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NJPW 50th Anniversary Show, 1st March and New Japan Cup 2022.


The Natural

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Spoiler

Hiromu Takahashi defeated M.Suzuki and became the only Junior to last over the others eliminated from the Cup. He vows to become the first junior to win the NJC and make Juniors overturn Heavyweights.

 

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Okada defeated the Royal Road dude.  Next Okada faces CIMA, 13 gen Toryumon vs 1st gen Toryumon.

G.O.D are now 3 men, counting Jado.

 

Edited by Blue Dragon
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Well the injury woes continue...

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SANADA has a fractured left orbital bone, off for remainder of the tour. Looks like Ospreay really was trying to channel Brock Lesnar vs Orton. No word on if the US title will need to be vacated yet but I wouldn't be surprised if it was.

 

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I am way behind on the Cup, having yet to see any of the 2nd round, but of 1st round matches I thought there were 3 standouts: Desperado vs Okada, Ishii vs Takagi & Jado vs Owens. Obviously the latter stood out for the wrong reasons, poor Jado shouldn't be made to wrestle anymore.

Ishii vs Takagi is the sort of match that is exactly like their previous matches but fortunately is a match I could watch a thousand times more without being bored by.

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Ryusuke Taguchi & Master Wato saved G.O.D. 

Hiromu Takahashi defeated EVIL with the EVIL. That's a big deal.
 

Tokyo Korakuen Hall
1,019 fans

Edited by Blue Dragon
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8 hours ago, Kropotkin's Beard said:

I am way behind on the Cup, having yet to see any of the 2nd round, but of 1st round matches I thought there were 3 standouts: Desperado vs Okada, Ishii vs Takagi & Jado vs Owens. Obviously the latter stood out for the wrong reasons, poor Jado shouldn't be made to wrestle anymore.

Ishii vs Takagi is the sort of match that is exactly like their previous matches but fortunately is a match I could watch a thousand times more without being bored by.

2nd & 3rd rounds have had a lot of fun matches, so depending on how much time you want to put in to catching up there is plenty to see. However nothing does match the two stand outs from the 1st round. 

My top 5 of the tournament so far:
- Okada vs Desperado
- Takagi v Ishii
- Okada v Taichi
- Hiromu v Suzuki
- EVIL v Hiromu

Cobb/YOSHI-HASHI and ZSJ/O-Khan just miss out but yeah, plenty of other matches have also been fun (i.e. ZSJ/DOUKI, Cobb/Kojima) but not necessarily must see if you're short on time. A lot of people seem to be high on Ospreay/ELP but I just don't get ELP ?‍♂️

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Spoiler

Zack and Ospreay had an absolute banger, Zack killing it post match saying Ospreay knocked him out cold and then George Michael spoke to him in a hallucination, telling him to be a wanker and win. Fuck it, give Zack the cup and the world title just for that promo.

Hiromu vs Takagi was pretty damn great too. It is starting to feel like New Japan is gathering some momentum, hope they can keep it up.

 

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Yes, this was one of the most enjoyable last two days in recent memory.  Hats off to the crowd in Niigata, they were really enthusiastic all the way through.  ZSJ-Ospreay was somewhere up in the stratosphere, no doubt one of the top NJPW matches of the year so far.  Maybe, just maybe the promotion is hitting its stride once again, and if so, Osaka on 3/26 and 27 is the perfect next destination.  Here's sincerely hoping Zack goes all the way.  With the voice of George Michael in his head to keep him on track, I wouldn't bet against him.  

 

Edited by Evil Otto
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Takagi vs Zack is a top 3 match of the tournament for me. Zack is a made man now, Suzuki-Gun finally have a legit title contender.

Naito/Okada was much better than the Sapporo match, I'm enjoying super counter Naito. Naito was much more aggressive here, but still probably needed crowd noise to move it to the next level.

As for tonight, Fujinami teaming with Strong Hearts is a combo I never knew I wanted! 

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I feel like

Spoiler

Ishii vs Shingo, Hiromu vs MiSu, ZSJ vs Shingo -spoilered just in case -

 

and the final were all really outstanding tournament matches, and ZSJ vs Great O-Khan was surprisingly good as well. I like how NJPW is kind of like AEW now in that there are a whole bunch of wrestlers who could credibly headline a card or challenge for a title, rather than just two or three true main eventers. I didn't see every match or even every night, but I really enjoyed all the tournament matches I saw, and also Fujinami teaming with Strong Hearts tonight in the semi-main was a lot of fun.

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Spoiler

The last two matches of the show were simply outstanding.  The semi-main was ace-heavy, satisfyingly nostalgic, and somehow a showcase match for the Strong Hearts to boot. Holy smokes.  

The hints have been there for a while with ZSJ, and I'm just thinking recent history will suffice:  the G1 reign of terror, the match with Shibata, being in the main event of the 50th anniversary card at the Budokan with legends, not to mention his more frequent use of Japanese, and so on.  Last time he won the cup, it seemed highly unlikely he would defeat Okada, but now, who the fuck knows?  At the very least, from today onward, Zack's pretty much been cemented as a main eventer.  Well done.  

 

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Spoiler

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The right man won the New Japan Cup, Zack Sabre Jr. If I had the book, ZSJ beats Kazuchika Okada for the IWGP World Heavyweight Championship by making him submit. Okada's last submission loss was to Shinsuke Nakamura in the G1 Climax 2015. That would make for a huge moment.

 

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