New Japan Cup 2019: Highlights and Quarterfinal Preview

The Quarterfinal matches of the New Japan Cup kick off on March 20 and continue the next day on March 21. With only one match feeling like an easy pick, everything is still up in the air as to who will win this year’s prize.

Tomohiro Ishii vs YOSHI-HASHI

Can Ishii make it 3-for-3 in pulling out amazing matches in the New Japan Cup? With the quality of his performances thus far, and despite my unironic love of YOSHI-HASHI, I don’t see a way Ishii suffers a loss in this round of the tournament.

At this point, I’m putting my money on Ishii to take the entire thing. He’s consistent, he’s deadly, and he’s been the most impressive wrestler in the tournament thus far. If he can pull a star-making performance out of YH the way he did with Taichi, he’ll step to another level.

Kazuchika Okada vs Will Ospreay

Aside from Mike Elgin in the first round, Okada has a chance to win his side of the bracket by defeating members of his own faction in Chaos. Okada took down Mikey Nicholls in a fine, if uninspiring, match in the second round and will now take on NEVER Openweight Champion Ospreay who has already overcome massive odds against Bad Luck Fale and Lance Archer.

My money is on Okada walking away with the victory and putting an end to Ospreay’s excellent run in the New Japan Cup. If Ospreay takes the victory, though, it would be another sign that New Japan is willing to shake things up around the top of the card by solidifying Ospreay as the junior who can hang with the heavyweights.

SANADA vs Colt Cabana

Cabana may have been better off letting Yano take the victory in the second round. As we know, Cabana can compete with anyone in the tournament and is far more than “just” a comedy wrestler – but SANADA operates in a completely separate universe than anyone else on the New Japan roster.

This is where it ends for Cabana and his New Japan Cup dreams on my bracket. SANADA is coming off of huge wins over Hirooki Goto and Minoru Suzuki already and has a huge semi-final match awaiting him regardless of who wins the other match in his bracket. By the same token, though, has SANADA over-exerted himself to the point of Cabana picking up a win over an exhausted Cold Skull?

Hiroshi Tanahashi vs Zack Sabre Jr

In a rematch from last year’s final, we’ll find out if the Ace is in top form coming off of his IWGP Heavyweight Title loss to Jay White in February or if the clock is ready to chime Zack Sabre Time.

With Sabre’s win over Ibushi in the second round, I’m no longer sure what to expect. He has the skills to pick apart any wrestler’s weaknesses and Tanahashi has a well-documented pair of weaknesses with his knees. Sabre’s partner, Minoru Suzuki, has enjoyed tearing Tana’s legs apart in the past and ZSJ stands to continue the Suzuki-gun legacy of doing so.

I don’t see Tanahashi winning the entire New Japan Cup, but I could see him overcome Sabre to shut down his dreams of a repeat tournament victory. If Tana does come up short, though, where does that leave the Ace in the overall landscape of NJPW? Without the IWGP Heavyweight Title in his sights, what does Tanahashi fight for?

The next round of the New Japan Cup kicks off on March 20 with Ishii/YOSHI-HASHI and Okada/Ospreay ahead of SANADA/Cabana and Tanahashi/Sabre on March 21. The winners will have just a couple of days to rest before the semi-finals and finals in Niigata on March 23 and March 24.