Cero Reviews NJPW New Japan Cup 2019 - 3.20

[cero2k]

NJPW New Japan Cup 2019 Day 9
March 20, 2019
Shizuoka, Japan

Kevin Kelly and Excalibur doing commentary for the end of the tour for the English table.

Yuji Nagata, Manabu Nakanishi, & Yuya Uemura vs TenCozy & Yota Tsuji - 4/10
Tsuji vs Uemura! Kinda wish that Uemura had teamed with TenCozy instead so I could get Uemura vs Nagata, but I'll take it. Match was as good as an old timer's opener gets. Nagata submitted Tsuji with the Nagata Lock.

Bullet Club (Bad Luck Fale, Chase Owens, & Hikuleo) w/Jado vs Juice Robinson, Mikey Nicholls, & Ryusuke Taguchi - 5/10
The thought came to my mind today, I wonder what Taguchi's gimmick will be next year for the Olympics, I hope he changes sport to sport on every show. This was one of those matches were Taguchi got sodomized, tonight at the hands (and stick) of Jado. Aside from that, it was an ok match, the stuff between Juice and Chase was good. Nicholls got the win with the Mikey Bomb over Hikuleo.

Suzuki-Gun (Minoru Suzuki, K.E.S., & Taichi) vs Togi Makabe, Tomoaki Honma, Toru Yano, & Michael Elgin - 5.5/10
Elgin of all people was the babyface in peril for half of the match, but at least it works since we're talking Archer and Smith here. Suzuki and Makabe paired up for a bit. After hitting two Kokeshis and surviving a GSP thanks to Makabe, Honma was pinned by Taichi with the Gedo Clutch.

Kota Ibushi, Hirooki Goto, & Ren Narita vs Los Ingobernables de Japon (Tetsuya Naito, Shingo Takagi, & BUSHI) - 6.5/10
The build up to Ibushi vs Naito's next near death match keeps going. Match saw LIJ work over Goto, then Naito and Ibushi dropped each other on their respective heads, and then Shingo came in and killed Narita with the Pumping Bomber. Good stuff.

Los Ingobernables de Japon (EVIL & SANADA) vs Colt Cabana & Toa Henare - 6.5/10
The preview with Cabana and SANADA was a combo of comedy with the Paradise Lock and some of Cabana's WOS style of work, so it was actually nice, but a big difference coming from SANADA vs Suzuki. Cabana trying to dance to Henare's Kata was great. The stuff that Henare did against both SANADA and EVIL was pretty good. EVIL pinned Henare after a Magic Killer.

I wasn't a fun of how Cabana reacted after the loss, he looked more insulted than mad about losing. Comedy aside, he looked a bit of a geek next to SANADA as he complained.

Suzuki-Gun (Zack Sabre Jr & TAKA Michinoku) vs Hiroshi Tanahashi & Shota Umino - 6.5/10
Match had a lot of Shota Umino in the match as he was babyface in peril and then later on came in to fight off Sabre and get submitted by him for the loss. The stuff between Sabre and Tanahashi was good, but they didn't do that much. Sabre submitting Shota while he eyed Tanahashi right in the eyes was awesome.

New Japan Cup 2019 Quarter Finals Match
"The Stone Pitbull" Tomohiro Ishii vs "Head Hunter" YOSHI-HASHI - 7.5/10
The story of the match is that YH is a fucking dumbass and a wimp. He had the upper hand and decided to piss off Ishii. He showed he had the tools, but he decided he wanted to challenge Ishii with strikes, and when he realized that he lacked the power to strike against Ishii, he ran off like a wimp and locked in a submission instead of ending the battle he instigated. Ishii beat his ass and finished him off with a brainbuster to advance. Good riddance.

New Japan Cup 2019 Quarter Finals Match
"Rainmaker" Kazuchika Okada vs "Sky King" Will Ospreay - 9/10
Pretty good match but I liked their Anniversary Show match more. Story was technically the same with Okada treating Ospreay as the young small kid and realizing that Ospreay can go, except that Okada looked may more dominant this time around.

The match had a ton of awesome looking counters to the Rainmaker and the Stormbreaker. Ospreay also sold his injured ribs a lot, but Okada still worked over the head. Ospreay worked the shoulder, trying to weaken the Rainmaker and set up the Stormbreaker. Okada won with a Rainmaker to advance.

Post-match - Okada cut a promo counting his wins and saying he'll win. Usual stuff. He put Ospreay over.

OVERALL THOUGHTS
Good show. Kinda surreal for what looked like a small show to be headlined by this match. The undercard is now mostly building those matches for the Cup's finals, so they're a bit repetitive.

Ishii vs Okada is the semifinals on this side of the brackets. It's also the final CHAOS vs CHAOS match which kinda became the theme for this side of the tournament.