NJPW: The 5 New Japan Cup Matches You Need To See

Spread over the course of a little over two weeks and with 31 matches in total, a lot of the action in the New Japan Cup was must-see. Here, we’ll break down 5 of the absolute can’t-miss matches you need to check out on NJPW World now!

Each year’s New Japan Cup brings something special to the table, but this year’s was even more so with the opportunity to challenge Jay White for the IWGP Heavyweight Title in Madison Square Garden. With the G1 Supercard looming on April 6, 32 wrestlers fought for the chance to be the one to dethrone the Switchblade.

With NJPW’s other tournament offerings, like the G1 Climax, the round robin style allows for some breathing room as the grueling schedule rolls on. As a single elimination tournament, the stakes in the New Japan Cup are at their highest in every single round. One slip or misstep could mean the end for each wrestler.

As the chance for instant elimination hangs in the back of the minds of every wrestler, it means that every single match has the opportunity to steal the entire thing… okay, maybe nobody is expecting Bad Luck Fale or Honma to have the best match of the Cup when guys like Okada, Tanahashi, and SANADA are involved but you get the picture.

Here, we’ll break down 5 of the matches that you should go out of your way to watch on NJPW World. It’s hard to not just list every match from the quarterfinals onward, but I’ve tried to craft a list that spans the entire course of the New Japan Cup with different highlights for each match. That being said, let’s get on with the list!

Honorable Mention: Colt Cabana vs Toru Yano, Round 2

This isn’t going to be a match on top of anybody’s list for best technical match of the year. It may not be on anybody’s list for best match of the year. It may not even be on anybody’s list for best match of the New Japan Cup.

Those last two points would be a mistake for anybody cultivating such lists.

If you saw the brackets for the first round of the Cup, it was plain to see that Cabana and Yano had a chance to collide if they got past their respective opponents Togi Makabe and Davey Boy Smith Jr. With solid wins for both guys, the second round was set.

While this wasn’t the first time the two have met in the ring, it was the first time in a New Japan ring and Cabana made sure that he was prepared for everything Yano could use on his home turf. When the referee couldn’t find any illegal objects in Yano’s gear, Cabana searched for himself and found rolls of athletic tape which Yano tends to use to incapacitate opponents outside of the ring.

Cabana later used that tape to keep a turnbuckle pad in place throwing off Yano’s game plan to remove every pad from every corner. The confusion and frustration on the face of a Yano who had been out-Yano’d was priceless.

If you have the time (and you should – this match clocks in at under 8 minutes), you should check this one out if you’re a fan of silliness. It’s a nice break from some of the more serious battles throughout the New Japan Cup, and the story of the “20 year overnight sensation” Colt Cabana advancing through the tournament is a wonderful one.

Here’s hoping we see Cabana back in a New Japan ring sooner rather than later, and I’ll be praying to the wrestling deities that we see some ridiculous 6-man team like Cabana, Yano, and Taguchi make a run for the NEVER 6 Man Tag Titles. Please, please, please let me get what I want.