NJPW NEW JAPAN CUP 2019 [Quarterfinal Review]: Ace vs. Asshole.

“Monsignor” Travis Moody
@TravMoody

The New Japan Cup is back, and the winner this year faces IWGP Heavyweight Champion Jay White on April 6th in Madison Square Garden. WrestleMania weekend. New York City. Yup, stakes is high.

To peep my recent Second Round coverage, CLICK HERE. Either way, welcome to the NJ Cup 2019‘s Quarterfinal round! That said, there won’t be any reviews for the undercards/build-up mixed tags moving forward.



**NIGHT 10**

SANADA v Colt Cabana – This was decent, as if there were any doubt… Despite lacking the high heat of a bigtime New Japan tournament match, Colt knows how to get the fans into it, and hit some big counters when it mattered, blocking consecutive SANADA attempts to hit his moonsault and dragon sleeper. In fact, Colt escaped SANADA’s finisher 2-3 times and even hit the supreme L-I-J athlete with a hurricarana off the top! Ultimately, SANADA was too much for the vet and put him away with the Skull End. – 2.75/5

Hiroshi Tanahashi v Zack Sabre Jr. – With Tanahashi having an answer to everything Sabre threw at him, this one took a minute to get going; but when it did get going, it got going! For several minutes it was “what Sabre can do, Tana can do stronger.” I love that the layout of the match was different than their Cup match from laat year, too; Tana had answers this time around and didn’t just struggle for 20+ minutes trying to get out of ZSJ’s wrath (more or less how every Sabre Jr. match goes). Just when Sabre slapped on the octopus and was about to put the hurt on Tana for good — with his classic bridging pin and all — the former IWGP champ hit a timely dragon screw and reverse slingblade; this led to a Japanese Leg Roll Clutch for the surprise 3! Sabre gets a taste of his own medicine! While this match didn’t have the most dynamic action, it certainly had great matt-based wrestling and told a great story — a slight step up from the two quarterfinal matches last night. – 4/5

Night 10 Overall = 3.25-3.5/5


**NIGHT 9**

Tomohiro Ishii v YOSHI-HASHI – This was YOSHI-HASHI’s chance to prove himself and he did and — he didn’t. I’ll explain. By having him beat Chase Owens last round, you made the new #1 contender for the IWGP U.S. strap look weaker andddd.. then you have HASHI lose anyway. I know beating Ishii obviously weakens the Semi’s but then maybe — just maybe! — we’ll all take this poor little guy seriously. That said, YOSHI-HASHI had the best match possible with Ishii, packed with false finishes that had me on the edge of my.. bed wondering if Gedo would take that next step. The coolest part of the match was watching Ishii actually miss on his signature spots, only to see the Pitbull gather himself a second time and hit them. After HASHI himself nailed a pair of Ishii’s sig moves (lariat, brainbuster), Tomohiro would ISHII-THE-F-OUT and put his fellow CHAOS member away with the same. Great, yet predictable match. – 3.5-3.75/5


Kazuchika Okada v Will Ospreay – This wasn’t as epic as their previous encounters, but it doesn’t matter — it’s Okada and Ospreay dammit! You don’t need me to tell you how great these guys are and how great they’ve been in the Cup. The other CHAOS duo to have a match last night went in with the more methodical approach. But you could still witness the brilliance in their work even when they were just feeling each other out. Down the stretch we had a number of outstanding finisher reversals; the Rainmaker and Oscutter both saw answers. What really stood out to me, though, was the match length. Despite going as long as the previous match, this one felt shorter. It had the “oh, already?!” feel to it, which can only mean I wanted more. And with Okada winning (duh), oh we’ll see more. 3.75-4/5

Night 9 Overall = 3.75/5

-Travis Moody