The 2024 New Japan Cup continues today at Korakuen Hall with three opening round matches.
In the main event, David Finlay of Bullet Club War Dogs face TJP of United Empire in a New Japan Cup first round match.
A first round battle between GoD’s Tanga Loa & United Empire’s Great-O-Khan is in today’s semi-main event position.
The winners of today’s main event and semi-main will square off in a second round match on March 12.
In today’s other first round matchup, Tomohiro Ishii of CHAOS faces Bullet Club’s Chase Owens. The Ishii/Owens winner will advance to a second round match against Hirooki Goto on March 12. Goto is one of four wrestlers who received byes into round two.
Five tag team matches fill out today’s undercard, including a Los Ingobernables de Japon vs. Just Five Guys matchup with Tetsuya Naito, Shingo Takagi, Yota Tsuji, Hiromu Takahashi & BUSHI representing LIJ against JFG’s SANADA, Taichi, Yuya Uemura, DOUKI & TAKA Michinoku.
Bishamon (Hirooki Goto & YOSHI-HASHI) & Oleg Boltin defeated Guerrillas Of Destiny (El Phantasmo, Hikuleo & Jado)
Oleg and Hikuleo opened the match with a tease for their upcoming cup match. Oleg held his own before tagging out. Bishamon continued to control the pace after tagging in. To end the match, Goto hit Jado with Shoto.
TMDK (Mikey Nicholls & Zack Sabre Jr.) defeated Togi Makabe & Toru Yano
Makabe opened the match by checking ZSJ. After a double tag, Nicholls gained control over Yano. Once ZSJ tagged in, he continued building on Nicholls’s success. Once Yano escaped, Makabe tagged in to square off against Nicholls. Nicholls went back and forth with Makabe before landing his sliding lariat to win the match for TMDK.
United Empire (Callum Newman, Francesco Akira & Jeff Cobb) defeated BULLET CLUB (Gabe Kidd, Taiji Ishimori & KENTA)
Kidd and Akira opened the match with an electric sequence. Kidd was forced to tag out, but UE maintained their speed against KENTA. BC slowed the match down by attacking UE on the floor. To follow up, BC forced Akira into the corner to slowly pick him apart.
Cobb tagged in but also found himself on the receiving end of BC isolation; a match breakdown followed. After a scramble between teams, Cobb hit Ishimori with Tour of the Islands to win the match.
After the match, the teams continued to brawl with Kidd leading the conflict.
House Of Torture (EVIL, Ren Narita, Jack Perry & Yoshinobu Kanemaru) defeated El Desperado, Shota Umino, Tomoaki Honma & YOH
The worst faction of all time had another bad match; imagine that.
SHO came to the ring with a sling, a neck brace, and a crutch. He then announced he wouldn’t be wrestling tonight due to his physical and emotional from last night. EVIL then announced Jack Perry would be taking his place.
Before the match could begin, Umino rushed to the ring by himself, but HoT beat him down. His partners had to run out from the curtain to back him up. From here on, HoT continued to cheat to maintain their lead.
Eventually, Umino launched a rally, turning things around for the babyfaces. Honma continued what Umino had started until a distracted referee left Narita free to hit him with his pushup bar and the double cross to win the match.
The HoT beatdown continued after the match.
Los Ingobernables de Japon (BUSHI, Hiromu Takahashi, Shingo Takagi, Tetsuya Naito & Yota Tsuji) defeated Just 5 Guys (DOUKI, SANADA, Taichi, TAKA Michinoku & Yuya Uemura)
This match opened with a bit of a mix-up between teams—Taichi squared off with Naito, Hiromu with DOUKI, and SANADA with Shingo. Eventually, Uemura tagged in, taking control for J5G.
Shingo challenged Uemura, leading to a match breakdown. TAKA out wrestled BUSHI, forcing a tag to Tsuji. With the rest of LIJ, Tsuji took control, leading to another match breakdown. Tsuji hit TAKA with Gene Blast to win the match.
New Japan Cup: Chase Owens defeated Tomohiro Ishii
I didn’t love this, but it was a very ambitious match. If you were expecting a Owens match, you’d be delighted to know this is much more in line with what Ishii typically delivers.
Ishii opened the match by dropping Owens with a forearm, carrying him to the floor, and slamming him into the barricade. Owens fought back on the floor, overwhelming Ishii with BC tactics to nearly steal a count-out win. Back in the ring, Owens continued implementing dirty tactics to maintain a lead.
Ishii eventually fired back, hitting Owens with much of his signature offense. Owens held on, responding with a substantial offense of his own. Ishii answered Owens by hitting a suplex and a lariat, resetting the match.
Ishii landed a huge superplex for a nearfall. A giant powerbomb scored Ishii another. Ownes tried fighting back, hitting a C-trigger in the ropes, but Ishii responded with an immediate headbutt. Before Ishii could follow up, Owens hit two more C-triggers for a convincing nearfall. Owens then a Styles Clash for another nearfall.
Now desperate to close, Owens hit a half-and-half suplex and another C-trigger. He tried hoisting Ishii into the package piledriver, but Ishii slipped free. Ishii then hit a sliding lariat and a running headbutt for a nearfall of his own. This led to another back-and-forth, with Owens emerging on top. Owens then hit the package piledriver and pinned Ishii to win the match.
Owens advances to face Hirooki Goto in round two.
New Japan Cup: Tanga Loa defeated Great-O-Khan
This was a horribly boring match.
This match opened with a grappling scramble. O-Khan forced Loa to the floor, where he kind of attacked Loa with a chair. Back in the ring, O-Khan kept up his unimpressive pressure with a variety of uninteresting offense.
After a while on the back foot, Loa fired back with his signature striking. O-Khan answered with more basic wrestling, arm drags, and holds. Once Loa returned to his feet, the pair traded more strikes. Loa won out and attempted a headbutt; he missed.
O-Khan hit an exploder suplex and locked in a choke on the mat. Once the hold was broken, O-Khan tried to follow up but was cut off by a lariat. O-Khan held on, locking in the sheep killer. O-Khan tried for an eliminator, but Loa slipped free. Loa then hit a knee strike and pinned O-Khan to advance.
New Japan Cup: David Finlay defeated TJP
This was a solid match. TJP looks really good. He bumped hard, and his offense was focused.
As the match began, TJP lept to the floor, launching his first offensive sequence of the night. Finlay fired back, using the ring to slow down TJP. Finlay then began picking apart TJP, whipping him in and out of the ring.
TJP fought back, focusing on Finlay’s arm. Soon after, the action spilled back to the floor. TJP continued focusing on the arm before returning to the ring. TJP kept up the pressure, scoring a nearfall before Finlay cut him off with an Irish curse backbreaker.
Finlay’s attack continued with another Irish curse. Finlay then attempted Oblivion, but TJP escaped. Finlay’s follow-up was interrupted by multiple reversals into octopus holds, further damaging the arm. This back and forth continued until Finlay finally landed Oblivion; TJP kicked out.
Finlay tried for another Oblivion, but TJP caught him with a DDT. With Finlay on the back foot, Gedo tried distracting the referee. Before Finlay could use his shillelagh, TJP spat a mouthful of mist into Finlay’s face. TJP then hit a splash for a nearfall.
TJP attempted a DDT, but Finlay powered out, throwing TJP into the corner. Finlay then hit a powerbomb for a nearfall. Finally, Finlay hit overkill, his GTS-esque finish to win the match and advance to the second round.
