NJPW New Japan Cup 2020
Night 1 – Round 1
Event Date: June 16, 2020
aired live on NJPW World
#njcup
City: Tokyo, Japan
Venue: ?
Attendance: empty arena
Series: New Japan Cup 2020
Commentary (Japanese): Milano Collection AT, Miki Motoi, Hiroki Mikami (1, 3), Yohei Onishi (2, 5), Koki Yamazaki (4)
Ring Announcer: Makoto Abe
Video
A brief look at this year’s New Japan Cup featuring heavyweights, juniors, and young lions battling for a shot at Tetsuya Naito’s double championship.
Ring Area
Makoto Abe is in the ring, and he announces tonight’s matches.
Match 1
New Japan Cup First Round Match
Yota Tsuji vs Togi Makabe
(referee: Kenta Sato)
Result: Togi Makabe wins via pinfall with a bridging German suplex
Time: 8:41
Match Thoughts
Good match. Tsuji started by quickly attacking Makabe, and that plan worked for Tsuji for a while. Makabe started hitting back very hard though, so Tsuji had to push through the pain. Makabe started to dominate the match, but Makabe still came through with some nice bursts of offense and a few pin attempts late in the match. The finish was no surprise, but it was still a good match.
Match 2
New Japan Cup First Round Match
Jado w/ Gedo, Yujiro Takahashi vs Toru Yano
(referee: Kenta Sato)
Result: Toru Yano wins via pinfall with a low blow and a schoolboy
Time: 9:07
Match Thoughts
This was fun. As expected, it was more of a comedy match than a wrestling match. It was also practically a handicap match with Yano versus Yano, Takahashi, and Gedo. Pretty much whenever Yano would get an advantage (which was often), there would be a distraction at ringside and the other member of Bullet Club would attack Yano. The match stayed light-hearted throughout though, and I enjoyed it.
Match 3
Yoshinobu Kanemaru & Minoru Suzuki & Zack Sabre Jr. & Taichi vs Yuya Uemura & Yuji Nagata & Kota Ibushi (IWGP Tag Champ) & Hiroshi Tanahashi (IWGP Tag Champ)
(referee: Marty Asami)
Result: Minoru Suzuki pins Yuya Uemura after a Gotch-style piledriver
Time: 13:27
Match Thoughts
Very good match. Nearly right from the start, Taichi and ZSJ focused on trying to injure Tanahashi’s leg. The rest of Suzuki Gun joined in on the attack, and Tanahashi was in a bad way. Not only does hurting Tanahashi give Taichi an advantage in the first round of the New Japan Cup, but it also further sets up an eventual IWGP Tag Title match between Tanahashi and Ibushi versus Taichi and ZSJ. Tanahashi was able to tag out of the match, and we then got to see good segments with Ibushi versus ZSJ, Suzuki versus Nagata, and Suzuki versus Uemura. I particularly enjoyed seeing Nagata and Suzuki repeatedly smash each other with forearms in the center of the ring.
Ring Area
After the match, Suzuki Gun continues to attack their opponents. After Suzuki Gun decides they’ve had enough, they leave. Everyone left in the ring area struggles to get to their feet. When Ibushi gets up, he runs to the back after Suzuki Gun.
Video
Way to the Grand Master is coming.
Ring Area
The commentators talk while the ring is sanitized during a brief intermission.
Match 4
New Japan Cup First Round Match
Hiromu Takahashi (IWGP Jr. Heavyweight Champ) vs Tomoaki Homna
(referee: Marty Asami)
Result: Hiromu Takahashi wins via pinfall after the Time Bomb
Time: 18:45
Match Thoughts
Very good match! Takahashi likes to fight, and it often seems like he likes to get hit, so Honma was more than willing to give Takahashi lots of what he likes. Takahashi had a hard time dealing with Honma’s strength and strikes, but Takahashi’s speed and willingness to take big risks to hit big moves started to pay off more and more as the match went on. This went longer than I really expected it to, and I enjoyed it more than I thought I would.
Match 5
New Japan Cup First Round Match
El Desperado vs Tomohiro Ishii
(referee: Red Shoes Unno)
Result: Tomohiro Ishii wins via pinfall after a brainbuster
Time: 20:17
Match Thoughts
Great match. El Desperado gave Ishii a better fight than I expected. For large segments of the match, El Desperado was in control, and he really worked on Ishii’s legs. That put Ishii at a disadvantage early in the match. Ishii was able to absorb punishment and keep going though, and his strength allowed him to shut down a good amount of El Despeardo’s more agile moves. When it came to trading strikes, Ishii had the ultimate advantage, but El Desperado didn’t do bad. He pushed Ishii in this match, and it was fun to watch.
Show Impressions
This was a good first show of the New Japan Cup. I think there will be better shows and matches to come (night three looks particularly interesting to me), but this was a very good way to start things off.
Match of the Night
El Desperado vs Tomohiro Ishii
Like all the matches tonight, there was no big surprise here, It was just a solid match.
Official Results (Japanese): https://www.njpw.co.jp/tornament/248162?showResult=1