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, including the last first round matches of the New Japan Cup, took place on 3/11 from Kagawa, Japan.
New Japan Cup Results (3/11)
Taiji Ishimori, HIKULEO, Bad Luck Fale, and Chase Owens defeated Yuya Uemura, Michael Elgin, Juice Robinson, and YOSHI-HASHI via submission.
Bullet Club would start the night strong with a tap out victory, courtesy of Ishimori.
Shingo Takagi, BUSHI, EVIL, and Tetsuya Naito defeated Ren Narita, Manabu Nakanishi, Yuji Nagata, and Hiroyoshi Tenzan via submission.
BUSHI would force the Young Lion, Narita, to tap out to the Boston Crab, giving LIJ the win.
Tomoaki Honma and Kota Ibushi defeated TAKA Michinoku and Zack Sabre Jr. via pinfall.
TAKA goes back to his pin-eating ways after a Kamigoye from Ibushi.
Will Ospreay and Tomohiro Ishii defeated Lance Archer and Taichi via pinfall.
With Ishii’s help, Ospreay turned a bad situation into a crucifix pinning combination, surprising Archer for the win.
Toa Henare, Mikey Nicholls, and Ryusuke Taguchi defeated Shota Umino, Kazuchika Okada, and Hiroshi Tanahashi via pinfall.
Another Young Lion takes the loss as Mikey Nicholls pins Umino following a Mikey Bomb.
Tournament Matches
Toru Yano defeated Davey Boy Smith Jr. via pinfall.
The “Master Thief” Yano steals another victory over an impressive Smith Jr.
Colt Cabana defeated Togi Makabe via pinfall.
Cabana would secure his Superman pinning combination over Makabe, setting up a match with Yano.
Minoru Suzuki defeated Satoshi Kojima via pinfall.
A hard Gotch Style Pile Driver to Kojima saw Suzuki progress in the tournament.
SANADA defeated Hirooki Goto via pinfall.
The longest match of this night’s New Japan Cup matches, SANADA managed to get the win after a Cold Skull/Moonsault combination.
