wrestling / Columns

Csonka’s 2018 New Japan Cup Takeaways

March 23, 2018 | Posted by Larry Csonka
NJPW ZSJ Tanahashi

Welcome back to column time with Larry! Today I’d like to talk about the 2018 New Japan Cup. I have a few takeaways from the shows/tour I’d like to discuss, and feel free to share yours. Thanks for reading, and remember, it’s wrestling, we love it and will disagree. The only rules are “have a take, be respectful, and don’t be a dick.” You can read reviews of night one here, night two here, night three here, night four here, night five here, night six here, night seven here, night eight here, and the finals here. You can also read my round one breakdown at this link.

QUICK HITS
* While it absolutely sucks that Kitamura has had to miss time due to a concussion, it ended up being a positive as Umino, Yagi, & Narita got a lot of quality in-ring time on the tour.

* Despite not being a fan, Taichi is doing well at heavyweight. Kevin Kelly’s, “the man may be heavyweight, but the trunks are still juniors,” gives me a laugh every time.

* Toa Henare continues to impress in his post young lion matches, showing great fire and continuing to improve with each outing. He could be doing big things this time next year.

* Juice Robinson did great in the tournament, and his win over Goto on the final night should set him up for a NEVER Openweight title shot. Juice is insanely over right now, and I wouldn’t rule out a possible title change.

* Seeing Chuckie T do so well on this tour, and getting big matches, tagging with Okada, brought a big smile to my face. Trent’s injury was extremely unfortunate, but Chuckie T made the most of his opportunity.

* I did very well in my predictions, only missing out on Elgin’s win over Ishii, and Elgin’s loss to Juice. Fuck that guy.

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Sorting Out Tag Title Challengers in EVIL’s Absence: With EVIL out of action with an orbital bone injury, NJPW did a good job of keeping the tag title scene alive with Ishii & Yano, as well as KES, racking up wins, leading to their clash at the finals. The titles have been stagnant due to EVIL’s injury, which is unfortunate, but allowed SANADA a tournament run and to firmly establish new challengers. KES picked up the clean win, firmly establishing them as the challengers, and setting up a rematch with LIJ, likely at Sakura Genesis, depending on if EVIL is healthy enough to return. The company made the best of a bad situation, and we’re now set for a WrestleKingdom 12 rematch with the challengers having all of the momentum heading into that match.

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The Build to The LIJ vs. Suzuki-gun Feud Was Extremely Well Done: Following his loss to Zack Sabre Jr. in the tournament, Naito looked for revenge against the other members of Suzuki-gun in tag team action. This led to a series of LIJ vs. Suzuki-gun tag matches on the tour, and while many are dismissive of the undercard tags on these shows, these matches had a goal, and that was to transition Naito into a feud with Suzuki, and to also build up BUSHI & Hiromu for a junior tag title clash with Desperado and Kanemaru. While the matches were far from great, largely in part to Iizuka being the absolute shits, and the traditional Suzuki-gun bullshit, the matches more than served their purpose of pushing the potential title matches, which are likely to take place at Sakura Genesis. On top of that, they also kept Roppongi 3K involved in the juniors mix with post-match attacks, showing a more aggressive side in their attacks. I do not want another three-way, but as a device to keep them in the mix, I really enjoyed the roles they played here.

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Zack Sabre Jr. Is Now A NJPW Main event Star: I have said it before and will say it again, when a pro wrestling company wants to make a star, it’s not that difficult. This isn’t MMA, the company has complete control over the build, they just have to hope that the crowd reacts the way that they hope they will. Zack Sabre Jr. was a star in wrestling, and is an early frontrunner for most outstanding performer of 2018. But he wasn’t “a star” in NJPW, because he was never booked as one. He wasn’t booked poorly, but was a role player in Suzuki-gun until the tournament. And then the 2018 New Japan Cup happened, and it was Sabre’s time. They gave him Taka as a hype man, riffing off of the Okada & Gedo pairing, which was a nod that they were prepping Sabre for a strong run and potential win. And win he did, and NJPW didn’t fuck around. In less than ten days, Zack Sabre Jr. beat Tetsuya Naito [****½], Kota Ibushi [****½], SANADA [***¾], and Hiroshi Tanahashi [****¾] in an overall amazing stretch of matches. Sabre won matches, he won great matches, he won matches clean, he won matches by being the better man and quite frankly, Zack Sabre Jr. put on an amazing run and made four of NJPW’s top stars his bitch, tapping each and every one of them out. I will agree that there are obviously parts of Gedo’s booking that can be criticized, but you have to admit, that when he wants to heat a guy up and give them the big push, I don’t think that anyone does it better. And while Zack Sabre Jr. got to work against top guys, he still had to deliver, and he did so, working like exactly what he is, one of the very best in the world. The win by Zack Sabre Jr. gives NJPW a new viable top guy, one they know that can deliver against their top names, and one that freshens up the title scene. With Okada on his quest to break more IWGP title records, I highly doubt that Zack Sabre Jr. beats him, but if he pulls off the miracle and beats the dominant champion, the build will have been perfect for him to do so. In a bit of a historical note, Sabre will be the first British-born wrestler to challenge for the IWGP Heavyweight title since William Regal in 1995.

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– End Scene.

– Thanks for reading.

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“Byyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyye Felicia!”