By Chris Vetter, ProWrestling.net Contributor (@chrisvetter73)
New Japan Pro Wrestling “New Japan Cup 2024”
March 8, 2024 in Yamanashi, Japan at Aimesse Yamanashi
Streamed live on New Japan World
This year’s New Japan Cup tournament is a 28-man field featuring four first-round byes. This show is Night 3 of the tournament and it features three first-round matches. Walker Stewart and Gino Gambino provided commentary; Chris Charlton was unable to attend this event. The venue is a large gym or convention center with all seating on the floor. Attendance was maybe 700.
* A note about Thursday’s show featuring two tournament upsets. Wrestling historian/statistician Chris Samsa is running an online bracket. Only 38% of voters picked Chase Owens to defeat Tomohiro Ishii, and just 11% of brackets had Tanga Loa defeating Great-O-Khan. Samsa reports that less than 3% of submitted brackets had correctly picked all six first-round victories entering Friday’s show.
1. Tomohiro Ishii, Ryusuke Taguchi, “Bishamon” Hirooki Goto, and Yoshi-Hashi defeated “Bullet Club War Dogs” Kenta, Chase Owens, David Finlay, and Gedo at 9:20. Kenta and Yoshi-Hashi opened with lots of stalling until Kenta attacked from behind. Taguchi entered and hit a buttbump on Kenta at 2:30. Gedo got the hammer for the ring bell and struck Taguchi with it on the floor. The BCWD began working over Taguchi. Ishii got the hot tag at 6:30 and he hit shoulder tackles on all the heels. He traded shoulder tackles with Finlay. Finlay nailed a uranage-style backbreaker over his knee on Ishii. Goto got the hot tag at 8:00 and hit a spin kick in the corner on Gedo. He hit his neckbreaker over the knee on Gedo. Taguchi hit a plancha to the floor on Finlay. Bishamon hit the Shoto team slam on Gedo for the pin. Okay action.
2. “The Mighty Don’t Kneel” Zack Sabre Jr. and Mikey Nicholls defeated Tomoaki Honma and El Phantasmo (w/Jado) at 8:15. ELP and Sabre opened with standing switches and Sabre tied him up on the mat. Honma and ELP missed Kokeshi falling headbutts on Nicholls. Sabre snapped Honma’s neck between his ankles at 3:00 and he applied a leglock around Honma’s neck. ELP got in and hit a huracanrana on Sabre. Sabre applied an anklelock at 5:00. They got up and traded forearms, and Phantasmo hit an enzuigiri. Honma tagged back in. ELP hit a Lionsault, and Honma hit a Kokeshi. Nicholls hit a sliding clothesline on Honma for a nearfall. Honma hit a diving headbutt on Nicholls for a nearfall. Mikey hit a clothesline for a nearfall, then a Falcon Arrow for the pin.
3. Yoh, Shota Umino, and El Desperado defeated “House of Torture” EVIL, Jack Perry, and Dick Togo at 9:17. For the second straight night, Perry is replacing the “injured” Sho. The heels came out first; Shota’s team rolled into the ring together and all six fought immediately. Shota and Perry traded offense, with Perry hitting a dropkick at 1:30. Perry hit a snap suplex for a nearfall, then a Rude Awakening standing neckbreaker on Shota. Togo entered and choked Umino in the ropes. Shota fired up and hit some forearms on EVIL at 4:30.
Desperado tagged in and slammed EVIL. Desperado hit a spinebuster on Togo at 6:30. Yoh entered and hit an elbow drop on Togo. The HoT worked over Yoh, and Togo hit his knife-edge chop to the groin of an upside-down Yoh at 8:00. Togo choked him with his wire. Shota hit a Shotgun Dropkick on Perry. Yoh hit a dropkick on Togo, then a Falcon Arrow for a believable nearfall. Yoh hit a superkick, then the Direct Driver spike DDT on Togo for the pin.
4. “Just 5 Guys” Sanada, Douki, and Taichi defeated “House of Torture” Ren Narita, Yujiro Takahashi, and Yoshinobu Kanemaru at 7:52. Douki and former J5G teammate Kanemaru opened, with Douki hitting a springboard back elbow. All six suddenly were brawling on the floor. Narita slammed Taichi against a wall, far from ringside. Back in the ring, Yujiro worked over Douki. Taichi got the hot tag at 3:30 and he hit a Mafia Kick on Narita. Narita hit an Exploder Suplex on Taichi. Sanada entered and hit some dropkicks on Yujiro. Kanemaru tried to spray whiskey on Sanada, but Sanada ducked it. Douki hit a plancha to the floor at 7:30. Sanada hit a Shining Wizard on Yujiro, applied the Skull End dragon sleeper, and Yujiro tapped out. Good action; this felt at a faster clip than some of the earlier matches.
5. “United Empire” Jeff Cobb, TJP, Francesco Akira, and Great-O-Khan defeated “Los Ingobernobles de Japon” Bushi, Hiromu Takahashi, Tetsuya Naito, and Yota Tsuji at 9:58. All eight brawled at the bell. Hiromu ran the ropes and got winded for some comedy. Everyone started brawling on the floor again. In the ring, TJP hit his Facewash kicks on Naito at 3:30. Naito hit a tornado DDT on O-Khan. Cobb and Tsuji entered at 5:30 and they traded stiff forearm strikes, and Yota hit a huracanrana and a Stinger Splash.
Cobb hit a dropkick on Tsuji, then a standing moonsault at 7:00. Bushi tagged in and hit a basement dropkick on Cobb’s knee. TJP & Akira hit a team X-Factor faceplant on Bushi for a nearfall. Yota hit a shoulder tackle that dropped Cobb. O-Khan slammed Naito to the mat. Bushi hit a Rewind Kick on Cobb. However, Cobb caught Bushi and hit the Tour of the Islands swinging powerslam for the pin. Really good action.
* Before we get to the tournament matches, let’s go back to the brackets submitted in Chris Samsa’s online tournament. Roughly 94% of voters picked Hikuleo to beat Boltin Oleg, 91% picked Gabe Kidd to beat Callum Newman, and 79% picked Shingo Takagi to beat Yuya Uemura. Let’s see if voters are right!
6. Hikuleo (w/Jado) defeated Boltin Oleg in a New Japan Cup first-round match at 9:19. Hikulo wore his New Japan Strong tag title belt; I actually had forgotten that Hikuleo and ELP had retained those belts and only lost the IWGP tag titles to Kenta and Chase Owens. An intense lockup at the bell. They traded shoulder tackles with neither man going down, until Boltin finally dropped him with one. Hikuleo hit a Mafia Kick at 2:30, then a Stinger Splash, then a Mark Henry Slam for a nearfall. He grounded Oleg with a sleeper, but Oleg reached the ropes at 5:00.
Oleg fired up and hit some hard chops. Oleg hit a belly-to-belly suplex for a nearfall, and he applied a Boston Crab; he dragged Hikuleo to the center of the ring and sat down for pressure, but Hikuleo eventually reached the ropes at 7:30. Oleg hit a big suplex and was fired up. He hit a German Suplex for a nearfall. Hikuleo hit a chokeslam for the clean pin. Decent big-man match.
7. Gabe Kidd defeated Callum Newman in a New Japan Cup first-round match at 14:09. Newman dove at Kidd and got a rollup at the bell, and they traded some fast-paced reversals. Kidd has a significant size advantage. They brawled to the floor, where Callum whipped Kidd into the guardrail at 1:30. Newman hit a punt kick from the apron to the floor. He went for a moonsault move to the floor but Kidd caught him with a blow. They went over the guardrail, and Kidd whipped Callum into some empty chairs at 3:30. They got back in the ring and traded forearm strikes, but Kidd whipped him back to the floor, and Newman was nearly counted out at 6:00 but dove back in.
Newman hit a suplex, then he dove through the ropes onto Kidd at 8:30 and he was fired up. In the ring, Newman hit a top-rope flying forearm to the back of the neck, then a running Penalty Kick to the chest for a nearfall. Kidd hit a basement dropkick on the knee, then a back suplex for a nearfall at 10:30. They traded chops and Newman hit a mid-ring Spanish Fly, and they were both down. Newman hit a superkick and a dropkick in the corner. Newman hit a snap Dragon Suplex and a Pele Kick for a nearfall at 13:00. Newman missed a top-rope Shooting Star Press, and Kidd hit a clothesline for a nearfall. Kidd hit a brainbuster for a nearfall, then a piledriver for the pin. The winner was never in doubt but that was really good and easily one of the best first-round matches.
8. Shingo Takagi defeated Yuya Uemura in a New Japan Cup first-round match at 23:18. Again, Uemura is now shaved nearly bald with short reddish hair. An intense lockup to open. They traded shoulder tackles. Yuya hit a deep armdrag at 3:00 and worked the left arm. Shingo hit a short-arm clothesline. They went to the floor, where Shingo whipped him into the guardrail at 6:00. Back in the ring, Shingo was in charge and hit some kneelifts to Yuya’s stomach. He hit another shoulder tackle, then a suplex for a nearfall, then a senton for a nearfall at 9:00. He switched to a Fujiwara Armbar and kept Uemura grounded.
Uemura hit a second-rope crossbody block and they were both down. He hit more deep armdrags and a dropkick, and they were both down at 11:00. He hit a back suplex for a nearfall. Yuya hit a dropkick on the arm and went back to working it over. Shingo hit some jab punches and a DDT at 14:00. Takagi nailed a top-rope superplex. They traded mid-ring forearm strikes. Uemura hit a snap German Suplex, then a Dragon Suplex for a nearfall at 17:30 and they were both down. Uemura hit a uranage for a nearfall. Shingo fired back with a double-underhook suplex, a clothesline and a pumphandle powerbomb for a nearfall.
Uemura hit an enzuigiri and a huracanrana, and he applied a crossarm breaker, but Shing reached the ropes at 21:00. Yuya dropped him with a headbutt. Yuya hit a Pele Kick; Shingo hit a diving forearm and they were both down. Shingo hit a standing powerbomb, then a Pumping Bomber clothesline for a believable nearfall at 23:00. He hit the Last of the Dragon modified DVD for the clean pin. That was stellar stuff. Shingo spoke on the mic to close the show, but we don’t have Charlton tonight to do some quick translation.
Final Thoughts: Shingo-Yuya will be tough to beat for best match of the first-round. Shingo is my pick to win the whole tournament, but with Uemura’s new look, I really thought at moments he would be able to pull off the upset. This match lived up to everything I hoped it would. If you didn’t know Callum Newman and Gabe Kidd’s current placement on the NJPW pecking order and went in cold, you would have been dazzled by their match, too. Chris Charlton has compared Newman to a young Finn Balor and I really see it. Hikuleo-Oleg was fine and didn’t overstay its welcome.
The tournament takes a day off on Saturday, then the final three first-round matches will take place on Sunday.
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