NJPW New Japan Cup 2020
Night 6 – Round 2
Event Date: July 1, 2020 (19:00 JST)
aired live on NJPW World
#njcup
City: Bunkyo, Tokyo, Japan
Venue: Korakuen Hall
Attendance: empty arena
Series: New Japan Cup 2020
Commentary (English, recorded remotely): Kevin Kelly
Commentary (Japanese): Milano Collection AT, Kazuo Yamazaki, Kazuki Kusanagi (1, 3), Shinji Yoshino (2, 4), Yuichi Tabata (5), Togi Makabe
Ring Announcer: Kimihiko Ozaki (1 – 2), Makoto Abe (3 – 5)
Video
A brief look at this year’s New Japan Cup featuring heavyweights, juniors, and young lions.
Ring Area
Kimihiko Ozaki is in the ring, and he announces tonight’s matches.
Match 1
New Japan Cup Second Round Match
BUSHI (NEVER 6-Man Tag Champ) vs YOSHI-HASHI
(referee: Kenta Sato)
Result: YOSHI-HASHI wins via pinfall after Karma
Time: 10:22
Match Thoughts
Pretty good match. This wasn’t as good as either man’s match in the first round though. Part of the problem was that YOSHI-HASHI fell weirdly when he took a kick from BUSHI early in the match, and it seemed like YOSHI-HASHI twisted his knee. It didn’t seem too bad at first, but the injury got worse as the match went on. So effectively, YOSHI-HASHI was hobbled worse and worse as the match went on, and that slowed things down considerably. BUSHI never capitalized on the injury, and that makes me think YOSHI-HASHI was really hurt. Hopefully it’s not anything too bad.
Match 2
New Japan Cup Second Round Match
SANADA vs SHO (IWGP Jr. Tag Champ)
(referee: Kenta Sato)
Result: SANADA wins via submission with Skull End
Time: 14:43
Match Thoughts
Very good match. SHO started strong, and he tended to dominate large portions of this match. SANADA seemed to be a few steps behind tonight, but he did just enough to stay in the match. Then in the later stages, SANADA started to repeatedly go for his Skull End dragon sleeper. He was relentless in his submission attempts, so even though SHO did well to fight them off, the multiple times he had to escape started to catch up to him. By the end of the match, SHO seemed to be the desperate one, and he needed to find one more big move to put SANADA away before he applied Skull End again.
Match 3
Yota Tsuji & Toru Yano & Tomohiro Ishii vs Hiromu Takahashi (IWGP Jr. Heavyweight Champ) & Shingo Takagi (NEVER 6-Man & Openweight Champ) & Tetsuya Naito (IWGP IC & Heavyweight Champ)
(referee: Marty Asami)
Result: Hiromu Takahashi submits Yota Tsuji with a Boston crab
Time: 13:06
Match Thoughts
Good match. Takahashi wanted to start against Ishii (since they’ll be facing each other in the next round of the New Japan Cup), but he’d have to wait a while. Instead, Yano started against Takahashi. Even though Takahashi isn’t as scared of Yano as he was before their match last week, Yano still managed to freak Takahashi out enough for him to tag out. From there, everyone kind of took turns in the ring until Takahashi and Ishii ended up together. They gave us a good preview for their match, then Tsuji came in to finish against Takahashi. This was a solid match with some good previews. I liked it.
Video
Way to the Grand Master… coming soon.
Ring Area
The commentators talk as the ring is sanitized during a brief intermission.
Match 4
New Japan Cup Second Round Match
Taichi w/ Zack Sabre Jr. vs Kota Ibushi (IWGP Tag Champ) w/ Hiroshi Tanahashi (IWGP Tag Champ)
(referee: Marty Asami)
Result: Taichi wins via pinfall after Black Mephisto (and a shot with the iron fingers)
Time: 18:08
Match Thoughts
Great match. The first part of the match was dominated by a lot of interference from ZSJ and Tanahashi as well as some ringside brawling. As expected, there was a lot of cheating and attempted cheating from Taichi and ZSJ, but later in the match Taichi actually tried to match strikes with Ibushi. This was after Ibushi was already fed up with Taichi’s antics, so Taichi had a difficult time with Ibishi’s kicks. Even so, Taichi got a few good shots in, and the damage he did there helped him later on when he went back to distractions and cheating. It was a nice mix from Taichi. Ibushi was still fighting pretty angry like he did in his last New Japan Cup match, and that might have hurt him a little. Suzuki Gun has gotten under his skin, and that can cause Ibushi to make mistakes. It also makes him hit people really hard though, so there’s a balance in there somewhere.
Match 5
New Japan Cup Second Round Match
EVIL (NEVER 6-Man Champ) vs Hirooki Goto
(referee: Red Shoes Unno)
Result: EVIL wins via pinfall after EVIL (and a low blow)
Time: 18:25
Match Thoughts
Very good match. This was hard-hitting right from the start. EVIL didn’t want to start the fight, so he met Goto at ringside before the match and started thing off with a brawl. EVIL had a game plan, and that game plan involved hitting Goto very hard many times and cheating whenever the opportunity presented itself. Goto wouldn’t go down easily though, so this was a nice strong-style match between two big and powerful guys. I’m happy with the finish, and I was a little surprised by it too. I probably shouldn’t have been surprised, but the way it happened did stand out.
Show Impressions
This was a good show. Most of the matches were strong, and I’m definitely looking forward to seeing what happens next. The finals will be here quickly now that the first two round are complete.
Match of the Night
Taichi vs Kota Ibushi
This and the SANADA/SHO match were may favorites tonight. They’re pretty much tied, but the Taichi/Ibushi match stood out just a little more.
Official Results (Japanese): https://www.njpw.co.jp/tornament/248167?showResult=1