New Japan ran Day 3 of the New Japan Cup today, finishing up Round 1 and filling out the 16 participants in Round 2.
Today’s event was held at Ainesse Yamanashi in Yamanashi and can be watched on demand on New Japan World.
The announced paid attendance was 710.
Match 1: Sho & Yujiro Takahashi beat Kosei Fujita & Zack Sabre Jr. Sho pinned Fujita after a cross arm piledriver.
Match 2: Yoshinobu Kanemaru & Taichi beat Dick Togo & EVIL. Kanemaru pinned Togo with a rollup.
Match 3: El Phantasmo, Chase Owens, KENTA & David Finlay beat Ryusuke Taguchi, Ren Narita, El Desperado & Minoru Suzuki. Finlay pinned Taguchi after Trash Panda.
Match 4: Great-O-Khan, Jeff Cobb, Mark Davis & Will Ospreay beat Tomoaki Honma, Toru Yano, Tomohiro Ishii & Hirooki Goto. Cobb pinned Honma after Tour of the Islands.
Match 5: Lio Rush, Yoh, Shota Umino & Tama Tonga beat BUSHI, Hiromu Takahashi, SANADA & Tetsuya Naito. Umino beat BUSHI with STF.
Match 6: New Japan Cup Round 1: Kyle Fletcher beat YOSHI-HASHI. As a result, Fletcher advances to Round 2 and will face Hirooki Goto.
Main Event: New Japan Cup Round 1: Aaron Henare beat Shingo Takagi. As a result, Henare advances to Round 2 and will face Tama Tonga. UPSET ALERT!!! Could Henare be this year’s David Finlay?
Round 2 of the Cup is now set. Interesting statistic: 12 of the 16 cumulatively represent one of Bullet Club, LIJ or United Empire. And half of that is just United Empire as all 6 members are in Round 2. But all can’t advance further as Mark Davis faces Will Ospreay next. The winner then could get Cobb in the Quarterfinals.
Round 2 begins tomorrow at Aichi Prefectural Gym in Nagoya with Tetsuya Naito vs. Chase Owens and SANADA vs. KENTA. The winners meet in the Quarterfinals so it could be all Bullet Club of all LIJ. Or Bullet Club vs. LIJ again! Live streaming on New Japan World will begin at 3 AM ET/midnight PT.
In other news, the next round of TAMASHII events has been announced for 4/14-4/16 in Australia. 4/14 will be the debut event in Adelaide, 4/15 will be the Sydney return, 4/16 will be the Melbourne return. Additionally, a 5/21 US event, RESURGENCE, has been announced for Long Beach, CA. That will be a STRONG LIVE event and should be a PPV on FITE.
