Cero Reviews NJPW New Japan Cup 2021, 3.5

NJPW, RevPro, CMLL, DDT, etc
Post Reply
User avatar
cero2k
Site Admin
Posts: 20950
Joined: Dec 16th, '10, 11:32

Cero Reviews NJPW New Japan Cup 2021, 3.5

Post by cero2k » Mar 7th, '21, 17:10

NJPW New Japan Cup, Day 1
March 5, 2021
Korakuen Hall, Tokyo, Japan

Gabriel Kidd, Tomoaki Honma & Yuya Uemura vs. Suzuki-gun (DOUKI, Minoru Suzuki & Zack Sabre Jr.) - 6/10
Good opener. Once again we saw Sabre give A LOT to Kidd, he's really trying to building him some so that Sabre's match has some meaning. The stuff with Honma and Suzuki was basic, mostly striking. DOUKI didn't do much and Uemura was there for the loss at the hands of Suzuki with a GSP.

David Finlay, Hiroshi Tanahashi, Tiger Mask & YOSHI-HASHI vs. BULLET CLUB (Chase Owens, EVIL, Taiji Ishimori & Yujiro Takahashi) - 5/10
This was 99% Bullet Club getting heat until EVIL got the win over Tiger Mask with the Darkness Scorpion. The babyface team was just an odd combination of wrestlers, but at least BC worked nicely as a unit. The stuff between Ishimori and Tanhaashi may had been the best stuff.

Master Wato & TenKoji (Hiroyoshi Tenzan & Satoshi Kojima) vs. The United Empire (Great-O-Khan, Jeff Cobb & Will Ospreay) (w/Bea Priestley) - 6.5/10
This had some great stuff with Wato and Kojima versus any of the UE guys. The final sequence with Cobb manhandling Wato like a ragdoll was fantastic. Tenzan is still using the 'True' Mongolian Chop and at this point, in the post match promo, O-Khan did call him out and it seemed to sounds like a compromise that Tenzan should rename the move into the 'Hail the Empire Chop'.

Post-match - EVIL and Togo attacked Cobb after the match. Ospreay and O-Khan made the save, and I loved it, I'm a sucker for heel stablemates coming to the aid of their friend.

New Japan Cup 2021 First Round Match
Toru Yano vs. Bad Luck Fale - 4/10
Stipulation aside, this was similar to the matches YTR and Fale had in the little feud for the KOPW Trophy. Mostly Yano trying to slam him, the usual shenanigans, and the when Fale tried using Yano's tricks on him, tying him to the ringpost, Yano outsmarted him, faking Fale into the ringpost head first, low blow, and Yano got in the ring for the countout win. It was short and we got exactly what I expected, so it's ok.

YTR vs O-Khan in the next round of matches.

New Japan Cup 2021 First Round Match
Taichi (w/Zack Sabre Jr.) vs. Hirooki Goto - 8.5/10
This was great. Match of the night is a low bar for this show, but it was great nonetheless. It was two dudes clobbering each other with bombers and lariats over and over again. It was the type of match that both Goto and Taichi look best, and they both looked motivated. There's no denying that Taichi has become a really strong wrestler since bulking up for the heavyweight division. Goto won the match at the end with GTW followed by a GTR.

Goto awaits the winner of Okada vs Shingo.

Post- match - Goto cut his winner's promo.

OVERALL THOUGHTS
A nothing show, the card was weak and we only had one match above the 'great' qualifier. The most memorable thing of this whole show will be Cobb vs Wato and that was an undercard match. This was a show for New Japan Cup completionists.
Image

Post Reply

Who is online

Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 27 guests