NJPW: The 5 New Japan Cup Matches You Need To See
2. Tomohiro Ishii vs Taichi, Round 2
If you were to tell me that Taichi found his way onto any “Top 5” list I was making, I’d have laughed you out of the room. Taichi has his own weird following and I understand that it exists, but I don’t quite understand why.
He’s always been a bit bland for me, apart from the stellar entrance, and despite claims of the Taichi faithful that they like him genuinely and not ironically, I still just couldn’t see it.
Sometimes all it takes though is one of the best wrestlers on the planet to break the chains of mediocrity.
Behind Ibushi, Tomohiro Ishii was my backup pick to take the New Japan Cup. He’s someone who has been on the precipice of the main event for so long and has only momentarily attained that glory. His victory over Kenny Omega in last year’s G1 and his subsequent challenge for the IWGP Heavyweight Title were both other-worldly.
In keeping with doing things that are out of the realm of our own planet’s understanding, Ishii pulled fantastic matches out of not only Taichi but YOSHI-HASHI as well.
As much love as the Taichi weirdos have for Taichi, I have the same love for poor YOSHI-HASHI. I don’t pretend that he’s the greatest or most entertaining, but there’s just something endearing about him that makes me want to see him succeed.
While some matches may simply be great technical masterpieces, there were some beautiful character points in this one that really let both guys shine.
At a pivotal moment with the referee down, Taichi reached out toward his various plunder – the familiar microphone stand and the yet unused iron glove of Iizuka. Taichi has yet to harness the power (or horror) of the glove and, as he struggled to match Ishii’s resilience, he weighed the pros and cons of using the weapon.
He ultimately decided on the microphone stand, but his hesitation had allowed Ishii to get back to his feet. Turning around, Taichi was met with an Ishii ready to go and instead of using the microphone stand he threw it to the arena floor. It seemed as though Taichi wanted to win on his own merits.
Much is talked about the fighting spirit of Japanese wrestlers and that’s easily seen in a lot of big matches. Until this point though, I don’t know that we’ve seen that same spirit come from Taichi.
To a sizable reaction from the crowd, Taichi shrugged off the effects of an Ishii piledriver to take his game to the next level. This may, in fact, have been the moment that turned me around on Taichi for good.
Our Holy Emperor would eventually find himself frustrated and catch Ishii with a low blow, effectively undoing his measured decision to throw his weapon to the side earlier in the match. It wasn’t enough though, and Ishii battled back to drop Taichi with his vertical drop brainbuster for the second round victory.
Taichi has now migrated back to the NEVER Openweight Title currently held by Will Ospreay, but I’m hoping that it’s not a full return to form for him. This match with Ishii proved that there’s more to Taichi than just an entrance and a lot of stalling.
There is a fighter in there and if he continues to show it match after match, we could see Taichi become a consistent player near the top of the card.