wrestling / TV Reports
Pantoja’s NJPW New Japan Cup 2022 Nights Three & Four Review
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Loading...NJPW New Japan Cup Nights Three & Four
March 7th, 2022 | Ota City Gymnasium in Tokyo, Japan | Attendance: 777
Putting these together since I couldn’t do night three on its own as I spent the day out before heading to Raw in Cleveland.
New Japan Cup First Round: Chase Owens vs. Jado
Oh, this isn’t interesting at all. Jado is a notorious cheater while Owens is, fine I guess. The latter was in control for the most part before Jado threw a couple of lariats. Jado applied a crossface and actually made Owens tap but the referee was pulled by Owens so he missed the submission. That was odd to give a guy like Jado a visual win. Owens is higher on the pecking order, even by just a little bit. Jado was pissed and went use to his trusty stick but Owens convinced him against it, only to do a low blow instead. He then won with a C-Trigger after 7:13. This was a match that I didn’t hate, which is better than I expected. [*½]
New Japan Cup First Round: EVIL vs. Ryusuke Taguchi
Taguchi immediately stood out for wearing an EVIL like getup during his entrance. He even had the makeup around his eyes and such. EVIL didn’t like that and used his size to go after Taguchi but as usual, it’s an EVIL match and that’s bad business. I popped at Taguchi doing an Undertaker sit up. After that, it was a lot of Funky Weapon usage and Dick Togo shenanigans. Once that was over, Taguchi lost to Everything is EVIL in 7:26. I didn’t like any of that as Taguchi’s goofiness didn’t mesh at all with EVIL’s awfulness. [*]
New Japan Cup First Round: Hiromu Takahashi vs. SHO
They had a banger in the 2018 BOSJ (****) and a better one in the 2020 tournament (****¼), though the 2021 installment wasn’t as good (***¼). Their title match last year also slapped (****). This got off to a unique start for NJPW as SHO dragged Hiromu from the back with a chair, having jumped him beforehand. Of course, Hiromu is a madman who managed to hit a sunset flip bomb when they got to the ring. That allowed this to be enjoyable at the start but it got worse as it went on because it was filled with House of Torture shenanigans. No matter how much you have commentary say that they’re killing the business and talk about how bad they are, it doesn’t matter if you still let them keep doing it. Nobody likes it and it’s not getting good heat, people are just bored. Low blows, weapon attacks, interference, and more, and in the end, Hiromu won with a rollup after 15:45. A lame match but at least we get Hiromu/Minoru in round two. [**]
New Japan Cup First Round: Shingo Takagi vs. Tomohiro Ishii
These two just have nothing but great matches. Their G1 29 match was my NJPW MOTY (****¾), their New Japan Road match ruled (****½), their G1 30 match was great (****), and their G1 31 match was sick (****¼). A five star outing here would help them join Shibata/Ishii and Okada/Tanahashi as the only pairings to get every score over **** from me. Guess what, folks? We’ve got a case of TWO BIG MEN, WITH BIG CHESTS, BUMPING MEAT. This was clearly great but I do think we’re hitting a point where they should avoid each other for a while. I love what they do but there’s only so many times that can I see them fire up against each other or throw bombs and see who is tougher. That’s what a lot of this was and again, while it’s a blast, it didn’t feel all that different from their previous meetings. I did get terrified when Ishii got dropped on his head on Made in Japan but I think he ended up fine. He kicked out but then fell to Last of the Dragon after a wild 23:32. Like I said, these guys don’t miss though it might be time to change things up a bit. [****¼]
March 9th, 2022 | Korakuen Hall in Tokyo, Japan | Attendance: 594
Oh, it’s time for round two.
New Japan Cup Second Round: Dick Togo vs. Hirooki Goto
Holy hell, this sounds dreadful on paper. This was basically what you’d expect given who is involved. Togo wasn’t afraid to be disrespectful and use underhanded tactics at every turn. Goto worked the left arm but at no point did it ever feel like it was anything of note or that it would play a larger role later on. He hit USHIGOROSHI for a near fall and then the lights in the arena went out. EVIL had arrived because we just have to book these kind of things in these matches. He and Togo worked Goto over with the staff gimmick until Goto stole it and turned the tide on them. He then beat Togo by submission with the Shoryu Barrier in 9:49. I hate this stuff. [*¼]
New Japan Cup Second Round: CIMA vs. Yoshinobu Kanemaru
I remember when I used to worry about Suzuki-Gun interference in matches but I will take that any day over the House of Torture. What worked about this one was the fact that it was similar to the TAKA/CIMA match in a lot of ways. They kept things grounded and it allowed CIMA to work the legs. He was known for some high octane stuff earlier in his career but times have changed and he seems to have adapted well enough. Kanemaru wasn’t going to do down without a fight though and came close to hitting Deep Impact a handful of times. There wasn’t really any drama though as CIMA won with Meteora in 14:46. Like I said, a fine match just below the TAKA one. CIMA will face Goto in the next round. [**¾]
New Japan Cup Second Round: Kazuchika Okada vs. Master Wato
A big test for Wato here. Against junior heavyweights, Okada works well since he doesn’t tend to follow his formula. That was the case here again and it allowed them to tell a pretty compelling story. Wato understood that he was severely outmatched but there was no way that he’d let that stop him. He came at Okada with everything in his arsenal and brought fire to everything he did. Wato ran circles around him at one point and the energy he had reminded me of when he was a Young Lion. That dude used to throw himself at whoever he faced off against. The problem here was that again, Wato didn’t have a chance. No matter what he did, he wasn’t going to put down the champ. Okada proved to be too much for him and once he got going, Wato was in serious trouble. Okada put him down with the Rainmaker after 18:34. It went a bit longer than it needed to though it told a story I like. Okada gets Taichi in the next round. [***¼]
