The NJPW Cup is underway with the winner getting a chance to challenge champion Kota Ibushi for the IWGP World Heavyweight Championship. The finals of the tournament are on March 21st. Both Evil and Hiroshi Tanahashi received byes into the second round. Evil is the defending NJPW Cup winner and Tanahashi is the current NEVER Openweight Champion. Here is today’s update, minus the extraneous tag team matches that are on every card.
NJPW Cup Night 1
Event Highlights
Evil and Togo pull a sneak attack on Cobb. Courtesy: NJPW.
- Honma and Suzuki throw fists after their tag team match. Suzuki resorts to grabbing a chair but Young Lion Yota Tsuji cuts him off.
- Following Empire’s tag team match, Evil and Dick Togo attacked Jeff Cobb from behind. Togo choked out Cobb with his garrote as Evil stood over him. Will Ospreay and The Great-O-Khan eventually returned from the dressing room to make the save.
Results
Toru Yano versus Bad Luck Fale
Yano escapes being counted out. Fale does not. Courtesy: NJPW.
Fale strikes before Yano can even remove his ring attire. He smashes the KOPW trophy out of Yano’s hands rolling him up. Yano kicks out. Fale tapes Yano’s hands around a steel post hoping he will get counted out. When Yano sidesteps Fale’s charge, Fale hits the steel post. Yano kicks him in the “lower abdomen” for good measure. Yano is able to slide back into the ring to beat the count despite being tied up. Fale is down and out. He doesn’t make it back into the ring.
Winner: Toru Yano
Hirooki Goto versus Taichi
In this war of attrition Goto survives to put out Taichi with two GTRs.
Winner: Hirooki Goto
NJPW Cup Night 2 Results
Event Highlights
- Henare and Jay White have some angry words during their tag team match.
Results
Tomoaki Honma vs Minoru Suzuki
Suzuki mauls Honma. Courtesy: NJPW.
Honma and Suzuki just batter and bruise each other with every strike imaginable. Suzuki pins Honma with the Gotch Style Piledriver to move on.
Winner: Minoru Suzuki
Juice Robinson vs Kenta
Kenta wallops Juice in the head with the ring bell. Naturally, the official doesn’t see a thing. Juice slams Kenta’s head into the timekeeper’s table. Kenta backdrops Juice over the railing and onto the table. Kenta makes Robinson tap to his Game Over submission.
Winner: Kenta
Kazuchika Okada vs Shingo Takagi
Some would say this is a massive upset but Okada has admitted that he has been wrestling with two slipped disks in his back. Shingo slams Okada’s head into the ring apron and then DDTs him on the floor. Okada absorbs a lot of damage but try as he might he cannot pin Shingo. Shingo blocks the Rainmaker Clothesline to pin Okada with Last of the Dragon.
Winner: Shingo Takagi
In Round Two we will now have:
- Evil versus Jeff Cobb
- The Great-O-Khan versus Toru Yano
- Hirooki Goto versus Shingo Takagi
- Minoru Suzuki versus Kenta
