Pantoja’s NJPW New Japan Cup 2024 Night 7 Review

NJPW New Japan Cup Night 7

March 13^th, 2024 | ZIP Arena Okayama in Okayama, Japan | Attendance: 1,207

NOTE: For anyone following all of my reviews, my WrestleMania Series is still ongoing. It’s something I’m doing in my free time though so reviews from 2024 (like this one) take precedence.

Trying to move through these shows but it is difficult to get the motivation to do so with the quality of these matches.

New Japan Cup Second Round: EVIL vs. Hikuleo

Anyone who reads my reviews consistently knows my stance on the House of Torture. I’m not against the idea of a heel stable who cheats. I may not love them but I’ll tolerate them like Bullet Club, Oedo Tai, etc. But the House of Torture literally does the same tired, dull thing every single time out and it’s never even remotely interesting. That was the case here again, especially since Hikuleo isn’t the most engaging or sympathetic of babyfaces. The highlight was ELP’s moonsault onto the crowd below him and he isn’t even one of the competitors involved in the match. Everything is EVIL wrapped this up in a long 14:32. Moving on. [*]

New Japan Cup Second Round: Gabe Kidd vs. Shingo Takagi

The second round match that actually had me interested. Gabe Kidd can sometimes be a maniac and Shingo is exactly the kind of dude he matches up well with, especially given his war with HENARE earlier this year. Thankfully, they played right into that as this felt like a NEVER Title match from the heyday of that belt. They hit each other hard from the opening bell and when they brawled outside and involved chairs in the action, it had the level of intensity you want from this kind of setting. A piledriver onto a pile of chairs set the tone for Shingo to have a damaged neck. He sold the hell out of it, even collapsing to the outside following a back suplex. Shingo kind of got his ass kicked for a while which isn’t something you see often from him. He’d bust out an Exploder or some other high impact move to get hope going. They traded forearms and clotheslines late before progressing to bigger moves like a jumping Tombstone and Made in Japan. Shingo survived a headbutt battle before nailing Last of the Dragon to advance in 18:20. It really is the same guys who deliver on these shows. Just a great, NEVER Title style match and I used to love those. [****]

6.0

The final score: review Average

The 411

We were headed down another bad path here but like Cobb/Tsuji a few days other, Kidd/Shingo gave me a sliver of hope about the tournament. When it’s the usual suspects out there, you can expect something good. When it isn’t…yikes.