New Japan Pro Wrestling (NJPW) has begun their annual New Japan Cup tournament. 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 3/9 from the Aichi Prefectural Gymnasium, Aichi, Japan.
New Japan Cup Results 3/9
Chase Owens and Taiji Ishimori defeated Tomoaki Honma and YOSHI-HASHI via pinfall.
Chase Owens continues to put people away with his Package Piledriver. He would pick up the win after nailing it on Honma.
Tomohiro Ishii, Toru Yano, and Satoshi Kojima defeated Taichi, Davey Boy Smith Jr., and Minoru Suzuki via pinfall.
Toru Yano would reverse a powerbomb attempt, ending up in a pinfall situation with Davey Boy Smith Jr. A three count later, and CHAOS walks away victorious.
Shingo Takagi and EVIL defeated TAKA Michinoku and Zack Sabre Jr. via pinfall.
The Los Ingobernables de Japon members made short work of TAKA and ZSJ. TAKA would eat the pinfall after Takagi’s Pumping Bomber lariat.
Juice Robinson, Hiooki Goto, and Kota Ibushi defeated BUSHI, SANADA, and Tetsuya Naito via pinfall.
This random team were able to best LIJ after Juice nailed BUSHI with his Pulp Friction finisher.
Yuji Nagata, Hiroyoshi Tenzan, Togi Makabe, and Hiroshi Tanhashi defeated Manabu Nakanishi, Ryusuke Taguchi, Colt Cabana, and Shota Umino via pinfall.
The Young Lion, Umino, wouldn’t be the one staring the lights this time. Makabe would manage to land his King Kong Knee Drop to Nakanishi, giving his team the win.
New Japan Cup Tournament Results
Lance Archer defeated Toa Henare
Archer would pick up the victory after only 11 minutes after pulling off Black Out for the pinfall.
Mikey Nicholls defeated HIKULEO
The former member of WWE’s TM61, Nicholls picks up the win over the gigantic HIKULEO after a Mikey Bomb.
Will Ospreay defeated Bad Luck Fale via pinfall
Ospreay continues to prove he can hang with NJPW’s heavyweights. Reversing an attempted Bad Luck Falls into a Hurricanrana, Ospreay would advance to the second round.
Kazuchika Okada defeated Michael Elgin via pinfall.
A lengthy, hard-hitting main event that saw Okada come from behind, nailing the Rainmaker in order to stay in the New Japan Cup.
