New Japan Pro Wrestling’s annual New Japan Cup tournament is underway.
The winner of this year’s single-elimination tournament will earn the chance to face “Switchblade” Jay White for the IWGP Heavyweight Championship. This matchup is scheduled to take place at their upcoming show, co-promoted with Ring Of Honor (ROH), G1 Supercard. The event takes place on April 6th and emanates from the legendary Madison Square Garden in New York.
This stage of the New Japan Cup took place on 3/10 from the Amagasaki Memorial Park Gymnasium, Japan.
New Japan Cup Results (3/10)
TAKA Michinoku and Minoru Suzuki defeated Yota Tsuji and Satoshi Kojima via submission.
TAKA finally comes out on top, securing a submission win over the Young Lion.
Manabu Nakanishi, Yuji Nagata, Juice Robinson, and YOSHI-HASHI defeated Taiji Ishimori, HIKULEO, Bad Luck Fale, and Chase Owens via pinfall.
Bullet Club was unsuccessful in putting away this random team of NJPW talent. And Juice Robinson. Robinson would manage to hit Pulp Friction on the giant HIKULEO for the pinfall.
Shingo Takagi, BUSHI, and SANADA defeated Ren Narita, Tomoaki Honma, and Hirooki Goto via pinfall.
Los Ingobernables de Japon picked up the victory thanks to Takagi’s Pumping Bomber.
Taichi, Davey Boy Smith Jr., and Lance Archer defeated Tomohiro Ishii, Toru Yano, and Will Ospreay via pinfall.
Smith Jr. avenges some losses to Yano by nailing him with the Bulldog Bomb. He has new momentum heading towards their elimination match up.
Michael Elgin, Colt Cabana, and Mikey Nicholls defeated Toa Henare, Togi Makabe, and Kazuchika Okada via pinfall.
Mikey Nicholls manages to pull off the Mikey Bomb onto Henare for the win.
Tournament Results
Ryusuke Taguchi defeated Hiroyoshi Tenzan via submission.
Jr. Heavyweight, Taguchi, pulled out a victory over Tenzan with the Kido Clutch.
Hiroshi Tanahashi defeated Shota Umino via submission.
Though an unsurprising result, Umino continues to impress as he managed to hold his own with ‘The Ace’ for over 16 minutes.
Zack Sabre Jr. defeated EVIL via submission.
A great back and forth from two competitors who have recent history in NJPW. ZSJ, however, was able to advance in the tournament after submitting EVIL.
Kota Ibushi defeated Tetsuya Naito via pinfall.
Probably the best first round match of the tournament so far. These two brought it to each other, wrestling as though it were already the finals. A fantastic sequence would culminate with Ibushi executing the Kamigoya, eliminating Naito for the tournament.
