Night Six of the New Japan Cup featured a classic David versus Goliath match-up and an all Chaos main event.
The Aerial Assassin Will Ospreay had to use every weapon in his arsenal to get the victory over Suzuki-gun’s Lance Archer and his approximately 91 pound weight advantage.
With both men standing on the mat it was impossible for Ospreay to set-up Stormbringer because of Archer’s size. Archer neutralized Ospreay’s Hidden Blade by driving him to the mat with Blackout.
To the shock of everyone in the Nara Centennial Hall, Ospreay kicked out.
Ospreay struck Archer with a Hidden Blade, a Cheeky Nandos Kick and a Strormbringer from the second rope to secure his spot in the Quarterfinals. Previously in the tournament Ospreay got the better of another New Japan giant: Bad Luck Fale.
In a Chaos faction confrontation, Kazuchika Okada snuck past new member Mikey Nicholls, who was formerly Nick Miller in WWE’s NXT.
Okada was able to slip out of what would have been a match ending Mikey Bomb and clobber Nicholls with a Rainmaker clothesline to end the match.
The two shook hands afterwards. Nicholls is the newest member of the Chaos faction and has racked up a series of impressive wins since returning to NJPW this month.
In the Quarterfinals, Kazuchika Okada will collide with his Chaos pal, the man he brought to NJPW: Will Ospreay.
Also on the show, Bullet Club’s Chase Owens made his intentions very clear when he jumped Juice Robinson as he was celebrating a tag team win.
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Chase Owens puts Juice Robinson’s lights out. Photo: NJPW. |
“Chase said I was ducking him earlier? I am not ducking him,” Robinson told Kevin Kelley at the announce table.
Chase Owens, dressed in a Bullet Club hoodie, blindsided Juice putting the boots to him, choking him and super kicking him into next week.
“Stop ducking me, Juice!” Owens growled holding the IWGP United States title over Juice who lay stunned on the arena floor.
In other matches:
Manabu Nakanishi and Yuji Nagata defeated Yota Tsuji and Michael Elgin. Tsuji submitted to the Nagata Lock.
Bullet Club (Taiji Ishimori, Hikuleo, Chase Owens and Bad Luck Fale) beat Ren Narita, Satoshi Kojima, Hiroyoshi Tenzan and Togi Makabe. Owens put away Narita with the Package Piledriver.
Los Ingobernables de Japón (Tetsuya Naito and Shingo Takagi) defeated Shota Umino and Hirooki Goto. Takagi pinned Umino with his Pumping Bomber clothesline.
Suzuki-gun (Taichi, Davey Boy Smith Jr. and Minoru Suzuki) beat Los Ingobernables de Japón (Bushi, Evil and Sanada). Taichi made Bushi submit. Sanada and Minoru traded blows and insults. They will meet in the tournament on Sunday.
Tomoaki Honma and Kota Ibushi defeated Suzuki-gun (Taka Michinoku and Zack Sabre Jr.). Ibushi pinned Taka with Kamigoye.
Juice Robinson, Tomohiro Ishii, Colt Cabana, Ryusuke Taguchi) defeated Toa Henare, Yoshi-Hashi, Toru Yano and Hiroshi Tanahashi. Juice pinned Henare with Pulp Friction.
The winner of the New Japan Cup will wrestle IWGP Heavyweight Champion Jay White for the title at the G1 Supercard at Madison Square Garden on April 6th.
