner of Okada/Shingo next Saturday…
We’ve no time limit here, save for the curfew, and as such neither Taichi or Goto charge at each other at the bell. Instead, we’ve a lock-up that ends in the ropes, before Taichi teases an early Dangerous backdrop driver. Goto heads to the ropes to block that, where Taichi just responds by throttling him…
The pair head outside, where Taichi drops Goto throat-first on the railings, before keeping the asphyxiation theme going with the use of the camera cabling. Goto manages to beat the count, but yeah, Taichi stands on his throat, then went back to the choking as he tried to get a pin with that throat hold.
Rinse. Wash. Repeat. Again.
Taichi tries to find new ways to choke Goto, before some kicks leave Goto in a heap on the mat. More Kawada-style kicks follow, but Goto snaps back by throttling Taichi into the corner, forcing the referee to separate them. A clothesline off the ropes followed, then a spinning heel kick into the corner before a bulldog got Goto a two-count.
Goto’s side headlock is almost countered with a backdrop driver, but Taichi instead finds luck with a gamengiri in the corner as both men took their time getting back to their feet. Taichi tries to strike again with Axe bombers, while Goto’s lariats offered a response as both men fell to their knees.
Taichi fires up and rips off his trousers, but Goto beats him to the punch with a clothesline in the corner. Goto’s Saito suplex is blocked as Taichi instead goes for a Stretch Plum, with Goto escaping to land an ushigoroshi. Knees to the ribs from Goto leads to a reverse GTR for a two-count, before Taichi choked his way out of another GTR.
A proper chokeslam drops Goto next, then a Dangerous backdrop driver as Taichi snapped ahead for a near-fall. Taichi follows that up with a Last Ride, folding into Goto for a near-fall, before Goto countered a Black Mephisto… only to get elbowed. Goto shrugged it off and drums Taichi with a Shoutenkai as both men struggled to get back to their feet.
Goto’s back up first as he sizes up Taichi for a kick… but Taichi pops up and rattles off some elbows before Goto knocked him back down. Taichi fights out of a GTR, but the Black Mephisto’s also escaped as Taichi ends up landing another head kick before a Gedo clutch almost won it…
Taichi goes for a buzzsaw kick, but Goto catches it and pulls Taichi up into a GTW for a near-fall… then finished off Taichi with a GTR to book his spot in the second round. This got pretty damn good towards the end, but that early segment with all the choking was a big turn-off. ***½
The New Japan Cup tour continues – 8am UK time on Saturday in Tokyo’s Ota City General Gymnasium, then on Sunday, at 6am UK time in Yamanashi. I have a feeling not many people from the UK will be up for that one… Make sure you at least see the GIF of the Cobb finish from today. As for the tournament matches… one was utterly throwaway, but mercifully short, and the other… your mileage will vary, but if you can get past all the choking spots, ended up being pretty good.