Csonka’s NJPW New Japan Cup (Night 1) Review 3.09.18

Csonka’s NJPW New Japan Cup (Night 1) Review 3.09.18

OFFICIAL RESULTS
– CHAOS defeated Tomoyuki Oka, Shota Umino, & Tetsuhiro Yagi @ 6:15 via pin [**¾]
– KES defeated Tanga Loa & Bad Luck Fale @ 9:10 via pin [**]
– Suzuki-gun defeated BUSHI, SANADA, & Tetsuya Naito @ 9:36 via submission [**¾]
– Suzuki-gun defeated Toa Henare, David Finlay, & Hiroshi Tanahashi @ 13:15 via pin [**¾]
– YOSHI-HASHI & Kazuchika Okada vs. Chase Owens & Kota Ibushi @ 11:40 via submission [***]
– New Japan Cup 2018 First Round Match: Juice Robinson defeated Yujiro Takahashi @ 16:08 via pin [***¾]
– New Japan Cup 2018 First Round Match: Michael Elgin defeated Tomohiro Ishii @ 29:07 via pin [****½]

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– Follow all of my reviews at this link.

– You can read my preview for the first round matches at this link.

– Kevin Kelly is on solo commentary to start.

– There are two new unidentified young lions working ringside; Suzuki will break them in by killing them later.

Tomoyuki Oka, Shota Umino, & Tetsuhiro Yagi vs. Chuckie T, Toru Yano, & Hirooki Goto: Oka & Goto to begin. Goto quickly overpowers him and then works over Yagi, before tagging in Chuckie T. Chuckie T hits the dropkick and CHAOS clears the ring and are just destroying the lions, as Chuckie T hits a belly to back suplex for 2. Goto back in, continuing the beat down of Yagi. Yano is in, he’s already undone the buckle pad and lams Yagi to the exposed buckle. he follows with a hip toss for 2.Yagi hits the desperation dropkick, and Oka gets the hot tag. He runs wild on Yano, hitting the belly to belly for 2. Goto makes the save and he and Oka battle back and forth. A suplex on Yano follows. Chuckie T & Umino in off of the wholesale changes, and Umino fires up, and connects with a missile dropkick for 2. Chuckie T cuts him off, and hits the slam and moonsault; Umino gets a cradle for 2. The others brawl on the floor, as Chuckie T hits the awful waffle for the win. CHAOS defeated Tomoyuki Oka, Shota Umino, & Tetsuhiro Yagi @ 6:15 via pin [**¾] This was a pretty good little opener, all action and fun, with Chuckie T getting a win ahead of his tournament match.

Tanga Loa & Bad Luck Fale vs. Davey Boy Smith Jr. & Lance Archer: Loa is replacing the injured HIKULEO, Archer faces Fale in tournament action tomorrow. Loa & Archer to start. Archer attacks, KES looks for the killer bomb early, but Bullet Club battles back, with Fale & Smith brawling to the floor. Loa & Archer follow as Smith takes Fale up the entrance and into the crowd. Back to ringside, with Smith slamming Fale to the apron. Loa does the same to Archer. They work back into the ring, with Loa working over the previously injured back of Archer. Archer cuts him off with a black hole slam, and Smith tags in. he grounds the action for a bit, but Smith cuts him off and Archer tags in. Double teams follow on Loa, and Archer follows with a shoulder tackle. Archer now chokes out Loa, and tags in Smith. He lays the boots to Loa, and follows with a suplex for 2. Loa battles back, and gets the tag to Fale. He works over Smith in the corner, but Archer cuts him off. They both look for chokeslams, and Fale misses the corner splash. Double teams follow, and Smith covers for 2. KES look for the killer bomb, but Fale fights them off and tags Loa back in. They isolate Smith, hitting corner splashes and Archer makes the save. Fale tosses him, but Smith cut off Loa and hits the inverted DDT for 2. Archer takes out Fale on the floor, and Loa fights on his own but the hart attack follows on him for 2. The killer bomb finishes him. KES defeated Tanga Loa & Bad Luck Fale @ 9:10 via pin [**] This was ok, with Loa predictably taking the pin, to give Smith & Archer winning to get momentum ahead of their tournament matches.

– Chuckie T has joined commentary.

BUSHI, SANADA, & Tetsuya Naito vs. El Desperado, Yoshinobu Kanemaru, & Zack Sabre Jr.: TAKA is out with Suzuki-gun. Desperado & BUSHI to start. Well that was until Kanemaru joined in and attacked. BUSHI fights him off, and tags in Naito. They lay the boots to Desperado, works him over, and tags in SANADA. He continues to work over Desperado, Kanemaru distracts him, allowing Desperado to rake SANADA’s eyes. Kanemaru pulls SANADA to the floor and hits a leg drop over the barricade as it breaks down into floor brawling. Zack works over Naito with submissions, attacking the previously injured shoulder as Kanemaru beat down SANADA in the entranceway. Suzuki-gun looks to isolate SANADA, Desperado rakes the eyes, and tags in Zack. Kanemaru tags in quickly as they have SANADA cut off. SANADA fires up, but Kanemaru uses the ref as a shield. SANDA quickly fires back with the springboard missile dropkick. Wholesale changes to Zack & Naito, with Naito controlling. The corner dropkick combo follows, and Naito covers for 2. Zack cuts off Gloria, and locks on the octopus as Suzuki-gun clears the ring. BUSHI manages to make the save, but quickly gets tossed. Zack follows with uppercut on Naito, but Naito cuts him off with a spinebuster. BUSHI tags in and hits a missile dropkick. SANADA in and they double-team Zack, as it breaks down. Zack & BUSHI left alone, Zack counters MX and locks on a modified STF and BUSHI taps. Suzuki-gun defeated BUSHI, SANADA, & Tetsuya Naito @ 9:36 via submission [**¾] This was a pretty good match, with Zack picking up the win and also continuing the attack on the shoulder of Naito, which Taichi started at the 46th anniversary show; that should play into their tournament match on Sunday.

– TAKA is playing Sabre’s hype man, similar to Gedo & Okada, with pre & post match hype promos.

Toa Henare, David Finlay, & Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. Taichi, Takashi Iizuka, & Minoru Suzuki: Togi Makabe is out of this match due to a knee injury, Finlay is replacing him. Suzuki attacks Tanahashi before the bell, going right after the knee he injured. Tanahashi fights him off and hits a dropkick. It breaks down, Henare & Finlay take out Iizuka, and Finlay officially tags in and Suzuki attacks, working the hanging arm bar in the ropes. Taichi attacks Tanahashi, and works him over with a chair in the entranceway. Suzuki-gun is running wild on the floor brawl; Suzuki is just destroying poor Henare. Back to the ring as Iizuka works over Finlay. Iizuka uses his little rope to choke out Finlay as Suzuki takes the ref. Suzuki now tags in, Finlay tries to fire back, but Suzuki laughs him off and drops him with a forearm strike. Finlay keeps fighting and makes the hot tag to Tanahashi, who takes out Taichi and attacks the knee of Suzuki. Suzuki goes after Tanahashi’s bad leg, and locks on a knee bar. Tanahashi makes the ropes, but Suzuki locks on a sleeper as the other brawl on the floor. Suzuki looks for the Gotch piledriver, but Tanahashi fights it off. He then connects with sling blade. Taichi tags in and knocks Henare to the floor. He lays in kicks on Tanahashi, looks for the powerbomb but Tanahashi fights out and hits the neck breaker. Henare gets the hot tag and runs wild on Taichi. He then knocks Suzuki & Iizuka to the floor; the top rope shoulder tackle follows for 2 on Taichi. Tanahashi & friends work over Taichi, but it breaks down as Tanahashi and Suzuki brawl to the floor. Taichi cuts off Henare, but misses a superkick, with Henare hitting a spear. Suzuki makes the save, and gets the sleeper on Henare. Taichi takes out Tanahashi. Taichi finishes Henare with the superkick. Suzuki-gun defeated Toa Henare, David Finlay, & Hiroshi Tanahashi @ 13:15 via pin [**¾] This was another pretty good match, with good attention paid to Tanahashi & Suzuki, as well as Tanahashi & Taichi; Taichi picking up the win here was the right call.

YOSHI-HASHI & Kazuchika Okada vs. Chase Owens & Kota Ibushi: Chase Owens, honorary Tongan, & honorary golden lover. Ibushi & HASHI start us off, they will face of fin first round tournament action. They work a fun opening stretch, and then Owens & Okada tag in. Owens teases a clean break, but then stuns Okada throat first of the ropes. Ibushi now tags in, laying in strikes to Okada. Owens back in, and continues the heat on Okada, hitting a neck breaker, covering for 2. Ibushi back in, lays in more forearms, but Okada cuts him off with the flapjack. HASHI tags in, and the blockbuster follows on Ibushi. He follows with chops, but Ibushi cuts him off with a dropkick. Owens tags back in and lays the boots to HASHI. Owens works the taped up shoulder of HASHI, and mocks Okada’s pose. Owens hits a knee strike, superkick and neck breaker, covering for 2. Ibushi back in and grounds HASHI. HASHI makes the ropes, Owens back in and continue to attack the shoulder of HASHI, the back breaker follows for 2. Owens knocks Okada to he floor, and Ibushi tags in and demands that HASHI fights back. They trade chops, Ibushi cuts off the RANA, but HASHI blocks the PK and then hits a backstabber. Okada gets the hot tag, and Owens is in as well. Okada hits the back elbow, corner elbow and then a DDT for 2. Okada up top, and hits the high cross for 2. Owens counters out of the tombstone, and hits a short-armed clothesline for 2. Okada fights of the package piledriver, it breaks down, and Okada dropkicks Owens. The cobra clutch follows, and Owens is down and taps. YOSHI-HASHI & Kazuchika Okada vs. Chase Owens & Kota Ibushi @ 11:40 via submission [***] This was a good match, serving as a nice preview for Ibushi vs. HASHI, but Okada winning made no sense, as HASHI needed the win here for momentum.

New Japan Cup 2018 First Round Match: Juice Robinson vs. Yujiro Takahashi: Takahashi attacks right away, but Juice fires back with jabs until Takahashi rakes the eyes. Juice hits the spin kick, and follows with jabs & chops. The corner clothesline follows, but misses the cannonball. Takahashi follow with the big boot and lariat. Mounted rights follow, and the leg drop connects for 2. Juice cuts off Takahashi, but Takahashi counters pulp friction and tosses Takahashi to the floor. He grabs his pimp cane and attacks Juice. Back in and Takahashi covers for 2. Takahashi then trips up Juice and it’s the sliding kick for 2. Takahashi grounds the action, but Juice hits the belly to back suplex to get separation. Juice follows with the spinebuster, and then dumps Takahashi to the floor. The slingshot plancha follows. Back in and Juice hits a slingshot spear. The jabs follow, but Takahashi hits a hot shot and Juice falls to the floor. Takahashi follows and they tease suplexes, and Takahashi dumps Juice into the crowd. Juice’s back has a small cut and Takahashi hits a fisherman’s suplex onto the chairs and he heads back into the ring. Juice beats the count, but walks into another fisherman’s suplex for a good near fall. Takahashi sets Juice up top, follows him up, but Juice head butts him to the mat. Takahashi then crotches Juice, follows him up again and hits the super fisherman’s suplex for a great near fall. Juice escapes Tokyo pimp, but Takahashi hits a superkick and another. Takahashi hits a third as Juice fires up and kills Takahashi with a vicious lariat! Juice finally hits the cannonball, and follows with the gut buster for a good near fall. Takahashi fights off pulp friction and low blows Juice and cradles him for 2. Juice keeps fighting like a great babyface, Juice fights off the DDT, Takahashi loses Juice on the powerbomb, but powers him back up and plants Juice on his fucking head for a great near fall! Juice fights off the DDT and Takahashi counters out of a powerbomb, but Juice cuts him off and hits the powerbomb for another great near fall. Pulp friction finally finishes it. Juice Robinson defeated Yujiro Takahashi @ 16:08 via pin [***¾] This was a very, very good match here, easily the best thing on the show so far, and 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.

New Japan Cup 2018 First Round Match: Tomohiro Ishii vs. Michael Elgin: Both men look to work the power game early on, working into a stalemate. They talk shit and trade strikes, with Elgin being dismissive of Ishii. Elgin finally rocks Ishii, and they repeatedly collide center ring with shoulder blocks. HOSS FIGHT! Ishii finally takes Elgin down, but Elgin fights back with a pop up powerslam for 2. Elgin follows with chops, and Ishii tells him to bring it. Elgin drops the elbow pad, and knocks down Ishii with an elbow strike. They trade chops, with Ishii hitting Elgin in the throat. Elgin drops the elbow pad again, but runs into a powerslam. Ishii starts slapping Elgin, Elgin fires back and hits a kick to he face. Ishii drops Elgin with strikes. Elgin misses the enziguri, but connects with running back elbows and a slam. The slingshot splash connects. Ishii fights off the German, but Elgin hits an overhead toss. Elgin to the ropes and hits a second rope missile dropkick and does the deal with the falcon arrow, covering for 2. Elgin follows with chops in the corner, but Ishii is not amused and asks for more. He then fires back as Elgin asks for more. They continue to trade in the corner, and Elgin is down. Ishii follows with the Saito suplex, but Elgin fights off a suplex and powers Ishii up and hits the suplex. Ishii pops right up and hits the delayed suplex, but Elgin pops right up. They now trade strikes center ring, but Elgin slams Ishii to the corner. They both go for lariats, colliding center ring and Elgin takes Ishii out of his boots with a lariat. Elgin follows with corner clotheslines, and then hits a blue thunder bomb for 2. Elgin pie faces Ishii a few times, pissing Ishii off. They start trading strikes again, both are fired up and continuing to deliver & absorb strikes. Ishii cuts off the moonsault attempt with a powerbomb for 2. Elgin counters the sliding lariat and hits the Blu-ray to the buckles. Elgin heads up top, and the big splash connects for 2. Elgin now hits the dead lift into the super falcon arrow, doing the deal for a near fall. Ishii fights off the Elgin bomb, and hits a German but Elgin pops up and hits a superkick, but Ishii hits a spin heel kick for the double down. Elgin counters the corner clothesline with an STO. He sets Ishii up top and follows him up. Elgin looks for a superbomb, but Ishii head butts him in the face. Ishii up top and hits the superplex for a great near fall. Ishii counters the slam and hits the running lariat for 1. He hits another for a good near fall as Elgin is fading. Elgin fights of the brainbuster, but Ishii head butts him. Elgin fires back with an enziguri and both men are down. They work to thier feet with Elgin laying in strikes, Ishii fires back and they are throwing big time strikes. Elgin hits a rolling elbow, and dead lift German for 2. Elgin follows with another, and sets for a lariat. He hits it, covering for 1 as Ishii Is not done yet. Elgin hits another lariat and side effect for 2. Elgin sets Ishii up top, and looks for the crucifix bomb, and hits a sitout powerbomb out of that for a great near fall, nearly dumping Ishii on his head!

https://twitter.com/MrLARIATO/status/972077821400158209

Elgin hits the buckle bomb but Ishii counters the Elgin bomb into a RANA! LUCHA ISHII! Ishii counters a lariat with the head butt, and hits the sliding lariat for 2. Elgin counters the brainbuster, hits a suplex and half and half suplex. Elgin loses Ishii for a second, and then hits the buckle bomb, but Ishii rebounds out with a lariat! Elgin cuts off the lariat with a pop up powerbomb, and follows with the burning hammer for the win. Michael Elgin defeated Tomohiro Ishii @ 29:07 via pin [****½] This was an absolutely awesome main event, 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, and smartly 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.

– Post match, Elgin cuts a promo, putting over Ishii, but says he’s back on track and will win the New Japan Cup.

I’LL HAVE LIVE COVERAGE OF ALL NEW JAPAN CUP EVENTS.

– End Scene.

– Thanks for reading.

“Byyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyye Felicia!”

7.1

The final score: review Good

The 411

The NJPW New Japan Cup started out as a pretty good show with some nice set up for tournament matches to come and got better as it went on with the two tournament matches delivering, including a low-level MOTYC with Elgin vs. Ishii.