NJPW New Japan Cup 2022, 3.12

Kosei Fujita, Tomoaki Honma & Yuto Nakashima vs. Six Or Nine (Master Wato & Ryusuke Taguchi) & Ryohei Oiwa - 6/10

Good match, everything with the YL was solid quality, and even when Honma was in there, he paired up with Wato to sell, so it still looked good. Wato tapped out Fujita for the win.

Hiroshi Tanahashi, Tiger Mask & YOH vs. BULLET CLUB (Bad Luck Fale, Chase Owens & Gedo) - 4.5/10

This was quite ok and basic. The match being teased is Owens vs Tiger Mask, so not particularly exciting. YOH was the babyface in peril, Tana came in and tapped out Gedo for the win. At one point YOH managed to take down Fale, which was cool.

CHAOS (Hirooki Goto, Kazuchika Okada & YOSHI-HASHI) vs. House Of Torture (Dick Togo, EVIL & Yujiro Takahashi) - 5.5/10

Another match that was just ok, CHAOS worked well as a team and eventually got the win over Togo with a Bishamon double team, but the action wasn't all that fun or impressive.

Suzuki-gun (El Desperado, Minoru Suzuki, Taichi & TAKA Michinoku) vs. Los Ingobernables de Japon (BUSHI, Hiromu Takahashi, Shingo Takagi & Tetsuya Naito) - 6.5/10

This was great, another match where the team pair up just yields strong match-ups. It was all built around Hiromu and Suzuki, but you still had Shingo and Naito facing off with Despy or TAKA. Shingo got the win over TAKA.

Post-match - SHO jumped Desperado while the latter made his exit. They brawled back to the ring, where SHO took out Desperado and called for a title shot.

New Japan Cup 2022 Second Round Match
Zack Sabre Jr. vs. DOUKI - 6.5/10

This match could had been better in a different environment like TAKATAICHIMANIA, but they still got the best out of the time they were given. DOUKI surprised Sabre with a dive during the entrances and tried to get the quick upset, but Sabre was able to cut him off. DOUKI now fighting from underneath, kept trying to surprise DOUKI with a submission or a pin, but Sabre just picked his moment, turned DOUKI into a pretzel, and submitted him.

New Japan Cup 2022 Second Round Match
Taiji Ishimori vs. Great-O-Khan - 8/10

This was very good, way better than I expected. I wasn't sure how they would work together, but Ishimori is just a great big-small guy that adding a little injury to O-Khan's arm turned this into a great back and forth match with Ishimori working O-Khan's arm, O-Khan with a great selling job, babyface-like selling job. O-Khan ended up switching his left hand arsenal to the right hand and after some struggle and surviving near falls, dropped Ishimori with the Eliminator for the win.

Official, we're getting O-Khan versus Sabre next.

New Japan Cup 2022 Second Round Match
El Phantasmo vs. Will Ospreay - 8.5/10

I wouldn't go out and say he was a true babyface, but this may had been the closest we'll get to a babyface ELP in NPJW. ELP sold his back, sold his mental issues with using the superkick again, and after overcoming all that and getting a bunch of near falls, ended up falling to the Hidden Blade.

New Japan Cup 2022 Second Round Match
SANADA vs. Aaron Henare - 8/10

This was really good and Henare did a good job at making a strong impression in one of his bigger profile matches since joining UE, and especially since coming back. I really like his striking style, but I think he still has a lot of grow, as of now, he kinda reminds me of a Don Frye type of guy, short, build like a brick, and the mustache is the cherry on top. If he can work on his striking and mat wrestling, he could build a great character.

Match was mostly about the clash of styles and Henare being a bit of a hoss against SANADA, who had to overcome until he managed to land the moonsault, which had already been blocked before.

SANADA versus Ospreay is next for them. Which could be interesting, since it could be the start of a rivalry for the US title down the line.

OVERALL THOUGHTS

A better show than most, we're starting to get to that level of the brackets were all the tournament matches are bigger pair ups, hence better matches.