New Japan wrapped up the New Japan Cup today with the Finals.
Today’s event was held at Aore Nagaoka in Niigata and can be watched on demand on New Japan World. This was also a live ABEMA broadcast in Japan.
The announced paid attendance was 3271, a full house/near sellout.
Pre-show match: Toru Yano & Tomohiro Ishii beat Katsuya Murashima & YOSHI-HASHI. Ishii pinned Murashima.
Match 1: NJPW WORLD TV Champion El Phantasmo beat TBA, which turned out to be TJP, to retain the title. V4 for Phantasmo. Another open challenge. Next up: Great-O-Khan.
Match 2: Hiroshi Tanahashi beat Satoshi Kojima.
Match 3: Chase Owens, Bad Luck Fale & SANADA beat TAKA Michinoku, Taichi & Yuya Uemura. Owens pinned TAKA after a package driver.
Match 4: BUSHI, Hiromu Takahashi & Tetsuya Naito beat Jacob Austin Young, Callum Newman & Jeff Cobb. Takahashi pinned Young with Maximum The Holding 3rd Form. Afterwards, despite the loss, Newman & Cobb made an IWGP Heavyweight Tag Team Championship challenge. Accepted by Takahashi & Naito.
Match 5: Taiji Ishimori, Drilla Moloney & Gabriel Kidd beat Sho, Yujiro Takahashi & Ren Narita. Moloney pinned Sho after Drilla Killer.
Match 6: Shingo Takagi & Yota Tsuji beat Yoshinobu Kanemaru & EVIL. Tsuji pinned Kanemaru after Gene Blaster. Afterwards, EVIL beat down Tsuji to issue an IWGP Global Championship challenge.
Match 7: El Desperado, Boltin Oleg & Hirooki Goto beat Hartley Jackson (Independent/Freelancer), Ryohei Oiwa & Zack Sabre Jr. goto pinned Jackson after GTR.
Main Event: New Japan Cup Finals: David Finlay beat Shota Umino to win the tournament. As a result, Finlay gets the next IWGP World Heavyweight Championship shot against Goto. That match will happen at SAKURA GENESIS on 4/5 at Ryogoku Kokugikan in Tokyo.
The next event is 3/29 at Takaoka Techno Dome in Toyama to start the Road To SAKURA GENESIS tour. There will be no live or on demand broadcast. The only televised event of the tour (4 events) is the finale on 4/4.
UPDATE: The 4/2 event in Yamanashi, the 3rd of the tour, will now be streamed live and on demand on New Japan World. It will be headlined by Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. Shingo Takagi on wha may be Tanahashi’s final Yamanashi appearance before retirement.
Also, the full SAKURA GENESIS card is now official:
Katsuya Murashima vs. Daiki Nagai (pre-show)
Yuya Uemura vs. SANADA
NJPW WORLD TV Champion El Phantasmo vs. Great-O-Khan for the title
Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. Shota Umino
NEVER 6-Man Tag Team Champions Sho, Yujiro Takahashi & Ren Narita vs. Gabriel Kidd, Drilla Moloney & Taiji Ishimori for the titles
NEVER Openweight Champion Konosuke Takeshita vs. Ryohei Oiwa for the title
IWGP Heavyweight Tag Team Champions Hiromu Takahashi & Tetsuya Naito vs. Callum Newman & Jeff Cobb for the titles
IWGP Global Champion Yota Tsuji vs. EVIL for the title
IWGP World Heavyweight Champion Hirooki Goto vs. David Finlay for the title
