New Japan ran the penultimate day of the New Japan Cup today with the Semifinals, which would set up a very unlikely Finals regardless of the matchup.
Today’s event was held at G Messe Gunma in Gunma and can be watched on demand on New Japan World.
The announced paid attendance was 1396.
Match 1; Oskar Leube & Shota Umino beat Kosei Fujita & Zack Sabre Jr. Umino beat Fujita with STF.
Match 2: El Phantasmo, Chase Owens & KENTA beat Ryohei Oiwa, Toru Yano & Tomohiro Ishii. Phantasmo pinned Oiwa.
Match 3: Dick Togo, Sho, Yujiro Takahashi & RVIL beat Ryusuke Taguchi, Ren Narita, El Desperado & Minoru Suzuki. Sho pinned Taguchi.
Match 4: Jeff Cobb & Kyle Fletcher beat Tomoaki Honma & YOSHI-HASHI. Cobb pinned Honma after Tour of the Islands.
Match 5: Aaron Henare & Great-O-Khan beat BUSHI & Shingo Takagi. Henare beat BUSHI with Ultima. Afterwards, Henare made a KOPW 2023 Title challenge to Takagi.
Match 6: Hiromu Takahashi & Tetsuya Naito beat Lio Rush & Yoh. Naito pinned Yoh after Destino.
Match 7: New Japan Cup Semifinals: David Finlay beat Mark Davis.
Main Event: New Japan Cup Semifinals: SANADA beat Tama Tonga.
As a result, the Finals will be Finlay vs. SANADA with the winner facing IWGP World Heavyweight Champion Kazuchika Okada for the title at SAKURA GENESIS on 4/8.
The Final is Tuesday at Aore Nagaoka in Niigata. Also set for the event is IWGP Jr. Heavyweight Champion Hiromu Takahashi vs. Lio Rush for the title. Live streaming on New Japan World will begin at 1 AM PT/4 AM ET.
