Written by: Super Mastodon (@SuperMastodon)
After 110 days, New Japan Pro Wrestling is finally back! The promotion officially returned on June 15, 2020 with their Together Special Project show. The card was filled with multi-men tags, most of which are previews for this year’s New Japan Cup which they decided to resume only with different competitors to fill in for the replaced ones (mainly gaijins) due to travel issues on recent events. As we can remember, before everything went on lockdown in Japan, the tournament was supposed to take place three months ago but was postponed. Now it’s back, only without crowds right now, but I’m just glad overall NJPW and their wrestlers are performing again! Days 1 and 2 of the First Round are now on the history books so let’s see how they did.
Day 1 – Round 1
Date: June 16, 2020
Togi Makabe def. Yota Tsuji
Match Time: 8:41
Surprisingly I thought this match was actually pretty decent. A battle of the hosses, more strike-based action which is good. My critique on Tsuji last year during his Young Lions Cup performance was that he didn’t have too much emphasis on strikes, especially his chops which looked weak in comparison to others like Shota Umino or Karl Fredericks. Props to him though because he has improve immensely on that department and his whole moveset in general looks extra crisp than last year. The original match up for this was between Jeff Cobb and Makabe, but while I think that’s an interesting bout on paper, I thought this was an improvement because at this point of Makabe’s career he needs someone like a Tsuji who serves as a “punching bag” if you will for his offense. The former World Champion actually put on a good showing here to his credit, there were some close calls but he got the win in the end with a German Suplex pin. Not a bad way to start the tournament if I do say so myself.
Toru Yano def. Jado
Match Time: 9:07
This match…. Oh goodness. I tweeted out as a joke that with all due respect to Edge and Randy Orton, we’re going to witness the true greatest wrestling match of all time between Yano and Jado. I would like to take my time to apologize now to those two because this match was bad. Like really bad. I thought going into this we’re just gonna have a short at maximum three minute match filled with shenanigans. But no, those nine minutes felt like 15. Jado could barely walk at this point due to history of injuries, let alone execute a proper wrestling move. The man was clearly not enjoying his time there, Yujiro Takahashi was the one doing the bumping with his interferences, Gedo was there too. What a mess this was. Yano’s style could not carry Jado into a good match, but even I think someone like Okada or Ibushi could even get a passable match out of Jado at this point, his joints are not built for in-ring action anymore. Don’t get me wrong, I know Jado could go in his prime, after all the text on the back of his shirt says “30 Years in the Biz” but that’s exactly the reason why he can’t go anymore, three decades worth of bumps have taken a toll on his body, this felt like a chore to watch. Not even the supposedly “funny bits” saved it, this has negative stars written all over it. The match mercifully ended with a low blow from Yano leading to a classic sneaky pin.
Hiromu Takahashi def. Tomoaki Honma
Match Time: 18:45
Honestly I thought we’re going to get a back-to-back mediocre matches but this one blew off all of my bad expectations and it actually turned out pretty good with all circumstances involved. For those who don’t know, two years ago Tomoaki Honma suffered what pretty much was a career-ending neck injury and has been on the shelf for an entire year, it’s a miracle that he’s even walking at this point. Ironically his opponent for this match also suffered a neck injury. He’s been back in the ring since last year but it is visible that the injury took a lot from his style because his movement has become very limited, however to his credit and Hiromu as well, this was without a doubt the best match of Honma ever since returning from the injury. It’s night and day in comparison to his last year NJ Cup match against Chase Owens. The beginning was a bit slow paced as expected, kind of boring if I do say so myself. But as they continued, they picked up on a much faster pace (at least by Honma’s standards) and he played the underdog so well against Hiromu. What I like the story they’re conveying is that despite Hiromu being the much younger and athletic of the two, Honma is still a veteran of the sport and has years of experience in his catalogue so he wasn’t an easy defeat for the reigning IWGP Jr. Heavyweight Champion. There was one spot in the ring apron where I really cringed so hard that they even did it, Hiromu hitting what looked like a variation of a suplex onto Honma and I knew he was dropped safe but knowing what’s happened before, it really added to the tension. There was even a point in the match where Honma teased a Kokeshi from the top rope onto the outside, don’t get too crazy now. This turned out to be more competitive than I ever thought, while Hiromu deserves credit for bringing out the best in Honma, the latter needs to have his own praises to for putting in a lot of effort despite his limitations in the ring. Hiromu hits the Time Bomb to get the win and advances to the next round (he’s actually my pick to win the whole thing, so let’s go!)
Tomohiro Ishii def. El Desperado
Match Time: 20:17
Speaking of competitive matches, boy was this ever. When the brackets were revealed, this was one of the matches that intrigued me the most because this is a first time singles encounter between the two and I was interested to see how their styles would mesh with one another. Turned out pretty damn good, Desperado primarily worked on Ishii’s leg throughout the whole match, while there were some strike exchanges, this one was more mat-based style which is a nice different set of pace for Ishii, it’s nice to see the technical side of the Stone Pitbull. There was a spot in the beginning where Desperado teased Ishii’s height, how small he is and all that, in my head I heard the famous words “it was at this moment he knew, he fucked up.” I like the story they told where Ishii obviously has the advantage when it comes to strength, but Desperado being a Suzuki-Gun member, is the more clever wrestler of the two with his submissions and other ways of getting in on the heads of his opponents. There were a lot of moments throughout where Desperado could’ve gotten the win, I thought those were some nice false finishes spots and it’s kind of a lost art nowadays because in recent times, false finishes have become more obvious and easy to detect, but in this match that wasn’t exactly the case. Overall I thought it was a great way to end the night, Ishii got the win and managed to pull through with the brainbuster. Both men played off their strengths really well and upon second viewing, I enjoyed it more than I did the first time I watched it. Lived up to all expectations.
