NJPW New Japan Cup Night Four: Results and Analysis

Toa Henare, David Finlay, Juice Robinson, & Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. Suzuki-gun (Taichi, Iizuka, Lance Archer, & Minoru Suzuki) w/ El Desperado

The match begins with Tanahashi going right after Suzuki. It doesn’t take long for the action to spill all over the ringside area. Tanahashi’s interactions with Suzuki here were quite interesting, as he got a lot of offense against Suzuki. One cool spot in particular was Tanahashi blocking a penalty kick from Suzuki, going for a dragon screw, only for Suzuki to block it and lock in a knee bar. Lance Archer got the pinfall after a chokeslam on Henare.

Result: Suzuki-gun

Rating: 2.75 stars out of 5

CHAOS (Tomohiro Ishii & Kazuchika Okada) w/ Gedo vs. Chase Owens & Kota Ibushi (Bullet Club?)

This match was quite interesting. First, we saw Ibushi and Okada in the ring with each other again, hinting at a potential feud between the two. The opening segment of the match was very good. Both men exchanged attempts at hitting various movies, without being able to connect. It ended with Okada going for the rainmaker, but Ibushi ducked. Great stuff.

Owens tries to out strike Ishii, but, as usual, that is a bad idea. Nonetheless, with raking the eyes, Owens was able to get the advantage. Ibushi stood a much better chance striking with Ishii and had moderately more success. Still, there is only so much you can do against a tank, and Ishii hit a big powerslam on Ibushi.

Okada was tagged in, and we saw him against Ibushi again. While he was able to attack Ibushi a bit, it isn’t long before Chase and Ibushi show some good teamwork, keeping Okada down. This was quite interesting to see, as it appears Ibushi and Owens are getting along quite well. I wonder how Chase feels about The Young Bucks vs. The Golden Lovers at Strong Style Evolved? Eventually Ishii kept Ibushi from getting in the ring and Okada locked in the cobra clutch on Owens for the submission.

Result: CHAOS

Rating: 3.5 stars out of 5

This was an excellent little tag match with some good storyline implications. Very interesting to watch. Okada/Ibushi would absolutely tear the house down if NJPW does this match again. However, with that being said, this could be a huge red herring that they’re planting to make us think Ibushi is winning.