NJPW New Japan Cup night two live results: ELP vs. Oleg Boltin, Taichi vs. Narita
New Japan Pro Wrestling presents the second night of New Japan Cup action today at Korakuen Hall.
Only the two tournament matches were announced ahead of time.
In the semi-main event, Taichi will face House of Torture’s Ren Narita. The winner advances to meet Satoshi Kojima in the second round on March 12.
In the main event, Boltin Oleg will face El Phantasmo. The winner advances to face HENARE in the second round, also on March 12.
Oleg is coming off winning the NJPW Strong Openweight Championship by defeating Tomohiro Ishii at NJPW The New Beginning USA on February 27 in Trenton, New Jersey. Meanwhile, ELP dropped the NJPW World Television Championship to Konosuke Takeshita on that same show in a match that was restarted after initially going to a time-limit draw.
Narita goes into the bout three weeks after defeating Aaron Wolf for the NEVER Openweight Championship at The New Beginning in Osaka on February 11.
Our live coverage begins at 6:30 p.m. JST.
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Pre-show
Masatora Yasuda defeated Taisei Nakahara
Yasuda largely stayed in control of Nakahara’s left arm and left leg. Eventually, he had enough and stomped at his prey, who had to will himself up for two dropkicks. Nakahara turned his luck around with a bodyslam and a Boston Crab. Yasuda returned fire with a high drop kick. He then tapped Nakahara out with a Boston Crab.
Not too bad from Nakahara. He’s putting together a believable fighting spirit. Seeing how far Yasuda has come, it’s interesting to see where both of these men are at this point.
Main Card
Aaron Wolf, Toru Yano, Shota Umino, & Master Wato defeated House of Torture (DOUKI, Yoshinobu Kanemaru, Yujiro Takahashi, & Chase Owens)
As is routine, House of Torture swarmed their opponents. An incensed Wolf dismantled DOUKI, Kanemaru, and Owens and then yelled, setting up Takahashi to strike. Wolf’s arm drag would then dispatch Takahashi. Before he could strip bare a turnbuckle pad, Yano soon met the barricade and the ring post as Takahashi had the honor of removing the pad for him in the meantime.
Kanemaru and DOUKI propelled Yano into the exposed corner’s steel. Umino ran like wildfire to exhaust Owens’s partners. Owens took that chance to unleash a backbreaker. DOUKI focused on Wato’s weak left knee, which Kanemaru all too happily took advantage of in a figure four leglock. Chaos erupted as both teams charged one another. Wato and Kanemaru dizzied each other as they bartered pin attempts, until the former snuck in a Vendaval, which submitted Kanemaru via tap out.
A strong House of Torture comeuppance to start the show. I’ve noticed that Wolf’s performances are still quite strong and tight. Wato rocked this match, for sure, as did DOUKI.
Unbound Co. (Shingo Takagi & Gedo) defeated House of Torture (Don Fale & Dick Togo)
Fale and Togo zeroed in on their foes before the bell, with Gedo suffocated and Takagi quickly rejecting Fale. Togo worked over Gedo’s arm, leaving him vulnerable for the immeasurable Fale to squish beneath his weight. Gedo outsmarted the House of Torture, baiting Fale to charge into Togo accidentally. Takagi barged in to remove Fale from the equation momentarily so he could rock Togo with a sliding lariat. Tying Togo’s arms behind his back, Takagi tapped him out for the win.
That match seemingly flew by. Another House of Torture loss and in such dominant fashion, too. Takagi’s hot tag got the adrenaline flowing.
United Empire (HENARE, Jake Lee, & Jakob Austin Young) defeated Bishamon (Hirooki Goto & YOSHI-HASHI) & Tatsuya Matsumoto
Lee teased YOSHI-HASHI outside, who ignored the legal Young. This was a ruse to ambush YOSHI-HASHI, which Goto and Matsumoto cleared. Young sent Matsumoto into the ropes, where Lee gouged his eyes. Lee bodyslammed Matsumoto and adorned his rubber glove to harass the Young Lion’s gums. HENARE was more to the point, annihilating Matsumoto with chops and elbows, seasoned with a couple of sentons. Matsumoto rolled away from a third to deliver a dropkick to make way for a desperate Goto tag. Goto smashed HENARE’s head into his knee. Lee and HENARE plucked at Goto.
Matsumoto defied Young, pulling through a dropkick and Boston Crab. Lee interevened and ate a dropkick as punishment. Young wrapped Matsumoto’s legs in his own in an Imperial Stretch to secure the victory.
Matsumoto came off strong here. He and Goto were undoubtedly the most entertaining part of this match.
Unbound Co. (OSKAR & Drilla Moloney) defeated United Empire (Callum Newman & Zane Jay)
As was the case the night before, Jay was annoyed at his music being that of a Young Lion’s, and he threatened the sound production with a steel chair.
Newman ragebaited OSKAR and rose from the stands with Jay, wielding a steel chair. Moloney caught them so that OSKAR could chop Newman’s chest like firewood. Meanwhile, Moloney dragged Jay down the stairs. OSKAR reintroduced Newman into an ocean of chairs after surviving Moloney’s attempt to do so.
The match officially began once OSKAR brought Newman into the ring. Newman toppled the giant, working over the knees. Jay dropkicked OSKAR into Moloney, giving him an edge. OSKAR overcame his knee pain to boot Newman out of the equation, but Jay quickly capitalized on the weak knee with well-placed kicks. OSKAR recovered with enough gusto to destroy Jay with a Double Chokebomb.
OSKAR’s shining on his own, as is Jay. Having followed Jay during his time on the NJPW Strong shows in America as a babyface, he’s found his identity beyond being an indie rookie and Young Lion. There’s an identity forming as he’s still putting the pieces together.
TMDK (Zack Sabre Jr., Hartley Jackson, Kosei Fujita, Robbie Eagles, & Ryohei Oiwa) defeated Unbound Co. (Yota Tsuji, Robbie X, Yuto-Ice, Taiji Ishimori, & Daiki Nagai)
Ishimori and Fujita wrestled to a standstill. X and Eagles measured the crowd to see which was the best Robbie before the former had enough, coordinating with Fujita to slam onto Eagles’s midsection. Nagai swiftly found himself in the throes of TMDK’s focused assault, punctuated by Jackson crushing him with a Splash. All five TMDK members pressed their boots on the youngster in the corner. After enough abuse, Ice barreled in, dispatching multiple members of TMDK so he could clash with Oiwa.
Oiwa landed a comeback via senton, succeeded by a dropkick. Tsuji and Jackson had a meaty affair, leading to a High Cross courtesy of the girthy latter. Carnage ensued with everyone trading signature moves and finishers. Tsuji swung Sabre into a backbreaker. Sabre hoped to pursue the newly legal Nagai, but the unrelenting youth rocked him with a brainbuster. Nagai locked his opponent in an Anaconda Vice, which transitioned in favor of Sabre’s Octopus Stretch. Wrapping Nagai’s legs and neck, Sabre tapped him out to finish the match.
Wow. What a 10-man tag. Everyone came off a star here, but especially—ESPECIALLY—Daiki Nagai and Hartley Jackson. Big moments during their respective spots. I selfishly want this to be Jackson’s year, and I’m seeing huge upside to Nagai. Korakuen Hall became unglued for him. I strongly recommend this match.
New Japan Cup
Oleg Boltin defeated El Phantasmo
Phantasmo cleared Boltin over the guardrail. Boltin put distance between himself and Phantasmo, charging from the barricade to mow the Canadian over. A Boltin Splash crushed Phantasmo’s abdomen, paving the way for a vertical suplex. Phantasmo dragged Boltin to the ring post, smashing his legs against it. A Boltin Shake threatened to scramble Phantasmo’s noggin, and yet he countered with a hurricanrana. He attempted another hurricanrana, which Boltin transitioned into a Verdict.
A successful Boltin Shake ensued, but his worn knee gave out, rejecting any capitalizing. Phantasmo rocked him with a Swinging DDT. Shoulder-tackling the back of Boltin’s knee, Phantasmo sank in a deep half-Boston Crab. A tense 20-count came off the heels of Phantasmo’s top rope moonsault to Boltin outside, with both men surviving. Boltin boomed back into a comeback via a Kamikaze. The pair collided in a lariat that only Phantasmo survived, and he followed through with a CR2. Phantasmo hammered Boltin’s neck with his elbow, yet that couldn’t stop the Kazakh competitor from devastating him with a top rope Kamikaze.
Oleg Boltin is by far one of NJPW’s top talents that they’re not fully behind—yet. Not just in terms of strength and energy, but also in terms of selling. That knee was so dramatic that it felt like Phantasmo might actually overcome him. The fact that it took a Herculean effort of a top rope Kamikaze to put him away left both men looking strong.
Ren Narita defeated Taichi
House of Torture predictably assaulted Taichi and Ryusuke Taguchi en route to the ring. Narita brawled with Taichi close to the crowd, swinging steel chairs on his carcass once he was down. Taichi absorbed enough elbows to surprise Narita with a dropkick. Referee Red Shoes Unno tried to dissuade Taichi from procuring a chair, only to be shoved aside. Narita skedaddled so that Yujiro Takahashi could whallop him. He returned to tether Taichi’s leg to the steel guardrail and brandish a chair at it.
Taichi returned fire with jabs to Narita’s neck, and despite his softened knee, he continued to unleash chops. Narita changed focus to Taichi’s arm, ironically, being the very tool to elbow his jaw. Taguchi reappeared, taking House of Torture out of the picture for the time being. Taichi writhed in his knee-born misery in the wake of his outstanding superplex. Korakuen Hall erupted after a Vertical Drop, meeting with boos after a House of Torture invasion. A sizable crop of Taichi’s allies emerged from the locker room to part the sea of villains. Taichi ducked Narita’s board to rock him with an Axe Bomber. A Dangerous Backdrop would have elicited a victory, had it not been for SHO ringing the bell. Yoshinobu Kanemaru sprayed mist on Red Shoes’s face, begging Taichi to get up and rock Narita with his whiskey bottle. It was a ruse, however, as he and Narita blasted Taichi with the board from earlier. Nariata precariously perched himself on the top rope, vanquishing Taichi with a Hell’s Guillotine.
Taichi is by far one of the best stalwarts in NJPW’s employ, and he brought out hope from the audience for that very reason. I can’t even be mad at that Kanemaru spot, as that moved me before making me legitimately angry. Not a bad main event, House of Torture shenanigans aside.
Final Thoughts
If you like House of Torture comeuppance, the early card will be up your alley. Despite the rocky booking surrounding him, Aaron Wolf continues to justify his placement on the roster with excellent in-ring work. Hirooki Goto, a year post-IWGP World Heavyweight Championship, still fills me with hope. Considering David Finlay’s roster debut on AEW Dynamite on March 4, the picture of Unbound Co. looks all the more clear.
The top matches I would recommend as required viewing would be the TMDK and Unbound Co. 10-man tag for its sheer drama and action. Hartley Jackson showed glimpses of what a main title picture with him would look like, and I want that. I need that. Daiki Nagai’s later stretch with Zack Sabre Jr. similarly evoked potential greatness in the young star.
As for the New Japan Cup matches themselves, Oleg Boltin’s amazing ability to sell on top of his powerhouse feel already places him as a favorite of mine. Though Taichi didn’t get the win, his loss gives a reason to want to see Ren Narita thwarted.
Overall, night two overshadowed night one on this year’s New Japan Cup.
Corey Michaels covers the play-by-play action of events hosted by New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW). Referenced by content creators and Wikipedia articles, he adds his prosaic voice with authority to the F4W/WON audience.
A content writer and wrestling fan, Corey has woven the stories of our great sport into literature. He cuts to the emotional core of characters, rivalries, and angles.