Yamanashi’s the host for today’s New Japan Cup stop, with Will Ospreay and Hiroyoshi Tenzan in the main event.
Quick Results
Yota Tsuji pinned Yuya Uemura in 6:56 (**¾)
Jeff Cobb & Great-O-Khan pinned Tomoaki Honma & Satoshi Kojima in 12:00 (**¾)
Hiroshi Tanahashi, Juice Robinson, Henare & Ryusuke Taguchi pinned Dick Togo, Jay White, EVIL & KENTA in 13:11 (**¾)
Shingo Takagi, Tetsuya Naito, SANADA & BUSHI pinned SHO, Kazuchika Okada, Hirooki Goto & Tomohiro Ishii in 13:28 (***)
New Japan Cup 2021 – First Round: Zack Sabre Jr. submitted Gabriel Kidd in 17:21 (****)
New Japan Cup 2021 – First Round: Will Ospreay pinned Hiroyoshi Tenzan in 13:36 (***¼)
The Aimesse Yamanashi in Yamanashi is the stop for what feels like a rare, non-Tokyo show on NJPW World… and it’s a six-match card as opposed to the fivers we’ve had lately.
Yuya Uemura vs. Yota Tsuji
Their first one-on-one meeting in four months, and it’s a welcome return for the Young Lion opener…
Standing switches start us off as Uemura ends up rolling free from a wristlock, before he went in for a hammerlock, then another wristlock as Tsuji had to roll free. He keeps going into a full nelson, but Uemura rolls free and grounds Tsuji with a hammerlock before spinning around in for an armbar. Uemura’s back in with a wristlock, but Tsuji wrings the arm and goes for a side headlock before he’s pushed off… only to return with a shoulder tackle. An armdrag from Tsuji works, but Uemura drops down to trip him up as another armbar awaits. Tsuji slams his way free, and almost wins it with the Mount Tsuji splash, before a Boston crab rolls Uemura into trouble.
Tsuji can’t keep the hold on long as Uemura quickly hand-walks to the ropes, before the pair trade elbows, eventually taking down Tsuji. Uemura builds pressure with a slam for a two-count, then it’s back to the armbar. It’s escaped by Tsuji, who then took Uemura into the ropes and escaped with a win via a lucha roll-up. A good showing for Uemura in defeat, but Tsuji gave away too much – and if he’s like this on his cup match on Tuesday, he’ll be blitzed quickly by Yuji Nagata. **¾
United Empire (Jeff Cobb & Great-O-Khan) vs. Satoshi Kojima & Tomoaki Honma
It’s the haves versus the have nots, as we’ve got the eliminated Kojima and Honma looking to make a dent in the Empire’s confidence.
Kojima demands to start against O-Khan, and gets his wish as O-Khan backed him into the ropes before throwing a knee to the gut. Shoulder tackles from Kojima look to offer a route in, but he has more luck with a hiptoss before he could charge down O-Khan, before Honma tagged in to try and keep it going. That quickly goes awry when Honma misses a Kokeshi, allowing O-Khan to come back in with a nerve hold and stomps to the back, before taking Honma to the corner for a seat. Cobb tags in to keep Honma in the corner with charges, then dump Honma with headbutts before an Irish whip took him down in the corner.
Cobb mocks Kojima by throwing some Machine Gun chops to Honma, then brought O-Khan back in for some Mongolian chops. An Iron claw from O-Khan stops Honma briefly, but he kicks free and spiked O-Khan with a DDT as Kojima looked to help turn things around, tagging in to take O-Khan into the corner for some Machine Gun chops. A top rope elbow lands after that for a two-count, but O-Khan roars back with a head-and-arm choke, but Kojima escapes and countered free with a DDT, only for his Koji cutter to get blocked. Cobb’s back to headbutt Kojima, before a suplex turned into an Oklahoma Stampede attempt… which Kojima escapes as he finally landed that Koji cutter.
Honma’s back to land a bulldog on Cobb… and a Kokeshi?! A second Kokeshi countered an Irish whip, but O-Khan’s quickly in to deck Honma. Kojima makes the save as some double-teaming barely budges Cobb until he took a double-team suplex, before Honma went up top and teased a swandive Kokeshi. Of course, Cobb’s up to press slam him down, but he misses his own Kokeshi before Honma ran into a Spin Cycle. Kojima breaks that up, only for Cobb to put Honma away moments later with a Tour of the Islands. Solid stuff, even if the result was expected. **¾
Bullet Club (EVIL, Jay White, KENTA & Dick Togo) vs. Hiroshi Tanahashi, Toa Henare, Juice Robinson & Ryusuke Taguchi
We’ve got Jay White vs. Henare on Wednesday coming out of this tag…
Those two start us off, but White just tags out to KENTA as he was more wrapped up in getting the crowd clapping. Henare does the same, as Juice Robinson comes in and gets frustrated with KENTA hiding in the ropes. When KENTA does engage, he takes Juice into the corner for some right hands before Juice retaliated with some Dusty punches. A side Russian legsweep and a back senton drops KENTA for a two-count, before Taguchi came in to direct traffic as KENTA took a beating in the corner. Of course, it all falls apart when Taguchi looked for the finale, and he’s quickly cornered by the Bullet Club foursome… with even the offer of a too-sweet not helping. As you were, then.
Forearms to Taguchi’s arse take him into the corner as KENTA works the glutes, with Dick Togo then coming in to follow through with a fist drop for a two-count. EVIL’s next with the chained-up abdominal stretch, which the referee eventually breaks before refusing to count the pin. White’s back from there with stomps to the arse, before he sidestepped a hip attack to watch Taguchi crash and burn. Twice.
Eventually Taguchi lands it, buying him enough time to tag in Henare to finally get his hands on White, chopping the ring clear of Bullet Club as well. A stalling suplex drops White for a two-count, but White gets back in with a hairpull and a Blade Buster as Henare was almost put away right there. Henare recovers with a Samoan drop, then clobbered Gedo off the apron before EVIL came in to break things up. He’s cleared with a Samoan drop though as White’s desperation DDT clears away Henare before Dick Togo came in. Right hands from Togo earn him a spear, with Tanahashi coming in for the home stretch, Dragon Screwing the world before KENTA ran in to start a brief flurry with Juice.
An eye rake and a roll-up nearly gets Togo the win as he was pushing things, before Taguchi ran in to start a Parade of Hip Attacks, taking out EVIL for a plancha as a Slingblade in the ring dropped Togo. From there, Tanahashi heads up for a High Fly Flow, and that’s enough to get the clear win for the NEVER champion. Decent stuff, but save for the Henare/White interactions (and KENTA’s brief aiming of Juice’s eyes), this was your run of the mill undercard tag. **¾
Post-match, Henare targets White and slings him into the guard rails, since we’ve not had that yet tonight.
Los Ingobernables de Japon (Shingo Takagi, SANADA, Tetsuya Naito & BUSHI) vs. Kazuchika Okada, Tomohiro Ishii, Hirooki Goto & SHO
Ishii vs. SANADA is the match they’re building to next, but it’s Goto and hometown-hero Shingo who start us off to tease their second round clash. We open with shoulder tackles that Shingo edges ahead on, only for Goto to come in with a headlock takedown that’s quickly escapes before he took Shingo into the corner.
SHO tags in to work the arm, using a double wristlock early as Shingo needs to break via the ropes. Okada runs in to clear the apron as Shingo takes a beating, but a kick in the ropes from BUSHI leads to LIJ clearing the other apron as everyone scraps on the floor. A surfboard stretch from Shingo leads to BUSHI coming in with a t-shirt to choke Okada, before Naito tagged in to put the boots to the former champion. Naito goes for a Boston crab, but Okada gets the ropes before he’s rolled over before a sandwich of basement dropkicks trapped Okada for a two-count. SANADA’s next, but he’s dropped with a big boot from Okada, before Ishii came in to swing and miss at SANADA in the corner. BUSHI tries to interfere, but SHO takes care of him before Shingo and Naito met similar fates, as SANADA manages to recover with a low dropkick to spin down Ishii.
Ishii recovers with a clothesline in the corner, but gets taken down with a springboard dropkick as tags take us back to Goto and Shingo. A suplex from Shingo drops Goto for a two-count, before the pair trade clotheslines that take us into an ushigoroshi from Goto. SHO’s back in to try and put Shingo away, but his Irish whip into the corner gets reversed before SHO lands a spear for a two-count. LIJ rush the ring to dismantle SHO, as a Combinacion Cabron from Naito and a sliding lariat from Shingo nearly puts him away. Goto runs in to stop a Last of the Dragon, sparking a big ol’ Parade of Moves, which cleared the way for SHO to spear SANADA before Okada came in to help out. SHO’s deadlift German suplex gets him a near-fall, but nothing comes of Shock Arrow as Shingo back body drops his way free before an elbow, a lariat and a Pumping Bomber gets a two-count… with Last of the Dragon planting SHO for the win. Some good flashes here to build up the cup matches, but otherwise this was business as usual as we round out the undercard. ***
New Japan Cup 2021 – First Round: Gabriel Kidd vs. Zack Sabre Jr.
These two had a good series in them back for WCPW in 2017, let’s see if they get the time to repeat it here. The winner of this takes on Will Ospreay in the second round next Sunday.
Kidd and Sabre test themselves early on, but Kidd’s knucklelock takedown’s quickly escaped… unlike his wristlock attempt, which eventually ends in the ropes as Sabre managed to escape. Sabre returns with a stranglehold, but Kidd reverses it and tries to force Sabre down… but Zack countered the counter to reapply it, before Kidd rolled back to reverse the hold. A wristlock from Sabre’s countered as Kidd takes him down with headscissors, but Sabre countered with a leg spreader, grinding his elbow into Gabe’s knees for extra annoyance. Sabre’s chinbar attempt is blocked as Kidd took him down with a single leg, before Sabre again rolled free as they continued to chip away at each other.
Sabre begins to get serious with an armbar/headscissor combo, but Kidd retaliates by dumping Sabre with an arm lift, then by following up with an armbar as Sabre had to kip up to get free. The pace quickens as Kidd’s missed dropkick earned him a neck twist, before he got booted into the corner as Sabre looked to work the leg over the ropes. An inverted cravat from Sabre keeps Kidd down… and he clings onto it despite Kidd’s attempt to slam free. Second time was the charm though, before Kidd hit the ropes and charged down Sabre. A clothesline keeps Zack in the corner ahead of a floatover suplex for just a one-count, prompting Sabre to hit back… but he’s quickly caught in a roll-up that Kidd tries to maneuver into a Boston crab, eventually rolling Zack into a half crab.
After getting free, Sabre’s taken into the corner with uppercuts, but he replies in kind as the match broke down into almost a hockey fight… with Kidd knocking Sabre down with a forearm to boot! He rains down elbows on Sabre in the corner, only for Zack to paintbrush him with strikes… but Kidd replies with one of his own before Sabre countered a suplex by pulling him down into an armbar. Kidd saves himself with a rope break, but couldn’t avoid a PK as Sabre began to toy with his foe. A second PK just rolls Kidd backwards before he countered a third with a dropkick, only for Sabre to come right back with a guillotine. That’s countered with a brainbuster as Kidd tries to grab the upset, then again with back-and-forth pins until Sabre slipped in with a Cobra Twist.
A hiptoss frees Kidd, but he’s instantly pulled down into a triangle armbar… Sabre pulls him to the mat… and that’s your lot. A flash submission gets Sabre his second round match with Ospreay – a match steeped in history – but Gabe Kidd shouldn’t be ashamed of this result at all. An expected result, but a hell of a performance with a lot of control from Kidd – which had me grinning like a Cheshire cat throughout – and I suspect you will too if you enjoy this style. ****
New Japan Cup 2021 – First Round: Will Ospreay vs. Hiroyoshi Tenzan
Tenzan was accompanied by Master Wato… and had Satoshi Kojima on commentary.
There’s some shoving to start as Ospreay and Tenzan trade strikes before they head outside, where Tenzan has to use a back body drop to escape Ospreay. They don’t last long back inside as Ospreay chucks Tenzan outside and into the guard rails, before throwing some elbows to the head and neck as Ospreay set up for a knee drop on the edge of the ring. That gets him a two-count back inside, as Ospreay follows up with forearms to the gut and some boot choking, before a chinlock restrained Tenzan in the middle of the ring. Tenzan breaks free with some “new” Mongolian chops, then took Ospreay into the corner with a clothesline before he pulled him up as he came off the top rope to drive him to the mat with a knee.
A suplex is next from Tenzan, before he lifts Ospreay onto the apron… and of course Ospreay returns with a springboard forearm for a near-fall. A suplex of his own gets Ospreay a two-count, before elbows and kicks just riled up Tenzan into replying with a Mountain Bomb. A standing Spanish Fly from Ospreay nearly wins it, before a second springboard forearm was countered with a Mongolian chop. Tenzan follows up with a falling Kokeshi for a two-count, then with an Anaconda Vise, before he went for a Tenzan Tombstone Driver. Ospreay escapes that and returns with a rolling elbow for a two-count, before a hook kick just earned Ospreay a clothesline from Tenzan.
The Tenzan Tombstone Driver’s next, spiking Ospreay for a near-fall, before he returned to the Anaconda Vise. That’s turned into an Anaconda Buster for a near-fall, before Tenzan went up for a moonsault… he’s caught with a Cheeky Nando’s, then brought out of the corner with a powerbomb for a near-fall, before an OsCutter led to a near-fall. From there, Tenzan escapes a Storm Breaker and returned with more “new” Mongolian chops… but Ospreay breaks free and hits a forearm to the back of the head, before a Storm Breaker gets the win. This wasn’t as bad as you might have feared, but this was largely one-way traffic as Ospreay’s Empire continued their run of dominance over TenKoji. ***¼
We get to breathe for a day as the tour takes Monday off – but it’s back on Tuesday for a run of three more shows, starting in Okayama with SANADA vs. Tomohiro Ishii on top. If you’re only watching the tournament matches, you’ll have been pleasantly surprised by a match a lot of folks would have written off as a potential squash. The fact they gave Kidd so much against Sabre, for so long, points to the level of faith in him despite his Young Lion status – and can only bode well for the future.