{"id":11783,"date":"2019-03-26T16:43:40","date_gmt":"2019-03-26T20:43:40","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/prowrestlingjournal.com\/?p=11783"},"modified":"2019-03-26T16:46:21","modified_gmt":"2019-03-26T20:46:21","slug":"njpw-new-japan-cup-review","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/prowrestlingjournal.com\/index.php\/2019\/03\/26\/njpw-new-japan-cup-review\/","title":{"rendered":"NJPW New Japan Cup Review"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">So now we know that Madison Square Garden will be headlined by Jay White defending his IWGP Heavyweight Title against Kazuchika Okada, winner of the 2019 New Japan Cup.&nbsp; Okada emerged from the field of thirty two entrants in the Cup, the first time the competition had been that big, and defeated SANADA in the final to secure his second Cup win.&nbsp; Before the tournament started I thought that they would go with Okada, and despite the final being in SANADA\u2019s home prefecture of Niigata, it would have been a big upset to have Okada lose in the final, given that the winner got a spot at MSG.&nbsp; The fact that the final match had an air of inevitability around it put a slightly down note on what overall was a solid tournament.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed-twitter wp-block-embed is-type-rich is-provider-twitter\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\"><p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">&#39;It&#39;s not just New Japan. This is a huge deal for Japan, period.&#39; Hours after winning the <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/njcup?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">#njcup<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/rainmakerXokada?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">@rainmakerXokada<\/a> speaks up about facing <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/JayWhiteNZ?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">@JayWhiteNZ<\/a> in Madison Square Garden <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/g1supercard?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">#g1supercard<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/1PIzcxLX3H\">https:\/\/t.co\/1PIzcxLX3H<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/ctXyCQpVnW\">pic.twitter.com\/ctXyCQpVnW<\/a><\/p>&mdash; NJPW Global (@njpwglobal) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/njpwglobal\/status\/1110375866150895617?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">March 26, 2019<\/a><\/blockquote><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Okada\u2019s route to the final was a good deal more\nstraightforward than SANADA\u2019s \u2013 Okada defeated Michael Elgin in round one,\nfollowed by Mikey Nicholls, Will Ospreay, and then Tomohiro Ishii in the\nsemi-final.&nbsp; Of his four opponents, the\none that was most uncertain was probably Ishii, who could have been a credible\nchallenger for White\u2019s title.&nbsp; Ospreay\nhas also been pushed strongly over the last couple of months, so I suppose\nthere was an outside chance that he might have beaten Okada as well, but\nrealistically speaking Okada was the stand out name on his side of the\nbracket.&nbsp; SANADA, in contrast, ended up\nhaving to go through Hirooki Goto, Minoru Suzuki, Colt Cabana, and then Hiroshi\nTanahashi to get to the final.&nbsp; Cabana\nmatch aside, SANADA could have lost any of these matches, and taking into\nconsideration the fact that Tanahashi, Tetsuya Naito, and Kota Ibushi were all\non his side of the draw, just his getting to the final was a big\nachievement.&nbsp; <\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1200\" height=\"800\" src=\"https:\/\/i1.wp.com\/prowrestlingjournal.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/D2FSqoeXgAAt9oI.jpeg?fit=696%2C464\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-11785\" srcset=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/prowrestlingjournal.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/D2FSqoeXgAAt9oI.jpeg?w=1200&amp;ssl=1 1200w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/prowrestlingjournal.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/D2FSqoeXgAAt9oI.jpeg?resize=300%2C200&amp;ssl=1 300w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/prowrestlingjournal.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/D2FSqoeXgAAt9oI.jpeg?resize=768%2C512&amp;ssl=1 768w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/prowrestlingjournal.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/D2FSqoeXgAAt9oI.jpeg?resize=1024%2C683&amp;ssl=1 1024w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/prowrestlingjournal.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/D2FSqoeXgAAt9oI.jpeg?resize=696%2C464&amp;ssl=1 696w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/prowrestlingjournal.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/D2FSqoeXgAAt9oI.jpeg?resize=1068%2C712&amp;ssl=1 1068w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/prowrestlingjournal.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/D2FSqoeXgAAt9oI.jpeg?resize=630%2C420&amp;ssl=1 630w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 696px) 100vw, 696px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The final match itself was decent, but I couldn\u2019t really\nshake the feeling that SANADA was never going to win, and even though the\nhometown crowd popped hard for some of the near falls \u2013 especially from\nSANADA\u2019s TKO \u2013 it wasn\u2019t a shock when Okada finally hit a Rainmaker for a three\ncount.&nbsp; Knowing that the winner was going\nto MSG, rather than the usual Sakura Genesis payoff, mostly killed the suspense\nfor me, since it was clear that Okada is the bigger name out of the two.&nbsp; SANADA was definitely elevated by this run, but\nat the end of the day a White vs. SANADA main event just felt like too much of\na long shot.&nbsp; I think I preferred both of\nthe semi-final matches just because there was more of a sense of uncertainty\nabout the outcome.&nbsp; My favourite match of\nthe tournament might well have been Tanahashi vs. SANADA, and despite losing\nthe final match SANADA pulled out some extremely smooth reversals to set up the\nSkull End.&nbsp; We\u2019ve been saying for a while\nthat this is SANADA\u2019s year, but 2019 might actually be SANADA\u2019s year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The thirty two man tournament setup was generally met with praise from most observers, and in theory the idea was good, but some of the matchups ended up being quite weak, especially in the early rounds.&nbsp; The standout matches from the early round were probably Ishii vs. Yuji Nagata, Tanahashi vs. Shota Umino, and Ibushi vs. Naito.&nbsp; Ospreay continued to get a strong push, even though his grunting is turning me against him again, and he had some decent big man matches on his way to the quarter final.&nbsp; Zack Sabre Jr. had a strong cup run, upsetting EVIL and then Ibushi on the way to a quarter final defeat at the hands of Tanahashi. &nbsp;Taichi also looked really good in matches against Tomoaki Honma and Ishii.&nbsp; I think that keeping the New Japan Cup at a larger size is a fine plan, but I\u2019d like to see a bit more thought put into some of the matchups.&nbsp; Mikey Nicholls seemed like an unfortunate casualty of the brackets by being dropped into the tournament when most of the audience didn\u2019t have time to really invest in his performances.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">With the New Japan Cup behind us and a press conference on\nMonday the card for the G1 Supercard on April 6<sup>th<\/sup> has become much\nclearer.&nbsp; White will be headlining\nagainst Okada, and personally I expect White to hand Okada a third straight\nloss and leave MSG as the champion.&nbsp; New\nJapan have invested a lot to make White a credible main event player, and\nhaving him drop the title on his first defence would go some way to undermining\nthat.&nbsp; There\u2019s also the issue that New\nJapan generally doesn\u2019t do short title reigns to consider, the title already\nchanged hands on January 4<sup>th<\/sup> and February 11<sup>th<\/sup>, so to\nhave a third change in four months would be surprising.&nbsp; At least this match is almost impossible to\npredict though, since Okada regaining the title that he lost last year would\ncertainly be possible.&nbsp; We all know that\nOkada is still the Ace of New Japan, even though he hasn&#8217;t been in the title\npicture since June 2018.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The semi-main event sees Jay Lethal defend the ROH World Title against Marty Scurll and Matt Taven in a ladder match, although that match might be upstaged by the preceding one in which the Intercontinental Title will be contested between Naito and Ibushi.&nbsp; Ibushi beat Naito in the first round of the Cup to set up this match, which promises to be the best match of the card.&nbsp; I anticipate seeing a title change here to keep the crowd happy before White retains.&nbsp; ZSJ is challenging Tanahashi for the Rev Pro British Heavyweight Title, Taij Ishimori defends the Jr. Heavyweight Title against Bandido and Dragon Lee, while Jeff Cobb and Will Ospreay battle for the NEVER Openweight Title and the ROH TV Title.&nbsp; The IWGP Heavyweight Tag Titles and the ROH Tag Titles will be contested in a four-way match between Guerrillas of Destiny, Brody King and PCH, EVIL and SANADA, and the Briscoe Brothers.&nbsp; The Women of Honor Title will also be defended by Mayu Iwatani against Kelly Klein (again), and there have been hints that Hana Kimura and Sumie Sakai will be taking on Hazuki and Kagetsu from Stardom.&nbsp; The card is rounded out by the Honor Rumble, a singles match between Dalton Castle and Rush, and Bully Ray\u2019s open challenge for a New York Street Fight.&nbsp; Overall the card looks very strong, although ten matches suggest that either quite a few of them will be short, or the show will have a long running time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed-twitter wp-block-embed is-type-rich is-provider-twitter\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\"><p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">G1 Supercard &#8211; Full card released<br><br>A total of 10 championships will be the line!<br><br>You can check out the full card on the official English website by clicking the link below\ud83d\udc47<a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/GLscWIPE7d\">https:\/\/t.co\/GLscWIPE7d<\/a><a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/njpw?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">#njpw<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/G1SuperCard?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">#G1SuperCard<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/av26Ekttjn\">pic.twitter.com\/av26Ekttjn<\/a><\/p>&mdash; NJPW Global (@njpwglobal) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/njpwglobal\/status\/1110065593267429376?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">March 25, 2019<\/a><\/blockquote><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Overall, the 2019 New Japan Cup was mostly a success \u2013 the new format worked pretty well at delivering interesting matchups, and SANADA got a good rub from getting to the final in his hometown, despite not winning.&nbsp; If New Japan choose to go forward with the thirty two competitor format, I\u2019d like them to try and balance the tournament a bit more evenly in the future.&nbsp; Okada being on one side of the draw, and Tanahashi, Ibushi, and Naito being on the other side sort of tipped their hand, and it became even more apparent when the final was Okada vs. SANADA.&nbsp; Part of the problem was the prize being a main event spot at MSG, which meant that they had to go with a big name rather than elevate someone from the upper midcard.&nbsp; Still, there were some very good tournament matches that you should go out of your way to watch, and most of the matches at least after the first round were largely high quality.&nbsp; Now on to Madison Square Garden in two weeks. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>So now we know that Madison Square Garden will be headlined by Jay White defending his IWGP Heavyweight Title against Kazuchika Okada, winner of the 2019 New Japan Cup.&nbsp; Okada [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":16,"featured_media":11784,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_bbp_topic_count":0,"_bbp_reply_count":0,"_bbp_total_topic_count":0,"_bbp_total_reply_count":0,"_bbp_voice_count":0,"_bbp_anonymous_reply_count":0,"_bbp_forum_subforum_count":0,"tdm_status":"","tdm_grid_status":"","_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[2,204,37,22,1],"tags":[371],"class_list":["post-11783","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-featured","category-njpw","category-njpw-reviews","category-reviews","category-uncategorized","tag-new-japan-pro-wrestling"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p9jnWd-343","jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/prowrestlingjournal.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/new-japan-cup-2019_4tgqvj1uwowp1jx8vqxikkl2z.jpg?fit=1024%2C576&ssl=1","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/prowrestlingjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11783","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/prowrestlingjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/prowrestlingjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/prowrestlingjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/16"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/prowrestlingjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=11783"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/prowrestlingjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11783\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":11789,"href":"https:\/\/prowrestlingjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11783\/revisions\/11789"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/prowrestlingjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/11784"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/prowrestlingjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11783"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/prowrestlingjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=11783"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/prowrestlingjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=11783"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}