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.

5. Shota Umino vs Hiroshi Tanahashi, Round 1

If you’ve been watching New Japan regularly for the past year, you’ve taken notice of Shota Umino. The current batch of Young Lions is an incredibly impressive one and I’m excited to see each of them head out on excursion so they can come back and rise up the ranks of the NJPW roster.

Shota Umino is something special though, and the New Japan offices clearly see that. He became the first Young Lion to ever enter the New Japan Cup, and he was served with a brutal welcoming committee in the form of the former IWGP Heavyweight Champion Hiroshi Tanahashi.

This wasn’t your typical Young Lion/Veteran match-up. With the way the New Japan crowd has taken to Umino, it wasn’t so far-fetched that he could make it past the first round in the New Japan Cup.

On the other side of the coin, with the way Tanahashi has fallen from grace since The New Beginning, it wasn’t out of the realm of possibility to see the most accomplished name in the Cup fall to the least-experienced.

Although Umino has already made a name for himself in New Japan, this match felt like a massive coming out party for the Young Lion. He held his own against Tanahashi for every bit of their near 17-minute match including a particular near fall toward the end of the match that had everybody in the arena buying the idea that he was about to pin The Ace of the Universe.

In the end, we’d see Tanahashi come away with the victory – but he had to change his own game plan to do so. Rather than winning with his usual High Fly Flow, Tana resorted to the Texas Cloverleaf submission to tap out young Umino.

Having to change his regular style not only due to the condition of his knees, but also to stay head of his younger opponent, proved that Umino is no ordinary rookie. He battled Tanahashi with gusto and had the crowd eating out of the palm of his hand with each near fall.

Whenever Umino breaks free of the Young Lion moniker and can begin to blaze his own path, he’ll be a force to be reckoned with.

4. Zack Sabre Jr vs Kota Ibushi, Round 2

Not surprisingly, Zack Sabre Jr shows up more than once on this list. His match with Kota Ibushi was both a revelation and a heartbreak for many, myself included.

With the announcement that Ibushi had signed an actual contract with New Japan and would no longer be operating as a freelancer, my pick for the New Japan Cup was clear as day. There was no one better, in my mind, to challenge for the IWGP Heavyweight Title than the Golden Star himself.

Ibushi doesn’t come into things without some history with Jay White, at least tangentially. White stepped into the shoes of former Bullet Club leader Kenny Omega and beat the man who beat Omega for the championship to kick off the Cutthroat Era. A reinvigorated Ibushi seemed like a shoo-in.

I was foolish to have doubted The Submission Master. I should have listened to TAKA Michinoku.

I watched this match with the idea that Ibushi would come out on top. After a stunning victory over Tetsuya Naito in the first round, it felt like the rocket ship was officially strapped to Ibushi and he was ready to blast sky-high.

Unfortunately for Ibushi, you can’t fly to the skies if ZSJ has you tangled up on the canvas, and that’s exactly what happened here. Sabre used his sinewy frame to tie Ibushi into the ridiculous and painful holds he’s become famous for.

With TAKA yelling on encouragement from ringside, Sabre stretched Ibushi to the brink of tearing his body in two as he locked in Orienteering With Napalm Death. Nearing the ropes, it looked like Ibushi would be able to make his way to the bottom rope to break the hold.

What wound up happening, instead, was Ibushi visibly giving up as he realized he couldn’t break the hold or move any closer to the ropes.

I’ve watched wrestling for a long time. I don’t think I’ve ever seen someone tap out with as much emotion and self-imposed guilt as Ibushi carried here.

As Ibushi tapped himself out, I gasped from my couch at home. With Ibushi out of the New Japan Cup, there had gone my pick to sweep the whole thing. And with Zack Sabre Jr left standing tall, could we be on the verge of seeing the first-ever Westerner win the New Japan Cup in back-to-back years?

3. Zack Sabre Jr vs Hiroshi Tanahashi, Quarterfinals

It didn’t take long for Sabre to find himself staring down another mountain in the form of Hiroshi Tanahashi. Just 5 days after his inspired performance against Ibushi, ZSJ had to set his sights on the man he defeated in the finals of last year’s Cup.

As he always does, Sabre walked into the match with supreme confidence. After all, he’d already beaten Tana in the tournament format and was fresh off of hard-fought wins over EVIL and Ibushi. Conversely, Tana had defeated Shota Umino and Ryusuke Taguchi to get to the quarterfinals.

It was perhaps those incredibly different paths and Sabre’s own hubris which led to the outcome we got just after 20 minutes in Shizuoka.

While Umino and Taguchi are no slouches, ZSJ’s path through EVIL and Ibushi felt like a much more treacherous and taxing path. Was it exhaustion that finally caught up with Sabre, or was it once again the shifting game plan of Tanahashi catching a younger opponent off guard?

With the history between Sabre and Tanahashi, the outcome of this bout was up in the air. When someone like Sabre makes lofty claims, and then immediately backs those claims up with actions, it’s hard to ignore. He’s become one of the most protected assets in New Japan, owning decisive victories over basically anybody on whom he’s set his laser focus.

More than just being a tournament match, the must-win nature of this match was tenfold. Tanahashi needed to prove that he could still go with the younger generation, and that he was able to bounce back from his loss to Jay White, while Sabre would solidify his status as having the Ace’s number in singles competition.

Tana would eventually reach outside of his bag of tricks just as he did with Shota Umino in the first round to defeat Sabre. With both men struggling to gain the advantage trading holds, Tanahashi put Sabre’s shoulders to the mat with a pinning combination that looked right out of ZSJ’s own handbook.

Immediately after the pin, Sabre realized what had happened. He pleaded with the referee, clutching at him as he argued the three count. This wasn’t your standard heel bravado coming through to try to bully a ref, though – this was Sabre, aghast at having finally been proven wrong, trying to wrap his own brain around losing.

Tanahashi would go on to lose to SANADA in the semifinals of the New Japan Cup, but as much of a wake-up call as this was for Sabre, it was a necessary shot in the arm for the Ace. Winning this bout meant that he did still have what it takes to fix his past mistakes and avenge previous losses.

Time will tell if he can eventually spin that into reclaiming the IWGP Heavyweight Title.

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.

1. SANADA vs Minoru Suzuki, Round 2

Though it was tough to narrow the list down to just 5 and even harder to put them in order, there was never a doubt in my mind about which match should sit atop the list.

Proving that I’ll never have any idea what New Japan is thinking, SANADA was my pick to win the New Japan Cup once we got down to the semifinal round. Maybe if I stop mentally picking these guys they’ll stop being cursed and actually win something?

In any event, this match with Minoru Suzuki was absolutely one for the ages. Going into it, I wasn’t expecting a whole lot out of these two. Their previous encounter at The New Beginning in Sapporo was fairly disappointing. It never felt like the match got off the ground and, knowing what these two are capable of, felt wholly underwhelming.

What a beautiful surprise this rematch wound up being.

SANADA was able to withstand everything Suzuki threw at him. While the leader of Suzuki-gun leveled his long-time rival with blow after blow and horrific leg submissions, SANADA kept coming back for more.

Although there were moments where it looked like SANADA could be beaten, there wasn’t a second where it looked like he had given up.

SANADA struggled to keep Suzuki on the mat which is no surprise to anyone who has followed Suzuki at all. Suzuki, while a terrifying striker and brawler, is also a pure wrestler and grappler who can put someone into any hold and, more often than not, find a way out of any predicament.

In the final moments of the match, both men traded submissions back and forth in the center of the ring, alternating between SANADA’s Skull End and leglocks from Suzuki. Just when it seemed like the life had been squeezed out of one of the wrestlers, they would spring back to life to counter the hold.

After SANADA finally had Suzuki worn down after repeated applications of the Skull End, he limped to the corner. His chest heaving and the effects of the near 30-minute match being felt, Cold Skull scaled the top ropes.

Exhausted from the war, Suzuki could go nowhere. Instead, the lasting image of Suzuki on his back reaching toward and screaming at SANADA as he ascended is one that will stay with me for quite some time.

With one last movement, SANADA struck with the Mutoh-inspired moonsault and finally got the monkey off of his back. In their third singles meeting in a New Japan ring, SANADA was finally able to defeat The King of Pro Wrestling.

This match absolutely made SANADA a main event star whenever New Japan wants to pull the trigger. It’s no surprise that he can turn out incredible matches – he’s been doing that for a while. Defeating Suzuki so conclusively put SANADA on an entirely new level.

It was easy to see why so many bought into the SANADA hype after this contest and further bought in after he defeated Hiroshi Tanahashi in the semifinals.

Ultimately, Cold Skull would fall to Okada in the finals but even in defeat, this New Japan Cup felt like the seeds of a future Ace being planted.

SANADA is now en route to Madison Square Garden with EVIL to compete for the IWGP and ROH Tag Team Titles, but I’m hoping that this isn’t a permanent move back to the tag team division for him. As much as anyone has deserved it, SANADA deserves a big G1 run and a Tokyo Dome main event.

If it doesn’t happen this year, it’s merely a matter of time.