Csonka’s NJPW New Japan Cup (Night 6) Review 3.15.18

Csonka’s NJPW New Japan Cup (Night 6) Review 3.15.18

OFFICIAL RESULTS
– Ren Narita & David Finlay defeated Shota Umino & Tomouki Oka @ 7:03 via pin [**¼]
– YOSHI-HASHI & Hirooki Goto defeated Toa Henare & Togi Makabe @ 10:13 via submission [***]
– Suzuki-gun defeated Bullet Club @ 11:27 via pin [**¾]
– Suzuki-gun defeated LIJ @ 12:45 via pin [***]
– Juice Robinson, Hiroshi Tanahashi, & Michael Elgin defeated Chuckie T, Tomohiro Ishii, & Kazuchika Okada @ 14:45 via pin [***½]
– New Japan Cup 2018 Quarterfinal Match: SANADA defeated Toru Yano @ 6:56 via pin [**½]
– New Japan Cup 2018 Quarterfinal Match: Zack Sabre Jr. defeated Kota Ibushi @ 21:10 via referee stoppage [****½]

---

– Follow all of my reviews at this link.

– You can read reviews of night one here, night two here, night three here, night four here, and night five here. You can also read my round one breakdown at this link.

Ren Narita & David Finlay vs. Shota Umino & Tomouki Oka: Oka & Narita work a quick opening stretch, leading to Finlay and Umino tagging in and they trade strikes. Finlay cuts him off with the belly to back suplex, covering for 2. Finlay follows with a slam, and then tags in Narita and slams him onto Oka. Umino fires up, fighting off Narita and dropkicking Finlay. Oka gets the hot tag; he runs wild on Finlay and hits an overhead toss for 2. He follows with the crab until Narita makes the save, but Umino takes him out. Finlay escapes and hits a backbreaker, and it breaks down. Finlay follows with a lariat for 2. The stunner finishes it. Ren Narita & David Finlay defeated Shota Umino & Tomouki Oka @ 7:03 via pin [**¼] This was an ok match to kick things off, with Finlay picking up a win as he plays babysitter for the lions.

YOSHI-HASHI & Hirooki Goto vs. Toa Henare & Togi Makabe: Makabe is back tonight after sometime off for a knee injury. Makabe and HASHI start us off, trading shoulder tackles and Makabe takes him down. Henare tags in and so does Goto. They trade strikes, and then trade shoulder tackles and Henare takes Goto down. HASHI knocks Makabe to the floor, and double teams follow on Henare. Goto grounds the action, tags in HASHI and he keeps things grounded. Goto back in and keeps Henare isolated, and hits a back elbow for 2. The crab follows by Goto, but Henare makes the ropes. He follows with a suplex and now tags in Makabe. He knocks HASHI to the floor, and lays in clotheslines and strikes on Goto. Goto fights off a suplex, but eats a lariat for 2. They trade strikes, and Goto hits ushigoroshi for the double down. Wholesale changes to Henare and HASHI, and Henare hits a flying shoulder tackle. He heads up top and the big shoulder tackle connects. HASHI cuts him off with a superkick, Goto & HASHI double-team Henare but Makabe make the save. They now double-team HASHI, Henare hits the spear for 2. HASHI fights off the Samoan drop but Henare hits a spinebuster for 2. HASHI cuts him off with a lariat for a good near fall. The butterfly lock follows and Henare taps. YOSHI-HASHI & Hirooki Goto defeated Toa Henare & Togi Makabe @ 10:13 via submission [***] This was a good tag match, with HASHI picking up an important rebound win.

– David Finlay joins Kevin Kelly on commentary.

Chase Owens, Tanga Loa, Yujiro Takahashi, & Bad Luck Fale vs. Taichi, Takashi Iizuka, Davey Boy Smith Jr., & Lance Archer: Suzuki-gun attacks at the bell and they immediately brawl to the floor. Loa & Smith finally roll into the ring, and they trade strikes. Archer joins Smith and they look for the killer bomb but Loa fights them off. Iizuka cuts him off with a chair shot, allowing Smith to take control back as the rest continue to brawl on the floor. Smith hits a delayed suplex, and covers for 2. Smith grounds the action, and Iizuka tags in. he chokes out Loa with his little rope, and then chokes out Loa. Taichi tags in and knocks Fale to the floor, Loa cuts him off with a back breaker, aging in Yujiro. He hits a bulldog, trips up Iizuka and hits a pair of suicide dives. Yujiro is actually a house of fire until Taichi cuts him off with kicks, covering for 2. The pants are off, but Yujiro cuts off the superkick. The reverse DDT follows and Fale tags in and he and Archer battle back and forth. Archer takes him down, looks for a suplex but Fale fights him off and hits a Samoan drop. Owens tags in and he and Yujiro double team Archer, and the shining wizard gets 2. The superkick follows, looks for a package piledriver, Archer fights him off and Owens counters the chokeslam, Smith back in and double teams follow for 2.The killer bomb finishes him. Suzuki-gun defeated Bullet Club @ 11:27 via pin [**¾] This was a pretty good match, with KES picking up another win as they look to get back to the tag titles.

– Post match, Archer chokeslams poor Yagi.

Hiromu Takahashi, BUSHI, & Tetsuya Naito vs. Desperado, Yoshinobu Kanemaru, & Minoru Suzuki: Naito and Suzuki start us off. Suzuki attacks with leg kicks, and Naito bails to the floor. Naito plays mind games with Suzuki, and then comes back in. He tags out to BUSHI, and Kanemaru tag in. Desperado joins in, they double-team BUSHI but Takahashi is in and they double-team Kanemaru. Takahashi tags in, laying in vicious chops and rakes the eyes. Suzuki-gun attacks and we get the floor brawl with Suzuki targeting Naito. Suzuki also attacks some lions, as BUSHI & Desperado pair off. Suzuki is attacking the knee of Naito, and Kanemaru attacks Takahashi with chair shots. Suzuki-gun now takes the heat on Takahashi, as Suzuki lays in kicks. Takahashi fires back with chops and Suzuki laughs at him and latkes him down, working submissions. Naito makes the save, but Suzuki locks on a knee bar. Desperado tags in as Suzuki goes back after Naito’s knee on the floor. He works over Takahashi, but he hits a desperation RANA. Desperado lays in kicks and chops. But Takahashi suplexes him to the buckles. Naito tags in and knocks Suzuki to the floor. Naito runs wild on Kanemaru & Desperado, hits the corner dropkick combo on Desperado, covering for 2.Kanemaru & Desperado cut him off, and Suzuki is back in. The running kick connects, and misses the PK. Naito spits at him and Suzuki beats on him with rights. Naito hits the atomic drop and enziguri. BUSHI tags in and hits a missile dropkick, and he and Takahashi work double teams. It breaks down, Suzuki locks on the sleeper on BUSHI and hits the Gotch and that’s that. Suzuki-gun defeated LIJ @ 12:45 via pin [***] This was a good match, seemingly setting up Suzuki vs. Naito as well as a junior tag title match.
https://twitter.com/MrLARIATO/status/974234032929198080

Juice Robinson, Hiroshi Tanahashi, & Michael Elgin vs. Chuckie T, Tomohiro Ishii, & Kazuchika Okada: Juice and Okada to begin. Okada knocks Tanahashi to the floor, and he rushes in and accidentally hits his upcoming opponent, Juice. Juice now takes over, taking Okada down and Tanahashi tags himself in. Chuckie tags in and he’ll work with Tanahashi. Tanahashi takes control, hitting elbows and a high cross. Elgin tags in, hits the delayed suplex Juice tags in and Elgin press slams him onto Chuckie, but Chuckie gets the knees up. The others brawl to the floor as Chuckie works over Juice. Ishii tags in, laying in head butts. Juice fires back with rights and chops but Ishii cuts him off with a big forearm. Okada tags back in and hits the slam and senton atomico. Chuckie tags in and hits a dropkick for 2. Quick tag back to Ishii, he and Juice trade strikes and slaps; Ishii cuts him off with a head butt. Juice keeps fighting back and tags in Elgin. The enziguri and slam follow. He hits a German on Ishii and then one on Chuckie. The powerslam on Ishii follows for 2. Ishii fights off the suplex, and hits one of his own, but Elgin pops back up and hits a bicycle kick and they trade clotheslines. Ishii hits a desperation lariat to take Elgin down. Wholesale changes to Tanahashi and Okada. Tanahashi hits dragon screw leg whips, the senton off the ropes, and covers for 2. Okada fights back, hitting the flatliner. The DDT follows for 2.The dropkick follows and then the cobra clutch, Elgin makes the save and Juice tags himself in, but Okada rams he and Tanahashi together and rolls him up for 2. Juice hits the pop up gut buster for 2. Okada cuts off the cannonball with the neck breaker. Chuckie tags in, but Juice cuts him off with jabs. Chuckie hits soul food, but Juice fires aback with a lariat, cannonball and full nelson bomb. It breaks down, Chuckie looks for awful waffle, but Juice escapes and hits pulp friction for the win. Juice Robinson, Hiroshi Tanahashi, & Michael Elgin defeated Chuckie T, Tomohiro Ishii, & Kazuchika Okada @ 14:45 via pin [***½] This was an overall very good outing, teasing Okada vs. Tanahashi, and not only giving Juice a win, but adding some drama to his match with Tanahashi tomorrow.

New Japan Cup Quarterfinal Match: SANADA vs. Toru Yano: SANADA pulls Yano’s shirt over his head, works the tumbleweed and that gets 2. SANADA traps Yano in the paradise lock in the ropes and then dropkicks him to the floor. SANADA follows for some brawling. Yano kicks SANADA into he crowd but SANADA barely beats the count. Yano chokes out SANADA with his shirt. SANADA fights back, hits a RANA and Yano rolls to the floor. The plancha follows. Yano posts him and misses a chair shot. SANADA knees the chair into his face, leading to a countout tease. They trade strikes now, and Yano pulls the hair into a cradle for 2. Yano exposes the buckles, sends SANADA into them and locks on skull end, SANADA counters, but Yano cradles him for 2. Yano again sends SANADA to the exposed buckles but SANADA gets a sunset flip for 2. Low blow by Yano and the cradle gets 2.yano argues with the ref, low blow by SANADA and skull end finishes it. SANADA defeated Toru Yano @ 6:56 via pin [**½] This was fine, they kept it short, the right man won, and we move on.

– Post match, SANADA locks Yano, the ref, & Yagi in the paradise lock and leaves.

New Japan Cup Quarterfinal Match: Kota Ibushi vs. Zack Sabre Jr.: These two had a great G1 match last year. Sabre immediately grounds things, but Ibushi escapes and gets back to his feet. Ibushi teases some kicks to keep Sabre honest, but Sabre takes him down again. Ibushi makes the ropes. Sabre starts to target the arm, grounds things but Ibushi counters. Sabre cuts him off, but Ibushi lays in forearms and then kicks. Sabre now attacks the knee, but Ibushi makes the ropes. Sabre smartly grounds the action, working the knee to stop Ibushi’s highflying and knee strike. This is smart, smooth, and effortless work from Sabre here. Ibushi manages to escape with strikes and kicks. Ibushi fires away with kicks, but Sabre again cuts him off and attacks the arm. Sabre really cranks on the am here, and follows with uppercuts. Ibushi battles back, hitting a RANA and kick to the chest. He lays in rapid-fire kicks and hits the standing moonsault for 2. Sabre locks on the octopus hold, but Ibushi makes the ropes. More uppercuts follow from Sabre, but Ibushi fires back as they trade. Ibushi hits a half and half suplex for 2. Sabre hits the European clutch for a good near fall and transitions into the STF. Sabre transitions to a stranglehold, but Ibushi makes the ropes. PELE by Ibushi, but Sabre counters a powerbomb into the triangle. Ibushi powers out and the sitout powerbomb gets 2.Ibishi looks for the knee strike, but Sabre counters into a cradle for 2, and they trade pinning attempts for some great near falls. They trade strikes and Sabre kicks Ibushi in the neck. They light each other up and Ibushi hits a big lariat for the double down. Sabre counters the kick and hits a PK. Ibushi blocks the second, and lays in strikes, taking Sabre down. Ibushi hits the powerslam, but Sabre counters the moonsault into the triangle. Sabre lays in elbows but Ibushi powers up and Sabre counters into the octopus hold. Ibushi escapes, but Sabre counters the knee strike again. Ibushi hits a wrist clutch suplex, rolls and Sabre counters the knee strike into another octopus hold. Both arms are trapped, Ibushi to the mat and Sabre lays in elbows as Ibushi fights and the crowd tries to rally him. Sabre cradles him but the ref stops it as Ibushi could not fight back. Zack Sabre Jr. defeated Kota Ibushi @ 21:10 via referee stoppage [****½] In a shocking turn of events, these two guys are really good. They had a great G1 match, but completely topped it here. Sabre is on a hell of a run and is making his case for most outstanding performer of 2018 already, just delivering at an insane high quality so far this year. This match was excellent, with Zack controlling with his grappling and counter style offense, while Ibushi was an amazing babyface here, with a hot crowd almost begging for him to win. The atmosphere was amazing, Zack looks like a world-beater once again, dominating another top guy and feels primed to win the whole thing. The work from both was so clean, and crisp, coming across as effortless from both guys. Zack is easily the best technical wrestler in the world and is making his case for best in the world, and he’s doing it in the US, UK, and Japan against a wide variety of opponents and it’s only March. This is another must see match from the tournament.

– Where we stand…
* Semifinal Match: Juice Robinson vs. Hiroshi Tanahashi
* Semifinal Match: Zack Sabre Jr. vs. SANADA

– End Scene.

– Thanks for reading.

“Byyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyye Felicia!”

7.7

The final score: review Good

The 411

Night 6 was a good show, with an excellent main event, setting up the semifinals with two interesting matches.