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New Japan Cup 2018 (March 9th through March 21st)


Jiji

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It looks like when Big Mike got the notice that he will be in semi-main and will have less time he decided to remove almost everything that isn't a big move from the match. I like this match a bit better than his previous one with Ishii, but thats more due to Juice who is good at getting his ass kicked. Obviously it helped that they had less time and Elgin couldn't fit in his every big move. Anyway, why protected loss for Elgin? It looks like they want to keep him as a credible threat, but aren't sure what exactly they should be doing with him. And I'm unsure too, they obviously invested lots of time and resources into him and don't want to just throw him away due to all the crap surrounding him. But something has to be done since slowly he'll cool off in this position anyway.

Tanahashi/Fale was similar to their last G1 match which I liked so naturally I liked this one too. Two things here, first of all just like in their G1 match Tanahashi didn't manage to "beat" Fale, but won via count out. I suppose that at some point we are bound to get another match between them and Tanahashi finally manages to beat him or Fale picks up a big win? Second thing is that show closed with a flash pin and a count out. It helps with building the atmosphere that anything can happen and it doesn't have to end with a finishing move.

And yay me, I got one semi-final right. This is obviously going to be a big night for Juice and hopefully he manages to deliver.

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Yeesh, I am so over Elgin.  I think he even slapped his thigh on a lariat to the back of Juice's head.

But we need to talk about Juice's new "Brutus Beefcake on molly" look.   What is going on there?

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Elgin is such a confusing case. If you were going to keep booking him, despite all the baggage, it would have to be because you thought he was a really special talent--except he isn't used like one, and wasn't even before most of the scummier stuff came to light. (Losing his revenge match versus Naito, the middling G1, etc.) So, I really don't understand New Japan's valuation of him, unless its some weird sense of loyalty to a guy they (for whatever reason) feel is unfairly maligned.

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Fuck the Michael Elgin when you have Tanahashi German suplexing Bad Luck Fale. That was an awesome visual!

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Credit to the big man for getting up for that but it also looked like Tanahashi certainly did a lot of the lifting.

Awesome finish to a fun match too. The first half or so was your typical Fale match but they got creative there at the end. Tanahashi beat him by countout in their G1 match last year too, and IIRC that was also very enjoyable.

 

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Line-up for tomorrow's Korakuen Hall show:

Thursday, March 15 @ Korakuen Hall

  1. Ren Narita & David Finlay vs. Shota Umino & Tomoyuki Oka
  2. Toa Henare & Togi Makabe vs. YOSHI-HASHI & Hirooki Goto
  3. Chase Owens, Tanga Loa, Yujiro Takahashi & Bad Luck Fale vs. Taichi, Takashi Iizuka, Davey Boy Smith Jr. & Lance Archer
  4. Hiromu Takahashi, BUSHI & Tetsuya Naito vs. El Desperado, Yoshinobu Kanemaru & Minoru Suzuki
  5. Juice Robinson, Michael Elgin & Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. Chuckie T, Tomohiro ishii & Kazuchika Okada
  6. New Japan Cup Quarter-Final: SANADA vs. Toru Yano
  7. New Japan Cup Quarter-Final: Kota Ibushi vs. Zack Sabre Jr.

Okada vs. Tanahashi and LIJ vs. Suzuki-gun in tag matches. I am expecting big things from the main event. It's incredibly compelling too because you'd think if they're putting Zack over Naito, they're committing to him but Kota Ibushi is so primed for that next level push that's been coming for years now, dating back at least to his 2015 cup win. 

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Thats a weird Okada/Tanahashi tag. So far every match ends with someone tapping out to Okada, but surely neither Juice or Tanahashi will do that? And Elgin is in semi-protection mode so thats unlikely too... So Tanahashi picks up a win by pinning Chuck?

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I guess it's a perfect tournament match that's intensely entertaining in its own right, but leaves me feeling another 10-15 minutes would make it really great. So, Ibushi and ZSJ are even now, and I'd really like to see that tie broken. But another big win for Sabre, with some fun sequences along the way: That was as good a near-fall as I've seen in a while, and--maybe it was slight miscommunication, but--I loved his hesitancy to engage with Ibushi in the customary "end-stage strike exchange". Of course, the crowd helped too.

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I tweeted yesterday that it would be a little weird to have Zack vs Sanada in the semis when Zack already beat Naito in the first round.  Unless they're specifically going somewhere with that?  Like, Sanada beats Zack and then starts floating the idea that Naito isn't fit to lead the Ingobernables any more?

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1 hour ago, S.K.o.S. said:

I tweeted yesterday that it would be a little weird to have Zack vs Sanada in the semis when Zack already beat Naito in the first round.  Unless they're specifically going somewhere with that?  Like, Sanada beats Zack and then starts floating the idea that Naito isn't fit to lead the Ingobernables any more?

I'm not sure that there is much to it. People in G1 often beat someone higher on the pecking order and lose to someone weaker. Like Naito lost to Ishii and Fale yet defeated Goto and Omega who are positioned as higher than Ishii or Fale in the same stable. So would it really be different here?

Either way looking forward to Zack/Sanada.

Also one video that I found interesting/funny from yesterday:

Taichi basically saying that he is ok with fighting Goto, but doesn't want him to put NEVER title on the line because Taichi doesn't care about that. Goto also had those weird exchanges with Oka that looked like they could build towards a title match, but that would obviously be rather stupid and pointless. I don't know, to me it perfectly encapsulates Goto/Never problem that NJPW got themselves into again two years in a row. Nobody important cares about this belt, nobody is ever going to challenge for it after winning the cup. Even Taichi correctly understands that he shouldn't be chained to it if he wants to go anywhere. In my opinion this belt needs to be retired.

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I love Zack vs. Ibushi so much. It wasn't quite as good as their G1 match but the narrative of Zack smothering his opponents until he ties them in knots forcing the referee to save them is the priority. The final with Tanahashi is going to be epic. 

Oh and that was the best Yano match in forever. Believable near count outs and really fun, creative spots. I enjoyed them playing off their G1 finish too. Post-match paradise locks for all was really fun too. 

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Haven't watch todays show but caught up on Night 2-5 yesterday. What a fun tournament. 

What a match Ibushi vs Yoshi-Hashi was. I'm cold on YH because his offense looks soft (same issue I have with Juice) but that was just a thunderous match. 

Digging the push ZSJ is getting tho I don't think the crowds are responding to him the way they should yet. 

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32 minutes ago, Oyaji said:

I love Zack vs. Ibushi so much. It wasn't quite as good as their G1 match but the narrative of Zack smothering his opponents until he ties them in knots forcing the referee to save them is the priority. The final with Tanahashi is going to be epic. 

It does seem to be going in that direction, doesn't it?  

Apologies in advance to Tanahashi's arm.  The future looks grim.  

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He could also disrespect Suzuki and say he's not worth the challenge and use the cup win to defend his record. This would mesh with Suzuki focusing on Okada and complaining about not being in the main event. 

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11 hours ago, Hagan said:

Haven't watch todays show but caught up on Night 2-5 yesterday. What a fun tournament. 

What a match Ibushi vs Yoshi-Hashi was. I'm cold on YH because his offense looks soft (same issue I have with Juice) but that was just a thunderous match. 

Digging the push ZSJ is getting tho I don't think the crowds are responding to him the way they should yet. 

Well, his appearances are so sporadic, he's just not around enough to form a real connection with the crowd.  I think that's a big reason why they send out Taka with him to heat up the crowd before his matches.

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1 hour ago, Ace said:

I think it goes in the reverse. But it requires Tana to be vicious as fuck to ZSJ to go back after Suzuki.

 

Oh, don't get me wrong.  I think Tana most likely takes the cup in the end.  That's the best and most logical story of course, whether he goes after Okada or Suzuki.  

I think the only thing I would consider to be a letdown would be Sanada making it to the finals.  Tana, Juice, Zack, all really intriguing stories going forward.  

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Shoot, man.  Still catching up on undercard matches from the past two shows. The Suzuki-gun tag from today's show was really fun. The crowd was so into Taichi getting smacked into the Korakuen signage. Lance's shtick is also pretty over. And holy shit, what happened to Yujiro? He was flying around there like Seth Rollins with the side to side dives. The crowd fucking loved it! He recently talked about his career taking a bad turn with the cup loss, so maybe he's trying to find a spark. Good on him. YOUNG LION AND T was a neat little distraction for Kanemaru and Despy. Desperado is such a solid hand and is very generous with the young boys to the point it's a little predictable. They'll get their comeback in, flash pin attempt, and a few big moves. Still that's more than Kanemaru pretty much ever gives. I kind of love Desperado's promos too. He's under the radar charismatic and really tries to give every match meaning while building up future potential matches.

Interesting note from YouTube videos: Juice promised the reporters that he wouldn't go after Tanahashi's knees or arms because he wants to beat him straight up and he respects Tana too much for that. He admitted to saying the same thing before the Kenny match but used the "he's an asshole" card to wave that away. This will add a fun element to the match. Juice and Zack are both such fun promos. Zack in particular is pretty raw and seems nervous when performing them (lots of shifting side to side), but the content is usually really funny and insightful. Like Zack on facing Ibushi and the fucking balcony dive... "JUST MOVE." @Archibald, spot on with the Taichi promo and the problem with both Goto and the NEVER title. I think the title can be rehabbed but man is Goto just a better version of YOSHI-HASHI at this point.

Today's promos were just posted to YT btw.

INTERESTING DEVELOPMENT! Jyuuusu says Tanahashi has more or less been giving him the cold shoulder since Ace beat Fale and now he's not sure what his approach will be tomorrow. Really good promo! Tanahashi with a more reserved promo, but good just the same. YouTube interviews are love, they are life.

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