Csonka’s NJPW New Japan Cup (Night 2) Review 3.10.18

Csonka’s NJPW New Japan Cup (Night 2) Review 3.10.18

OFFICIAL RESULTS
– Suzuki-gun defeated Ren Narita & Ryusuke Taguchi @ 7:31 via submission [**½]
– David Finlay & Tetsuhiro Yagi defeated Shota Umino & Yuji Nagata @ 8:43 via pin [***]
– Toru Yano & Tomohiro Ishii defeated Tomoyuki Oka & Michael Elgin @ 8:03 via pin [**½]
– Davey Boy Smith Jr. & Takashi Iizuka defeated Toa Henare & Juice Robinson @ 10:58 via pin [**¾]
– BUSHI, SANADA, & Tetsuya Naito defeated Taka Michinoku, Zack Sabre Jr., & Minoru Suzuki @ 12:59 via submission [***¼]
– CHAOS defeated Bullet Club @ 12:21 via submission [***¼]
– New Japan Cup 2018 First Round Match: Bad Luck Fale defeated Lance Archer @ 10:55 via pin [**¾]
– New Japan Cup 2018 First Round Match: Hiroshi Tanahashi defeated Taichi @ 23:45 via pin [****]

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

Ren Narita & Ryusuke Taguchi vs. El Desperado & Yoshinobu Kanemaru: Narita & Desperado to start. Narita grounds things early, out wrestling Desperado until he gets tossed to the floor. Kanemaru attacks, Suziki-gun kicks his ass on the floor and then brings him back in, working the heat. Kanemaru woks the crab as Desperado holds off Taguchi. Narita hits a desperation dropkick and tags Taguchi in. He runs wild with ass attacks, and pocks u a near fall. The three amigos follow and get a near fall. Taguchi sets for bum a ye, but Desperado cuts him off. Narita tags back in, takes out Kanemaru, hits a belly to belly on Desperado for 2. He follows with a roll up for 2. Desperado fights back, working into a stretch muffler, and picking up the submission win. Suzuki-gun defeated Ren Narita & Ryusuke Taguchi @ 7:31 via submission [**½] This was a solid opening match, and was nice to see Narita being the one to get the chance to get in the work, as he was in for the bulk of the action.

Shota Umino & Yuji Nagata vs. David Finlay & Tetsuhiro Yagi: The lions start us off. Working some sportsmanlike grappling and then breaking down into slapping each other. Dad’s home as Nagata tags in, and Yagi runs for his life. Finlay tags in works some back and forth to the approval of Nagata. Umino tags in, lay din some strikes, but Finlay quickly cuts him off and tags in Yagi. Double teams follow. Yagi cuts off the ring, and works over Umino in the corner. Nagata in, knocks Finlay to the floor and kicks the shit out of Yagi. Finlay gets the tag, runs wild on Nagata and teases an XPLODER, but Nagata cuts him off and he hits the XPLODER. Umino tags in and runs wild on Finlay with running forearm attacks, and then a missile dropkick for 2. Nagata tosses Yagi as Umino locks on the crab. Finlay makes the ropes. Umino dropkicks the knee and gets a la magistral cradle for 2. It breaks down, Finlay hits the stunner on Umino and wins. David Finlay & Tetsuhiro Yagi defeated Shota Umino & Yuji Nagata @ 8:43 via pin [***] Good match here, all action, and with a great sense of urgency. Yagi is progressing well, but Umino is getting really good.

Tomoyuki Oka & Michael Elgin vs. Toru Yano & Tomohiro Ishii: Ishii & Elgin pickup right where they left off on night one, kicking the shit out of each other. They trade strikes, with Elgin getting the better of the exchange and hitting a delayed suplex. Oka tags in, but quickly gets cut off by Ishii. Yano tags in and Oka works him over with strikes and a shoulder tackle. To the floor they go, Yano cuts off Oka and undoes the buckle pad. Back in and Yanowhips Oka to the exposed buckle, and tags in Ishii. Ishii beats on the lion, takes out Elgin and tags Yano back in. Yano controls with eye rakes and by sending Oka to the exposed buckle a few times. But Oka fights back and tags in Elgin. Elgin strolls mildly here, but then slams Yano & Ishii at the same time. Ishii fires up and trades big strikes with Ishii and tags in Oka. Oka actually runs wild for a bit here, Elgin joins in on the fun, but Ishii cuts off Oka. Oka sent to the exposed buckle, the low blow and roll up by Yano finishes it. Toru Yano & Tomohiro Ishii defeated Tomoyuki Oka & Michael Elgin @ 8:03 via pin [**½] This was a solid match, with the right man winning since Yano has a tournament match coming up and Oka is still a lion.

Toa Henare & Juice Robinson vs. Davey Boy Smith Jr. & Takashi Iizuka: Juice is replacing Makabe, who has an injured knee. Iizuka & Smith attack at the bell, Juice is dumped to the floor, and Henare fires up and works over Iizuka in the ring. Iizuka cut him off and seeds him to he floor, where Smith hits the running powerslam on the floor. Iizuka now works over Henare on the floor with chair shots as Smith continues to work over Juice. It’s just a big floor brawl at this point and not a very interesting one. Smith finally rolls Henare back in, and then tags in. Smith is actually wearing wrestling gear tonight instead of the jeans and shit kicker boots. Smith continues the heat on Henare, as Juice is kept on the floor. Iizuka now tags in, laying the boots to Henare. Henare hits a desperation shoulder block and finally tags in Juice. Juice is fired up and runs wild, sending Smith to he floor and working over Iizuka, and the senton gets 2. He follows with jabs, but Iizuka hits an atomic drop. Smith in and hits a belly-to-belly for 2. Juice battles back, hits the lariat and both men are down. Henare tags back in and he and Juice run wild, Juice hits the cannonball on Smith and Henare hits the top rope shoulder tackle for 2. They isolate Smith, but Iizuka takes out Juice allowing Smith to hit the bulldog bomb for the win. Davey Boy Smith Jr. & Takashi Iizuka defeated Toa Henare & Juice Robinson @ 10:58 via pin [**¾] This was a pretty good match in spite of Iizuka’s bad work, Smith picking up the win was the right call ahead of his tournament match.

BUSHI, SANADA, & Tetsuya Naito vs. Taka Michinoku, Zack Sabre Jr., & Minoru Suzuki: Naito and Suzuki to begin. Nope, they tag out to Taka & BUSHI. They work some back and forth, BUSHI hits a RANA and that leads to LIJ double teams and SANADA covering for 2. BUSHI back in and chokes out Taka with his shirt. Suzuki cuts him off and Zack sends Naito to the floor. This leads to floor brawling as Zack attacks the injured shoulder of Naito. Back in and Suzuki-gun takes the heat on BUSHI. Suzuki tries to rip of his leg, Naito in to make the save, pissing off Suzuki. Suzuki-gun works quick tags, but BUSHI cuts of Zack and tags in Naito. He and Zack battle, with Naito controlling and hitting a basement dropkick. The neck breaker follows for 2. Zack fires back with uppercuts and works into an arm bar, targeting Naito’s arm again. Naito escapes, but Zack locks on the octopus as the others brawl. Naito fights and finally makes the ropes. Zack follows with uppercuts, but Naito hits the tornado DDT. Wholesale changes to Suzuki & SANADA. They brawl and SANADA clips out Suzuki’s knee, but as he looks for the paradise lock, Suzuki gets an arm bar. SANADA escapes they trade strikes, and Suzuki likes it. SANADA keeps firing back, but Suzuki gets the sleeper and Suzuki-gun now triple team SANADA. PK by Zack and Taka hits the superkick for 2. It breaks down, and SANAD gets skull end, but Suzuki cuts him off. Skull end applied again and Taka taps. BUSHI, SANADA, & Tetsuya Naito defeated Taka Michinoku, Zack Sabre Jr., & Minoru Suzuki @ 12:59 via submission [***¼] Good match as LIJ excels in multi-man matches, and we had no Suzuki-gun bullshit. We had some floor brawling, but outside of that, this was a well worked tag with SANADA picking up a win ahead of his tournament match.

Chuckie T, YOSHI-HASHI, Hirooki Goto, & Kazuchika Okada vs. Tanga Loa, Chase Owens, Yujiro Takahashi, & Kota Ibushi: Ibushi and HASHI start us off, working an even back and forth. Ibushi tags in Loa, he works with Chuckie, hitting a shoulder tackle. Chuckie hits an arm drag, but Loa powers up and to his feet. CHAOS clears out Bullet Club, and isolates Loa, running wild and posing; Chuckie looks so happy. Owens distracts Chuckie, allowing Loa to send him to the floor. It dissolves into floor brawling, Ibushi and HASHI pair off and Ibushi heads into the stands and hits a moonsault onto the pile. Back to the ring they go and Bullet Club takes the heat on Chuckie. Ibushi and Bullet Club are working well together, which makes sense, since this is the side of Bullet Club supporting Kenny so far. Until Tama makes the call to nuke everyone. Chuckie cuts off Yujiro, and tags in Goto, who runs wild. The Saito suplex follows on Yujiro for 2. Yujiro fires back and tags in Owens. Owens in but Goto cuts him off and tags in Okada. Okada runs wild, hitting a DDT and slam. It breaks down as Bullet club rushes the ring, and works over Okada until CHAOS makes the save. HASHI cuts off the Owens package piledriver, it breaks down into the big move buffet, Okada hits dropkicks, and the cobra clutch on Owens, who taps. CHAOS defeated Bullet Club @ 12:21 via submission [***¼] This was another good and fun tag match, all action and very little filler, as Ibushi has new friends in Bullet Club. But like on night one, the finish makes no sense. Okada doesn’t need the win here, he’s the dominating champion, if CHAOS was wining, HASHI & Chuckie needed wins way more than he did to give them momentum. The only way his winning will make sense is if Jay White calls him out as part of their angle for being selfish and stealing the spotlight from CHAOS.

New Japan Cup 2018 First Round: Bad Luck Fale vs. Lance Archer: They go hoss right away, brawling and teasing chokeslams. Fale hits a powerbomb and Archer rolls to the floor. Floor brawling follows. They brawl into the crowd, with Archer being tossed into the chairs. Archer fights back, throwing young lions at Fale. They continue to brawl and Fale heads back to the ring, and Archer eventually beats the count. Fale slowly beats him down, and chokes him out in the ropes. Fale misses a charge, and Archer fires back with strikes. Fale cuts that off with a Samoan drop but misses the splash. Archer hits a big shoulder block, covering for 2. Archer now channels the Undertaker, going old school, and covering for 2. Archer heads up top, gets crotched, and Fale follows with the corner splash. Fale now heads up top and Archer cuts him off. He follows, but Fale fights him off. Archer looks for blackout, but Fale escapes. Archer hits the chokeslam, covering for 2. Fale battles back, taking Archer down and hits the splash for 2. Archer looks for another chokeslam, but Fale hits the grenade for the win. Bad Luck Fale defeated Lance Archer @ 10:55 via pin [**¾] Fale advances as expected in what ended up being a pretty good big man match.

New Japan Cup 2018 First Round: Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. Taichi: Taichi stalls to begin, frustrating Tanahashi. Taichi walks into the crowd, daring Tanahashi to follow, but he doesn’t. Taichi returns, offering a handshake, Tanahashi accepts and cuts of the attack but Taichi bails to the floor. Tanahashi follows this time, and attacks until Taichi runs away with his lady. Back in and Taichi attacks as Tanahashi slides in. It doesn’t last long as Tanahashi hits a high cross, and Taichi bails to the floor. Taichi’s lady distracts Tanahashi, allowing Taichi to attack with the mic stand. He then drags Tanahashi into the crowd, and takes control with chair shots. Back to the ring they go, and Taichi takes the heat. He lays in kicks, and grounds Tanahashi. Tanahashi starts firing back, and drops Taichi with big rights. The slam and senton off the ropes follows for 2. Taichi hits an enziguri, and sends Tanahashi to the floor. He then sends Taichi to the barricade. They brawl up the ramp and Tanahashi counters the powerbomb with a RANA on the ramp. Tanahashi heads back to the ring, and Taichi slowly follows, breaking the count. Tanahashi hits the dragon screw in the ropes a few times, attacking the knee. More dragon screws follow and Tanahashi locks on the cloverleaf. Taichi fights, grabs the ref and makes the ropes. Taichi cuts off sling blade with a backdrop driver! He hits another, and the pants are off. The head kick follows for a good near fall. Taichi now hits a GANSO BOMB! But Tanahashi’s not done, hits sling blade and hits the high fly high cross, but can’t cover. Taichi shoves the ref, hits a low blow and follows with the Gedo clutch for 2. The lariat follows, and Taichi hits the sky high for a great near fall! Tanahashi looks out on his feet, but hits a trio of neck breakers out of nowhere. Taichi gets the mic stand, misses and Tanahashi gets it, but the ref sees him so he tosses it away. Sling blade follows and another, the cover gets 2. Tanahashi up top, high fly flow connects and Taichi is done. Hiroshi Tanahashi defeated Taichi @ 23:45 via pin [****] And with the win, Tanahashi gets out of the NJ Cup first round for the first time in four years. This was an absolutely 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.

– End Scene.

– Thanks for reading.

“Byyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyye Felicia!”

7.0

The final score: review Good

The 411

The NJPW New Japan Cup (Night 2) event was an overall good show, with good build to the upcoming tournament matches, and delving a great main event.