wrestling / TV Reports
Pantoja’s NJPW New Japan Cup 2024 Night 2 Review
Image Credit: NJPW
Loading...NJPW New Japan Cup Night 2
March 7th, 2024 | Korakuen Hall in Tokyo, Japan | Attendance: 1,324
After a ho-hum (at best) start to the tournament, we’re back for night two in Korakuen Hall.
New Japan Cup First Round: Chase Owens vs. Tomohiro Ishii
Chase Owens keeps getting prominent booking in this company for…reasons. At least here he’s in there with one of the best to ever do it. There was some brawling outside in this one that included Young Lions getting thrown around. There was a greater sense of urgency and aggression to this than you’d typically get from random New Japan Cup bouts. When this got back to the ring, the match dragged some as while Ishii can sell his ass off, Owens’ offense was kind of just there. As is often the case for NJPW, things picked up down the stretch where Ishii threw himself into everything. Owens eventually won with the Package Piledriver in 16:20. Yes, I just wrote that Chase Owens beat Tomohiro Ishii. That Gedo makes sure he Gedos all over the place. Good match though. [***]
New Japan Cup First Round: The Great-O-Khan vs. Tanga Loa
Okay, so I’ve questioned Chase being consistently booked here but the Tanga Loa stuff is even more baffling. I never got into the Guerrillas as a tandem yet I kind of got it. Tanga as a singles guy has never really worked. That was the case here again. They repeated some of the brawling from the previous match to less success and when it stayed in the ring, things just didn’t click. Tanga’s offense looked rather weak from his strikes to his lackluster (and that’s me being generous) Spear. He didn’t have to do too much of this because O-Khan was on offense for most of the runtime but his selling also left a lot to be desired. Then, Tanga ended up winning with one of the worst looking pump knees you’ll ever see. On top of that, this lasted an astonishing 15:50. So on top of this being a bad match, The Great-O-Khan loses. After Ishii lost. [¼*]
New Japan Cup First Round: David Finlay vs. TJP
Remember that time David Finlay won against Ospreay and Moxley only to drop the title in his first defense to Nic Nemeth? And I say this as someone who doesn’t even care for heel Finlay. Although Finlay isn’t a big guy, he’s been booked as an aggressive heavyweight which made him a good foil for a junior heavyweight like TJP. He got to play the underdog who had to fight from beneath and that worked, especially since the Korakuen crowd was behind him. They did well to tell that story and when TJP rallied, it was rather believable. While I don’t really like his new gimmick, I will say that the red mist into the running knee made for a really cool near fall. Considering how many wrong results Gedo books, I believed that close call. Finlay survived the STF and delivered a powerbomb before hitting his finisher to advance in 16:17. Like the opener, this was good but never sniffed greatness. [***]
