NJPW New Japan Cup 2018 - 3.11

New Japan Cup 2018 First Round
Kota Ibushi vs "Headhunter" YOSHI-HASHI - 8.5/10

Everyone is chanting for Ibushi, there is an older lady in the corner wearing a YOSHI-HASHI t-shirt, she's YOSHI's mother, and yes, she's also cheering for Ibushi.

Ibushi worked over YOSHI's taped-up elbow and arm, while YOSHI worked on Ibushi's neck and head. They were going back and forward until they started brawling to the fans's area where Ibushi made sure no one would be left to chant for YOSHI as he hit another balcony moonsault at the awe of the whole arena.

Back in the ring, YOSHI tried his best to survive, getting in a slap fest against Ibushi and ended up getting his ass kicked again. YOSHI just can't catch a break. YOSHI ended up having some good near falls as the match came close to the end, he hit a Canadian Destroyer and some powerbombs, but nothing was working. After so much trying by YOSHI, Ibushi hit him with a close range Lariat, a Straightjacket German, and finally with the Kamigoyefor the win. Pretty good match.

New Japan Cup 2018 First Round Match
Tetsuya Naito vs Zack Sabre Jr. w/TAKA Michinoku - 9/10

Naito came in with the whole suit and cape entrance attire, yet if you remember, he didn't do the same for Taichi or YOSHI, shows how little he probably cared about those two.

Awesome match with Sabre's masterful torture techniques over Naito's left arm, while Naito would need to fight off with only one arm and target Sabre's neck. Because of Naito's 'Tranquilo' gimmick, we rarely see him sell like he did tonight. Half way through the match, Sabre started working on the legs too, which is how he ended up making Naito submit clean in the middle of the ring, with a crazy looking submission that had one leg on a stretch muffler and the other on a knee bar. If you had any doubts about Sabre getting a push, he just manhandled Naito in the ring.

At one point in the match, Naito hit a tornado DDT dropping Sabre on the top of his head, while selling it, Sabre removed his wrist tape selling that his hands were going numb. It's the little things that make these wrestling the best.

Post-match - TAKA says that Sabre did to Naito as he said he would, and now calls out Ibushi and tells him that he will also tap out.

OVERALL THOUGHTS

I completely gave up on the undercard, may update later on. Anyway, these two matches were considerably better than the previous nights, especially Naito and Sabre, that put on a clinic on submission and selling.