New Japan Cup 2019: Highlights and Quarterfinal Preview

Round 1: Kota Ibushi vs Tetsuya Naito

I don’t know who it is who put these brackets together, but it’s some kind of cruel punishment to have these two meet in the first round. In a perfect world, Ibushi and Naito would have had a couple of other matches before meeting each other in the quarterfinal or semifinal rounds, but here we are.

This match not only served as a total bracket buster for anyone playing along at home, but was also one of the harder to predict matches of the entire first round.

For Naito, the dream is to become the first-ever dual champion in NJPW history, holding both the Intercontinental and Heavyweight Titles. For Ibushi, this is the start of a new life in New Japan free of Kenny Omega and ties to The Elite.

You may be hard-pressed to find a more even and dynamic pairing than Ibushi and Naito. These are two wrestlers with massive chips on their shoulders and something to prove every time they hit the ring.

Naito has more than made up for his lukewarm Stardust Genius run, but he’s still seeking that big Tokyo Dome moment. Ibushi, on the other hand, has seemingly always been the darling of every New Japan fan, but has only achieved a certain level of status thus far. That may all change now that Ibushi has signed with NJPW rather than continuing as a freelancer.

These two absolutely murdered one another in a match good enough to be the tournament finals. Naito took sickening pleasure in delivering a sitout Tombstone to Ibushi on the apron and Ibushi returned the favor by trying to break Naito’s neck with a double underhook Ganso Bomb.

With a Kamigoye as an exclamation point, Ibushi claimed a spot in the second round of the New Japan Cup and may also have a shot at the Intercontinental Title in his future.

Round 1: EVIL vs Zack Sabre Jr

Zack Sabre Jr has been the bane of EVIL’s existence for quite some time. It almost always seems to be Zack Sabre Time when the LIJ mainstay checks his watch, but here he had a chance to turn that all around by taking last year’s Cup winner out in the very first round.

As he does, ZSJ had an answer for everything EVIL through his way. EVIL not only used his size and strength to thwart his smaller opponent but he mixed in a bit of grappling as well. None of it was enough, though, to keep Sabre down for long at all.

Using his spindly limbs and impeccable technique, Sabre tied EVIL in submission after submission before taking him down near the ropes with an insane combination Orienteering With Napalm Death/Cobra Twist on the canvas. It quickly became clear to EVIL that he wasn’t going anywhere and tapped the saddest tapout I think I’ve ever seen.

On this day, everything was, in fact, not EVIL.