Cero Reviews NJPW New Japan Cup 2020, Day 3

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cero2k
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Cero Reviews NJPW New Japan Cup 2020, Day 3

Post by cero2k » Jun 22nd, '20, 19:01

NJPW New Japan Cup 2020, Day 3
June 22, 2020
Korakuen Hall, Tokyo, Japan

Show opened with Naoki Sugabayashi announcing new some upcoming dates.

Suzuki-Gun (Minoru Suzuki, El Desperado, Yoshinobu Kanemaru, & Douki) vs Yuji Nagata, Yota Tsuji, Yuya Uemura, & Gabriel Kidd - 6.5/10
Granddad Nagata brought out the kids for a walk. I got kinda worried that they would put Nagata and Suzuki in together again and make one of them weak, since it's to early for Suzuki to get back at Nagata, but I wouldn't want to see Suzuki beaten down twice in a row, but they mostly kept it at strikes. Everyone else was great as usually, solid stuff. Desperado won with Pinche Loco over Tsuji.

New Japan Cup First Round Match
Ryusuke Taguchi vs SANADA - 6.5/10
Taguchi didn't wear helmets, or jerseys, or carry balls, or dance on his way to the ring. We got serious Taguchi for the most part, which is a blessing now a days.

This match was kinda up and down, but mostly boring. It started with some mind games and playing games with each other's trust, but then they started mat wrestling and the match slowed down a lot. A bit later Taguchi got some offense and things picked up a bit, but it wasn't until Taguchi started chasing the Ankle Lock that the match got good, but it was too chaotic with Taguchi going for everything until SANADA just won by O'Connor Roll. Taguchi had his work boots on, but SANADA surely didn't.

Post-match - SANADA gave Taguchi his t-shirt, who put it on. I think the 'No Gracias' is the key here as SANADA's response to Taguchi's fist-bump, but maybe it's a tease of a new stable, led by SANADA.

New Japan Cup First Round Match
SHO vs Shingo Takagi - 9/10
Well, there goes my fantasy booking of SANADA defeating all of LIJ to get to Naito. Anyway, if you thought that Nagata vs Suzuki was loud, you haven't heard anything yet, THIS was loud. This was a back and forward mutual ass kicking on all levels. SHO worked the leg, Shingo you can say he worked the head since he was trying to decapitate SHO via Lariats. We had some great near falls after the Pumping Bomber and the Made in Japan. The one bad thing in this match was a Straitjacket Piledriver that Shingo straight up did himself. SHO won with the Shock Arrow and will face SANADA next. SHO not only beat a new Heavyweight, but got his win back from BOSJ.

New Japan Cup First Round Match
Kota Ibushi vs Zack Sabre Jr. - 9/10
Don't ask me how I got to this conclusion, but for the first half of this match, maybe a bit more, the lack of people made me feel like I was watching two men spar in a gym or something, like competitive sparring.

This was fantastic, a lot of Grapplefuck with Zack focusing 100% on the leg, while Ibushi mostly went after anything he could get his kicks on to. Zack's leg work in this match was just a spectable to see. Ibushi won with a surprise knee and Kamigoye.

New Japan Cup First Round Match
Hiroshi Tanahashi vs Taichi (w/Douki) - 9/10
Even without the crowd live, Taichi still serenaded us with his beautiful voice. Taichi loves his fans watching on NJPWWorld. Talking about music, I right now hate Tanahashi's remix music.

This may not had been the most action packed, the most technical, or even the funniest, but it surely had one of the better stories. This was a whole new step toward for Taichi, because even with the Douki interference, the preemptive attack, and the low blow, at the point Taichi won, it was a decisive victory over Tanahashi.

Match started with Taichi hitting a powerbomb while Tanahashi was doing his entrance pose, from there on, him and Douki worked over him, hurt him, and hope that it would be enough, but Tanahashi was resilient and made a comeback. Taichi then went for a striking battle, something that thanks to his feuds with Ishii, he has improved and surpased Tanahashi (which Tana has ever been particularly good at) and beat him in that department. Tanahashi being resiliant again, started to counter and land his greatest game, and hence Taichi's cheating, but Taichi still had an equal hand at the match, and at the end, it was Taichi's Lariats, Powerbombs, and Black Mephisto what put Tanahashi down.

I REALL REALLY HOPE that Tanahashi has a story about 'losing his power' because he feeds from the fans, and so when the fans are finally back, he will get his mojo back and win.

Post-match - Taichi attacked Tanahashi, Young Lions tried to save him, but Douki took them out, so out came Ibushi and had a face off with his second round opponent -- Taichi. Douki attacked Ibushi from behind and held him for Taichi for the belt shot. He did the same to Tanahashi for the sake of it. Taichi posed over both men's bodies.

Taichi cut a promo saying he will defeat both Ibushi and Tanahashi, and go on to defeat Naito.

OVERALL THOUGHTS
This was a great show, best so far. We had a little bit of everything, tag match, comedy, grapplefuck, Strong Style, and a great psychology based match at the end, and aside from the SANADA match, these were all fantastic!
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Re: Cero Reviews NJPW New Japan Cup 2020, Day 3

Post by Big Red Machine » Jun 22nd, '20, 21:45

cero2k wrote: Jun 22nd, '20, 19:01 This was a whole new step toward for Taichi, because even with the Douki interference, the preemptive attack, and the low blow, at the point Taichi won, it was a decisive victory over Tanahashi.
I totally disagree with this. All of those things are reasons why it's not decisive. And the more I see of this tournament, the more the upsets feel like G1 upsets where they don't actually mean anything because they feel obligatory, like when Tama Tonga beats Tanahashi in the G1 two years in a row and it doesn't wind up meaning sh*t, or Yano beating Omega when it would have been much better to just have Omega and Ibushi (the only guy who could catch him in the block) win their matches that night instead of both lose them.
Maybe I'll be proven wrong in three months, but with all of the upsets, I immediately look at the bracket and it's obvious to me that the reason for the upset is that Gedo didn't want to give away a certain match-up rather than it being something that feels like a real step forward for the winner (Sho vs. Shingo felt the closest, but I just don't trust that they'll do anything with Sho as a singles guy while the tag team is still going strong).
Hold #712: ARM BAR!

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Re: Cero Reviews NJPW New Japan Cup 2020, Day 3

Post by cero2k » Jun 22nd, '20, 22:06

Big Red Machine wrote: Jun 22nd, '20, 21:45
cero2k wrote: Jun 22nd, '20, 19:01 This was a whole new step toward for Taichi, because even with the Douki interference, the preemptive attack, and the low blow, at the point Taichi won, it was a decisive victory over Tanahashi.
I totally disagree with this. All of those things are reasons why it's not decisive. And the more I see of this tournament, the more the upsets feel like G1 upsets where they don't actually mean anything because they feel obligatory, like when Tama Tonga beats Tanahashi in the G1 two years in a row and it doesn't wind up meaning sh*t, or Yano beating Omega when it would have been much better to just have Omega and Ibushi (the only guy who could catch him in the block) win their matches that night instead of both lose them.
Maybe I'll be proven wrong in three months, but with all of the upsets, I immediately look at the bracket and it's obvious to me that the reason for the upset is that Gedo didn't want to give away a certain match-up rather than it being something that feels like a real step forward for the winner (Sho vs. Shingo felt the closest, but I just don't trust that they'll do anything with Sho as a singles guy while the tag team is still going strong).
I saw a far more dominating Taichi that we got last year, him cheating is not usually about desperation, he cheats because he's taichi.

they're building Tekkers vs Golden Aces for the tag titles. Taichi won to get one over Tanahashi towards that feud.
There's only been one upset, being Nagata over Suzuki, the rest were either pretty obvious or that could go either way.
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Re: Cero Reviews NJPW New Japan Cup 2020, Day 3

Post by Big Red Machine » Jun 22nd, '20, 23:56

cero2k wrote: Jun 22nd, '20, 22:06
Big Red Machine wrote: Jun 22nd, '20, 21:45
cero2k wrote: Jun 22nd, '20, 19:01 This was a whole new step toward for Taichi, because even with the Douki interference, the preemptive attack, and the low blow, at the point Taichi won, it was a decisive victory over Tanahashi.
I totally disagree with this. All of those things are reasons why it's not decisive. And the more I see of this tournament, the more the upsets feel like G1 upsets where they don't actually mean anything because they feel obligatory, like when Tama Tonga beats Tanahashi in the G1 two years in a row and it doesn't wind up meaning sh*t, or Yano beating Omega when it would have been much better to just have Omega and Ibushi (the only guy who could catch him in the block) win their matches that night instead of both lose them.
Maybe I'll be proven wrong in three months, but with all of the upsets, I immediately look at the bracket and it's obvious to me that the reason for the upset is that Gedo didn't want to give away a certain match-up rather than it being something that feels like a real step forward for the winner (Sho vs. Shingo felt the closest, but I just don't trust that they'll do anything with Sho as a singles guy while the tag team is still going strong).
I saw a far more dominating Taichi that we got last year, him cheating is not usually about desperation, he cheats because he's taichi.

they're building Tekkers vs Golden Aces for the tag titles. Taichi won to get one over Tanahashi towards that feud.
There's only been one upset, being Nagata over Suzuki, the rest were either pretty obvious or that could go either way.
Taichi was dominating because he was cheating from even before the bell rang.

This was definitely an upset, and so Sho over Shingo. Shingo is a veteran who has been pushed as a singles act before, while Sho is still young and has not been pushed as a singles act.
Hold #712: ARM BAR!

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DGUSA Open the Ultimate Gate 2013
ROH/CMLL Global Wars Espectacular: Day 3

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Re: Cero Reviews NJPW New Japan Cup 2020, Day 3

Post by cero2k » Jun 23rd, '20, 08:52

Big Red Machine wrote: Jun 22nd, '20, 23:56
Taichi was dominating because he was cheating from even before the bell rang.

This was definitely an upset, and so Sho over Shingo. Shingo is a veteran who has been pushed as a singles act before, while Sho is still young and has not been pushed as a singles act.
It's not like it was a squash, Tanahashi made his comeback and leveled down Taichi, who still won with a combo of moves

To me it wasn't, Taichi is far capable and his striking is better than Tanahashi and he is younger than that fat old man Tanahashi. SHO and Shingo are not much different from each other, in their other match, SHO came close to winning too, what Shingo has in experience, SHO has in youth, I don't see an upset, I was pretty sure that he was getting his win back.
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Re: Cero Reviews NJPW New Japan Cup 2020, Day 3

Post by Big Red Machine » Jun 23rd, '20, 09:06

cero2k wrote: Jun 23rd, '20, 08:52
Big Red Machine wrote: Jun 22nd, '20, 23:56
Taichi was dominating because he was cheating from even before the bell rang.

This was definitely an upset, and so Sho over Shingo. Shingo is a veteran who has been pushed as a singles act before, while Sho is still young and has not been pushed as a singles act.
It's not like it was a squash, Tanahashi made his comeback and leveled down Taichi, who still won with a combo of moves

To me it wasn't, Taichi is far capable and his striking is better than Tanahashi and he is younger than that fat old man Tanahashi. SHO and Shingo are not much different from each other, in their other match, SHO came close to winning too, what Shingo has in experience, SHO has in youth, I don't see an upset, I was pretty sure that he was getting his win back.
Until Sho is actually portrayed as a top singles guy, it's an upset for him to beat a guy who has barely ever lost to anotehr junior heavyweight in NJPW.

It's still an upset with Tanahashi, too. He won the G1 the year before last and Taichi has never come close. If Ziggler beat Cena it would be an upset, and Taichi hasn't even been pushed to the level of Ziggler.
Hold #712: ARM BAR!

Upcoming Reviews:
FIP in 2005
ROH Validation
PWG All-Star Weekend V: Night 2
DGUSA Open the Ultimate Gate 2013
ROH/CMLL Global Wars Espectacular: Day 3

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