By Chris Vetter, ProWrestling.net Contributor (@chrisvetter73)
New Japan Pro Wrestling “New Japan Cup”
March 17, 2023 in Tokyo, Japan at Korakuen Hall
Streamed on New Japan World
This is show nine of tournament, featuring the first two quarterfinal matches. Kevin Kelly and Chris Charlton provided live commentary. It’s great to have Charlton back to provide English translation.
* A reminder that Will Ospreay has bowed out of the tournament after suffering a shoulder injury in his second-round match against Mark Davis; Davis will take Ospreay’s tournament slot in the quarterfinals.
1. “House of Torture” Sho and Yujiro Takahashi defeated “The Mighty Don’t Kneel” Zack Sabre Jr. and Kosei Fujita at 10:49. No real storylines in this one. Like in prior shows, Sabre hit some European Uppercuts on Sho, showing to his apprentice Fujita the ‘proper way’ to do the moves. I am amused by this teacher-student storyline. The HoT worked over Fujita. Fujita finally hit a dropkick at 5:30 on Sho and made the hot tag to Sabre. Zack immediately tied up Sho’s left arm and stomped on the elbow.
Sho hit a spear on Sabre. Yujiro tagged in and he bit Sabre’s foot. Fujita entered and hit a running elow in the corner and a belly-to-belly suplex on Yujiro for a nearfall at 9:00. Yujiro hit a fisherman’s suplex for a neafall. Fujita got an O’Connor Roll for a nearfall. Yujiro nailed a clothesline, then the Pimp Juice jumping DDT on Fujita for the pin. Solid opener.
2. “The United Empire” Aaron Henare, Jeff Cobb, Kyle Fletcher, and Great-O-Khan defeated Togi Makabe, Ryusuke Taguchi, Tomoaki Honma, and Oskar Leube at 11:15. I am admittedly not a fan of Taguchi or Makabe, who are making their debut on this current tour. Taguchi and O-Khan started out with some, eye-rolling dumb, cartoonish mat wrestling. Honma entered and hit a Kokeshi falling headbutt at 2:30. All eight brawled on the floor, with Cobb beating up Oskar against the guardrail. Back in the ring, the UE worked over Honma, with Cobb holding Honma upside down for 20 seconds before dropping him to the mat and getting a cocky, one-footed cover at 5:00.
Henare entered and hit some punches to Honma’s gut. Togi made the hot tag at 7:00 and he hit a running clothesline in the corner on Henare. They traded forearm shots. Fletcher entered and brawled with Togi. Oskar tagged in and hit some chops on Kyle. Oskar tried to apply a Boston Crab but Fletcher fought it off. Fletcher hit a Michinoku Driver for a believable nearfall; I thought that was it. Fletcher then nailed a tombstone piledriver to pin Leube. Not particularly good and really one-sided.
3. Toru Yano and “Bishamon” Yoshi-Hashi & Hirooki Goto defeated Satoshi Kojima, Hiroyoshi Tenzan, and Tama Tonga at 10:03. Tama and Goto are facing each other in the quarterfinals, and they opened against each other here. Also first appearance on this tour for Kojima and Tenzan. All six brawled on the floor. Once we were back to in-ring action, Yano worked over Kojima. Goto re-entered at 5:30 and hit a suplex on Kojima for a nearfall. Tama tagged back in and hit a clothesline on Goto, then ripped off his vest, and he hit his flying Stinger Splash.
Tenzan and Yano tagged in, with Tenzan hitting a suplex for a nearfall at 8:00. Tenzan applied an Anaconda Vice on Yano on the mat, but Yoshi-Hashi made the save. Yano pushed the ref, hit a low blow on Tenzan while the ref was out of position, and got a rollup for the cheap pin out of nowhere. Goto and Tama Tonga continued to argue after the bell, with each placing their respective title belt over their shoulder.
* A video package aired for Best of Super Juniors 30, which will take place in May. No competitors were announced. Charlton said the last American to hold the IWGP Junior title was Low Ki in 2012; Kelly was blown away it’s been that long.
4. Yoh, Lio Rush, and Tomohiro Ishii defeated “Los Ingobernobles de Japon” Shingo Takagi, Hiromu Takahashi, and Bushi at 8:02. Hiromu and Lio opened and immediately traded stiff forearm shots. Hiromu hit a Falcon Arrow for a nearfall in the first minute. Ishii entered at 2:00 and traded chops with Hiromu. Yoh entered and hit a swinging neckbreaker. Shingo tagged in at 5:00 and traded more vicious blows with Ishii. They traded big shoulder tackles and the crowd was loving these blows. Lio entered and nailed a dive between the ropes on Bushi at 7:00. Shingo and Ishii traded more blows, with Shingo catching him with a short-arm clothesline. Yoh hit a Falcon Arrow on Shingo. Lio got an inside cradle out of nowhere to pin Bushi. Great fast-and-furious action.
5. Minoru Suzuki, Shota Umino, El Desperado, and Ren Narita defeated “The Bullet Club” David Finlay, El Phantasmo, Chase Owens, and Kenta at 11:47. Umino once again came in through the crowd, Moxley-style. The main storyline here is that Umino and Finlay will face each other Saturday in a quarterfinals match. Congrats to Kenta for using a wormhole to break the space-time continuum to make it to Japan just hours after appearing in Impact Wrestling in the United States. All eight brawled at the bell. In the ring, Finlay slammed Desperado, and he argued more with new teammate El Phantasmo. Desperado tied up ELP, with Finlay standing in the ring “offering advice” to Phantasmo, but not helping break the hold either.
All eight brawled on the floor again, with Finlay slamming Narita on the ring apron at 3:00. Suzuki and Kenta (who will face at the NJPW/Impact show over Mania weekend) traded blows on the floor. In the ring, the BC kept working over Narita, but Finlay and Phantasmo still couldn’t get on the same page. Shota made the hot tag at 7:00 and hit a diving forearm on Finlay. Finlay dropped Shota throat-first on the top rope, then he hit a Blue Thunder Bomb.
Suzuki made the hot tag at 9:30 and he immediately hit some stiff forearms and a Helluva Kick on Kenta. Chase grabbed Suzuki’s ankle, allowing the BC to hit some quick moves on Minoru. Kenta hit a top-rope doublestomp to the chest for a believable nearfall. Suzuki nailed the Gotch-style piledriver on Kenta for the pin! Kelly pointed out that Suzuki just scored a pin on the NJPW Strong champ. Umino and Finlay kept fighting after the bell.
6. Mark Davis (w/United Empire) defeated EVIL (w/House of Torture) in a New Japan Cup quarterfinal tournament match at 15:36. A lot of guys at ringside for this one. EVIL got on the mic and, in English, called Davis “a f—ing loser.” Davis dove between the ropes onto EVIL to start the match. EVIL hit Davis in the gut, then over the back, with a chair. The UE and HoT were brawling on the floor, too, and the ref has lost complete control, and he sent everyone to the back. Davis got back in the ring at 3:30 before being counted out.
They traded blows in the ring, and Davis dropped him with a hard chop at 6:30. Kevin Kelly compared Davis to Stan Hansen. Davis hit a senton for a nearfall; he set up for a big clothesline but EVIL dropped to the mat and rolled to the floor. Davis followed and they brawled on the floor, with EVIL whipping Davis over the guardrail, and Davis landing in Kelly’s lap at 8:30. (I think Kelly accidentally dropped an F-Bomb on commentary. Funny.) Back in the ring, EVIL applied a Sharpshooter, then he hit a clothesline. Davis nailed a decapitating clothesline for a believable nearfall at 11:00.
Davis hit an enzuigiri, then a diving forearm to the jaw as EVIL was in the corner. EVIL began selling a right knee injury and pulled the ref close. The ref got bumped, and EVIL immediately hit a low blow uppercut. Dick Togo hopped in the ring to choke Davis, so Kyle Fletcher ran down to make the save. Will Ospreay appeared, arm in sling, and waved the rest of the United Empire into the ring. Great-O-Khan had handcuffs, and he handcuffed himself to Togo and dragged him from the ring. Aaron Henare beat up Yujiro Takahashi. Davis and Fletcher hit the Koryallis swinging slam on Sho. Jeff Cobb hit the Tour of the Islands swinging powerslam on EVIL! Davis immediately put EVIL on his shoulders, spun him several times, slammed him to the mat, and scored the pin. Kelly and Charlton cheered the result.
7. Sanada defeated Tetsuya Naito in a New Japan Cup quarterfinal tournament match at 24:40. The stable mates did their hand gesture before the bell, showing a sign of respect, and this crowd was HOT before they even locked up. They traded friendly mat reversals to open, with Naito twisting the left leg. Naito hit a baseball slide dropkick to the floor at 6:00, and they brawled on the floor. Back in the ring, Naito applied a cravat at 8:00, and he applied a leglock around Sanada’s shoulders and neck; they are setting a pace to go 30 minutes.
Sanada hit a back suplex at 11:00 but clutched at his sore neck. Sanada hit a plancha to the floor. In the ring, Naito hit a Rude Awakening standing neckbreaker, then a sliding dropkick to Sanada’s back for a nearfall at 14:00. Sanada placed Naito’s legs on the top rope and he hit a swinging neckbreaker for a nearfall; he set up for Skull End sleeper hold, but Naito quickly escaped. After some more action, Sanada was able to lock in Skull End, and he dropped to the mat for pressure at 18:00.
Sanada went for a moonsault, but Naito put up his knees to block it, and they were both down. Sanada hit some European Uppercuts; Naito fired back with some forearm shots. Naito hit an enziguri at 22:00. Sanada got an O’Connor Roll for a believable nearfall. Sanada hit a pop-up TKO stunner for a nearfall and a dropkick. Naito hooked both arms and got a rollup for a believable nearfall. Naito nailed a Destino at 24:00 for a believable nearfall; it felt like he didn’t get all of it. Naito went for a second Destino, but Sanada countered and hit the Jay White Blade Runner for the pin! Good match.
* Taichi, who was providing Japanese commentary, got in the ring. During the match, Kelly and Charlton made a comment that “Taichi didn’t want to see Sanada lose after the battle they had.” Taichi and Sanada shook hands and hugged. Taka Michinoku, Yoshinobu Kanemaru and Douki also got in the ring. Shingo and the rest of LIJ hit the ring. There seems to be some question on if Sanada was leaving LIJ to join “Just Four Guys.” Sanada got on the mic and said, “From today, I am no longer in LIJ. From now on, these five guys are going to be seeking the top.”
The rest of LIJ left. Sanada continued speaking, saying this change didn’t just happen; it’s been something he’s been thinking about for a while, and he “wants to change the world.”
Final Thoughts: A really good main event, and totally the right call on who was going over here. I noted after Sanada’s first-round win that Kelly and Charlton said Sanada was on a redemption tour, and from that moment on, I’ve considered Sanada to likely reach the finals. The seeds of the Taichi-Sanada team-up were planted months ago, when they began shaking hands in a sign of respect after their matches, so any careful viewer has seen this playing out, and can’t claim this “booking came out of nowhere.” I do think it’s the right call, too, as Sanada has been playing third, and even fourth, fiddle in the LIJ faction the past year.
The final five minutes of EVIL-Davis was really good, and set up well with both factions getting involved, but ultimately, the United Empire out-smarted the House of Torture. Also, I was really happy to see Ospreay; I had read somewhere he was taking an immediate flight back to the UK to get his injured shoulder checked out. So, I’m still hoping this injury keeps him out weeks, not months.
The first three matches tonight were just ugly; too many older guys who just don’t add anything to the product. The LIJ six-man match woke things up, and I was thrilled to see Suzuki score a pin on Kenta, helping build that feud.
The quarterfinals continue on Saturday. I’ll go with Tama Tonga over Hirooki Goto and Shota Umino over David Finlay, but I wouldn’t be surprised if Finlay cheats to win.
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