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.
We are now in the second round of the tournament. This event took place on 3/14 from Nara, Japan.
New Japan Cup Results (3/14)
Yuji Nagata and Manabu Nakanishi defeated Michael Elgin and Yota Tsuji via submission.
Nagata would lock in the Nagata Lock II submission hold to Tsuji, who tapped out.
Chase Owens, Bad Luck Fale, HIKULEO, and Taiji Ishimori defeated Hiroyoshi Tenzan, Togi Makabe, Satoshi Kojima, and Ren Narita
Chase Owens continues to hone his Package Piledriver, finishing the match after hitting it on Ren Narita.
Tetsuya Naito and Shingo Takagi defeated Hirooki Goto and Shota Umino
Another Young Lion eats the loss as Takagi nails Umino with the Pumping Bomber, picking up the win for LIJ.
Minoru Suzuki, Davey Boy Smith Jr., and Taichi defeated BUSHI, EVIL, and SANADA
Taichi would pick up the win for Suzuki-Gun. He tapped out BUSHI with his Emperor’s Cross submission hold.
Kota Ibushi and Tomoaki Honma defeated Zack Sabre Jr. and TAKA Michinoku
TAKA can’t catch a break, losing once again after being slammed by Ibushi’s Kamigoye.
Juice Robinson, Colt Cabana, Tomohiro Ishii, and Ryusuke Taguchi defeated Hiroshi Tanahashi, Toru Yano, Toa Henare, and YOSHI-HASHI
Juice Robinson secured the win after pulling off his finisher, Pulp Friction, on Henare.
Tournament Matches
Will Ospreay defeated Lance Archer via pinfall.
The “Sky King” would manage to best Archer after a match that saw him take some heavy strikes from the big man. A massive Stormbreaker, however, would end their bout.
This matchup once again showcases Ospreay’s ability to hang with New Japan’s heavyweights going forward when he officially leaves the Jr. division.
Kazuchika Okada defeated Mikey Nicholls via pinfall.
No one believed Mikey Nicholls would best Okada to continue his tournament run, but that didn’t mean he was a walkover for Okada. The matchup would end with a Rainmaker clothesline and the one, two, three for Okada.
This victory means that “The Rainmaker” will be facing off against CHAOS stablemate, and current NEVER Openweight Champion, Will Ospreay in a highly anticipated quarterfinal match for the New Japan Cup.
