Hamilton’s New Japan Cup 2020 07.01.2020 Review

— We’ve only got Japanese commentary for those of us watching live. Kevin Kelly will be around to backfill with English commentary in the coming days. We’re still in Korakuen Hall for this…

— I can only repeat what I’ve been saying at the start of my last few reviews. Believe. Support. Learn. Change. Love those who have fought for this change.

Quick Results

New Japan Cup – Second Round: YOSHI-HASHI pinned BUSHI in 10:20 (**½)
New Japan Cup – Second Round: SANADA submitted SHO in 14:30 (***¼)
Hiromu Takahashi, Tetsuya Naito & Shingo Takagi submitted Yota Tsuji, Tomohiro Ishii & Toru Yano in 13:00 (***)
New Japan Cup – Second Round: Taichi pinned Kota Ibushi in 18:00 (***¼)
New Japan Cup – Second Round: EVIL pinned Hirooki Goto in 18:20 (***¾)

New Japan Cup 2020 – Second Round: BUSHI vs. YOSHI-HASHI

We open with BUSHI doing his best impression of Jado with his LA Park-ish gear.

BUSHI attacks YOSHI-HASHI before the bell, not giving him time to take off that wacky ring jacket as he proceeded to choke YOSHI with a t-shirt. I mean, I’m sure that yellow collar’d do it for you BUSHI. YOSHI’s back with a shoulder tackle as he finally takes his jacket off, following up with some chops as BUSHI composed himself in the corner.

BUSHI tries to fight back, but ends up taking a suplex as YOSHI-HASHI drew a two-count… then continued in with a chinlock. Eventually BUSHI gets to the ropes to force the break, and comes back in with a ‘rana to buy himself some time. An up kick in the ropes keeps YOSHI-HASHI away, as does a missile dropkick and a tope suicida as BUSHI made sure his opponent couldn’t get any respite on the outside.

Back inside, BUSHI lands an enziguiri and a low dropkick, finishing off his flurry with a DDT for a near-fall. YOSHI-HASHI chops back, then hits a back elbow and a rear spin kick… but he’s hobbling from a bad landing from that earlier ‘rana. So of course, he goes for the dropkick in the ropes, which misses, as BUSHI slingshots back in with a low dropkick.

A slingshot DDT onto the apron keeps YOSHI-HASHI down ahead of a swinging Fisherman neckbreaker. BUSHI goes up for another missile dropkick, but YOSHI-HASHI lariats it away as he proceeded to set up BUSHI for a Butterfly lock… but BUSHI’s able to squirm towards the ropes for the break.

YOSHI-HASHI tries for a kumagoroshi, but BUSHI slips out into a bridging backslide for a near-fall as we crossed the ten-minute mark, before YOSHI-HASHI found his way back in with Karma for the win. A perfectly fine match, but YOSHI-HASHI does little for me – and that hobble throughout added extra struggle he could have done without. **½

New Japan Cup 2020 – Second Round: SANADA vs. SHO

SHO eked his way past Shingo in the first round – can he make it two LIJ members here?

The early scrambling sees both men going for waistlocks, but SANADA instead countered with a wristlock on SHO, before they worked their way to the mat ahead of a quick stand-off. A knuckle lock saw SANADA bridge SHO down, but an attempted floatover just led to SANADA getting caught in a cross armbar as the ropes came in very handy for SANADA.

They came in useful again seconds later when he low-bridges SHO to the outside… but a switcharound led to SHO handing SANADA’s arm on the top rope before knocking him to the outside with a low dropkick. SHO keeps targeting the arm with a PK off the apron, before he wrapped it around the ring post to add more torque.

SHO takes his eye off the ball though, allowing SANADA to hit a dropkick from behind to knock him onto the apron… before issuing some receipts as he wrapped SHO’s leg around the guard rails. Of course, he kicks the railings after doing so. Back in the ring, SANADA drops an elbow to SHO’s leg as he worked over it… but SHO tries to fight back, only to get kicked in the knee.

Elbows from SHO keep the resistance going, as did a spear, before back-and-forth strikes meant that the match was getting more even. A pair of clotheslines from SHO take down SANADA, as does a suplex, but it’s only enough for a near-fall as SHO resumed with a barrage of kicks on the way to another cross armbar. Of course, SANADA gets to the ropes, and after taking SHO outside, we’ve a plancha as the beltless member of LIJ tried to push ahead.

Returning to the ring again, SANADA leapfrogs a spear, but gets caught on his second leapfrog as SHO hits some rolling German suplexes before dropping him back into a cross armbar. SANADA tries to roll free, before he instead just powerbombed his way out of the submission as both men were left on the mat.

SHO’s back with a leaping knee before he caught a ‘rana from SANADA and turned it into a Power Breaker. That move always looks ugly. That’s quickly followed up with a lariat for a two-count from SHO, before a Shock Arrow attempt was countered out of with a back body drop from SANADA. From there, SANADA grabs SHO in a Dragon Sleeper, which gets countered out of into a small package that almost gets the upset.

From the kick-out, SHO ties up SANADA in a key lock, but they roll on the mat as SANADA somehow finagled his way into a Dragon Sleeper… which SHO swiftly escaped as he found a way through with a bridging German to keep the near falls going. It’s back to the Shock Arrow for SHO, but it’s again escaped as SANADA reapplies a Dragon Sleeper… they go back-and-forth with their finisher teases, with some neat counters eventually taking us into a swinging Dragon Sleeper before a springboard moonsault into a Dragon Sleeper took SHO down for the eventual submission. This was a bit slow and dry at times, but the finishing stretch really picked up for me. ***¼

Tomohiro Ishii, Toru Yano & Yota Tsuji vs. Los Ingobernables de Japon (Tetsuya Naito, Shingo Takagi & Hiromu Takahashi)

Hey! Yano got out of the lift! Except Hiromu isn’t running scared again… despite Yano’s ranting and raving. Still, at least he was polite enough to spray hand sanitizer for those who asked!

Hiromu and Yano start us off with an argument based on what happened last week. A nice, socially-distanced argument that broke down when Yano pulled something out of his trunks: a bag of the hair that he cut off of Hiromu! A chase breaks out as we Benny Hill into tags for Tsuji and Shingo, with the two big lads laying in with shoulder tackles and elbows for the hell of it.

Tsuji manages to charge Shingo, then put the boots to him before he ran into a back elbow, a jab and a clothesline as the NEVER champion shut down the Young Lion. Some Danielson elbows keep Tsuji down as Hiromu and Naito knocked Yano and Ishii off the apron… before Naito tagged in to show off his LIJ football (“soccer”) shirt. He snapmares Tsuji before tying him up in a half crab… then got him back up for Shingo to work on the Young Lion some more.

A double sledge to the arm takes Tsuji into the corner for some shoulder charges, before a shoulder tackle off the ropes took Tsuji back down. Naito’s back as Tsuji tries to muster some offence, but slams keep him down ahead of an Arabian clutch… with Hiromu running in to knock Ishii off the apron ahead of their quarter-final tomorrow.

Tsuji gets to the ropes for the break, but elbows from Naito just take him into the corner as the double champ slipped during an attempt for a Combinacion Cabron. Instead, he comes in with a baseball slide dropkick before Tsuji responded with a dropkick of his own off the ropes. Tags bring us back to Hiromu and Ishii, with those two going at it as Ishii charges Hiromu down.

Chops from Ishii trap Hiromu in the corner, but the junior champ offers some fight back with chops of his own… but Ishii just tries to walk through them before Hiromu began to wear him down. Back-and-forth elbow shots follow between the two as Ishii tries to find a way through, but the barrage of elbows just ends with Hiromu reversing a suplex before he got dumped with a backdrop suplex from Ishii.

Tsuji tags back in as he keeps Hiromu down with a shoulder tackle… then with a suplex for a near-fall. The Boston crab looked to follow, but instead he ties up Hiromu in a neat cross-legged hanging cobra clutch that LIJ rushed in to break up. Honest to God, I’ve never seen that before. The Parade of Moves breaks out, with Hiromu being the focus of it all as he ends up eating a Tsuji spear before a Boston crab ended with Hiromu scuttling into the ropes. The fight back resumes from Hiromu though, as he ends up going for a Boston crab of his own, but Tsuji escapes it before he ran into a superkick for a near-fall, before Hiromu ended up putting him away with a Boston crab. A suitable finish indeed to a wacky trios match that had bright sparks… but was otherwise fairly run of the mill. The epitome of the Gentleman’s Three. ***

Post-match, Hiromu gazed at Naito’s belts – his dream of a shot at the double gold may be over by the end of the week…

New Japan Cup 2020 – Second Round: Taichi vs. Kota Ibushi

A second round match and a tease of the impending tag title defence, eh? This time around, Taichi was out with Zack Sabre Jr., while Kota had his own back-up.

Taichi’s also got Takashi Iizuka’s old Iron Fingers from hell, but instead he starts off by offering a handshake. The referee accepts it, but Ibushi wanted no part of it, as Sabre got on the apron to distract so Taichi could attack from behind. Of course, there’s shenanigans as Sabre choked out Ibushi on the outside, only for Tanahashi to make the save as Taichi took over by throwing Ibushi into the railings.

Ibushi takes it into the no-crowd, throwing Kota into the Korakuen bleachers, then into the seating decks. A lot of spare camera cabling is used to choke Ibushi with too, which led to a count-out tease that Ibushi barely beat. Taichi stands on Ibushi’s neck by the ropes for some more choking… and of course Sabre sticks his oar in again. Tanahashi rescues Ibushi again as we weren’t about to get a DQ anytime soon.

Back inside, Ibushi tries to lay in some forearms, but he’s knocked down by Taichi before coming back in with a dropkick. A floatover out of the corner allows Taichi to hit a head kick, then a standing shooting star press for a near-fall, before Taichi returned with another high kick. Kota’s back up as this descended into a battle of who can give the other a dead leg first, with numerous kicks to the quads leading to mid kicks, as they proceeded to wind each other.

Taichi manages to leave Ibushi in a heap, before Taichi’s Kawada kicks led to him hitting another jumping high kick. A Dangerous T backdrop driver nearly puts Kota away, before the trousers come off… but Taichi misses the superkick and ends up being taken down with a clothesline instead.

A powerbomb attempt from Ibushi doesn’t come off, as Taichi instead went for a Last Ride… which Ibushi escaped as he came back with a head kick. It’s Kota who lands the Last Ride for a near-fall, before Sabre distracted the referee as Ibushi went for Kamigoye. That masked a low blow as Taichi nearly got the win with a Gedo clutch, before another Dangerous backdrop driver ragdolled Ibushi… who somehow found enough to return with a leaping knee.
My feed drops out here and comes back as Ibushi plants Taichi with a package tombstone for a near-fall, before Taichi threw Ibushi into th referee to block Kamigoye. Cue more ZSJ as he rushed the ring to knock Tanahashi off the apron… a front facelock holds Ibushi in place… but Tanahashi’s back to save Kota from a Zack Driver as he hit a Twist and Shout, then a Slingblade to clear the ring.

In the meantime, Taichi’s gotten those Iron Fingers… Kota’s blind to it and ends up getting jabbed by them as he went for Kamigoye. The referee wakes up as Taichi hits Black Memphisto, and that’s enough for the win. I get why they went down this road, but the interference throughout felt horribly overdone. Still, it warms up for the tag title match at some point – you’d assume Dominion next weekend – but this part of the build felt like it almost was going to fall flat. ***¼

New Japan Cup 2020 – Second Round: EVIL vs. Hirooki Goto

Our final match then, and the winner of this gets YOSHI-HASHI in the quarter-finals.

EVIL acts like a gatekeeper, stopping Goto from even getting to the ring as they scrapped in the short aisle, brawling around ringside as EVIL chopped Goto into the railings. More chops around the ringside area were followed up by EVIL getting hurled into the barriers… and EVIL takes his time getting back into the ring. He still couldn’t avoid Goto’s stomps as EVIL gets grounded in a chinlock briefly.

Goto keeps going with an arm wringer, followed by an elbow to the arm, before he ran into a shoulder tackle from EVIL. Another charge takes Goto outside, where EVIL followed out as he grabbed some chairs. Of course, one’s put over Goto as he’s then thrown into the ring post, which led us to another count-out tease…

Back inside, EVIL rakes the eyes of Goto on the mat, before applying a chinlock to keep Goto down again. EVIL begins to toy with Goto, but the predictable fightback is snuffed out with a shoulder tackle from EVIL, only for Goto to retaliate with a clothesline off the ropes. Another clothesline from Goto traps EVIL in the corner, ahead of a backdrop suplex that gets a near-fall, before EVIL found a way back in by taking Goto into the ropes for a suspended stomp.

A Bronco Buster followed for Goto in the corner, getting EVIL another near-fall, before Goto had to fight out of Darkness Falls. Elbows try to get EVIL back in, but some trading places led to referee Red Shoes Unno having to climb out of the way as EVIL ran into an ushigoroshi. The pair trade forearms and elbows as they fight back to their feet, before they struggled over a suplex, leading to an elbow from Goto instead.

Goto goes to the reverse GTR for a near-fall, before he peppered EVIL with kicks… eventually one gets caught as EVIL pounced in with clattering clotheslines, only for Goto to knock him flying with a lariat for a near-fall. EVIL fights out of a GTR and decks Goto with a forearm, before a release Fisherman suplex almost got the win. Darkness Falls followed, again for a near-fall, before he pulled up Goto for Everything is EVIL… which gets countered back-and-forth until Goto lands a headbutt.

Goto staggers into the ropes after that, then recomposes himself for a mid kick as the GTW followed for a near-fall. A GTR looked to be next, but EVIL shoves Goto towards the referee and hits a clothesline to buy him some time. The Darkness Scorpion looked to follow, but instead EVIL just stomps on Goto’s balls, then grabbed the ref as he got a two-count from a roll-up. Everything is EVIL follows, ragdolling Goto to the mat, and that, shockingly, is it. Someone’s pre-tournament favourite exits in the second round, as the battle of the under-rate shutters saw EVIL edge through. ***¾

We’re back tomorrow with the quarter-finals: with Okada vs. Ishimori, Ishii vs. Hiromu, SANADA vs. Taichi and YOSHI-HASHI vs. EVIL. Friday’s all semi-finals, which’ll be Okada/Ishimori vs. Ishii/Hiromu and SANADA/Taichi vs. YOSHI-HASHI/EVIL as the New Japan Cup races towards next Saturday’s final in Osaka.

7.0

The final score: review Good

The 411

There’s something about that right hand side of the bracket that’s underwhelmed… with this show coming in at the two hour mark, this was a nice, breezy watch, but save for the main event, there’s nothing here I can heartily recommend that you absolutely must jump in and watch.