Andrew’s New Japan Cup Results & Match Ratings 6.17.20: Day 2

Day 2 of the New Japan Cup! We get a grandpa fight and Okada hopefully gets to inflict some vengeance on Gedo!

Let’s all be fair here, most of us know the Nagata and Suzuki match is the main one to watch for wrestling quality and not knowing who’s going to win. I will be interested to see if Uemura gets the upset, but we don’t start getting to real 50/50 match ups until next week’s round 1 matches.

With all that said, let’s get to the show!

Ratings:

• Gabriel Kidd vs Taiji Ishimori: Taiji wins via Hammerlock Crossface @8:50 – ** ¼
• Yuya Uemura vs Yoshinobu Kanemaru: Kanemaru wins via Deep Impact @9:30 – ***
• EVIL, BUSHI, SANADA & Shingo Takagi vs Hirooki Goto, SHO, YOH & YOSHI-HASHI: Goto wins via GTR @12:15 – *** ¼
• Minoru Suzuki vs Yuji Nagata: Nagata wins via Backdrop Hold @20:35 – **** ¼
• Gedo vs Kazuchika Okada: Okada wins via Cobra Clutch @15:30 – ***

Results:

Gabriel Kidd vs Taiji Ishimori

Now, last year certain Young Lions like Ren Narita and Shota Umino proved that upsets could happen, but Gabriel isn’t anywhere near that caliber. This was a match where Taiji dominated, made a few El Phantasmo references to keep his name relevant to fans, with a small hope spot from the Young Lion. Too bad for him that anything he could’ve done to raise the quality of the match, was dashed when he nearly botched catching Taiji mid Dropkick to transition into a Boston Crab.

A decent enough match, just very one sided and showing a lot of points Gabriel needs to improve on.

Yuya Uemura vs Yoshinobu Kanemaru

Now this was a little more believable. Yuya brought the fight to Kanemaru immediately and had early control before Kanemaru whips him into the barricade and slows the match down a little. Kanemaru eats a lot of offense and insulting kicks, so he fires back up.

Big knockdown, gorgeous Springboard Swan Dive, but only for a 2 count. Yuya then pulls off a great locomotion cradle pinning attempt that nearly looks to be the icing on the cake, but Kanemaru kicks out. After getting his attempt to cheat stifled by the referee, Kanemaru has to win like a normal person, so a nice Reverse DDT and then Deep Impact puts down the Young Lion.

Yuya has a lot of potential, and could be something special in the future.

EVIL, BUSHI, SANADA & Shingo Takagi vs Hirooki Goto, SHO, YOH & YOSHI-HASHI

Much like the 8 man from the last show, this highlights a few coming matches on top of reminding us about story before quarantine. Goto and EVIL were trading wins and blows before the time off, YOH and BUSHI have a tournament match, SHO and Shingo have an upcoming match and history dating back to last year’s Best of Super Junior tournament.

The problem here, unlike Suzuki-Gun versus Tanahashi’s squad, is the personalities are too cool for school. You get the most fire out of Shingo and SHO, but Shingo is more amused at goading a younger version of himself. Everyone else is just stoic or laid back, so there’s not a lot to sink your teeth into, unless you like the characters. Great great stuff.

Goto needed to get the win for his team here to help build momentum, and SHO beating Shingo in the tournament would be a good way to establish a stop gap NEVER opponent for him. A fun match, nothing overly notable, just a few threads to play with.

Minoru Suzuki vs Yuji Nagata

We start off hot with the first few minutes just trading forearm shivers. Suzuki goes for a Knee Bar at some point, but then return to a few strikes. When the match rolls to the outside, Marty Asami tries to stop Suzuki from using a chair, but he just chucks the ref and waylays Nagata. Then he locks in a Wristlock through the metal barricade. Nagata beats the count, but is worse for wear.

Suzuki doesn’t stop dissecting there, as he wraps the legs around the post and locks in a Cloverleaf before Asami counts him off. At this point, Nagata is getting annoyed, and we see Nagata bow up and the strike again. Nagata gets the best of the exchange, punctuating it with his Running Corner Boot.

This match was really just special. Two veteran wrestlers in more of a King’s Road style match of hard strikes and a lot of story. The forearms turn to slaps as the match continues to rage, Nagata’s lip is busted open at this point. Suzuki thinks he’s got the match won, but Nagata fights off the Gotch. Suzuki runs the ropes, tries to go for his quick turnaround Sleeper, but Nagata catches him with a Backdrop Hold for the pinfall!

Gedo vs Kazuchika Okada

So let’s be serious here, no one thought Gedo had a shot unless there was shenanigans…AND BOY WERE THERE. Gedo comes out in a sling, but neither Okada nor Red Shoes are buying it. They force him to take it off, to reveal a can of cold spray, then Okada knocks him down and finds brass knuckles in his jacket. But as Red Shoes is dispatching the knuckles, Gedo had a wrench tapped to his ribs.

Gedo and Okada are proving a lot of familiarity, as well as, Gedo didn’t teach Okada all of his tricks. After the socket wrench attacks, Gedo gets a table and uses that a few times. Every time Okada goes for the Million Dollar Dropkick, Gedo holds the ropes or side steps. After a ref bump and low blow, Gedo reveals more brass knuckles tapped to the ring behind the ring skirt. He pops Okada with the knuckles, stirs Red Shoes and does the Gedo Clutch, but only for 2!

Jado shows up to give Gedo more knuckles and distract the referee, but finally Okada gets ahead of the cheating. Dodge, Dropkick to the back of the bead, normal Dropkick, wipe out Jado, Tombstone and Cobra Clutch for the finish. First time Okada has broken out that Cobra Clutch in a while.

This match told a fun story, and it was entertaining for how old southern American style heel Gedo was playing.

Overall Score: 7.5/10

This show was better than Day 1, purely because there was no Jado/Yano match. We also got the first really great match of the tournament, between Nagata and Suzuki. Okada getting a measure of revenge on Gedo and Jado was a nice touch to end the show.

All in all, no real complaints. With the next show not being until the 22^nd, we’ve got some time to let this all sink in. Here’s how round 2 for this quadrant will shake out:

1. Kazuchika Okada vs Yuji Nagata (old Mr. NJPW vs the new Ace, should be great)
2. Taiji Ishimori vs Yoshinobu Kanemaru (Pro Wrestling NOAH showdown! Kanemaru is the most decorated Junior in NOAH history and Ishimori was no slouch himself. History should lend to a solid match)