Csonka’s NJPW New Japan Cup First Round Breakdown

WELCOME back to column time with Larry! Today, I am going to discuss the NJPW New Japan Cup First Round. Today I will break down my picks, see how I did prediction wise, and share my thoughts on the first round of matches. Feel free to share your thoughts and picks in the comment section. You can read reviews of night one here, night two here, night three here, and night four here. Thanks for reading! It’s wrestling, we love it and will disagree. The only rules are “have a take, be respectful, and don’t be a dick.”

Michael Elgin vs. Tomohiro Ishii [****½]: In terms of match quality, you rally couldn’t ask for a better match on night one, you could but you’d be greedy. Elgin and Ishii had absolutely excellent match on night one, featuring two powerhouses kicking the shit out of each other for nearly 30-minutes. It was very basic back and forth for the first ¾ of the match, well executed and smartly laid out so as they kicked things up big time with an amazing closing stretch, and when they went into the bigger moves, the crowd treated everything like a big deal and were fully invested in what both guys were doing. I absolutely loved this, and they set the bar high on night one for the rest of the tournament. On a personal note, I was disappointed because Ishii is one of if not my personal favorite wrestlers right now. I had high hopes for him making a run and delivering some more great matches like this one. But he’s NJPW’s utility player, used in big positions when needed, but he’s not getting that big push, unfortunately. Instead, they took a cold and to many, problematic Elgin, and opted to try and heat him up after months of doing nothing of note. This one was my lone wrong prediction in round one.

Juice Robinson vs. Yujiro Takahashi [***¾]: But as we went on my bracket looks good, as Juice Robinson defeated Yujiro Takahashi in what ended up as a very, very good match. Yujiro is largely just a role player, he’s rarely bad, but is also rarely good. He doesn’t work many single matches, but his last with Trent was good. Here against Juice, we got the best Yujiro match in forever. Yujiro was a great douchey heel, fighting with aggression to try and get his first NJ Cup win, but Juice overcame and was an amazing babyface here, constantly fighting with fire and overcoming. The evolution of Juice has been so much fun to follow, and the crowds love him. This was a good win for Juice, Yujiro did himself proud, and I strongly feel that the right man won. Juice may not end up going very far this year, but the win is another important milestone in his growth as a NJPW singles performer. He’s moving in little steps, but NJPW has handled his whole path so well so far, and he’s only getting better.

Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. Taichi [****]: Tanahashi returned form his epic beat down and loss from Suzuki, and immediately put his hat into the ring for the Cup. Taichi just made the move to heavyweight, and was coming off of a loss to Naito, so he was looking to prove himself here. This was a great match, with Taichi stepping up once again and more than delivering in his part of the match. He’s having the best week of his career. Sure some will chalk it up to working with Naito and Tanahashi, but he’s really stepped up his game, and works way better as a heavyweight, but to my surprise and delight. Tanahashi’s match layouts are so good, he was very giving and had the crowd believing that Taichi was on his level and was about to beat him. This was a great match, with Taichi gaining a lot even though he lost again, and Tanahashi looking great coming off of his time off. With the win, Tanahashi gets out of the NJ Cup first round for the first time in four years, and is on a quest to stop Okada from breaking all of the IWGP title records and to solidify his legacy. He’ll likely go deep into the tournament to tease him winning it all, which is a good story. Of course the secondary story is him winning to challenge Suzuki as he looks for revenge; they both work as his motivation.

Bad Luck Fale vs. Lance Archer [**¾]: With the way the brackets were laid out, and the way NJPW books, Bad Luck Fale defeating Lance Archer was a pretty simple call to make. Fale winning sets up Fale & Tanahashi, and historically, Tanahashi is one of the few guys that can get a good match with Fale. Tanahashi’s match layouts are so smart and he always plays to Fale’s strengths extremely well. I don’t expect this to be great, but it should be good, and Tanahashi will sell like he’s dying in order to get Fale over. I don’t see Fale winning, but wouldn’t be surprised at all if Gedo throws us a curveball here.

YOSHI-HASHI vs. Kota Ibushi [****½]: It isn’t a shock that Kota Ibushi put on one of the tournament’s best matches so far, but YOSHI-HASHI stepping up his game and having what may very well be his best match ever was. HASHI has been a good performer, but also one that at times, just doesn’t click in big time matches. He’s never bad, but at times the crowd doesn’t care and he lacks that big match fire. But this was the HASHI I have been waiting for, he was great here, working with aggression and a sense of urgency that made him feel as if he belonged in there with Ibushi. Ibushi was an awesome babyface, never giving up, and continuing to battle back no matter what. When Ibushi is locked, in, few are better. You add all of that together, and add in the hot homestretch, and completely invested crowd on the near falls, and you get an excellent match that more than exceeded expectations. Ibushi has been great so far in 2018, from WrestleKingdom12 with Cody, the reunion with Omega, the matches at Honor Rising and now here. He’s completely locked in and when he is, there are very few better.

Tetsuya Naito vs. Zack Sabre, Jr. [****½]: Tetsuya Naito has been on the rebound following his WrestleKingdom 12 loss to Okada, recently beating Taichi at the anniversary show. These two had an excellent match, and one that was completely different than any other tournament match so far. Naito is a great big match wrestler, and he was in main event mode tonight, while ZSJ is one of the very best in the world right now, already putting together a ton of excellent matches so far in 2018. Naito was an amazing babyface here, with great selling, excellent fight spots, and doing an amazing job of making the crowd root for him with every desperate fight; it was an excellent performance in that regard. ZSJ’s work looks so fluid, so smooth, and almost effortless. He dominated a former IWGP champion here, with amazing submission work and transitions out of Naito’s signature offense. This is a huge win for ZSJ, a dominating win that when it was finished, there was no question that he was the better man on this night. This also served as payback for his 2017 G1 loss to Naito in a match that was even better than their first. Taka playing a Gedo like hype man for ZSJ is also money, not only adding to the tease of ZSJ challenging Okada, but helping ZSJ’s overall presentation and act.

Toru Yano vs. Davey Boy Smith, Jr. [*½]: I think that anyone that follows NJPW saw this, and the Fale wins coming. It’s what the company does, and while the Yano shtick can be fun, it has to be limited. The Yano stuff works best when the matches are shorter. But this match with Smith his felt as if it lasted an eternity to get to the finish, and it was not very interesting at all. It was not only bad, but was easily the worst match of the tournament by a long shot. Just like Vince, Gedo finds some things hilarious, and continues to force them on the audience. It would be one thing to keep it in the undercard, but to ruin tournaments with the bullshit year after year is pathetic, especially when there are so many better choices to use in the spot. I cringe in anticipation of Yano’s G1 run this year. SaveUs.Keith_Lee/WALTER

Chuck Taylor vs. SANADA [***¼]: This was supposed to be Trent here, but he was injured in his PWG match with Chuck, tearing his pec & biceps. He gutted through the ROH Honor Rising shows, but was forced to take time off to properly heal, and so his best friend Chuck gets his spot. I have been thrilled with the chances that Chuck has received in NJPW, and he’s done really well for himself. SANADA was coming off of a loss to Okada, and needed a rebound win. On top of that they got the main event of night four, no pressure at all. In my opinion, the outcome was never in question, to me this was more about SANADA rebounding after a loss and Chuck stepping up in his first NJPW singles main event. They delivered a good main event, with Chuck putting in a good effort and doing a good job of making the fans believe he could win. The match felt more like a North American indie stylistically than a NJPW main event, and that’s not a knock on the match, it’s just what the style was and likely fit Chuck the best.

– Overall the tournament has been really good with some really great efforts. I went 7 for 8 in first round predictions, with Gedo trying to break my bracket with the Elgin win.

NEXT PREDICTIONS
* Quarterfinals: Michael Elgin vs. Juice Robinson – (Winner – Michael Elgin)
* Quarterfinals: Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. Bad Luck Fale – (Winner – Hiroshi Tanahashi)
* Quarterfinals: Zack Sabre Jr. vs. Kota Ibushi – (Winner – Zack Sabre Jr.)
* Quarterfinals: Toru Yano vs. SANADA (Thursday) – (Winner – SANADA)

* Semifinals: Michael Elgin vs. Hiroshi Tanahashi – (Winner – Hiroshi Tanahashi)
* Semifinals: Zack Sabre Jr. vs. SANADA – (Winner – Zack Sabre Jr.)

* Finals: Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. Zack Sabre Jr. – (Winner – Zack Sabre Jr.)

THE ROUND ONE MATCHES
– Toru Yano vs. Davey Boy Smith, Jr. [*½]
– Bad Luck Fale vs. Lance Archer [**¾]
– Chuck Taylor vs. SANADA [***¼]
– Juice Robinson vs. Yujiro Takahashi [***¾]
– Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. Taichi [****]
– Michael Elgin vs. Tomohiro Ishii [****½]
– YOSHI-HASHI vs. Kota Ibushi [****½]
– Tetsuya Naito vs. Zack Sabre, Jr. [****½]

– End scene.

– Thanks for reading.

“Byyyyyyyyyyyyyye Felicia.”