Cero Reviews NJPW New Japan Cup 2022, 3.26

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Cero Reviews NJPW New Japan Cup 2022, 3.26

Post by cero2k » Mar 29th, '22, 10:47

NJPW New Japan Cup 2022, Day 14
March 26, 2022
Osaka-Jo Hall, Osaka, Japan

Guerrillas Of Destiny (Tama Tonga & Tanga Loa), Six Or Nine (Master Wato & Ryusuke Taguchi) & Hiroshi Tanahashi (w/Jado) vs. BULLET CLUB (Bad Luck Fale, Chase Owens, El Phantasmo, Gedo & Taiji Ishimori) - 5.5/10
We're getting Tanahashi join the fight this time around, and that's likely the only reason why the home group got themselves the upper hand against the Bullet Club, even if they took another loss. The wrestling was still the usual, Wato got isolated, hot tag, and while it usually leads to Gedo pinning Jado, this time it was Jado getting his hands on Gedo's brass knucks, which he used for the DQ loss, but at least he got to beat up Gedo for a bit.

CHAOS (Tomohiro Ishii & Toru Yano) & Togi Makabe vs. Suzuki-gun (Minoru Suzuki, Taichi & Yoshinobu Kanemaru) - 6/10
Good stuff, we got some good Ishii versus Suzuki, and Suzuki versus Makabe, but we also had a lot of fun stuff between Yano and Kanemaru using whisky. Yano pinned Kanemaru after blocking the whisky mist and directing it towards Taichi instead.

Post-match - Taichi was completely drunk from intaking so much of the whisky. Had to be helped to the back.

Suzuki-gun (DOUKI, El Desperado & TAKA Michinoku) vs. House Of Torture (EVIL, SHO & Yujiro Takahashi) (w/Dick Togo) - 5.5/10
Ok stuff. DOUKI was the babyface in peril and took most of the match until Despy and SHO did their thing. EVIL pinned TAKA for the win.

Hirooki Goto, Tiger Mask & Tomoaki Honma vs. STRONGHEARTS (CIMA, El Lindaman & T-Hawk) (w/Issei Onitsuka) - 6.5/10
I wasn't a huge fan of this, but at least STRONGHEARTS got the win at the end. The way the match was playing out, saw Honma and Mask get way too much offense over Lindaman and T-Hawk, who we all know are leaps and bounds better than those two. I did enjoy the wrestling, just thought that STRONGHEARTS should get a more equal standing like CIMA. At the end, T-Hawk did get the win over Mask with the Night Ride.

CHAOS (YOH & YOSHI-HASHI) vs. United Empire (Great-O-Khan & Jeff Cobb) - 6.5/10
Good stuff, but the balance of levels did feel a bit skewed. YH and YOH did get some offense, but Cobb and O-Khan just looked way too dominant. We did get a lot of good wrestling, I really enjoyed the latter minutes with YOH and O-Khan until the latter for the win with an Eliminator.

Los Ingobernables de Japon (BUSHI & Hiromu Takahashi) vs. United Empire (Aaron Henare & Will Ospreay) - 7/10
Prior to the match starting, Ospreay took the mic and argued that he didn't tap out to Sabre he wanted a rematch with Sabre immediately instead of the tag, but before he could go on, Hiromu just started the match. The match was great, we got some Hiromu versus Ospreay, which has always been awesome, but we also got BUSHI and Henare there as great supporting acts. Henare pinned BUSHI with the Streets of Rage.

Post-match - EVIL walked out and laid out Hiromu.

New Japan Cup 2022 Semi Final Match
Shingo Takagi vs. Zack Sabre Jr. - 9/10
Awesome match, these two have a strong chemistry together because they're both 'give zero fucks' guys that focus on their game. Takagi just wants to take your head off and Sabre just wants to torture your limbs, the fun stuff is that Sabre is a hot head that can easily be goaded into someone else's style, which he may or may not be proficient in. The finish of the match was also quite unique for what we usually get with New Japan, with Sabre locking in a basic Sleeper and keeping it until he straight up choked out Shingo.

New Japan Cup 2022 Semi Final Match
Tetsuya Naito vs. Kazuchika Okada - 9/10
They had an abridged version of their big title matches. Both men worked each other's heads until the back and forth race for the big signature move. The big difference is that Okada right now is on a God Mode playthrough and not even Destino can put him down, but what did was Naito relying on getting a quick pin on him with a roll up and Okada not reacting quick enough with the kick out.

Post-match - Naito called out Sabre, but Sabre wasn't dumb enough to get in a fight with him. He just stood at the ramp and told him that he'd see him tomorrow.

OVERALL THOUGHTS
Good show, most of the undercard was the same stuff we've watched for a while now, but the latter parts had good wrestling and some little angles here and there, hinting of the direction towards Hyper Battle.
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