Pantoja’s NJPW New Japan Cup 2022 Night One Review

NJPW New Japan Cup Night One

March 2nd, 2022 | Budokan Hall in Tokyo, Japan | Attendance: 2,007

Since I’m covering this show, I won’t have time for my weekly NXT review but whatever. This tournament sounds odd on paper but let’s hope it can give this company a much needed boost. The bracket makes no sense, especially when it comes to who got byes but whatever.

New Japan Cup First Round: CIMA vs. TAKA Michinoku

I’ve liked CIMA since I saw him at the first ROH show I ever attended live. That match was Roderick Strong, Austin Aries (gross), and Delirious vs. Matt Sydal, CIMA, and Shingo Takagi. Also, TAKA IS COMING, MOTHERFUCKER. Imagine having the GOAT entrance theme like that. I like TAKA rocking some blue in his gear as it takes me back to my younger days. Though both men are past their prime, they can still have smooth matches and a lot of what they did here worked well. They did a lot of mat wrestling and trading of submissions which I appreciated since it was different from the typical hard hitting NJPW style. CIMA’s Vader Bomb style double knees looked vicious though. TAKA came close with a few submissions before CIMA won with Meteora in 9:48. That was just some quality pro wrestling that didn’t overstay its welcome. CIMA will face Yoshinobu Kanemaru in the next round. [***]

New Japan Cup First Round: Tomoaki Honma vs. YOSHI-HASHI

Two guys who are basically company dweebs. I believe I’ve only seen them meet once and that was a rare Honma win in the G1 26 (***¼) and in fact, HASHI is apparently 0-3 against Honma in his career. This opened with a strike exchange that was more traditional NJPW. Also in traditional fashion, Honma missed Kokeshi and did so twice in the opening minutes. He got it on the third try though, only to have HASHI avoid one off the top. We’re building matches around Kokeshi now? Down the stretch, this felt like a NEVER Openweight Title match as they just beat the hell out of each other and kept getting up from hard shots. Honma couldn’t get up from Karma, losing in 9:45. That was better than it had any right to be thanks to the two going all out for about 10 rad minutes. I wouldn’t call it great but I had low expectations. HASHI gets Young Lion Kosei Fujita in round two. [***¼]

New Japan Cup First Round: Hirooki Goto vs. Yuji Nagata

They’ve met a lot but I’ve only seen three. There was the 2015 New Japan Cup (***½), G1 25 (***), and G1 27 (****). This was an evenly matched battle between two guys with history. You could tell that neither was going to give much ground to the other, causing a lengthy opening sequence where they only got small advantages and nobody really felt like the better man. It was Nagata who ended up with the first relative advantage, barking at Goto to step up and match him, which he did. Still, Nagata was the one who first came close to winning with Nagata Lock II but Goto made it to the ropes. The IWGP Tag Team Champion avoided the Backdrop Driver and used the Goto Ni Shiki pinning combination to win in 12:37. A really good match and I liked that the finish was a callback to that G1 26 meeting. Goto will face Dick Togo in round two. That sounds awful. [***¼]

New Japan Cup First Round: Jeff Cobb vs. Togi Makabe

According to votes on some other website, Cobb is the favorite to win and not a single voter picked him to lose here. Despite Makabe’s size, Cobb made a lot of this look easy. He dominated and threw the former IWGP Heavyweight Champion around with the greatest of ease. Of course, this couldn’t be a total squash so Makabe had to get in a few shots like the corner punches and the lariat but his suplex obviously failed. Cobb hit Tour of the Islands to win after 8:10. It was okay but mostly one-sided and the outcome was never in doubt. Good booking though. Cobb faces Kojima next round and that should rule. [**¼]

New Japan Cup First Round: Taichi vs. Toru Yano

Huge chance for shenanigans here. Their only prior meeting I can recall was in the G1 29 (**½). Book Yano to win the tournament and title. Do it Gedo, you coward. Taichi suggested they just do antics at the start but Yano didn’t trust him. They ended up doing them anyway from cheap rollups to Yano getting wrapped up in a tarp and nearly being counted out. Taichi also managed to put the referee in the tarp. In the end, Taichi sent Yano into the exposed buckle and hit a forearm to win in 6:25. That was a fine little Yano match. Taichi actually gets a bye to the quarterfinals because Hiroyoshi Tenzan had to pull out of the tournament with an injury. [**]

New Japan Cup First Round: Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. YOH

Probably the most interesting match on night one because YOH is really good and Tanahashi gets the best out of everyone. They opened with mat work as commentary discussed YOH being similar to SANADA, who has had success against Tanahashi in history. You got the sense that Tanahashi was going to do whatever he could to make sure YOH looked good. That’s my Ace. I liked that Tanahashi faked out YOH on a move because the young gun has obviously been watching him for years. He knows Tanahashi’s stuff so the veteran had to change things up and outsmart him. YOH also took a page out of Tanahashi’s book by going after the leg. YOH showed a lot of the killer instinct needed her with his attack on the leg, by hitting the Slingblade, and by picking up some near falls. I also liked the way they played into the size difference as some of YOH’s typical offense didn’t have the same impact on a larger opponent. In the end, Tanahashi won with a Dragon Suplex to honor Tatsumi Fujinami at the 16:50 mark. Hell yeah, that was awesome. Not quite a true great match but something that showed how good YOH is and continued to remind us that Tanahashi is the best. Our Ace faces his old rival Bad Luck Fale next. [***¾]

New Japan Cup First Round: Tetsuya Naito vs. Yujiro Takahashi

I’ve never liked this pairing. It should be better given their history as partners. Anyway, they met in the G1 23 (**¾), Dominion2013 (**¾), King of Pro Wrestling 2013 (***¼), and G1 24 (**¾) that I remember. OH FUCK PIETER WAS BACK! New Japan doesn’t know a middle ground with camerawork. Either they’ve giving PIETER a colonoscopy or they completely ignore her to focus on Yujiro. Yujiro holds a wild 18-3 advantage over Naito. The actual back and for between these guys was okay but never fully pulled me in. You could tell that we weren’t getting Big Match Naito here. Of course, it all led to a ref bump so we could get some House of Torture interference. That has never made any match better and this was already in trouble beforehand. EVIL and SHO beat on Naito, with no help from LIJ oddly. Yujiro told his buddies to leave as commentary wondered if he had some honor to his name. Yujiro got the crowd going and then just hit a cheap low blow. Naito hit one of his own and still won after 18:11 with Destino. That was ass. Naito gets Gedo in round two so it won’t be much better. [*¾]

EVIL jumped Naito after the bell but ended up taking a low blow too.

New Japan Cup First Round: El Desperado vs. Kazuchika Okada

It’s our usual Anniversary Jr. Heavyweight vs. Heavyweight Champion match except it comes in the New Japan Cup. This match is basically one of the MVPs of New Japan over the past two years and also Kazuchika Okada. I loved how Desperado started by stepping on Okada’s toes to bring him down to size. He quickly went after the knee, knowing that Naito targeted it in throughout the Golden Series gimmick. I appreciate that this didn’t follow typical Okada formula. The early stages meant something in terms of showcasing Desperado having Okada scouted and targeting the knee. Of course, Okada could reset the momentum with something as simple as a flapjack or his gorgeous dropkick. Desperado came close a few times but my biggest gripe with this match is that they never made me feel like he could win. I believed YOH might upset Tanahashi but not that Desperado would topple Okada. I think the problem was that a lot of his best shots involved the Stretch Muffler and there was no way that Okada would tap. Okada kept going to the Money Clip, with the idea being that a junior heavyweight wasn’t worthy of the Rainmaker. When the Money Clip failed, Desperado suddenly became worthy of it as Okada started to want to hit the move but Desperado blocked it with a forearm and hit Pinche Loco. He wanted a second which set up a series of reversals and Okada won with the Rainmaker in 26:21 to set up a match with Master Wato in round two. I loved this match as it showed again why Desperado is great and was Okada doing something different. [****¼]

7.0

The final score: review Good

The 411

I think that was a good start to the tournament. The House of Torture sucked, obviously, and we had two other matches that were skippable. Besides that, everything got at least ***, there was a rad Tanahashi/YOH match, and the main event ruled.